Maddog69

this

he did have a scramble for a TD this year. and I think had one last year too.Just sayin...

Just a thought. Could it be that EJ has a tough time against SD and Houston because they both have good defenses and our OL struggled mightily? Is it regression or simply having a bad game? Orton seems to be struggling with 10yrs of regression punctuated by a decent game or two here and there.

My opinion is that the people who constantly bash EJ are either stupid or just trolling for responses from sensible people who realize that EJ is a young, inexperienced QB who was forced into starting before he was ready and was playing behind a very poor offensive line with a questionable Offensive coordinator. Yet he still put up relatively similar results to the 10yr vet who replaced him and gave the Bills a "better chance to win".

Pittsburgh has both of their remaining games at home. That has to work in their favor. I was at the game yesterday and will tell you that, with the exception of a few plays, Orton had time to make decent throws. They really were not throwing downfield, so he only needs a couple of seconds. On most throws he was untouched and just rushed throws or simply was off target. I will be interested to see the "Kyle Orton unforced errors" thread to see if his research backs up what I saw.

Did Gay get injured yesterday? I saw a suggestion from Joe Buscaglia (WGR) on Twitter that Gay was a candidate for IR to open a spot for Spiller on the roster. I wouldn't think the NFL wants teams placing uninjured players on INJURED reserve.

It would be nice for the offense to get some success, confidence and momentum this week.

Thad did a surprisingly decent job for us last year under difficult conditions. I wish him well. Plus if he could help Houston beat Baltimore, it would really help us.

Could also be part of the overall plan not to overload a rookie.

A good QB would make our OL look much better

I wonder if there would still be so much hatred for the play calling if Orton could throw a catchable ball once in a while.

NFL has way too many stupid rules.

Yep. KC is looming large. It was clearly there for the taking. Bryce Brown fumble at the goal line was HUGE. Orton missing on numerous open targets in the red zone was the killer. Make just one good throw and we are in control of our own destiny right now. (The EJ interception to JJ Watt in the Houston game was also a huge blow. But that was more of a phenomenal play by Watts than anything else).

Was at the game and missed it. Just watched the YouTube. That was awesome.

The offense is Marrone's. Everyone bashes Hackett but I would put just as much (if not more) blame on Marrone. As far as physicality, that's on defense and credit would go to Schwartz and Pepper Johnson. It would be interesting if there is a rift between Marrone and Whalley to see Marrone/Hackett gone. Schwartz HC, Pepper DC and bring in a OC. We might get the best of both worlds. Continuity on D and a competent offense.

Most of the Packers "Fans" I ran into were not from Green Bay. They were Canadian. And none of them were die hard, life long fans. They were front runners. In fact, the guy behind me had on a Packers jersey (obviously Brand New), with a Seahawks winter hat. And then he proceeded to tell me how the Patriots* are his favorite team. LOL.

No Offense but I am calling B.S. There is no way Doug Marrone's wife mooned anybody at the stadium.

Yes, that's the point. The layout of the schedule leads to the perceived "relevance".

OK. Use logic for a minute and look at my point. And give me some leeway here for a minute because I know a bunch of you think we are the best team in the world and won't lose. But, play along. I am assuming that we will lose to NE and GB (because I believe they are superior teams. Sure, its possible we might win, but play along_. I am also assuming we beat Oakland (because I believe they are an inferior team. Sure, we could lose, they play well at home lately. But again, play along. Assuming we finish at 8-8. Now, flip flop the dates of the NE, GB and Denver games with the Jets (2 games) and Browns game. We would have entered December with the same exact team but a record of 4-8 instead of 7-5. The point I am making is that this team is mediocre. They are not "Relevant" as someone stated earlier. Though they are not mathematically eliminated, most rational people don't realistically believe they have a chance to make the playoffs. They benefitted from the schedule layout. In fact, the layout of the schedule might save Doug Marrone's job. If they would have gotten to Dec 1 at 4-8 with some ugly losses, Dougy could have already been fired. In any event, carry on with your plans for watching the Bills in the playoffs. You should invite Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy to your playoff party.

How'd we do against them? NE is the only really Good team of the 3 and we lost. At home. We also lost to KC, at home. We beat Detroit because of multiple missed FGs. My original point is very valid whether you want to accept it or not. Same reason that Ted Black has a weekly show. Both are good interviews and interact well with fans.

I would love to have to face that reality. But I just don't see it happening.

Think of it this way. You think they were relevant because they were 7-5 heading into December? How would you feel if their schedule had simply been rearranged so that their 3 toughest games were earlier in the year instead of December and we came to December at 5-7? I'm sure you'd feel differently than you do now? The Bills relevancy is only because of the way the schedule was structured. But I'm sure you would have been all giddy when they won 3 of the last 4 games against cream puffs to finish 8-8.

being mathematically alive does not make them relevant. Beating mediocre teams like KC at home, beating team's like GB and NE* and getting into the playoffs makes them relevant.

It really is impossible to know. EJ was 2-2 this year. He has 4 4th qtr or OT game winning drives in 14 starts. He very well could have led that drive and may or may not have needed to in the first place. I don't see any reason to believe our record would be any different with EJ vs Orton. But even if I give Orton one extra win, is 8-8 that much better than 7-9 with a true answer as to whether EJ should continue with development or a new, young QB is needed?

I agree with your post for the most part. My argument has always been that EJ Manuel was blamed for all of the problems of the offense and EJ was benched in favor of Orton, who was supposed to provide "production at the position". In my opinion it should have been plainly obvious that Orton was not going to be good enough to make up for the other shortcomings you so eloquently described. The Bills put him in that position to provide false hope and to try to save Marrone's job rather than stick with developing EJ Manuel for the long term. Wouldn't the Bills organization (not specifically Marrone or Whalley) be better off if this season was used to develop young players towards the ultimate goal of building a championship team rather than the short term goal of trying to squeak out meaningless victories to ensure the employment of our current regime? I am a lifelong Bills fan and I am willing to wait another year or two for a playoff team if it means we can be a legit contender for a championship. I don't just want to be relevant. I want to be great.