1billsfan

Purely a wild hunch, but I'll speculate that it has something to do with the offensive coaching philosophy. The reason I think it may be that is because there was now a well-known conversation at half time against Tampa which you could speculate was about imploring Marrone to open up the playbook in the second half to give Manuel some confidence. I could see both Marrone and Hackett getting the boot if they all don't come to a meeting of the minds. I'm sure they didn't go all in on Watkins to use as a decoy for successful dump offs to Spiller/Jackson and passes to Chandler in the seam (if that's what it's about). These public dust ups between Bills leadership figures are very odd given today's "media is everywhere" world.

I'm of the opinion that Manuel had a good season last year considering he was a "boom/bust" raw rookie QB being coached by a rookie HC and OC. I remember this board discussing that Manuel would have ups and downs and that's exactly the kind of season he had in 2013. Yet he gets the JP Losman treatment here. Fans talk about him as if he already looks like a bust. I guess he didn't have that one "lights out", 4 TD game in 2013 so maybe that's where the heavy negativity comes from. What Manuel did show was the ability to perform from under pressure like in the Panther and Atlanta games. I'll take that over the 4 TD blowout performance any day. What I want to see in 2014 is Manuel being allowed by his coaches to throw the ball downfield, challenge DBs, and yes, allowed to throw occasional interceptions forcing the issue like Kelly did when he was a gunslinger. Manuel will not get to the next level until he can connect on a somewhat consistent basis with Watkins, Williams and Woods deep. Consistent enough that defenses are scared of getting burned deep. The sooner this happens, the sooner the running game will open up, the sooner this offense becomes feared and the sooner we can start talking about the Bills making a trip back to the playoffs.

I think Manuel will be just fine if his coaches allow him to go through some growing pains, allowed him to throw deep into tight coverage, and allow him the room to throw a few interceptions without reprimand. The only way he becomes a good to great franchise QB is if he gets comfortable throwing and completing the deep ball to Watkins, Williams and Woods. That's when this whole team turns the corner and reaches a new level in the NFL. I really hope that Marrone gives Manuel the breathing room to play without fear. Hackett's recent interview tells me that they might not. That will be their downfall because it seems Manuel already has the propensity to try to be too perfect. Manuel and his coaches need to loosen up. I'd like to hear what Kelly would have said to Hackett if he instructed him to just take what the defense gives you.

Some fans seem to thrive on having a never-ending drama. Like it's addictive or something. What's made it worse is that this training camp/pre-season has been almost two weeks longer than the normal length. I get having apprehension about Manuel's franchise QB prospects or Marrone's abilities as a HC, but there's been an awful lot of definitive negative statements made about a team which has not even played a real game yet. I could never be this way at the beginning of a season because it would literally suck the life out of something I love so much. I seriously still have optimism that the planets are aligning once more, that EJ Manuel will stabilize the QB position this season, that this will be a top 5 defense and that this team will earn a wildcard playoff spot in a weak AFC conference. My main concern is that Hackett is hindering Manuel's progress, but even that concern won't be answered till a few games in.

They might as well do what the Colts did a few years ago and suck for the top pick in 2015. Sanchez will win enough games that they'd put probably put themselves out of position. Either that or (ironically enough) ask what I'd take to get RGIII...LOL

Because teams want to win that first game very badly and even one play held back for that first game can result in a touchdown or put the team in position to score a touchdown. If the Bills have a 7-0 lead on Chicago early on, the whole "easy win" feeling of the Bears could turn into that team pressing and making mistakes. Now having said that, I think Marrone and Hackett did this offense a disservice for going overboard on this preseason "vanilla" play calling model. You have to give your QB/team confidence and let them have a few easy big plays in preseason by expanding the play book a little bit. I'm very interested to see the play calling in that first game. It had better be an aggressive game plan IMO, or the Bills won't win. You need to quickly throw points on the board on the road to rattle the home team.

The problem may be their coaching and not EJ himself. Did you not see the 180 turnaround in Manuel's performance in the second half? I think the Marrone and Hackett got scared and finally told Manuel that they are letting it rip. It was night and day and yes, part of it was that the second string was out there, but there was also an obvious serious attitude change which IMO was the main reason for the drastic turnaround. You need to consider the possibility that the majority of Manuel's struggles are because his coaches are too conservative for today's NFL.

