PolishDave

Fair enough. But let me ask you this. If the Bills played EJ all day and Cleveland played Manziel all day, which team would have ended up with the most points at the end of the game? If you honestly think the Bills would have won then I get your point. I don't see how anyone could think that. I am confident that the Bills would have lost that game by more than 7.

If by "escaped a lot" you mean he avoided getting sacked yet failed to turn it into a positive play then I guess I agree with you. That is my beef with the guy. If you step up into the pocket to avoid a sack, how about completing a pass or tucking the ball and running for positive progress. That rarely happens with EJ, very rarely. In this game, when they got any pressure on him, he crumbled. He just isn't good enough to be a starter in this league. I am happy keeping the guy as a backup, but in my opinion, he is not even close to being starting caliber. I thought Johnny football made EJ look embarassingly behind schedule in terms of developing into a starting quarterback. And I don't think Johnny Football is particularly good.

What part did I miss? Tyrod was playing with 4th string running backs and second string receivers against Cleveland's number ones. Yet he made plays and moved the chains on 3rd down. Ej played with 4th string running backs and 3rd string receivers against Cleveland's backups. His drives stalled one after another until the last two minutes of the game. When EJ was under pressure and stumbling, I kept thinking to myself - I bet Tyrod makes that play. And its not because I am some super Tyrod fan or EJ hater. It is just what I saw.

I swear it is almost as if EJ is wearing a sign out there that says "Please blitz me. I want to fold under pressure. It's what I do. Maybe I'll give you a sack or even a sack fumble. How bout it?" Pettine knows exactly how to beat EJ, and my guess is that the rest of the league is getting very wise to it also.

Otherwise looked great. Surely you jest.

Really? The guy just doesn't make enough plays. I know he played with our 3rds. But he was playing against 3rds too. Should have played much better than this. Gragg saved his ass from an embarassing turnover in the red zone.

What do Mike Vic and Ray Rice have in common? They both like to fight with their bitches! Boom! You're welcome. Good night..... Lame yes.....I just can't help myself.....It was a soft pitch....

Your theory is plausible. That may have been how it happened. In my mind, Whaley was more involved in the decisions than a lot of other Bills fans probably think. I envision it as more like Whaley put his stamp of approval on every major decision Nix made as soon as the Bills made it public that Nix was going to be handing the reigns to Whaley. That doesn't mean that every decision was 50/50. It is probably more like certain decisions were Nix's strong suggestions that Whaley rubber stamped okay and certain decisions came from Whaley's strong suggestion that Nix rubber stamped okay. Certainly in each decision there was probably one person in the office who wanted that move to happen more than the other people involved in the decision process. We will never know for sure. I am sure Whaley must have had enough authority to put a stop to any move that he thought would be very detrimental to the team though. After all, he was about to assume command and certainly would not have wanted the previous captain to punch holes in the hull of the ship before he took the helm.

No doubt every Bills fan agrees that the entire quarterback situation in the prior 6 months leading up to drafting EJ was a giant cluster flop. Some here would no doubt argue that drafting EJ was part of that mess. (not that I am saying that) I'm just not willing to let Whaley off the hook for that cluster flop of a mess that happened even after Fitz left. In my mind, (other than the fiasco with Fitz) I place at least 50% of the blame on Whaley for allowing the Kolb signing to happen. They must have known it was a huge gamble signing Kolb as their veteran guy. And it backfired. Everyone who was part of that decision shares in some of the blame, but Nix and Whaley were at the top. Whaley can't be excluded completely. Nix can't take 100% of the blame. That is what the Bills organization wants fans to do, but I am not that stupid, at least not about that.

Good point. I just think Whaley would have brought the issue up when he first talked about taking that promotion. Naturally, one of the first things on his mind would be, "Hey Russ, what are my options at the end of this year if I disagree with what our existing GM does with the personnel between now and then?" In fact, I would be willing to bet that Russ already had that worked out with Nix before they even made the offer to Whaley. Brandon probably asked Nix to play ball. And I am sure that Nix, being an old school football good ole boy was more than willing to go over every major decision with Whaley and make sure Whaley was okay with it. Obviously I don't know for a fact that it happened that way. I just can't wrap my head around it happening any other way.

Not in my opinion. From what I see, it appears that Cassel is a much better quarterback than Kolb was when Buffalo signed him. Time will tell, but I think Cassel looks much, much better at this point.

It was already public knowledge that Nix was stepping down and Whaley was assuming the GM role. Once they made that public, then there is no way Nix makes a move without Whaley's approval. Think about it. No way Whaley says "yeah I'll take the job in a year and sure you can let Mr. Nix do whatever he wants between then and now." It just isn't going to happen because if Nix did that, he would be burning his bridge in Buffalo and essentially destroying his reputation as being a good ole boy. And the other management in charge at that time would have never asked Whaley to be put in a position where that could happen.

