MDH

Hah, this was my initial thought as well.

I think he covers this with his "unrealistic expectations" comment.

I'm guessing he could coach them up into allowing 127 rushing yards per game (26th in the league), allowing 4.3 per attempt (22nd) and having 3rd downs converted at a rate of 39% (18th.) All this while being hit for 98 penalties (26th) for 863 yards (28th.) DOMINATION!!

I'd say Cordy Glenn is playing at a really high level, better than most people expected. PFF has him rated as the 7th best tackle in the league this year. That's a pretty nice improvement over last year where he wasn't nearly as consistent. And of course the offensive players are going to have down years with the inconsistency at the QB position. How could they not? I also find it laughable how much credit Pettine gets. Yeah, I like sacks and INTs too but all those guys who are "over-performing" on D are also allowing big 3rd downs to be converted (which pretty much negates the sack) and teams to run all over them. Somehow when guys get sacks and INTs all their miscues are immediately forgiven.

This is simply false. Lewis was more consistent but his level of play was never very high. People complain about Manuel going to his check down too quickly yet in each of Lewis' games his YPA was in the 6s (6.00, 6.31, 6.75.) That's not a good number and one he was consistently around. I'm not a huge believer in stats telling the entire story but YPA is about as good of an indicator for a QB as you can get. Contrast this with EJ who is less consistent but also prone to much better days. EJ had some horrible games where he averaged in the 5s yet he also had some good days where he was in the 7s and twice in the 8s. In the Bills wins EJ has a completion percentage of 65%, YPA of almost 8 and a rating of 92.8. This is what you want from your QB, driving the ball down field and completing a good percentage of them. It's also what people said they wanted to see from EJ and they could forgive the inconsistencies of the QB if he showed flashes. Well, he has shown flashes,some people just don't want to acknowledge them. The only way for him to be more consistent is for him to get more playing time. To me what these stats show that it's QB play that's basically determining the game. When EJ plays well the Bills win and when he doesn't they lose. Any time his YPA number was over 7 the Bills won (even if his completion % wasn't good.) This shows me that if he can get the game to slow down he is very capable of playing well enough for the Bills to win. It's a matter of consistency. If plays more consistent he'll be the answer but if he never gets there (and some guys just don't) the Bills will need to look again - but they need to find out before they move on and he needs to play for them to find out.

I have no clue why a team with so many young signal callers and no vet to mentor them doesn't have a QB coach.

I paused the vid right as he hit him. Byrd's head is at Glennon's butt, his shoulder is mid thigh and his hands are wrapped around his knees. This is the type of hit that is usually deemed textbook. He wrapped him up low and hit him towards the midsection. If this is the type of hit the NFL deems "illegal" I'm not sure what the D can do. They flag them for this type of tackle, a hand accidentally hitting the head, driving a guy to the ground, hitting anywhere near the shoulder pads and head. They expect these guys to be able to hit a perfect spot right in the midsection as 300+ pound guys are blocking them, they're trying to keep their balance and the QB is running away. It's just not possible.

More recently Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, Carson Palmer, Jay Cutler (or Josh McCown) and Alex Smith. Say what you will about some of these guys but none of them was drafted by their current teams and all those teams are either in the playoffs or competing for a playoff spot. With the right pieces in place a team can be successful with a solid vet and with the impatience of Bills fans it's probably the best way to proceed in terms of giving EJ competition instead of drafting another QB.

You notice in Seattle's scenario they didn't bring in a bunch of rookies who all needed snaps and game time to get to an acceptable level. They brought in a bunch of vets and drafted Wilson. It looks smart in the end because Wilson has turned into a top flight QB while riding a dominant D and running game in his first few seasons. One could look at the Bills and say they did the same thing as Seattle. They brought in Kolb, Leinart, Lewis, drafted EJ, picked up a rookie prospect in Tuel and took a shot at signing Alex Smith. The difference here is that none of them have produced on the field yet. I have no doubt they'll bring in somebody else next year, either a rookie they draft (though not in the first round) or another vet. All the while EJ will be getting live reps. Personally I just don't think brining in another 1st round pick is the answer. Both guys need reps and live action to get to the point where they need and only one of them is going to get it. Along the way that guy is going to make all kinds of mistakes - it's what rookies do. If you have a QB who is looking over his shoulder he's not going to be confident and he's going to be afraid of making mistakes and those mistakes, like it or not, are what enable QBs to get better. In any facet of life it's the mistakes that you learn from. Get two QBs on the roster who aren't getting the reps they need and are afraid of making mistakes when they do get reps and it's a recipe for neither guy developing. And then what do you do, turn around and draft another QB in the 1st because those guys aren't panning out? There's a reason NFL guys do it the way they do and not the way impatient fans on this board are clamoring for.