I posted in the Hackett thread that Manuel's progress is being impeded by his OC. Hackett said in an interview on buffalobills.com that Manuel tries to hard to be perfect and then two seconds later he says that he wants EJ to take what the defense gives him and that he never wants him to force it downfield because they never want interceptions. That is stupid advice. Marrone needs to tell Hackett he's fired if he doesn't change this philosophy or if this is Marrone's philosophy he should resign and let Schwartz take over. That's a coach who had no problem letting his QB chuck the ball downfield. I don't care if it was Tampa's second stringers, Manuel looked lightyears better in the second half and the main part was because there was a change in the OC's philosophy because fear took over for his job. I'm officially worried that Marrone and Hackett are in over their heads. I think that first half blahs were all on the overly conservative coaching philosophy. These guys had better get their act together quickly because there's a head coach in waiting here for Doug Whaley to throw a "Hail Mary" to since his job currently rests with Marrone's success or failure.

I just watched the Hackett interview and it was both sickening and frightening. He actually verbally stated "we just want to take what the defense gives us". That's not out of context to make him look bad because as you watch he was gleefully extolling the virtues of checking down and not forcing the issue in fear of EJ throwing interceptions. Yet they wonder why Manuel thinks he has to be perfect all the time???? I'm officially worried that we are screwed with Hackett this season. If this is truly Hackett's philosophy that he's going to take for the 2014 season then Marrone should fire him right now because Manuel is toast which in turn means that Marrone will be toast. Bill Parcells once told Phil Simms that if you aren't throwing interceptions then you're a worthless QB because you're not ballsy enough to become a great QB. You're basically being a kitty cat. What we have is an OC who is gleeful with pride when his QB checks down and takes what the defense is giving him. Because we have Jackson and Dixon and Spiller who can run after the catch! How many times did that happen last year 5 times? You can not be a successful QB (or a successful team for that matter) in this league if you refuse to challenge a defense with the deep ball on a consistent basis. Here's the interview,. If you want to feel sick start watching at the 2:25 mark... http://www.buffalobills.com/video/videos/Nathaniel_Hackett_on_OLine_and_the_Red_Zone/32e57e61-a6bd-442d-b9f2-924b9fd287ce

I have one general concern with this team and that's attitude. I'm not talking about them having bad attitudes, just that the team that we all root for has lacked a "pulse" so to speak. This season rests on whether Marrone can get them to consistently play with a "take no prisoners" attitude. I think we're all tired of the never-ending trend of slow starts. This team needs to fire out of the gate beginning with Chicago where I hope that Hackett comes out with a "guns-a-blazin'" mind set. Forget Chandler and Jackson...go Williams, Watkins, Woods and Spiller and try to throw 14 points up on the board before the Bears know what happened. A "take no prisoners" attitude from the opening kickoff is what's been lacking more than anything else IMO. They now have the horses to do this, so do it.

I don't put much stock in preseason games, but this result oddly does make me feel a little more optimistic about the Bills pulling out a surprise win in that first game against the Bears. Well, it does as long as the Bills starters aren't blown out by the Bucs tonight...LOL

It's funny when you read this board and then watch the game. These guys practiced against each other for a few days so IMO there was even less of a real game feel than in your average preseason game. I'm sure that after getting to know each other, the starters were even more conscious of not wanting to hurt each other out there. That's why preseason is so maddening, because fans on message boards are trying to come to rock solid conclusions based on games where guys are trying to look good while avoiding injury. Coaches are trying to call plays while not giving away anything real to their first couple of opponents. They should call it the silly season. My one take from the game was that is was promising seeing Manuel drop back, look to the left to fake the deep cover guy and then hit Woods on a 15 yard out pass to the right on a ball thrown before Woods made his break. This is what separates the franchise QBs from the journeyman QBs. I saw him do this a couple of other times as well. The more comfortable he gets at doing this, the quicker he will become a true franchise QB.

