A Few Thougts About The Game, in no particular order.....

[What a Tuel]

I was going to ask if you watched the game, but I don't think it would matter. Yes EJ missed throws, but his receivers cut off routes or were simply in the wrong place. The O line couldn't open anything and when we did manage a play Chandler brought it back. The D simply had no answer on 3rd down or gifted conversions with penalties. Orton is not going to see the light of day and shouldn't, he really is nothing more than a less mobile EJ. The team lost today...not one player, all 53 of them.

 

Agreed.

 

The team has to grow together, especially the receivers and the QB. EJ made a few bad passes but he also completed 23/39 and 238 yards and a TD.

 

I suggest people watch other QB's. They seem to miss the times when they make those same throws. You know, those "amazing, and athletic" catches that the QB placed right on the numbers , or the passes where they overthrow their receivers, or toss the ball out of bounds. Saw Peyton do it a few times today on critical downs.

 

I especially loved tonight, when I could be wrong (watched too many games) but I think Newton overthrew Benjamin down the sideline, and you just saw a burst of speed from Benjamin to get that ball. With the Bills receivers, it would have simply been another bad pass by EJ.

Edited September 22, 2014 by What a Tuel

[Dragonborn10]

They lost to a better team with a better veteran QB. Move on. Not sure why everyone is tearing apart the DB's with no pass rush all day. EJ made some plays. He missed some too. He is much better than last year. I doubt he will ever be terrible accurate but he is getting better. Next week he is going to run right through/over a DB instead of sliding.

[RuntheDamnBall]

 

 

Agreed.

 

The team has to grow together, especially the receivers and the QB. EJ made a few bad passes but he also completed 23/39 and 238 yards and a TD.

 

I suggest people watch other QB's. They seem to miss the times when they make those same throws. You know, those "amazing, and athletic" catches that the QB placed right on the numbers , or the passes where they overthrow their receivers, or toss the ball out of bounds. Saw Peyton do it a few times today on critical downs.

 

I especially loved tonight, when I could be wrong (watched too many games) but I think Newton overthrew Benjamin down the sideline, and you just saw a burst of speed from Benjamin to get that ball. With the Bills receivers, it would have simply been another bad pass by EJ.

Yup. The great teams have great communication, and they learn from those times when things don't go according to plan.

[thewildrabbit]

I agree with you that a quarteback's success, or lack thereof, depends on many things. Coaching, personnel, game plan, etc.

 

It takes a whole team to win, and a whole team to lose. However, we looked very bad on offense once we were down two scores.

 

Today we did not have a player at any position on offense that could "put the team on their shoulders" and carry us to victory. EJ is at fault, play calling at fault, and the O line did not help matters.

 

If only EJ looked as good as Kirk Cousins, who completed his tenth start today.

EJ needs help progressing for certain, and I just don't see how only 15 touches for the RB's vs 40 passes for that young QB helps anything. Its like Hackett went into panic mode as soon as the Bills were down by 7.

 

In regards to the bolded. Fredex led the team in catches (8), receiving yards (78), and scored the only TD. He also had only 6 rushes for 34 yards. Spiller had only 10 rushes. The play makers NEED to see the ball more often, Spiller, Jackson, Watkins.

 

So much for leading the NFL in rushing attempts this year....

 

 

 

Last year the Bills outright cut their starting LG, and his backup by week six. Is it to early in the season to want to see both OG's cut (Williams & Pears), and OC Nate Hackett replaced by Jim Hostler? I know "I" might sound crazy, yet I find myself yearning for Richie Incognito...

[KRT88]

I don't listen to the game-day opinions of Bills "fans" who live outside of WNY/CNY. I watched the game with a lot of other Buffalo Bills fans here in Syracuse.

 

this might be the stupidest comment I have ever read on this forum and that is saying something. I guess if you live to far away you missed the team meeting, film sessions and game planning.

[Alaska Darin]

I'm just so frustrated with the entire grouping of people that if EJ isn't 30-35 with 350 yards and 4 TDs and no sacks allowed that he's a bad QB

 

Yes he played badly. It's not the end of the world. Get over it. I swear some of you come across that nothing in your life can ever be good that all you wait for is the negative so I can go "see see I told you so, he sucks". Let it go!

