I've had some more time to think more about the Tyrod Taylor contract over the weekend. Last year in training camp as the Bills were figuring out who their QB was between a then-relative unknown Tyrod , E.J. Manuel, and Matt Cassel. Doug Whaley mentioned how the Bills were in "Quarterback Purgatory."
I think we are kind of still in QB Purgatory as Tyrod is not yet great or really bad somewhere in between. He's still has not a ton of experience where he might be able to grow and maybe could drop off. Chances are that at 27 years old, he is who he is which is not yet great but not terrible. I think that's somewhere between 15-20 which is not great but not terrible somewhere in the middle.
This is where QB Purgatory reigns guys like Alex Smith, Ryan Tannehill, Jay Cutler, Kirk Cousins, and well I suppose Ryan Fitzpatrick as these mediocre QBs are getting paid a ridiculous amount.I think of Fitz as a backup QB but he has his moments as the Jets, and even the Bills, bought into Fitz's good games to give him a decent chunk of change and not seriously looking at drafting his replacement.
It's easy to get excited over this contract because of the outs and it's not like he's getting all $92 million guaranteed regardless of what the national media is telling you. For this contract to truly be worth it is either Tyrod is really good if not great to keep exercising the options or is really bad where they can get out of it.
Wouldn't it be better to give $27.5 million over five years to a first round pick QB than $27.5 million to a middle of the road QB for one year? I would rather draft the QB always and when I get my guy then I'll be set and then I'll pay him top dollar.
The Sabres would always do this where they gave relatively big contracts to middle of the road players like Derek Roy, Tim Connolly, Jason Pominville, Drew Stafford, Tyler Myers among others and Darcy Regier would always say wait until the back half of the contract then they'd be undervalued. How many times did that happen? The answer is zero and by the end of the contract we were ready to dump them, Get the guy and don't be afraid to pay him top dollar.
The worst thing is if Tyrod is middle of the road QB where he is neither really good or really bad and the Bills will keep extending him and giving a middle of the road QB big time money which is never good. They'll be just good enough to miss the playoffs and good enough to keep costing them a shot at a top QB in the draft and good enough to prevent the Bills from drafting a QB in the first two rounds. That's the worst thing that could happen with this contract.
By really good I'm saying around top-10-12 QBs in the league. The bottom 10-12 QBs are Eli Manning, Carson Palmer, Matt Ryan, and Andy Dalton depending on who you think. These are really good QBs but not quite elite as they need talent but they can and have won in this league. That could and should be Tyrod. Of course if he was higher that's even better.
It's hard to rank young QBs Derek Carr, Teddy Bridgewater, Jameis Winston, Marcus Mariota, and Blake Bortles even all of these young QBs show great potential and star ability and eventually could make their way into the top-10-14 spots in the league.
They are still so young so they can't officially be put in the rankings yet although I'd take any one of these over Tyrod because of being so young and starting right away from day 1 or close to day 1. Right now, even though they have so much more room to grow and are generally high draft picks first round and to early second round (Carr).
By really bad it's pretty self explanatory by basically saying this guy can't start in the NFL and he's nothing more than a backup. That's Blaine Gabbert, Nick Foles, Matt Cassel, Colin Kaepernick, E.J., Mark Sanchez, Geno Smith, Josh McCown, and perhaps RG3 and so on.
The worst thing is that he is say Tannehill, Cutler, or Smith and that's usually finishing 7-9, 8-8 every year missing the playoffs (Tannehill) or being lucky and not very good and safe and lucking into the playoffs but never winning (Smith).
The Bills are usually Tannehill and the Dolphins or Cutler and the Bears where they win enough games to miss the playoffs but win enough to not have a high draft pick and usually draft a franchise QB. Tannehill is a decent QB, better than what the Bills have had before Tyrod, but not good enough and they do nothing to upgrade the position except add a receiver or fix the line or change the coaches etc. That's QB Purgatory my friends.
The Bills have lived it for the last 20 years. The reason I believe if they Tyrod is just middle and pretty good they'd keep extending his option is because I've seen worse QBs do less and get the benefit of the doubt from this franchise and assurance that they won't go draft his replacement until the bottom completely fell out and they absolutely had to draft one.
I know the Bills don't make the playoffs so I'm sure some of you would like to be Alex Smith and KC and make the playoffs but lose. They will never do anything to change or upgrade the QB position because they are comfortable with making the playoffs and don't want to miss the playoffs. The Chiefs have no chance at winning a Super Bowl with Alex Smith and the way they are built in my opinion.
