Buffalo Bills 2013

[inkman]

Million dollar body, ten cent head.

One cent take

[Jsixspd]

Thank you! I called it the day we drafted him. No QB with 8 letters in his name is every going to amount to anything in this league! Unless you count Tom Brady....

 

 

Manuel had a huge improvement over his last game until he took himself out of the game by trying to dazzle us with his Emmitt Smith imitation - up to a mediocre 74 from a pitiful 48

[darksabre]

This BS about Manuel being stupid is going to make me flip. He's trying to win a football game. QBs get hurt trying to win football games. It happens.

[Andrew Amerk]

This BS about Manuel being stupid is going to make me flip. He's trying to win a football game. QBs get hurt trying to win football games. It happens.

 

Seriously.

[SwampD]

As soon as we knocked out their third string QB, this game was lost.

[Wyldnwoody44]

The chances of tuel driving us 80 yards with 2 minutes left for a winning TD are significantly less than drew Stafford winning both American Idol and the art Ross in the same season.

 

This slipped away because we have a lot of injuries and 0 depth. Plain and simple.

[SwampD]

This BS about Manuel being stupid is going to make me flip. He's trying to win a football game. QBs get hurt trying to win football games. It happens.

That play was stupid. He got the first. Live to play another down. It's not like he hasn't already had a procedure on his knee, oh wait.

[TrueBlueGED]

Mis-wrote - I meant within the last year - which would have included Luck, RG3, Wilson, and even Tannehill.

 

Well I don't think anyone would disagree with Luck and RG3. I'd take Manuel over Tannehill, and as far as Wilson goes, I'm just not sold on him long-term yet.

 

This BS about Manuel being stupid is going to make me flip. He's trying to win a football game. QBs get hurt trying to win football games. It happens.

 

Pretty much how I feel. Don't get me wrong, I'd prefer him to play it smart, but in the heat of the moment, ###### happens. I loved Marrone's answer "What am I going to do, tell him to stop trying to score touchdowns?"

[wjag]

Seems like you've found something important to focus on.

 

 

Anyway, where are all the geniuses telling us Tuel was better than Manuel?

 

It was only a matter of time with the way EJ runs.

 

I wanted to know how he would play. Afterall, he made an NFL team as an undrafted free agent. Figured he must have something. Well I got my answer. Tuel can't throw and EJ can't throw on the run. Make for a wonderful QB tandem.

[billsrcursed]

That play was stupid. He got the first. Live to play another down. It's not like he hasn't already had a procedure on his knee, oh wait.

 

You're seriously asking a rookie first round QB on a National platform to "not get the extra yards"?

 

I know people say the game slows down for the good ones, but it's not REALLY slowing down to the point of deciding, "hmmm, should I grab those extra couple of yards or mail it in and try next time?"

 

Gamers game, and they do it at a 100% clip full go everytime. I don't want Trent Edwards out there overthinking and re-evaluating everything he does. I want a gamer.

[deluca67]

There were a lot of bad plays, questionable play calls and the injury to Manual, the play that bothered me the most was the 15 yard penalty Fred Jackson took, he is supposed to be a team leader.

[SwampD]

You're seriously asking a rookie first round QB on a National platform to "not get the extra yards"?

 

I know people say the game slows down for the good ones, but it's not REALLY slowing down to the point of deciding, "hmmm, should I grab those extra couple of yards or mail it in and try next time?"

 

Gamers game, and they do it at a 100% clip full go everytime. I don't want Trent Edwards out there overthinking and re-evaluating everything he does. I want a gamer.

Yes. I'm seriously saying that. He already had the first down. He wasn't going to score a touchdown. He already missed the preseason with a knee injury. Jeff Tuel is his backup with no third stringer. It was a dumb play. I wouldn't be saying that if it was a RB or a WR, but for a QB,… dumb.

[wjag]

Yes. I'm seriously saying that. He already had the first down. He wasn't going to score a touchdown. He already missed the preseason with a knee injury. Jeff Tuel is his backup with no third stringer. It was a dumb play. I wouldn't be saying that if it was a RB or a WR, but for a QB,… dumb.

 

I won't go so far as say dumb, but I get what you are driving at. He's an NFL QB, not a RB. Hopefully someone sits him down and talks about preservation. He doesn't slide correctly and he doesn't have the common sense to avoid unnecessary contact. It sounds so Monday Morning Quarterbacking, but that extra step could have minimally cost him a start or two and maximally cost him his season.

[Jsixspd]

The NFL Network announcers talked about this stat last night - teams that start 2-3 only reach the playoffs 21% of the time. So already the Bills have only a 1 in 5 chance of actually making the playoffs, after an ongoing record playoff drought.

[shrader]

So they pretty much have to make a move on Josh Freeman at this point, right? They lost that game last night because they don't have a pro QB (NFL, CFL, or any other level) on their roster. I don't like pinning a loss on any single play usually, but this time I'm comfortable with it. Tuel was about as bad as humanly possible. The team's refusal to have a veteran QB on roster did them in last night. Fortunately the timing is just about right to have a very decent option available to fix that.

Edited October 4, 2013 by shrader

[inkman]

The NFL Network announcers talked about this stat last night - teams that start 2-3 only reach the playoffs 21% of the time. So already the Bills have only a 1 in 5 chance of actually making the playoffs, after an ongoing record playoff drought.

I would have taken those odds before the season started. I thought there chances of making playoffs were about 1%. So they are looking pretty good right now.