13 starts. Shouldn't he be a Pro Bowler by now?

[26CornerBlitz]

@BuffRumblings

#HyberpoleDay is upon us in #Bills fandom. Only took 3 weeks, so that's a start.

[John Adams]

One thing to keep in mind: SD beat the Seahawks last week handily, and there's no one who things the Bills are in the same class as the Seahawks.

 

Hopefully they can regroup.

 

And of course, EJ is a young QB who we as fans will evaluate closely every week. Yesterday he was terrible but he was hardly alone. There was a sack (maybe the play before the safety?) where 3 Chargers tackled EJ and all 3 of EJ's lineman were standing there to help EJ up. Nice job line.

Edited September 22, 2014 by John Adams

[ALF]

The penalties have to be eliminated.

 

Pears and Gilmore had a rough time this game.

 

10 points is never enough , either poor play calling or execution

 

Staying this close to a very good team is worth noting.

[zow2]

On his best day, EJ is a decent NFL QB. Some people were happy with his games vs. Chicago & Miami but let's face it those were decent performances. In his poor games he is just bad and for some reason EJ's stat line always seems to show up better than his actual play. Like Tampa & Pittsburgh from last season he gets a lot of stats in garbage time.

[xsoldier54]

The people who are blaming EJ must of watched a different game than me. The offensive line opened zero holes for the running game, there was zero pass rush, and the defense gave up long ass drives. That is why we lost.

So you didn't see EJ missing wide open receivers? I agree, it wasn't all his fault. The O-Line was manhandled and Gilmore and McKelvin didn't cover all day, but EJ was really, really bad.

[JohnC]

 

 

I agree that the Chargers were trying to end the game ASAP, but the fact remains that they still had to punt 5 times. The Bills did nothing offensively. EJ couldn't scramble (or simply didn't) in the 4th.

 

I said a week ago that this offense was doomed if they had to play from behind because they simply cannot score TDs.

 

In wathching this game I got the sense that the Chargers felt that they could play it very conservatively in the second half because they were confident that Buffalo couldn't generate any offense. In the first half when the Chargers needed to make a play on third down they did. In the second half they were much more risk adverse because they knew that the Bills couldn't accomplish much on offense. It appears that their strategy was to keep the clock running so they could get back to the warm climate of the west coast.

 

When you watch qbs who are accurate and can seamlessly adjust to the pressure of the defense and compare it to our erratic and robotic qb play then it becomes apparent that until our level of qb play improves this franchise is not going anywhere, any time soon. At this point I have not made a conclusive judgment on EJ. But there are aspects to his game that I find troubling i.e. accuracy and feel for the game.

[thebandit27]

They lost to a better team with a better veteran QB. Move on. Not sure why everyone is tearing apart the DB's with no pass rush all day. EJ made some plays. He missed some too. He is much better than last year. I doubt he will ever be terrible accurate but he is getting better. Next week he is going to run right through/over a DB instead of sliding.

 

I came to this thread to see if anyone at all had any perspective.

 

Thank you.

 

So you didn't see EJ missing wide open receivers? I agree, it wasn't all his fault. The O-Line was manhandled and Gilmore and McKelvin didn't cover all day, but EJ was really, really bad.

 

McKelvin was horrible; Gilmore was targeted 5 times and gave up 3 completions all day--one of them was while he was engaged with a blocker. He struggled mightily on two run plays and that was brutal, but honestly, if we're picking on DBs it needs to start with McKelvin, who was victimized repeatedly and for huge gains, and Robey, who gave up a 49-yarder (although he was a victim of OPI that wasn't called) and was subsequently benched.

 

Buffalo's OL didn't generate enough push in the run game, which was a result of being unable to hit a few deeper throws early on. They needed to pull SD's LBs up toward the LOS and back the safeties off...never happened.

 

The biggest defensive liability of all was Preston Brown. San Diego's entire offensive game plan in the first half was to target Brown wherever he was on the field. It worked. I also noticed that they were willing to blitz in the first 3 quarters, whereas Buffalo chose not to send more than 4 pass rushers until the 4th quarter--way too late.

