Maddog69

The stats are what they are. Every team can say "well that one was a fumble". They all count. With Orton at QB, the Bills have improved slightly in Redzone efficiency but are still near the bottom of the league. It is a problem that is not sole a QB issue.

Exactly. There are a ton of stupid posts from people that have thousands and thousands of posts. Those folks just seem to band together to bully and name call anybody with a dissenting opinion.

High profile QBs don't hit free agency all that often. If you're trying to say that's the Bills plan, that a desperate argument. "Hey lets trade a bunch of picks to get a good WR in the draft so in a year or two we can sign Tom Brady". LOL. They've bottomed out repeatedly. They had several top 10 picks. They just haven't been lucky enough to get a franchise QB with one of them. We did get Dareus, who is awesome. We also got Spiller and Leodis (mixed opinions). Oh, and Sammy. He looks like a good one if he can stay healthy (??)

I agree.Nothing against Orton but this team as a whole is not good enough to be a playoff team. Never were. I'd rather have EJ playing and getting experience. Many on this board have already decided that he sucks. I haven't and I know others haven't. I ridiculous defense of Orton is more about a hatred for EJ than a true liking or Orton. Orton is a 31 year old journeyman. He is what he is. He's Ryan Fitzpatrick or Kelly Holcomb. The Bills should be developing EJ. The problem is that Marrone and Whalley are trying to get to 8-8 to try to save their jobs. They are playing for the short term rather than doing what is in the long term interest of the Bills. And don't try to tell me that Orton is far superior to EJ. It just isn't true. Is he better, ABSOLUTELY. He has 10 years of experience. He should be better. Does he have upside, NO. Does EJ have upside, I believe he does. Many here don't. EJ was 2-2 as s starter this year. Orton is 3-2. I believe EJ would have the same record as Orton although I have no way of proving that. At worst, I think EJ would be 2-3. This is strictly my opinion. I'm not arguing that EJ is better than Orton right now. I'm saying that we are not talking about benching Peyton Manning and playing EJ. Orton is fine, he's just not good enough. He showed it yesterday. Lots of chances to win the game and he choked. Bad decisions, locked onto covered receivers, bad throws, stands in the pocket like a statue. Cannot get any yards at all when scrambling. 0-4 in the redzone. Marrone talked about "production at the position" as the reason to bench EJ. Well, he's not getting that with Orton.

Isn't it sad that this is what the Bills have forced us into over the last decade and a half. Picking through a pile of crap to find the piece of poop that stinks the least?

and don't forget, if Detroit had a kicker we are 4-5

It means what you think it means. Pegula comes in and hires a football guy to run the team (not Polian specifically but someone like that). Whether it is Bill Cowher or someone else. Then you build from there. Let's use Cowher as a hypothetical. Cowher becomes HC with full authority on the Roster. He decides of Whalley stays as GM or he brings in a GM he can work with (Like Andy Reid did on KC). Then Cowher build the roster. If they means trades, signing, etc then so be it. But I have no confidence that Marrone is going to get it done. So I hate to waste any more time. I want a championship. I don't want to squeak into the playoffs. 9-7 or 10-6 every year is not good enough (all though it would be a big improvement over what we've had). Like I said, I don't believe that the team we have and coaches we have will get beyond that level. Maybe I'm wrong.

I like Watkins and believe he will be a great player for the Bills, I still have a hard time with the high price it took to get him in terms of picks traded to acquire the choice used on Sammy. While this type of move might make sense for a team like Atlanta when they did it for Julio Jones because they had all of the other pieces, the Bills are not there. At the time of the move, I felt it was very risky especially with all of the question marks around EJ. Fast forward to now and it is even more questionable because EJ has not taken any steps forward and it appears we are back to square 1 at QB. Like I said, I'm not arguing about how good Sammy is or whether he deserved to be picked where he was. I just believe the Bills may have made the wrong choice. Hopefully we get lucky and are able to find a QB out of nowhere otherwise Sammy's greatness might be squandered. well, they do have a few Lombardi trophys (*none since they got caught cheating, though. Had to add that)

With Orton, we are up a bit. 47.36% (9/19). Which would make us 26th in the league in Red Zone efficiency. So, yes, even with the almighty Kyle Orton, we SUCK in the red zone. Red Zone Stats: KC: 0-4 NYJ: 4-6 Min: 1-3 Pats: 3-3 Lions: 1-3