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

Manuel went ginger last week and slid 2 yards before the 1st to protect himself. He wasn't going to make the same mistake and it cost him this time.

 

Marrone is not the best game strategist in the world, that's for sure. He is making 1 or 2 key blunders every week in clock management, rules, etc. Even last night...3 minutes left, Cleveland in 2nd and long, you have all 3 timeouts.....take the timeout there! There is a good chance they throw one of the next two downs. You still have 3 TO's with the 2 minute warning, and a good chance at a clock stoppage on an incompletion. He lets the clock go down to 2:10, and if they get the first down....you are in the same situation anyway...need to get them 3 and out. You either get it back with 1:10 and no TO's or 2:00 and no TO's. He just doesn't seem to have that innate clock management in his head, or thought out the 10-15 potential situations that could arise. He at least found out that it is stupid to run hurry-up when milking a lead.....but so far I am not impressed with some of the decisions that should be closer to no-brainers.

[SwampD]

My favorite part of last night's game was when we went into the "prevent offense" to preserve a 7 point lead with three quarters to play.

[That Aud Smell]

There were a lot of bad plays, questionable play calls and the injury to Manual, the play that bothered me the most was the 15 yard penalty Fred Jackson took, he is supposed to be a team leader.

 

that call was complete horse sh!t, especially given other clear taunts that weren't called.

 

He is making 1 or 2 key blunders every week in clock management, rules, etc.

 

he's a rookie, too, in some respects. the un-challengeable play was a weird one. was he saying that the player had stepped out of bounds, was therefore ineligible, and therefore could not be interfered with?

 

Even last night...3 minutes left, Cleveland in 2nd and long, you have all 3 timeouts.....take the timeout there! There is a good chance they throw one of the next two downs. You still have 3 TO's with the 2 minute warning, and a good chance at a clock stoppage on an incompletion. He lets the clock go down to 2:10, and if they get the first down....you are in the same situation anyway...need to get them 3 and out.

 

you're probably right. still, there are only a few coaches in the league who seem to have clock-management figured out. i don't think marrone's is in the bottom half of the league, even. as it turned out, we got the ball back with plenty of time. we just lacked an nfl quarterback.

[shrader]

Manuel went ginger last week and slid 2 yards before the 1st to protect himself. He wasn't going to make the same mistake and it cost him this time.

 

The worst part is that he's right on the sideline and all he has to do is step out. He took the JP Losman sack against the Jets by running out of bounds behind the line of scrimmage, so he knows how to run out. And since he's right along the line of scrimmage, he had to have known he was already past the stick.

 

It seems like these young QBs always learn this lesson the hard way. They always want to push for that extra yard and wind up paying for it. I hope he got the message last night.

[darksabre]

that call was complete horse sh!t, especially given other clear taunts that weren't called.

 

 

 

he's a rookie, too, in some respects. the un-challengeable play was a weird one. was he saying that the player had stepped out of bounds, was therefore ineligible, and therefore could not be interfered with?

 

 

 

you're probably right. still, there are only a few coaches in the league who seem to have clock-management figured out. i don't think marrone's is in the bottom half of the league, even. as it turned out, we got the ball back with plenty of time. we just lacked an nfl quarterback.

 

and a receiving tandem to split coverage. You just can't win a game with your two most important passing game tools out of the lineup.

[That Aud Smell]

i will add this: based on what we've seen, i think EJ can be a top-12 NFL quarterback (with some weeks/stretches where he plays more like a top-8 guy (and, yeah, others where he trends back toward the 16-20 range)). i think that may be all we need him to be, with the way pettine's getting that D shaped up.

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

that call was complete horse sh!t, especially given other clear taunts that weren't called.

 

 

 

he's a rookie, too, in some respects. the un-challengeable play was a weird one. was he saying that the player had stepped out of bounds, was therefore ineligible, and therefore could not be interfered with?

 

 

 

you're probably right. still, there are only a few coaches in the league who seem to have clock-management figured out. i don't think marrone's is in the bottom half of the league, even. as it turned out, we got the ball back with plenty of time. we just lacked an nfl quarterback.

Yeah...I think he has a propensity to learn, but so far it has been a little iffy. The good ones are always thinking 3 steps ahead. So no you DO have 3 timeouts and they DID get the ball back with time. Tuel has an arm that can get the ball 50-60 yards downfield as we saw with stonehands Graham. Someone needs to tell Hackett that when Cleveland is giving you the middle of the line of scrimmage and you have 3 TO's AND a QB who is deer/headlights, RUN the freaking draw!! You had 7-12 yards wide open. Just get to midfield with 25 seconds left and no TO's and you have 3 cracks at a hail mary. It's just as if Marrone makes the decision to preserve timeouts, then doesn't use them to his advantage. It's a war, not a video game. You can learn strategy even if it isn't innate.

[TrueBlueGED]

If the worst we can say about Marrone is he botches 1-2 timeouts each week, we're in good shape. Seriously. Aside from conversion statistics, clock management is the one thing even the best coaches rarely get right.

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

I'm sure Marrone will be fine. I like him. I love the passion he shows as he watches plays unfold...he's a fan too. And again with the statistics....people act as if they are in a vacuum. There is matchups, momentum, field position, feeling, future potential decisions....all at play. 50% of marriages end in failure.....so why do people do it? I'm not sure who I want electroshocked more, "Advanced Statistics" people, or "Gluten Free"....although I assume the crossover is high....and I have no advanced statistics to tell me that. See how that works?.......