 

What was most concerning to me, defensively, was that we were out-coached. We had no trouble stuffing the run game, as SD's OL generated next to no push. For the 3rd consecutive game, Buffalo's run D held its ground. The issue I have is that we need to be willing to blitz on days when teams are committed to not letting our front 4 get pressure. If you give a QB like Rivers all day he's going to beat you. SD used 6 to block 4 most of the game and it worked...on the flip side, they were willing to send 5, 6, or 7 to generate pressure when they needed to, and it worked.

 

All that can be overcome if you get a great game from your QB; Buffalo didn't. Way too many missed opportunities in the passing game, and EJ is going to need to rebound quickly. The good news it that his 2 worst performances last year (@ TB and @ Pit) were generally followed up by very good games (@ Jax and vs. NYJ, respectively). He cannot afford to play that way.

 

Lastly: way, way, way too many penalties. This team needs to develop some discipline and in a hurry. Too many big plays wiped out by stupid penalties.

 

That's all for me.

[Canadian Bills Fan]

I wish Chan Gailey was our OC. No one could mask a QB's inefficiences better than him. He'd be much better for EJ than Hackett is with his ultra conservative playcalling.

 

Could not agree more.

 

He also knew how to use Spiller

 

 

 

^they did run a play with 10 men.

 

I knew we were doomed after that.

 

How do you not realize your short a man?

 

CBF

Edited September 22, 2014 by Canadian Bills Fan

[BillsVet]

The biggest defensive liability of all was Preston Brown. San Diego's entire offensive game plan in the first half was to target Brown wherever he was on the field. It worked. I also noticed that they were willing to blitz in the first 3 quarters, whereas Buffalo chose not to send more than 4 pass rushers until the 4th quarter--way too late.

 

What was most concerning to me, defensively, was that we were out-coached. We had no trouble stuffing the run game, as SD's OL generated next to no push. For the 3rd consecutive game, Buffalo's run D held its ground. The issue I have is that we need to be willing to blitz on days when teams are committed to not letting our front 4 get pressure. If you give a QB like Rivers all day he's going to beat you. SD used 6 to block 4 most of the game and it worked...on the flip side, they were willing to send 5, 6, or 7 to generate pressure when they needed to, and it worked.

 

All that can be overcome if you get a great game from your QB; Buffalo didn't. Way too many missed opportunities in the passing game, and EJ is going to need to rebound quickly. The good news it that his 2 worst performances last year (@ TB and @ Pit) were generally followed up by very good games (@ Jax and vs. NYJ, respectively). He cannot afford to play that way.

 

As the season progresses, it'll be harder for Buffalo to minimize their weaknesses. Preston Brown is getting a lot of snaps, but he's clearly a liability as a rookie. McKelvin and Gilmore are being targeted as well. Yet, the run defense is better (something Schwartz is known for).

 

Until Manuel can complete passes beyond 10 yards to receivers not wide open or standing still, every team will stack the LOS and dare him to throw it. If he doesn't, you're going to watch Captain Checkdown v2.0 until Orton replaces him.

[simpleman]

This was a team loss, including the coaching staff. Schwartz was too

conservative in the 1st half and didn¹t adjust fast enough. We needed more

pressure on Rivers, what we were doing was not working, he had too much time

to pick us apart. Our front line is a strength, use it!

Maybe we don¹t want quite the reckless abandon of Pettine, but we don¹t

want the dinosaur conservatism of a Wanny that I was seeing in Schwartz in

the 1st half. The CBs were in general horrible. The LBs had a rough game.

The OL was pathetic. Hackett does not know how to use the talent we have.

CJ is amazing in space, but useless up the middle, especially with the weak

guards we have. Create plays that get CJ in motion and in space before he

gets the ball. In motion, he can outdeke and outrun almost any defender.

Use our other bulldozer RBs up the middle instead of CJ. Use CJ right.

Learn to mask EJs weaknesses. You can¹t expect EJ to win a game for you.

I¹m not sure he will ever be that type of QB. He was bad today, but he had

horrible OL protection. It was not all EJ today. The OL affected EJs

performance, as well as crippling our run game. Figure out our guard

problems and get the talent there NOW, whatever it takes. The ones there now

are not an answer. EJ may not be the long term answer at QB, but he should

be good enough to manage the game this year if we game plan around him.