I disagree with the OP's assessment of this game. We did not dominate this game. We scored 13 points. That's not going to win many games. The Defense played a very good game. The made a couple mistakes which allowed KC to win the game. That being said, holding any NFL team to 17 points is solid especially with the turnover deep in our end by McKelvin. Lets not exaggerate though. This is a mediocre team. We have a good defense and a middling offense. Orton missed several throws, we had some questionable playcalling and a huge fumble by Brown. All in all, we played OK. Certainly not well enough to win. And certainly not good enough to compete with any of the better teams in the NFL on a regular basis.

If we miss the playoffs, I want Pegula to blow it up and start over.

I will be very surprised and impressed if they Bills find a way to go into Miami and win this game. Like some others have said, I don't have a good feeling about it. Just like most games, turnovers will be very important.

Per Jeremy White on GR this morning, the QB sneak works close to 87% of the time when you need a yard or less. They also said that at one point, Tom Brady was successful with the sneak 58 consecutive times. Yet, Marrone never uses it.

What Happens? Some goofball comes on TBD and chastising everyone for being so negative and says crap like, "It's a long season" and "Other teams lose too"

I guess it depends on your definition of Long term. Mine: 5 or more years with a goal of winning a championship (or several) I don't believe KO is capable of meeting either of those requirements. He is the answer for the immediate and short term future. He is good. He is the benchmark. When another QB is available to start for us that is better, then KO is no longer the answer.

Nope. Stats don't always equal wins. He could put up a ton of stats in games we get killed in.

That game really did a lot to crush my optimism. Not necessarily the fact that we lost but just how pathetic it was. We were destroyed. It said to me that we are not ready to compete with the better teams in the league. I can't help but feel that even if we can get into the playoffs, we would get smoked in Rd1 anyway. I would be excited to be back in the playoffs, but the bar is so low at this point. It is possible the Bills can go 5-3 and get in the playoffs. Sadly, it also would not shock my one bit if they went 2-6.

I don't agree with this assessment. They are smart, shrewd business people with many connections inside and outside of the sports world. They will fully examine the Bills and the NFL and will undoubtedly consult with a large number of people as they build their plan for the future of the Bills. The won't simply "go with what Russ wants". I expect him to hire some consultants and outside executives like he has done with the Sabres (Craig Patrick, Sawyer, Ted Black, Cliff Benson, Lafontaine, Joe Battista). That's not to say that immediate changes will be forthcoming. But I do believe that everything will be examined and all options will be on the table. They won't just say "Well, we won 9 games, all is good"

I'm taking the Bills in a blowout. 34-13 Not sure why. But that's my guess.

Not really. Success is built over time. Teams generally don't just show up out of nowhere and perform well.The Bills have yet to show they have become a playoff team, in my opinion. There are 8 more games left for them to show it. In a funny way, the next 8 weeks are almost like playoffs for the Bills. Its an 8 game playoff series and they needs to win 5 of 8 games.

Not that hard to figure out. The Bills have been bad for 14 years. The second half of the season is when the pretenders are separated from the contenders and the Bills always fall into the pretender category. This year may be different, but I don't think it will. I don't have faith in our O-Line or our running game. We scored a few victories against crappy teams. I sat in my seats at RWS and watched the Bills get destroyed by New England. The game was not close. It was downright embarrassing. That tells me we are not yet a playoff team. Hopefully things continue to come together and we hit our stride down the stretch. But I am not expecting it.

I have to say I would not be surprised if the Bills went 2-6 or 6-2 in the next 8 games (or anywhere in between). It is very possible for them to win 5 games and get into the playoffs. But 14 years of history has me thinking they will come up short. I'm thinking 3-5 down the stretch and finish 8-8. But we shall see how it plays out. Can't wait.

We need to win 3 of 4 at home and split the 4 road games. Very possible.

If we lose the next two, our season is over before December. I think we need to win all 4 of the next games to have a shot at playoffs. I've said before, I don't expect us to beat NE, GB or Denver so these 4 (or atleast 3 out of 4) are crucial.

At least it's not a home game. They should just move the Jags to London.