I didn't read any "Bills will win" predictions in this thread. If there were, there were only a few. Your daring people to bet you makes it seem like the board was full of homers predicting them winning. I didn't read that here, I read replys from fans who thought the Bills would play them tough. So in fairness to this thread, why don’t you take bets giving the Bills the 6-6.5 points?

As long as EJ Manuel is considered a "work in progress" QB, the Bills will always be underdogs to teams that have well-established franchise QBs like the Bears have in Jay Cutler. I take no offense as long as the opinion isn't a prediction of the Bears blowing out the Bills. I'm very glad that the first Bills game is a non-conference road game against an opponent who's favored to win. IMO, this is about as "no pressure" of a situation as it gets in the NFL and it's one that's ripe for an upset. I really hope that Manuel plays well in Chicago and we fans can finally start sensing a real turnaround of this franchise.

I think that pass to Watkins was one of the first passes of the game for Manuel and you have to account that there's always some jitters at the beginning of games. Manuel quickly calmed down after that (probably relieved Watkins got his first NFL pass) and actually appeared comfortable the rest of his time in the game. One thing that Manuel looks to be realizing (through coaching?) is that you have to become comfortable in the pocket, stop trying so hard to be perfect, and you have to take chances if you want to bring your game up to the next level. Manuel was throwing into coverage people! This is a huge step IMO. Bill Parcels once told Phil Simms way back when, "when he's covered he's really open". Meaning that you must take chances in this league or you'll never make it. But you also have to know when the defense has you and take your sack instead of just winging it out there. There are acceptable interceptions where your QB was taking a chance and trusting his receiver and then there's bad interceptions like the one McCown under pressure threw last night to the Jags for the pick six.

Focus has been a huge issue. The Bills 2013 season was done in by not 1 but 2 clear cut "lack of focus" issues. Stevie's and Chandler's ridiculous drops at the end of that Atlanta game were the final crushing blows to last season. It was so crushing that the Bills entire team was not focused for the Tampa game the following week. Those two Bill vets really screwed over the team and the rookie QB Manuel's progress.

That's good news. It shows that they are expanding the playbook and packages which will make it harder for defenses to prepare for the Bills. It will make them worry about having to cover the whole horizontal field near the line of scrimmage, yet still defend the vertical with the possibility of a play action pass with EJ going over the top to Watkins.

This week Chip Kelly was talking about using McCoy and Sproles at the same time in some packages. I really wish the Bills would have a package with Jackson and Spiller. It would give defenses an extra thing to practice against and it would shorten their time working against the normal formations in practice. The Bills have the RBs to do this and be successful with it. I'd even think of running some plays with Watkins taking wildcat snaps for possible use in goal line situations.

Social media + NFL preseason = absurdity EJ Manuel's "here and there" struggles during this training camp possibly could be due in large part because he happens to be going against one of the best front four (and possibly defensively overall) in the entire league. So I really don't mind that he's struggling at times because the coaches can help him correct any glaring mistakes while this is all just practice. Think of how confident he'll be if he starts to light up our defense going into the season. He'll know that any team he faces won't be much better than what he's been facing all training camp. This instant judging from "play by play" tweets stuff is ridiculous. Because if Manuel and the Bills offense lights up the Bears on opening day, a month and a half worth of board hand wringing melts away in three short hours. It would be the same thing if Manuel was playing "off the hook" in practice and falling flat on his face in the Chicago game. Nothing matters except for what he does in that first game. You can feel good or bad reading about his performance practices, but in the end, it's meaningless. Have fun reading about it, but let's put training camp in perspective. Trent Edwards was a great practice QB. I imagine if twitter were around a few years ago, many here would have predicted the Bills going to the Superbowl...LOL

I think that EJ needs to develop that quick "side step" that guys like Rothlesberger and Brady use all the time. That extra time kills defenses, especially if you have the skilled "take it to the house" players the Bills have. With EJ's long stride, he should (and hopefully will) be able to develop that side step move. Yes, take the opportunities and run with it when there's a big open space in front of you. But I think he should pattern his game after Rothlesberger (which I believe that EJ said was a big influence in his style of game).