We have talented receivers, better than many teams. The plays need to be

designed to get them the ball in situations that maximize their individual

strengths.

Our kicking/punting has been a surprising bright spot. AW was a defensive

backfield standout this game.

Overall, I think that other than the OL Guard positions, we have the talent

we need in place to win some close games.

The key to this season is coaching. Planning strategies and a game plan that is designed around the

strengths of our players and using them right, putting them in the position

to succeed. NOT creating a game plan that expects the existing players to

magically adapt and change their skills to meet that game plan. And having a

coaching staff that is willing and able to adjust that game plan quickly

when it is not working.

Edited September 22, 2014 by simpleman

[Fan in Chicago]

Lastly: way, way, way too many penalties. This team needs to develop some discipline and in a hurry. Too many big plays wiped out by stupid penalties.

 

That's all for me.

 

This gets my goat as well. Going back to last season, penalties have been the one constant on this team. Many of them are inopportune penalties that kill promising or critical drives. If the coaching staff does nothing else, they need to get these down to a more acceptable number.

Edited September 22, 2014 by Fan in Chicago

[BuffaloBillsForever]

Could not agree more.

 

He also knew how to use Spiller

 

 

 

 

 

I knew we were doomed after that.

 

How do you not realize your short a man?

 

CBF

 

I don't think Joe D'Allasandris gets enough credit and you are seeing it again in San Diego. He is IMO the best o-line coach in the league.

[VanCity]

 

I don't listen to the game-day opinions of Bills "fans" who live outside of WNY/CNY. I watched the game with a lot of other Buffalo Bills fans here in Syracuse.

Ugh. Why are you even on this board? What a tool.

 

 

[BADOLBILZ]

EJ needs help progressing for certain, and I just don't see how only 15 touches for the RB's vs 40 passes for that young QB helps anything. Its like Hackett went into panic mode as soon as the Bills were down by 7.

 

In regards to the bolded. Fredex led the team in catches (8), receiving yards (78), and scored the only TD. He also had only 6 rushes for 34 yards. Spiller had only 10 rushes. The play makers NEED to see the ball more often, Spiller, Jackson, Watkins.

 

So much for leading the NFL in rushing attempts this year....

 

 

 

Last year the Bills outright cut their starting LG, and his backup by week six. Is it to early in the season to want to see both OG's cut (Williams & Pears), and OC Nate Hackett replaced by Jim Hostler? I know "I" might sound crazy, yet I find myself yearning for Richie Incognito...

 

Hackett didn't go into panic mode, the Chargers were loading up for the run. And still the Bills ran into near impossible odds a number of times. If EJ makes some throws early it opens up the run game and he needs to throw less passes. That said, they should have been in panic mode the way Schwartz defense was feeding Rivers good looks. The Chargers offense closed up shop for the day after their 8 minute drive to start the 3rd quarter. They could have easily put up another couple scores. That was the tenor of the game. Not sure why people think because the opponent called off the dogs that the game was close.

[TheBackupQB]

I know its not reality but I just think EJ is trying too hard...coaches have to give him more freedom...and I hate the read option as the staple of your running game.... go Power I,

[tennesseeboy]

We played badly and lost. However the fact that the SD offense only got 20 points is some testimony to our defense (which got beat in TOO MANY long passes.) EJ sucked, but he had a few moments and I'd expect him to get better. I don't see us in an awful position. Time to put on the big boy pants, put in the work and get things on track against a good Texan team.

[BADOLBILZ]

I came to this thread to see if anyone at all had any perspective.

 

Thank you.

 

 

 

McKelvin was horrible; Gilmore was targeted 5 times and gave up 3 completions all day--one of them was while he was engaged with a blocker. He struggled mightily on two run plays and that was brutal, but honestly, if we're picking on DBs it needs to start with McKelvin, who was victimized repeatedly and for huge gains, and Robey, who gave up a 49-yarder (although he was a victim of OPI that wasn't called) and was subsequently benched.

 

Buffalo's OL didn't generate enough push in the run game, which was a result of being unable to hit a few deeper throws early on. They needed to pull SD's LBs up toward the LOS and back the safeties off...never happened.

