PolishDave

Disagree. There are other teams who need a serviceable veteran backup quarterback aren't there? Like one of these teams perhaps: Philly, Cardinals, Giants, Lions, Dallas, Chargers, Seattle

Most underrated plays in that game were the misses by Carpenter. Nobody is talking about it, but there is reason to be concerned. Thank god it is only preseason.

You can't trade either one because we still haven't seen either one perform this year against teams that have actually game planned against them and designed defenses to minimize their strengths and exploit any perceived weaknesses. Until you see how they perform in the regular season, it would be nuts to trade away either of them. Trade Cassel to a team outside the AFC East who will give us a reasonably decent corner back.

That is if you think that games like the last one he played prove him to be worthy of an NFL starter. I don't. He had four possessions with the offense. His first three possessions amounted to about 1 first down and 3 sacks. His fourth possession was impressive. But who wants a QB who is impressive on 25% of the offense's possessions. I don't. If you do, good for you. I don't think that is good enough. I know EJ played with 3rd stringers who didn't block well. I know that he also played against the other team's 3rd stringers. A decent starting quarterback in the NFL should have been able to move the ball 30-40 yards in at least 2 out of those first 3 possessions. There was a quarterback on the team who accomplished that. It wasn't EJ.

Yes..... The thing I think is somewhat strange is that it appears many people here are assuming that these quarterbacks were all being looked at as equals by the coaching staff before this supposed "quarterback competition" started. And I don't think that is the case at all. Even if the coaches said that, there is no way it would be true. I am quite certain (due to human nature) that every single coach had a "favorite" and a "second favorite" and so on even back at the point where each new quarterback was introduced to this team for this season. The coaches already had preferences. And you can bet that the whole point of this "quarterback competition" was to see if their opinions of their pecking order might change after working with each QB in camp. And you can bet that their minds (probably all of their minds) were made up within a week or slightly longer of training camp. They could see who knows the position better than the next guy. They could see who possessed what talent and how that talent compared to the next guy. And they made up their minds. That doesn't mean that their minds can't change based on circumstances. But I highly doubt that the quarterbacks are really "that close" in the coaches' minds as so many people here seem to want to think. It just isn't realistic to think that. And one preseason game played tomorrow is very, very unlikely to change anything at all in terms of the QB position, except maybe make them think slightly better about a guy or slightly worse about a guy. Barring an injury, It isn't going to be a difference maker. It is too close to the opener for it to be.

No they won't. At least not any sane person. They would have to literally have nothing else to talk about to want to do that. You forget, most of the people outside of Buffalo are basing their opinion of EJ based on what they saw last year, which wasn't anything to brag about. They aren't basing it on this year's 2 preseason performances. And even if they were, EJ certainly didn't play well enough to make any coach look foolish for not starting him.

No it doesn't. He isn't going to pick a starting Qb based on one guy's performance in one game. To do so would be lunacy. He can still justify not starting him based on his track record of not playing well enough to be a starter. The only thing it does, is it puts gunpowder in the quarterback controversy cannon that goes off the first time the starting quarterback plays poorly.

That's actually a very real possibility. And yes it is a big disadvantage to the Colts not knowing that. It is a big disadvantage because they have to waste precious time and mental capital trying to prepare for both scenarios. And the players have to watch film, study and remember how to defend against twice as many potential scenarios. That is definitely harder to do well than just preparing for one.

What if he scores on his first series and then they pull him and put in another QB? What if they mostly run the ball while he is in there and don't let him pass but for a few times?

Dude... That is so lame..... I know who it is....nah nah nah nah nah......and I'm not teeeelllllliiiiiiiinnnnn.........nah nah nah nah nah.... Then why even say you know who it is.. That is stupid... Booo!

Don't you destroy it more by swapping a QB in for a play though instead of an entire series? I would think so. Rhythm and momentum are more of something you develop over the course of back to back plays in a series are they not? And I am suggesting you do it only if Cassel is not doing well. If he had rhythm and momentum on his side already, then no I wouldn't want to interrupt that. Get me?