I want to win and make the playoffs I really do, but I don't want to just make the playoffs and lose and have really no shot at winning the Super Bowl. My goal and the team's goal should be to win the Super Bowl not to just end the playoff drought.
Correct me if I am wrong but wouldn't being a Super Bowl contender year in and year out more than end the playoff drought? They would be in the playoffs just about every year and every year they would be one of the 3-5 favorites to win the Super Bowl.
We say the same about the Sabres. They decided not to just make the playoffs and instead try to be a Stanley Cup contender and win the Cup if not multiple Cups. Their goal is not to just finish in 8th and instead be one of the best teams and they had a plan and followed through with it. The plan is easier to execute as you can finish at the bottom and get high draft picks to build from. The NFL is go get a franchise QB but it's not easy to get.
The Bills during this playoff drought with the exception of a couple of years usually try everything to just end the drought. The only years they didn't and figured they were really bad and rebuilding and finished at the bottom of the league in 2001 and 2010 and those were the only years they'd draft in the top-5 despite being bad for 16 years.
The other years they'd finish middle or middle-bottom of the league and never really close to the playoffs and never close to the top pick of the draft. The rest of the time, they'd change coaches, change GMs, give weapons to help their QB, change QBs, sign big free agents, etc. They went in to just about every single off season trying to end the playoff drought.
The one thing they never did and should do is draft QB every single year until they find their guy and I still want them to do so, but this potential contract could definitely prohibit them from thinking it. They never did this and I want them to start yesterday but now for sure.
I do like the Tyrod contract because of the outs. It's only great if he's either really good or great or he's really bad. In between, they'll overpay him to be their QB and won't do anything to upgrade the position.
Showing posts with label Ryan Fitzpatrick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ryan Fitzpatrick. Show all posts
Monday, August 15, 2016
Thursday, July 16, 2015
EJ Struggled Because of Marrone?! Sure A Little Bit But He Also Struggled on Other Downs as Well
I saw Howard Simon of WGR tweet this link out about how Doug Marrone and Nate Hackett as rookie head coach and offensive coordinator derailed E.J. Manuel's rookie season and beyond (http://www.foxsports.com/college-football/outkick-the-coverage/how-a-rookie-head-coach-derailed-a-rookie-quarterback-then-vanished-with-4-million-071515). First off, it's a very long and wordy article. Second, it makes some sense but it gives too much if not almost all the blame squarely on the coaches.
The conclusion of this article is that Marrone called pass plays on 45% on first down in his first three starts of his career and went back down to 20% in the next two starts before Manuel got hurt in the Cleveland game. The trend continued downward the rest of his rookie season and in the first four games of the 2014 season, before he got benched for Kyle Orton. Manuel apparently had a 98 QB Rating on 1st and 10 in the first three games.
Marrone called pass plays 56% of the time when the game was within one score in the first three games, then ran the ball more than 70% of the time in a one score game the rest of his rookie year. Manuel apparently had an 87 QB Rating, 6.4 yards per attempt, four touchowns, and just one interception in his first three starts.
The QB Rating is the fourth best in NFL history for a rookie QB who started the first three games of his career with some guy named Jim Kelly one of those ahead of him. It doesn't mean much because RGIII and Mark Sanchez were the other two ahead of EJ and look how well they've done. Three starts doesn't make a career and how many guys have had a few good starts early on and do nothing? Very many.
I guess the premise was that Marrone called pass plays and might have made more manageable third downs instead of running on first all the time and going into third and long. I don't disagree with that i agree pass on first down and pass all the time. But if it's 3rd and 7 or longer, make the throw EJ!! It's that simple, well easier said then done. An excerpt of the article goes as follows:
"Following the 4th quarter loss to the Jets in week 3, something changed with Doug Marrone. Despite EJ Manuel overachieving as a rookie in his first 3 starts, Marrone began to call the game differently in his starts. Marrone stopped letting EJ Manuel pass like an average quarterback and started calling passing plays much less frequently, particularly in early downs.
I love how the writer neglects to inform all of you that EJ was awful for most of that Jets game, throwing passes way out of bounds and not letting any of his receivers a chance to make any sort of play. That was conveniently left out of the article. Did this guy watch that Jets game? There might be a reason as to why Marrone stopped throwing and it was EJ was regressing. He also made it a point to say he struggled on third down passing as well in that game.