 

The biggest defensive liability of all was Preston Brown. San Diego's entire offensive game plan in the first half was to target Brown wherever he was on the field. It worked. I also noticed that they were willing to blitz in the first 3 quarters, whereas Buffalo chose not to send more than 4 pass rushers until the 4th quarter--way too late.

 

What was most concerning to me, defensively, was that we were out-coached. We had no trouble stuffing the run game, as SD's OL generated next to no push. For the 3rd consecutive game, Buffalo's run D held its ground. The issue I have is that we need to be willing to blitz on days when teams are committed to not letting our front 4 get pressure. If you give a QB like Rivers all day he's going to beat you. SD used 6 to block 4 most of the game and it worked...on the flip side, they were willing to send 5, 6, or 7 to generate pressure when they needed to, and it worked.

 

All that can be overcome if you get a great game from your QB; Buffalo didn't. Way too many missed opportunities in the passing game, and EJ is going to need to rebound quickly. The good news it that his 2 worst performances last year (@ TB and @ Pit) were generally followed up by very good games (@ Jax and vs. NYJ, respectively). He cannot afford to play that way.

 

Lastly: way, way, way too many penalties. This team needs to develop some discipline and in a hurry. Too many big plays wiped out by stupid penalties.

 

That's all for me.

 

The expectation ship sailed on McKelvin 5 years ago so you guys can stop trying to deflect criticism from Gilmore. Leodis had a nice rebound year last year but he was already accepted as a busted first round pick even if he remained a steady player for the back end of his career. Guys drafted where McKelvin and Gilmore were drafted are expected to be able to defend a #2/#3 like Malcolm Floyd or a washout like Donald Brown. The Gilmore hype and excuse factory has shielded him well to this point, but when you play lazy, undisciplined football you deserve to be called out. We know he doesn't have elite cover skills, but this guy is supposed to make up for that with size, strength and competitiveness and he played flat out weak.

 

All of that being said, we saw today the difference between Pettine and Schwartz D. Pettine's D put players in position to make game changing plays. McKelvin and Robey thrived in it. That style plays very well at home as evidenced by early season wins against opponents like Baltimore and Carolina last year. It was more run permissive......but I'd be interested to see what a better overall LB corps would have done with Pettine because his Jets defenses weren't universally bad against the run. Basically, last year the only reliable LB Pettine had was Kiko.

[Fan in Chicago]

They could have easily put up another couple scores. That was the tenor of the game. Not sure why people think because the opponent called off the dogs that the game was close.

 

The way the offense was (not) playing, this game was not at all close. I am not sure the Chargers would call off the dogs with only a 10 point lead and I am willing to give the D some credit. If the O could show some semblance of competency, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

 

The expectation ship sailed on McKelvin 5 years ago so you guys can stop trying to deflect criticism from Gilmore.

 

All of that being said, we saw today the difference between Pettine and Schwartz D. Pettine's D put players in position to make game changing plays. McKelvin and Robey thrived in it.

 

Agreed on GIlmore. I myself have been guilty of making excuses for him the first 2 years. His rookie year, I thought he would be real good at press coverage but he kept drawing penalties. My hope was that he was getting used to the NFL’s referees and would get that under control in his soph year. But the soph year was the year of injury excuses. This year, I am done with his general lack of effort and heart. Guy just doesn’t seem like he wants to make plays, as a Fred Jackson would. I went through the same psychological phases with McKelvin and gave up on him but he seemed to do well last year. As of now, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Cockrell activated very soon.

 

As for Schwartz’s D, it has been pretty decent for us this year as evidenced by at least the first two games. If we got better cornerback play, perhaps it would be a more complete unit.

[dave mcbride]

The turning point game in EJ's career may have arrived today.

 

He met an opponent that upset his comfy pocket and forced him to try to make throws he hasn't been very good at and that's how you make a QB lay an egg like that.

 

We saw this kind of performance repeatedly after teams figured out JP, Trent and Fitz.

 

Now it's up to EJ to start making those big boy throws that the defense is giving him so he can free up the LOS and the pocket.

