1billsfan

A head coach can go only so far if an unproven QB on a contending team is not playing well for an extended stretch of games. This isn't a situation where it's a rookie QB expected to go through a season's worth of growing pains. It's totally fair to expect Taylor to get his "sea legs" under him by the fourth game. You and I both know the groundswell for EJ would be enormous if Taylor was playing badly each and every game for the first four games. He's 26 years old, not a 22 year old rookie. Having said that, the chances of that happening are very remote IMO because Taylor looks and sounds the part of a successful starting NFL QB. But if that slim chance did arrive four games in, Rex would have to make the move to EJ.

Hopefully, he'll be fast enough to make the defenders miss all season. The AFC is no joke when it comes to defenses. I'm giving Taylor four games to begin to establish himself as a solid starting QB before I would start calling for them to consider putting in Manuel. I think that's fair and I said as much if they decided to start Manuel. These are two guys who've been in the league long enough to not be allowed a whole season of not playing well.

Is a third rd pick really worth the risk of Taylor getting injured or not panning out as a franchise QB while EJ is thriving as a Brown, Redskin...ect.? Bills, QBs and third round picks are spooky enough to even go there IMO. BTW, I actually think Rex made the wrong choice and Manuel should be the Bills starting QB.

What if the Bills are down two TDs or more mid 3rd quarter when Taylor goes down? Only a crazy person would think ol' noodle arm Matt Cassel is the better option in that situation. I still think Cassel's going to be cut.

Sorry about that. I think that the Bills would have to be blown away by an offer given how much they've invested (1st rd pick, 2.5 years development time) in Manuel and how much promise he's showing under Roman. Even then, I don't see how you can put that much faith in a QB like Taylor who has never started an NFL game before. Once teams find out trading for EJ Manuel starts with a 1st rd pick (that's what I feel it would start with) then you know the teams who did have interest could never sell that to their fan base.

Not a chance. Tyrod Taylor has zero NFL starts and as much as he's looked great in preseason...it's preseason. He is an unknown as a regular season starting QB. They couldn't ask for a better situation with a vastly improved Manuel on the bench in case of an injury to Taylor.

So true.

Thank you Fred for being the brightest light in one of the darkest periods of Buffalo Bills football.

Ok Rapoport, EJ Manuel may be gone after raining TDs in preseason...LOL National guys are truly dopes when it comes to the Buffalo Bills.

Isn't Tyrod a cool enough name in and of itself? He doesn't have to have a nickname. BTW, I think T-Mobile is a very boring nickname. The man's got a name and it's very cool already IMO.

You're a little late, that's been being called since the Steeler's game. Even though I'm an EJ Manuel guy, I'm good with Taylor starting and Manuel as the backup.

McCoy is not a "ground and pound" style running back. If they had Lynch I would expect "ground and pound" from Rex and Roman. Don't take everything Rex says as the truth. I think he was just acting like the tough guy saying that "we're gonna be ground and pound" stuff in his introduction speech. IMO the Bills will still run it a lot, but they will have an equally effective passing attack. I expect to see around a 50-50 run/pass ratio.

There seems to be a number of Bills fans who don't understand that the margin of error becomes so much smaller when you play that long drive, don't screw up game. Going that route essentially locks you into a "one and done" playoff appearance. That is why there is no way Rex picks Cassel over Taylor or EJ Manuel. Rex may say he wants ground and pound, but I think he wants a championship even more. He's a smart man who knows his ticket to a Superbowl win is with either Taylor or Manuel. Will the Bills lose some games because of interceptions? Yup. But come playoff time they will be in position to actually win the whole thing with a wide open style and a great defense.

You've argued for months that EJ sucks so why should anyone buy into anything regarding the QB position from you or from any of the other EJ haters? As for the "competent team" argument, there was a huge drop off in production from Brady to Cassel. That team was a well oiled machine on both sides of the ball and Cassel did the only thing he knows how to do, not screw it up too much. If that's your bar for the Bills starter then that's just plain sad. EJ had Doug Marrone coaching him, a man who was so smart he quit his NFL head coaching job and is now the offensive line coach for the Jaguars. He didn't have Bill Belichick or Josh McDaniels like Cassel had. Now he's got Greg Roman and EJ already looks miles ahead of Matt Cassel in terms of NFL starting material, yet you are still going back to the 2008 Pats to try to boost your argument for Matt Cassel? You need to hang it up already. Marrone is a stupid man and he was the problem, not EJ.

