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Edit: now confirmed rumor that Bills will release Cassel


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That kind of thinking gets you in trouble. You can't make the right move because (insert reason here.) They traded for Cassel to make sure they had a contingency plan. Plans change.

Agreed. And, totally agree Cassel was always the contingency plan IF they couldn't do better. I think TT was always high on their radar. Like other teams radar. He signed with us for less than other teams. IMO for this chance to start.
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It's a tough business. He can only be mad at himself, though.

Why should he be mad at himself? He only played 4 series and only threw 2 incompletions,one a drop by Hulk Hogan and the other tipped at the line. He played well. And it's pretty obvious, at least in the PS games, he didn't get the same shot everyone else did.

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Why should he be mad at himself? He only played 4 series and only threw 2 incompletions,one a drop by Hulk Hogan and the other tipped at the line. He played well. And it's pretty obvious, at least in the PS games, he didn't get the same shot everyone else did.

That's a good post. What's lost in all this is that it's not like Cassel played poorly (please do not cite his YPA, it was freaking four series). The story is more that the other two guys played even better. It' a good situation all around.

Edited by metzelaars_lives
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That's a good post. What's lost in all this is that it's not like Cassel played poorly (please do not cite his YPA, it was freaking four series). The story is more that the other two guys played even better. It' a good situation all around.

 

Ok so by that rationale do you keep EJ over Cassel cause you know what you have with Cassel?
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Why should he be mad at himself? He only played 4 series and only threw 2 incompletions,one a drop by Hulk Hogan and the other tipped at the line. He played well. And it's pretty obvious, at least in the PS games, he didn't get the same shot everyone else did.

Because he didn't play better than the other two guys.

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I can easily see why Cassell is pissed. In his POV he wasn't given a chance in the games to throw the ball downfield very much and to put points on the board. In the first game, in one of his four total series, he threw a nice crossing pattern to Watkins that was about a 15-20 yard gain that was wiped out by a lousy offensive interference call against Matthew Muttonhead. That was an easy scoring drive, and automatic FG and first down at the 25 or so that could have been a scoring drive.

 

We may think he can't throw downfield but he actually can and has. Not great but he can get the ball there. I'm thrilled with the TT choice and thrilled with how EJ has looked in the games but Cassell was a victim of his own experience and efficiency (as well as his mediocrity). But he really wasn't given a chance in the games like the other two were, and that is what led to this decision.

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This is my opinion:

 

Taylor has been the favorite from the beginning. Ryan has loved him for awhile and made it a point to get him. But to his credit, he showed that he deserved to be the starter, although IMHO, so did EJ with his play during games, i.e. as he became more comfortable in the system.

 

Cassel was brought in as veteran insurance after they failed to sign McCown, and Roman thought he could possibly do for him what he/Harbaugh did for Alex Smith, which is why he was pimping him. However he saw that while Cassel might have picked up things quickly and made safe decisions in camp, in games he just wasn't what they were looking for, considering what the other 2 guys were doing. So the decision was made to start Taylor.

 

EJ was the long shot from the beginning because Ryan and Roman inherited him and he hadn't established himself. True he started out rough, and that's what likely doomed his starting bid, but he also was giving away at least 2 more years in the league to the other guys. But he showed in scrimmage and games that he's starting to get it. Given that, he has to stay and see if he can develop further and challenge Taylor, next season for sure, but even this season.

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Cutting fred, Cassel, and Lawson saves us almost $10 mil off this year's cap that we can rollover into next year. That basically makes resigning Dareus and Bradham a wash.

 

They need to really trim the fat off this roster moving forward if they want to keep our top talent. That means tough decisions on players that are underperforming on their contracts.

 

This has not been a major issue before as we did not have so many talented players and we were never a team that would max out our cap. We are now a team that will spend money when it needs/wants to, which means you need to be maximizing your cap space.

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I can easily see why Cassell is pissed. In his POV he wasn't given a chance in the games to throw the ball downfield very much and to put points on the board. In the first game, in one of his four total series, he threw a nice crossing pattern to Watkins that was about a 15-20 yard gain that was wiped out by a lousy offensive interference call against Matthew Muttonhead. That was an easy scoring drive, and automatic FG and first down at the 25 or so that could have been a scoring drive.

 

We may think he can't throw downfield but he actually can and has. Not great but he can get the ball there. I'm thrilled with the TT choice and thrilled with how EJ has looked in the games but Cassell was a victim of his own experience and efficiency (as well as his mediocrity). But he really wasn't given a chance in the games like the other two were, and that is what led to this decision.

 

Don't forget that he never really outshined the other two in practice either. If he's not a markedly better "thrower" than either TT or EJ, then why is he around? TT brings the dynamic playmaking ability with his legs, and EJ has the youth and high ceiling.

 

That said -- I agree with you with respect to how he likely views the situation.

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This is my opinion:

 

Taylor has been the favorite from the beginning. Ryan has loved him for awhile and made it a point to get him. But to his credit, he showed that he deserved to be the starter, although IMHO, so did EJ with his play during games, i.e. as he became more comfortable in the system.

 

Cassel was brought in as veteran insurance after they failed to sign McCown, and Roman thought he could possibly do for him what he/Harbaugh did for Alex Smith, which is why he was pimping him. However he saw that while Cassel might have picked up things quickly and made safe decisions in camp, in games he just wasn't what they were looking for, considering what the other 2 guys were doing. So the decision was made to start Taylor.

 

EJ was the long shot from the beginning because Ryan and Roman inherited him and he hadn't established himself. True he started out rough, and that's what likely doomed his starting bid, but he also was giving away at least 2 more years in the league to the other guys. But he showed in scrimmage and games that he's starting to get it. Given that, he has to stay and see if he can develop further and challenge Taylor, next season for sure, but even this season.

 

Good post Doc. I agree with all of that with the exception of "Taylor was always the favorite." I think they all really didn't know what they had. They never had him in camp. His tape from preseason was promising. His tape from regular season was limited and misleading. I think they just did it and looked at it holistically. And it was the right thing to do although they somewhat lucked out. I think they got Cassell for exactly what you said and pretty much knew what they were going to get. And they both agreed we can live with this, especially because of later on when they got McCoy and Harvin. They hoped that TT could be all they imagined but I very much doubt they were banking on it and I think they were in a wait and see with EJ, too. Like most of us were.

 

It happened that TT was everything they hoped for, and EJ progressed recently enough to get them really excited.

 

But I think they didn't really have a favorite in mind, they just wanted TT and or EJ to shine but could always have Cassell to do enough in case neither of the other two panned out.

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Why should he be mad at himself? He only played 4 series and only threw 2 incompletions,one a drop by Hulk Hogan and the other tipped at the line. He played well. And it's pretty obvious, at least in the PS games, he didn't get the same shot everyone else did.

As people on this board have said repeatedly about the QB competition, it was not simply about how they performed in games. Many factors went into the decision. Cassel was beaten out by both of the other QBs. Both of them are younger than he is. Both have greater upside potential. Both fit the style of offense better. I would say Cassel was himself. He performed about as well as he was expected to. Unfortunately for him, the other two competitors stepped up their game and he did not. He is what he is, and that is not good enough.

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Don't forget that he never really outshined the other two in practice either. If he's not a markedly better "thrower" than either TT or EJ, then why is he around? TT brings the dynamic playmaking ability with his legs, and EJ has the youth and high ceiling.

 

That said -- I agree with you with respect to how he likely views the situation.

His ceiling ??? !!! We can walk on his ceiling. Slow twitch and inaccurate.... not much of a ceiling

Edited by MOVALLEYRANDY
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