 

I mentioned this elsewhere, but I'm pretty certain that Manuel has not completed a pass in the end zone since the Ravens game last year except for one garbage time, last-second TD to Chris Gragg against the Steelers. Every TD pass has been a dump-off to an RB who ran in the EZ or passes short of the goal line in which the receiver ran it in (a la TJ Graham, who fielded a pass-punt TD from EJ last year against the Jets -- http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2013111700/2013/REG11/jets@bills#menu=gameinfo|contentId%3A0ap2000000282792&tab=videos ). He did complete one EZ TD pass in preseason against a second string squad, but none against a starting defense. When he gets to the EZ, he doesn't play big at all - he's both overly cautious in the endzone area and very inaccurate. And don't get me started on the gutless final set of dump-off throws in sight of the goal line in yesterday's game ...

[hondo in seattle]

So, wait. No one is blaming CJ today? Dude had 25 yards. He is a starting RB and only got 25 yards. Total he had 62 yards from scrimmage? If he was not CJ Spiller he might be a backup on any other team.

 

He isn't even in the top 25 backs for the season.

 

If he is supposed to be this great back, why isn't he running like one?

 

Because:

 

(1) Hackett has no idea how to draw up plays for a scatback like CJ. In his last year with Chan, CJ ran for over 1,000 yards at 6.0 yards per carry. He'll never equal those numbers with Hackett as OC. This year's he's only averaging 4.0 ypc - a drop of 2.0 yards per carry.

 

(2) Our O Line doesn't create holes. They're not bad in pass protection but they suck in run blocking.

[Coach Tuesday]

I mentioned this elsewhere, but I'm pretty certain that Manuel has not completed a pass in the end zone since the Ravens game last year except for one garbage time, last-second TD to Chris Gragg against the Steelers. Every TD pass has been a dump-off to an RB who ran in the EZ or passes short of the goal line in which the receiver ran it in (a la TJ Graham, who fielded a pass-punt TD from EJ last year against the Jets -- http://www.nfl.com/g...2792&tab=videos ). He did complete one EZ TD pass in preseason against a second string squad, but none against a starting defense. When he gets to the EZ, he doesn't play big at all - he's both overly cautious in the endzone area and very inaccurate. And don't get me started on the gutless final set of dump-off throws in sight of the goal line in yesterday's game ...

 

He clearly is afraid to make mistakes, and I'm guessing it's because he's being coached into that mindset. I have this feeling in the pit of my stomach that Marrone and Hackett won't take the training wheels off of EJ unless and until the Bills have been eliminated from playoff contention - that's when they'll let him go out there and wing it. Kind of sad.

[boyst]

Because:

 

(1) Hackett has no idea how to draw up plays for a scatback like CJ. In his last year with Chan, CJ ran for over 1,000 yards at 6.0 yards per carry. He'll never equal those numbers with Hackett as OC. This year's he's only averaging 4.0 ypc - a drop of 2.0 yards per carry.

 

(2) Our O Line doesn't create holes. They're not bad in pass protection but they suck in run blocking.

1 year. 1 year that he actually produced for Gailey, and he's a saint.

 

It is not solely on Spiller, but the best players just go out there and play.

[thebandit27]

Hackett didn't go into panic mode, the Chargers were loading up for the run. And still the Bills ran into near impossible odds a number of times. If EJ makes some throws early it opens up the run game and he needs to throw less passes. That said, they should have been in panic mode the way Schwartz defense was feeding Rivers good looks. The Chargers offense closed up shop for the day after their 8 minute drive to start the 3rd quarter. They could have easily put up another couple scores. That was the tenor of the game. Not sure why people think because the opponent called off the dogs that the game was close.

 

I agree with all of that.

 

The expectation ship sailed on McKelvin 5 years ago so you guys can stop trying to deflect criticism from Gilmore. Leodis had a nice rebound year last year but he was already accepted as a busted first round pick even if he remained a steady player for the back end of his career. Guys drafted where McKelvin and Gilmore were drafted are expected to be able to defend a #2/#3 like Malcolm Floyd or a washout like Donald Brown. The Gilmore hype and excuse factory has shielded him well to this point, but when you play lazy, undisciplined football you deserve to be called out. We know he doesn't have elite cover skills, but this guy is supposed to make up for that with size, strength and competitiveness and he played flat out weak. All of that being said, we saw today the difference between Pettine and Schwartz D. Pettine's D put players in position to make game changing plays. McKelvin and Robey thrived in it. That style plays very well at home as evidenced by early season wins against opponents like Baltimore and Carolina last year. It was more run permissive......but I'd be interested to see what a better overall LB corps would have done with Pettine because his Jets defenses weren't universally bad against the run. Basically, last year the only reliable LB Pettine had was Kiko.