Even in the first two games, EJ didn't set the world on fire. He only had 150 yards passing and only 5.6 yards per attempt, but he did throw two very nice touchdowns and did not turn the ball over once and had a 105.5 QB Rating in his NFL debut in the season-opener against New England. He even had them leading before Tom Brady did what Tom Brady does, lead the Patriots to a comeback win. EJ had a nice come-from-behind victory against Carolina the following week where he led them on a 8-yard TD drive, capped by a TD pass to Stevie Johnson and threw for a career-high 296 yards. But the reason they were behind was because of Manuel, who threw an interception and fumbled in the fourth quarter and even threw a pick on the final drive that was wiped out by a penalty.
Then came the Jets game debacle, but to his credit, Manuel led them from a 20-6 4th quarter deficit to tie the game late at 20-20. The Jets won a huge Geno Smith TD pass to win the game as Justin Rogers got shredded in that game as well. Manuel only completed 45% of his passes in that game, most of which went out of bounds. Even his running went down not only after his injury but even the next two weeks before his injury. He was averaging nearly 6 yards a carry the first three games to averaging less than half that the rest of the season. He didn't run particularly well but the coaches also did not let him run too.
The next week against the then-defending Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens, the Bills ran 2.5 times more than they threw as EJ only attempted 22 passes, yet only completed 10 of them. They ran more because EJ was not good and they ran for over 200 yards as well. Manuel threw one touchdown and threw two interceptions in the second half and fumbled twice as well, almost costing the Bills the game as they held on to win 23-20 thanks to five Joe Flacco's five interceptions. Manuel got hurt the next week against Cleveland, costing him the next four games. The play he got hurt was a beautiful run.
If anything, it seemed as if Marrone and Hackett trusted Manuel before he showed them not to trust him. While Manuel according to his report looked good on first down, he wasn't very good on the downs 2-4, which matter just as much as first down. The writer doesn't take into account the rest of the downs in a game, where EJ was not good. Seems like this piece was written by a Manuel cheerleader.
I'm in no way shape or form not saying Marrone had nothing to do with it. I'll say it's 25% Marrone's fault. Now EJ was widely inaccurate even in throws 1-10 yards and it got worse the more he threw deep. That's EJ's fault he can't hit wide open receivers, often throwing behind them or even throwing them up too high where receivers had to jump up to grab a four-yard pass and risking injury. Or in the first Jets game his rookie year he kept throwing deep passes horribly out of bounds.
Where is it 25% Marrone? He kept having EJ throw the passes he wasn't good at. That Jets game for example, when Manuel kept throwing sideline passes deep out of bounds he should have not kept calling those throws continuously. He also had Manuel throw the fade patterns to the sidelines, which are very low percentage even for some of the very best and even worse for an inaccurate QB, as well as the sideline or even corner of the end zone. Marrone called those plays so many times it made my head explode. So the constant calling the same failing calls were on Marrone.
I'll give Hackett 1% because he needs a little blame but not much. The rest of the 75% is all on EJ and is inaccuracy. His completion percentage is 58.5% and the fact he doesn't even complete 60% of his passes from 1-10 yards is staggering. That should be one of your highest percentages and the best QBs complete in the upper 60s to 70s. The numbers might suggest that Manuel struggled because of Marrone not throwing on first down more, he struggled because simply he might not be a good QB. As I've said before, Manuel struggled on every other down and what is the most important down? Every down.
I agree with the fact the Bills took Manuel because they needed a QB after passing on guys in 2011 and 2012 such as Colin Kaepernick, Andy Dalton, Jake Locker, Nick Foles, and of course Russell Wilson. They waited for a not so good QB draft in 2013. That year I didn't care who they took just take the best guy you can get. Manuel was the only QB taken in the first that year and it's not like any other QB has been better. It's been a pretty lousy QB draft. Maybe you can make the case Mike Glennon has been the best of that class. That's like saying however it's the best smelling garbage in the neighborhood.
I wonder what made this guy go back nearly two years ago and pull up this data and why did he concentrate so hard only on first down? I think it's someone desperately reaching and hoping that EJ Manuel is the guy and is our answer at franchise QB. Let's hope he can be but at this point, it doesn't look good unless Greg Roman can work some magic.
The conclusion of this article is that Marrone called pass plays on 45% on first down in his first three starts of his career and went back down to 20% in the next two starts before Manuel got hurt in the Cleveland game. The trend continued downward the rest of his rookie season and in the first four games of the 2014 season, before he got benched for Kyle Orton. Manuel apparently had a 98 QB Rating on 1st and 10 in the first three games.
Marrone called pass plays 56% of the time when the game was within one score in the first three games, then ran the ball more than 70% of the time in a one score game the rest of his rookie year. Manuel apparently had an 87 QB Rating, 6.4 yards per attempt, four touchowns, and just one interception in his first three starts.