Bring earplugs for the kids unless you want them to learn some new four letter words that they don't already know.

I have been thinking about this too... I wonder if they will do that and how much of it they will do. I would think you would need to leave the guy in for an entire series, not just throw him in for a play here or play there. I would think you would basically pull Cassel and put Taylor in to completely screw up the defense and try to take away momentum from the other team. For example, suppose Cassel is playing a lousy first half, I would be very much inclined to pull him at half time and put in Taylor for the second half just to catch the defense off guard and interrupt a losing situation.

Do you have an inside scoop too? I want to know what Mr. Metzelaars insider says...

Dude..... you can't leave us hanging like that.......not cool.....

Could you explain what you mean by that for those of us who are not in the "media" business? What do you mean when you say "headline that moved"?

I was psyched last night to be able to turn on a friggin football game on television. Yes, I think we all love this time of year. It is pretty awesome. Question for you guys: If the quarterback competition was really supposed to be fair and equal, don't you think it would have been better to rotate the quarterbacks in the following way: QB Z plays first series in game. QB Y plays next series. QB X plays next series. QB Z plays next series. QB Y plays next series. QB X plays next series. And so on.. And then keep doing that during the entire game for each of the first (at least 2) preseason games. Wouldn't that have given you a much clearer picture of how each QB played based on a more level playing field? Then each guy would have played with the same personnel and against the same opposing personnel. Thoughts?

Not trying to argue bro. Just making conversation. To go with my morning fried onions and pierogi.

I have had nothing but bad experiences with the NFL shop. Poorly run operation in my opinion. How can they be out of stock on something like a friggin decal for an NFL team. How much space does that take up in a warehouse? How long do those take to bang out? Ridiculous...... Whoever runs that operation, out right sucks. And not just because of this decal. They constantly screw up orders. God only knows what kind of mindless idiots work there. They should ship everything to Amazon and just have Amazon take care of all the distribution. 99% of problems instantly solved.

There were definitely people on this board saying that EJ should be the starter week 1. In fact there is an entire thread about it. It's right over here - http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/topic/180187-why-ej-manuel-should-start-in-week-1/

Delaware North has that kind of cash or bargain value in exchange for cash? I was going to say no way until I looked them up on Wikipedia. Way bigger company than I realized.

I don't understand how people even respect the profession of "sports reporting". It is kind of a joke. All it requires is an opinion, which everyone has. You know what they say about ass***** and opinions, everybody's got one. Being a sports reporter is like being a fat, (candy addicted) kid riding in a firetruck with buckets of candy he is supposed to throw out to the other kids at the parade. He can eat as much as he wants while throwing whatever he wants out to the other kids. How these people get paid is beyond me. It is not something I would call a skilled job. Like some of the illegal Mexicans out picking cabbage for farmers across WNY right now could do it. Seriously.

For those of you who think that starting EJ this Saturday is a sign that he is going to be named the starting quarterback for the season right after that game, I think your delusion is as bad as the guy who thinks that he saw the face of Jesus in his toast. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPo411ysueM

I get what you are saying because it kind of irked me when he said "not many teams are in as bad of quarterback situation as the Buffalo Bills". But when I try to look at it from his perspective, I get why he would think that way and probably why a lot of the league looks at Buffalo the same way. From an outsider's perspective here is what we have: One quarterback that has bounced around from team to team because he is not good enough to solidify a starting position on any of them for any length of time. One quarterback who got benched after 4 games of mediocrity at best following a lackluster rookie season. One quarterback who looked okay coming out of college but sat the bench as a number two and doesn't have any real regular season playing time in the NFL. I know we get to see things closer up than that as Bills fans, which allows us to see bright spots where other people don't. But I can totally see (from an outsider's perspective) how the Buffalo Bills situation at quarterback looks pretty pathetic. In fact, unless you are a Bills fan who pays attention to everything happening in practice and preseason, I don't see how you could ever possibly be optimistic about the Bills QB situation.

Too many doughnuts? Go check your blood sugar.