 

I haven't made any excuses for Gilmore. He didn't play well yesterday, and he was 3rd in line for "worst CB performance" was my only point.

 

In a game where Rivers attempts 25 passes, if we're laying a significant portion of the blame at the feet of a player that was targeted 5 times for 3 completions, something is quite amiss IMO.

[dave mcbride]

He clearly is afraid to make mistakes, and I'm guessing it's because he's being coached into that mindset. I have this feeling in the pit of my stomach that Marrone and Hackett won't take the training wheels off of EJ unless and until the Bills have been eliminated from playoff contention - that's when they'll let him go out there and wing it. Kind of sad.

I fear you may be right. If so, they have to change their approach ASAFP and push him to accept that throwing INTs in the EZ in situations like yesterday is OK. With 35-40 seconds to go and at the 25 yard line, you've gotta gun it into the end zone.

[GG]

I fear you may be right. If so, they have to change their approach ASAFP and push him to accept that throwing INTs in the EZ in situations like yesterday is OK. With 35-40 seconds to go and at the 25 yard line, you've gotta gun it into the end zone.

 

Watch Sammy's routes on those calls. He is jogging as if he knows the ball is not coming his way. Don't know if it was supposed to have been an extended pitch & catch practice to Big Mike, but the execution was horrific.

[dave mcbride]

Watch Sammy's routes on those calls. He is jogging as if he knows the ball is not coming his way. Don't know if it was supposed to have been an extended pitch & catch practice to Big Mike, but the execution was horrific.

I'll rewatch tonight.

[Captain Hindsight]

I'm not sure what people were expecting from EJ yesterday. He played exactly as he had the first two weeks. His stats were exactly the same. They didn't ask him to do much and he made plays but he missed some too. Thats who he is right now. He is still young so he can improve yet. He needs to play better though and I don't think anyone can dispute that.

 

The Bills just didn't execute yesterday. Its too bad too because I thought they were going to come back at times yesterday. Penalties killed them yesterday. I hope it wakes the team up. Next week will tell me everything I need to know about this team. How will the leaders respond? Will the come out flat or firing on all cylinders? Next week we find out what this team is made of, Another winnable game on the road.... Who does this team want to be?

[jumbalaya]

Main things wrong with the Bills Offense:

1. EJ Manuel

2. Hackett

 

Hackett builds an offense around hurry-up but relies on a guy that has no giddy-up.

• He misuses Spiller so much, I'd rather see Spiller on a team that puts him a position that plays to his strengths. He is wasting his career here.
  
• Why can't Spiller run downfield and catch a 15 or 20 yard pass? We don't have a QB that can throw a 15 yard pass.
  
• EJ is not a fit for his offense. EJ can't run a two minute offense let alone a regular offense or the hurry up.
  

 

EJ should sit for the year, then, we should cut him in the off-season and forget about him completely.

[GG]

I'm not sure what people were expecting from EJ yesterday. He played exactly as he had the first two weeks. His stats were exactly the same. They didn't ask him to do much and he made plays but he missed some too. Thats who he is right now. He is still young so he can improve yet. He needs to play better though and I don't think anyone can dispute that.

 

The Bills just didn't execute yesterday. Its too bad too because I thought they were going to come back at times yesterday. Penalties killed them yesterday. I hope it wakes the team up. Next week will tell me everything I need to know about this team. How will the leaders respond? Will the come out flat or firing on all cylinders? Next week we find out what this team is made of, Another winnable game on the road.... Who does this team want to be?

 

Yet, they're conducting this experiment during the regular season with the rest of the team trying to win, and they have a QB with training wheels on. How do you think the WRs feel when they're asked to stretch out for a poorly thrown ball to pick up a first down, while the QB falls down two yards short of a first down with nobody on top of him?