The QB Rating is the fourth best in NFL history for a rookie QB who started the first three games of his career with some guy named Jim Kelly one of those ahead of him. It doesn't mean much because RGIII and Mark Sanchez were the other two ahead of EJ and look how well they've done. Three starts doesn't make a career and how many guys have had a few good starts early on and do nothing? Very many.
I guess the premise was that Marrone called pass plays and might have made more manageable third downs instead of running on first all the time and going into third and long. I don't disagree with that i agree pass on first down and pass all the time. But if it's 3rd and 7 or longer, make the throw EJ!! It's that simple, well easier said then done. An excerpt of the article goes as follows:
"Following the 4th quarter loss to the Jets in week 3, something changed with Doug Marrone. Despite EJ Manuel overachieving as a rookie in his first 3 starts, Marrone began to call the game differently in his starts. Marrone stopped letting EJ Manuel pass like an average quarterback and started calling passing plays much less frequently, particularly in early downs.
In his press conferences after the game vs the Jets in week 3, Marrone insisted the trouble with the Bills was 3rd down performance. He wasn't wrong -- the Bills were terrible on 3rd down. But they were primarily terrible on 3rd and 7+ yds, where they converted just 6% into 1st downs so far that season. On 3rd and 1-6 yds, the Bills converted 50% into 3rd down in 2013 to date, which was essentially the NFL average. The key for the Bills was to keep 3rd down manageable. Therefore, they needed to produce on 1st down. So what happened on first downs for the Bills in 2013?"
I love how the writer neglects to inform all of you that EJ was awful for most of that Jets game, throwing passes way out of bounds and not letting any of his receivers a chance to make any sort of play. That was conveniently left out of the article. Did this guy watch that Jets game? There might be a reason as to why Marrone stopped throwing and it was EJ was regressing. He also made it a point to say he struggled on third down passing as well in that game.
Even in the first two games, EJ didn't set the world on fire. He only had 150 yards passing and only 5.6 yards per attempt, but he did throw two very nice touchdowns and did not turn the ball over once and had a 105.5 QB Rating in his NFL debut in the season-opener against New England. He even had them leading before Tom Brady did what Tom Brady does, lead the Patriots to a comeback win. EJ had a nice come-from-behind victory against Carolina the following week where he led them on a 8-yard TD drive, capped by a TD pass to Stevie Johnson and threw for a career-high 296 yards. But the reason they were behind was because of Manuel, who threw an interception and fumbled in the fourth quarter and even threw a pick on the final drive that was wiped out by a penalty.
Then came the Jets game debacle, but to his credit, Manuel led them from a 20-6 4th quarter deficit to tie the game late at 20-20. The Jets won a huge Geno Smith TD pass to win the game as Justin Rogers got shredded in that game as well. Manuel only completed 45% of his passes in that game, most of which went out of bounds. Even his running went down not only after his injury but even the next two weeks before his injury. He was averaging nearly 6 yards a carry the first three games to averaging less than half that the rest of the season. He didn't run particularly well but the coaches also did not let him run too.
The next week against the then-defending Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens, the Bills ran 2.5 times more than they threw as EJ only attempted 22 passes, yet only completed 10 of them. They ran more because EJ was not good and they ran for over 200 yards as well. Manuel threw one touchdown and threw two interceptions in the second half and fumbled twice as well, almost costing the Bills the game as they held on to win 23-20 thanks to five Joe Flacco's five interceptions. Manuel got hurt the next week against Cleveland, costing him the next four games. The play he got hurt was a beautiful run.
If anything, it seemed as if Marrone and Hackett trusted Manuel before he showed them not to trust him. While Manuel according to his report looked good on first down, he wasn't very good on the downs 2-4, which matter just as much as first down. The writer doesn't take into account the rest of the downs in a game, where EJ was not good. Seems like this piece was written by a Manuel cheerleader.
I'm in no way shape or form not saying Marrone had nothing to do with it. I'll say it's 25% Marrone's fault. Now EJ was widely inaccurate even in throws 1-10 yards and it got worse the more he threw deep. That's EJ's fault he can't hit wide open receivers, often throwing behind them or even throwing them up too high where receivers had to jump up to grab a four-yard pass and risking injury. Or in the first Jets game his rookie year he kept throwing deep passes horribly out of bounds.
Where is it 25% Marrone? He kept having EJ throw the passes he wasn't good at. That Jets game for example, when Manuel kept throwing sideline passes deep out of bounds he should have not kept calling those throws continuously. He also had Manuel throw the fade patterns to the sidelines, which are very low percentage even for some of the very best and even worse for an inaccurate QB, as well as the sideline or even corner of the end zone. Marrone called those plays so many times it made my head explode. So the constant calling the same failing calls were on Marrone.