Seeing the old Bills at the HOF ceremonies made me think back to the attitude that those Kelly and Co. teams had, even in their early formative years. The one word that kept coming to my mind was “urgency”. They had that urgent desire to win, and win NOW. They probably all looked round the locker room and saw that they finally had the players to “wreck” the league. Thus they were all about making their mark as quickly as possible. Today, I look at the Bills roster and I see the same kind of talent that could “wreck” the league. Unfortunately, this is where the discussion goes straight back to EJ Manuel. If he can somehow quickly get it together and become our Nick Foles (an afterthought 2nd year QB who thrived in his second year in a QB friendly offense), then this team will finally make the playoffs and would even have a chance to make the 2014 Superbowl given that the AFC is truly a weak conference. This was the case back in the Superbowl years. The apprehension regarding EJ Manuel is palpable. We all know this team looks like a playoff team if he performs well this season. Sorry, but to me preseason gives me no indication of how he’ll do since the biggest key to his preseason is not to get hurt. I just hope that a veteran like Fred Jackson or Eric Wood will pull EJ aside at some point and let him know that failure is not an option. He doesn’t have to look like a perfect QB, just be a QB who can do whatever it takes to win the game. Don’t be afraid to throw into coverage. Don’t be afraid to throw interceptions. It’s ok because the great gunslingers like Kelly and Favre knew they would get that one right back with the crazy “take it to the house” talent their teams had. Bills nation has been waiting 2 long decades for a winner again and the time really should be now. Show the urgency that team of HOFers showed way back when, starting with doing whatever it takes to beat a very good Bears team on the road.

The interesting thing about this team and this season is that there really will be no excuses for Manuel not to perform well. They have a very good set of WRs and this league is set up for even average QBs like Andy Dalton to have success. Add in the fact that there will be a new owner soon who's not tied to Marrone and Manuel possibly only gets a half season window to get it together. If I were Marrone, I might even tell Manuel that my trust in you doesn't necessarily last past the midseason point if things aren't fully clicking by then. If you apply that pressure now, maybe EJ makes sure that the offense looks real good in that first game in Chicago. This isn't about last night's game, just a general observation with regards to the QB question mark situation.

The only thing about WFAN is that they LOVE talking Mets/Yankees baseball and the football talk is very rare during the offseason. In Philly, NFL football is the king.

I've tried listening to local Buffalo radio online and that Schopp/Bulldog show is easily one of the worst sports radio shows I've ever listened to. All I remember is that they threw out a question of the day, then they would say "I don't know" a lot, then instead of providing intelligent analysis, they would try making a big bold statement meant to antagonize Bills fans. I don't know why any Bills fan would put themselves through something like that. Aggravation for the sake of aggravation is not appealing to me. I listen to Philly's 97.5 The Fanatic mostly since they love talking about football even when it's off season. Most of their hosts are passionate intelligent fans of football. The Bills will have a legitimate shot of winning the Bears game because they have the defense to make it a close, last possession game. Schopps "bold" statement was just plain stupid and seems like something that was said to get Bills fans heated.

I think that the offensive system that Bills will be using will go a long way in negating the concerns about Manuel in this article and by many fans here at TSW. The NFL is changing and the modern QB position is no longer about needing that all-pro franchise QB like Brady, Manning or Brees. Look around the league...the only young, "old school" franchise QB model is Andrew Luck. Who's next? Aaron Rodgers? He's 30 right now. The league is going to the college, fast break offensive systems, which I think Manuel can run effectively enough to make the Bills a consistent playoff team the next few years. The key is having the skill position talent around the QB running the system. EJ clearly has that in place. Is Manuel good enough to win the Bills a Superbowl once they get in the playoffs? I think he just may have that big game "gene" given his 4-0 bowl record in college. But we won't know until he gets there. I think that fans need to see what the Bills offense as a whole looks like once they start playing real games. I think the Bills might have one of the most explosive offenses in the league this year. It would probably do fans good to stop pining away for Brady, Manning or Luck type QBs. They don't make them like that anymore in the modern college game so you may be chasing a ghost. In the future, QBs may eventually become as interchangeable as RBs. In that they would all do the same thing and at almost the same success rate.