[1billsfan]

I fear you may be right. If so, they have to change their approach ASAFP and push him to accept that throwing INTs in the EZ in situations like yesterday is OK. With 35-40 seconds to go and at the 25 yard line, you've gotta gun it into the end zone.

 

Manuel needs to be given a long leash by Marrone to sink or swim with his arm. You do not progress to the next stage until you PROVE IT to opposing defenses that your arm is a THREAT to beat them. The coaches need to tell him it's ok to throw interceptions and they need to mean it. Coaching conservative from here on out is not going to do EJ any favors. If Marrone and Hackett are telling EJ to not take any chances then they're ruining him without giving him a real chance. Because they will never know if Manuel can master the art of burning defenses with his arm until they actually let him do it without fear of reprimand when his interception counts starts to tally up. IMO, if Manuel starts taking real chances, the interceptions vs big plays will even out in time with the added benefit of EJ Manuel being given the proper canvas to prove one way or the other what he has to offer.

[thebandit27]

I'm not sure what people were expecting from EJ yesterday. He played exactly as he had the first two weeks. His stats were exactly the same. They didn't ask him to do much and he made plays but he missed some too. Thats who he is right now. He is still young so he can improve yet. He needs to play better though and I don't think anyone can dispute that.

 

The Bills just didn't execute yesterday. Its too bad too because I thought they were going to come back at times yesterday. Penalties killed them yesterday. I hope it wakes the team up. Next week will tell me everything I need to know about this team. How will the leaders respond? Will the come out flat or firing on all cylinders? Next week we find out what this team is made of, Another winnable game on the road.... Who does this team want to be?

 

It's not about EJ's numbers--what happened yesterday is that he wasn't hitting the key throws the way he did in weeks 1 and 2. There were quite a few plays left out there yesterday--I also noticed that he and the WRs were never on the same page. The throw in the 4th quarter that could've been a TD to a streaking Robert Woods--EJ missed on the throw, but Woods didn't even look for the ball until about 1/4 second before it got there. Something was way off on the offense's execution all around.

[Repulsif]

I think penalties killed good drives, and the offense team.

 

I am the only one who see improvement (much at my surprise) on EJ ?

[Coach Tuesday]

Manuel needs to be given a long leash by Marrone to sink or swim with his arm. You do not progress to the next stage until you PROVE IT to opposing defenses that your arm is a THREAT to beat them. The coaches need to tell him it's ok to throw interceptions and they need to mean it. Coaching conservative from here on out is not going to do EJ any favors. If Marrone and Hackett are telling EJ to not take any chances then they're ruining him without giving him a real chance. Because they will never know if Manuel can master the art of burning defenses with his arm until they actually let him do it without fear of reprimand when his interception counts starts to tally up. IMO, if Manuel starts taking real chances, the interceptions vs big plays will even out in time with the added benefit of EJ Manuel being given the proper canvas to prove one way or the other what he has to offer.

 

At least Whaley seems to get it - he mentioned after the Pittsburgh preseason game that he was encouraged by the interception EJ threw (on the Chandler pass) because it was the kind of stick throw that EJ wouldn't have chanced last year. Well now EJ seems like he's back to playing scared. I guess what we're all saying is that interceptions might actually be a positive sign at this point. I think that's right, and I think Whaley (who is smart and takes the long view) understands that - the question is whether Marrone, Hackett, and EJ understand it. I'm not sure, but they'd better come around soon.

[Dan]

1 year. 1 year that he actually produced for Gailey, and he's a saint.

 

It is not solely on Spiller, but the best players just go out there and play.

I get what you're saying. But, you're neglecting the coaching factor. Good coaches game plan to take the other team's best players out of the game. Bad coaches just line their players up and expect them to beat the man in front of them.

 

This isn't college ball. Every team has great players. All the rah rah in the world isn't going to win you much, you can't just out muscle your opponent. This coaching staff has a huge weapon in CJ Spiller and they're completely misusing him with these draw plays up the middle.

 

CJ is playing well out there. He had at least one great run called back on a hold. He misses a lot of playing time, because the coaches keep taking him off the field. At some point, the coaching staff have to figure out a way to get him more involved in a game, but they've yet to do that other than on kick offs. IMO, it shows a fundamental lack of creativity and ingenuity on their part.