IMO, judging by the preseason games... EJ Manuel would make the WRs/TEs the stars. Tyrod Taylor would make Greg Roman the star.

I wonder how many teams I'd seriously trade QBs situations for (Taylor and Manuel for ___). There are a lot of old QBs in the league and only a handful of QBs who are great and still in their prime. For instance, would you right now trade for Tom Brady and give the Patriots both Taylor and Manuel in return? I wouldn't, Brady's getting way too old and the Bills two promising QBs are young and both look good. I'm thinking the serious trade options (as if...LOL) would be Rodgers, Luck, Wilson, Rothlesberger, a couple others maybe? No way do the Bills think of trading for RGIII. That ship has sailed.

Now see, that's kind of classy. Not sure if that guy doesn't owe EJ an actual apology down the line though...LOL All of these local media hacks laughed and mocked at the very notion of EJ eventually becoming a good to great QB. You can't make that go away with one flattering piece IMO. I'm sure if you polled the players on offense you would get the same results that Bills beat writer's twitter got... A bunch of votes for Taylor, a bunch of votes for Manuel and zero votes for Cassel.

EJ Manuel thoroughly embarrassed that whole entire EJ hating station. They can rationalize it all they want, it will just make them look all that more idiotic. At least there have been former EJ haters here who have admitted today that they seemed to have been wrong about EJ's prospects. The hosts at WGR are all too weaselly to do something that classy.

The national media only cares about the Patriots, Cowboys, Eagles and Jets. Go beyond those four teams and they have very little grasp of what's going on. Just this morning on ESPN, they had two guys debating whether Rex would select Taylor or Cassel as the starter. The conversation about Cassel being a starter is done and they don't know it because they aren't really paying attention.

All Roman would have to do is create plays which would use Cassel's knowledge of the offense against the Patriots. Roman's plenty smart enough to do that.

It's not just because of last night. The book on Matt Cassel was written long ago and both Taylor and Manuel have proven to everyone (with the exception of the local media) that they are better than him right now and they are only going to get better. Cassel is a guy who's NFL relevancy past by five years ago. The Bills are a team of the future and they really no longer need Matt Cassel's emergency services. I would imagine that next week in Detroit, Matt Simms will show that he will be able to fill the "emergency" role just as good as Cassel would.

This is truly an amazing two man QB battle we are watching. I've been a supporter of EJ and do want him to start, but Tyrod Taylor is looking fantastic also! It's such a shame that we have to defend our picks and in the end be talking down the other guy since both QBs may really be something special. I wonder if we can all have a "let's get along" approach and vow whoever is the QB picked to start the season between Manuel or Taylor, to not jump ship on that guy until 4 real games have been played. If it's Taylor then I'm going to hope he looks great, but still be willing to wait if he looks less than stellar his first few outings. Hopefully the same "sit back" approach by Taylor supporters would happen if Manuel is named the starter. The worst thing to happen is a spilt in the organization and locker room between the two QBs. We've got to let the starting QB play an extended period of time without fear of being pulled. If he plays himself out of the job then so be it and be glad there's a backup QB who has shown very good talent.

Cassel's going to be cut. I don't have any "inside" information either. I just have what I saw over the last two games. Manuel and Taylor have locked down the top two QB spots and Simms can be placed on the practice squad, leaving the Bills one extra young talented and cheap player to keep on the 53 man roster and saving themselves 5 million dollars. It's too logical not to happen.

Whatever was told to you is totally meaningless now given what has transpired in the last two games. Seriously.

The most important NFL stats say that EJ is better because of the passing TD totals which is the best barometer to judge an NFL QB. Also, McCoy will have larger running lanes given EJ's deep passing abilities. With Tyrod you get eight in a box when the real games begin.