I'm not sure I'd label him as a scapegoat. SJ goes out of his way to bring attention to himself so it's only natural that when he has bad plays that are impactful on games that the attention is going to turn negative. You don't see Chandler getting all the negative attention that Stevie has and his fumble was just about as big.

I said Dareus would be a pro bowler in the pre season predictions thread. I also never claimed that Goodwin wasn't any better than Graham.

I'd love to see someone put together a video compilation of all the questionable calls that favored the Pats at the end of games that resulted in them winning. In the past 5 seasons alone it seems like there are at least a dozen.

I find it interesting in these 22 breakdowns that it seems like at least half of the Bills WRs run go routes on just about every play broken down. They rarely break off their routes even when the D sends too many guys to block. That's not a recipe for success with a young QB who is in panic mode after getting pressured all day. Hacket didn't do the offense any favors by not running quick routes, screens, bubble screens, etc to take advantage of a D who was pinning their ears back. It also looks like on a number of plays that it's the WRs who aren't making good decisions. Not breaking off routes on blitzes, not running the right route or not knowing what play is being run. It was a giant clusterF*ck from QB, to WR to OL. Perhaps it wasn't the best recipe for success to have a rookie QB playing with so many young WRs. There are just too many opportunities for breakdowns. The funny thing is that they seem to be getting worse, not better. I guess that's why Marrone said they're going to scale things back as the O just isn't capable of running a more complex offense at this point.

Yeah, they're started because it's not possible to know 10 games in if they'll ever "get it." They have to play. So go ahead and think you're a QB guru because you want to move on from every rookie QB who struggles early but the fact is you don't have a clue. Any blind man could predict that every QB coming into the NFL will not be good and be right most of the time - it doesn't mean they have any idea what they're talking about. If NFL men had the patience of fans you'd never see a QB develop.

Reading comprehension is not your forte. I didn't say it never happens or couldn't happen. I said odds are it doesn't. More often than not these days guys pull up and don't blast WRs coming over the middle. Yeah, it still happens and you'll almost always get the penalty when it does. There are the exceptions obviously. Leave it to people on this board to point to the exceptions and act like they're the norm.

I admire Brady and Belichick as well. They're two of the best at their respected positions in the history of the NFL. There's something to witnessing greatness. That being said, I hate them both because they've destroyed the Bills for the duration of their careers. I don't need to create some rationalization for my dislike of them and degrade to calling them names. I simply hate them because they dominate the division the Bills are in and I'm tired of it. Oh, and just because I admire the job Belichick has done doesn't mean that it's a bunch of f'in bulls&*t that they continuously get calls at the end of games.

In the modern NFL there's no excuse for alligator arms as they've outlawed those type of hits. Sure the guy might hammer you anyway but the odds are against it. I've defended Stevie for years but I've just about had enough of him. He's the type of player that kills losing teams. He's a selfish guy who doesn't lay it all on the line and runs his mouth in the process. On a winning team those can all be overlooked because of his production. On a losing team is exacerbates all the other issues plaguing the team.

Not only that, they've made the playoffs two years in a row after finishing 1-15 and drafting Luck. I wish the Bills were so doomed.

You couldn't be more wrong. That's not what accountability means at all.

Except he can throw. I've seen him throw beautiful balls with accuracy when he's standing back in the pocket with confidence. A lot of the problems with his footwork come when he feels rushed whether imagined or real. When this happens he rushes through his throwing motion and his footwork goes to hell. At some point he'll start to get it and things will slow down for him. It will be at that point the Bills will know what they've got. Unfortunately for impatient fans the only way to get to that point is the play. The Bills would be idiotic to move on from him before they get to that point.

This didn't sound right so I did a quick search and the most recent report I got was from before the season began with "projected" starters. According to this list the Bills field the 5th youngest starting roster in the NFL. http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/77416/average-age-rankings-for-projected-starters Nonetheless you point holds. This team does have plenty of vets who have grown accustomed to losing. Hopefully it doesn't rub off on the young players.

Anthony Barr is the guy I want. Bills likely won't draft high enough to grab him but he's going to be a beast at the next level.

I find all these by fans who know more than the coaching staff and front office really interesting. It's amazing how many of you guys just know he has no chance of being good while a coaching staff with a lifetime of experience just can't see the game the way you geniuses see it. There's a reason they give these guys time. It's because it's tough to weed out the bad ones after just a few starts because the good ones also generally look like crap early in their careers. So while you might end up being right that he'll end up not being good you'd also throw away a lot of talented QBs who started out slowly.

It's such a joke. This game pisses me off more than the Bills debacle. Every single week they get calls that help them win. It's ridiculous.

How is that not a flag? He slid...