This thread smells of cart before horse syndrome. Seeing that all 3 of our existing quarterbacks played well in game 1 (I know it is just preseason), I think it is totally plausible that we might have a quarterback on this team right now that will lead us deep into the playoffs. Yes it is unlikely, but plausible nonetheless. No way you can make a good decision about the draft next year without seeing how this year plays out.

I get your point and can totally see what you mean. I just like to make a mockery of anyone (in the football GM world) who thought Kolb could be a starting quarterback. I just don't believe it. The only reason the fans in Buffalo didn't revolt over that signing was because very few people around here watch Arizona football. In fact, very few people around the league in general watch Arizona play football. So it is a great place to sign a bad player from. Kolb's stats in AZ didn't reveal his lack of talent, watching him play revealed that. IF you didn't watch him play game after game and you just looked at his stats you might think he could be servicable. But if you watched him play you would be calling to put anybody else in but him.

Whaley was in charge and everyone knows that. Nix was nothing more than a figure head at that point. There is no way Nix brings Kolb in without Whaley's approval. Absolutely no friggin way. The only part of his skillset that matched anything the Bills wanted was he had veteran experience. His play during his previous year in Arizona proved Kolb should be permanently benched or else demoted into a backup position where he could be called on in an emergency situation only.

Well, then Whaley just lost a notch in my book because only an idiot would sign Kolb and expect to win with him as QB. They saw the film from Arizona - the dude sucked. Only an idiot talent evaluator would have thought Kolb could still be a starting quarterback.

Why not just make Mulligan a running back for a couple weeks. He is good for **** at anything else based on his performance in the first preseason game. Or just find some skinny little effer from the practice squad and ask him if he wants to play RB........next man up......getter done...

Come on man.... Tell us how you really feel.... His wife is probably happy though with their second vacation home they bought with his departure money from Buffalo. Or maybe Doug spent all that money on football cards so he could get the stiff little bubble gum wads out of them. He keeps buying packs of cards trying to buy up all the "Buffalo Bills Head Coach Doug Marrone" cards. Every time he opens a pack and sees himself he yells "Score!" and then starts going "Yeah yeah yeah" like Bevis and Butthead.

Make no mistake..... They will find a way to make Blake Bortles look like a bust.

I would have never predicted all 3 quarterbacks to play as well as they did in the first preseason game. That has confused matters a little bit no doubt, at least for all the people who don't expect the Bills to carry 3 QB's on the roster.

It is a great country and a great privilege for grown men to be able to gather together on a random Tuesday afternoon and debate whether the words "somewhere else" constitute something being newsworthy or not. Thank you to all you American veterans out there! Thank you for our freedom! You guys rock!

Here is the snippet from the story: ---- Asked if he's considered the possibility of playing somewhere else, Manuel gave a mixed response. "I haven't. I don't know how that works," he said. "But I also understand the business of it. I don't know. All I can do right now is continue to play well." ---- He specifically answered "I haven't." I don't see how that is ambiguous at all. He said no he hasn't thought about it. That suggests to me that he isn't dwelling on that subject. Has the thought ever crossed his mind? I am sure it has. I am 100% positive it has crossed every single person's mind on that roster. They all understand how football works. Their agents explain it to them. They all know they could be gone tomorrow regardless of how good they think their standing is with the coaches and front office. In my opinion, EJ said nothing and revealed nothing. He sounds like he is trying to stay focused on what he can do here in Buffalo, which is exactly what any fan could hope for out of a guy regardless of how good they think that player is.

I will retract the word completely from my previous statement and just say "he sucked". That doesn't sound quite as bad. Later today I heard the press conference where Rex spoke about Darby. And that actually did console me a bit about Darby's play. Rex basically admitted they made it really hard on Darby to see how he would do. So, with that in mind, I guess he was expected to probably look bad. And he did. That is a much better situation that if the coach came out and said "Whoa! we are in big trouble in the secondary." Let's see how he does in the next few preseason games.

The thing I liked most about TT last night was that the offense seemed to move the ball easily and quickly. While he was in there, the offense got momentum quickly and kept their foot on the gas. It has been a really long time since we saw a Buffalo Bills offense that gained momentum quickly and kept their foot on the gas. The offense clicked with him in there. And you got this sense that a big play was coming. God I love watching my team when you have a gut feeling that they are about to make a huge play. I got that last night. If he can lead the team like that in the next couple preseason games, then he will start week 1. TT, please, please keep it going.

May as well trade Brown for whatever you can get for him even if its just a pizza party for the other guys. I highly doubt he is on this team come opening day whether they can get anything for him or not. Ej on the other hand, I want to see how the rest of the preseason goes.