I'll give Hackett 1% because he needs a little blame but not much. The rest of the 75% is all on EJ and is inaccuracy. His completion percentage is 58.5% and the fact he doesn't even complete 60% of his passes from 1-10 yards is staggering. That should be one of your highest percentages and the best QBs complete in the upper 60s to 70s. The numbers might suggest that Manuel struggled because of Marrone not throwing on first down more, he struggled because simply he might not be a good QB. As I've said before, Manuel struggled on every other down and what is the most important down? Every down.
I agree with the fact the Bills took Manuel because they needed a QB after passing on guys in 2011 and 2012 such as Colin Kaepernick, Andy Dalton, Jake Locker, Nick Foles, and of course Russell Wilson. They waited for a not so good QB draft in 2013. That year I didn't care who they took just take the best guy you can get. Manuel was the only QB taken in the first that year and it's not like any other QB has been better. It's been a pretty lousy QB draft. Maybe you can make the case Mike Glennon has been the best of that class. That's like saying however it's the best smelling garbage in the neighborhood.
I wonder what made this guy go back nearly two years ago and pull up this data and why did he concentrate so hard only on first down? I think it's someone desperately reaching and hoping that EJ Manuel is the guy and is our answer at franchise QB. Let's hope he can be but at this point, it doesn't look good unless Greg Roman can work some magic.
Saturday, July 4, 2015
The Bills Might Not Have the Worst QB Situation as MMQB Suggests but I think It's Very Close to the Worst; It Could Cost the Bills the Playoffs
I know the Buffalo Bills don't have the best QB situation in the NFL (far from it) but according to this MMQB article writen by Andy Benoit (http://mmqb.si.com/2015/07/03/nfl-quarterback-rankings/3/) the Bills rank dead last in the NFL in terms of starting QB. ESPN did not give the Bills a high ranking either based on their outlook on the next three seasons (http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/insider/story/_/id/13129838/ranking-nfl-teams-1-32-based-their-outlook-next-three-seasons-nfl). They ranked 26th for those who don't have ESPN insider mainly because their QB situation.
They ranked well in all the rest of the categories except QB. QB is like the exam and/or mid-term or even project/report that counts for the majority of your overall grade in school. You can do very well on the other tests and homework assignments, but bomb on the final exam or whatever counts for the majority of your final grade and watch your grade drop. This is that exact case. Although in the ESPN article it's not entirely fair to judge because we have no idea who or what the QB situation will be. Maybe a Philip Rivers or Drew Brees or someone you never think possible could be available or maybe they draft one (I assume unless one of these QBs succeeds they will be drafting one next year no doubt about it). So we can't assume next year or the year after they'll be having the same QBs as this year. In fact i'll assume they won't, I'll bet on it.
Back to Benoit's article he ranked the teams by starting QB. He assumes Matt Cassel is 32nd/dead last. There's the consensus if they put either E.J. Manuel or Tyrod Taylor in instead of Cassel that they still are the worst in terms of QB or it's a fancier way of saying they have the worst crop of QBs in the NFL. Looking at the list I can't say 100% they are 32nd but they aren't far. If not 32nd, I'd say 31st, 30th, maybe even 29th. Wooooo!! that's progress. Ugh! So big deal, if they're not 32nd they're still one of the 3-5 worst at best. Cleveland I think is the worst because I think Josh McCown is worse than either of the Bills QBs although McCown was almost here. Should the Bills lose points however since McCown bailed on them and went to Cleveland instead?
Obviously I'd say the Browns are 32nd with McCown starting and the train wreck known as Johnny Manziel on the roster. Heck even our former beloved QB Thad Lewis is there in the mix. The same Lewis who went 2-3 in a backup role behind Manuel two years ago and the same guy who "regressed" badly and was released during the preseason last year.
I think Houston could be worse than the Bills as well as currently Brian Hoyer is their starter with Ryan Mallett as their backup maybe competing for the starting job. Doesn't matter if you have two quarterbacks you have none. Mallett did not really impress me and Hoyer was so awful down the stretch for Cleveland last year it made Kyle Orton look like Tom Brady.
The Jets also might be worse as well as Geno Smith is the starter as determined by Chan Gailey already without a competition with fellow backup Ryan Fitzpatrick. Smith is terrible as he's horribly inaccurate and is a turnover machine who was benched several times last year in favor of an aging and ineffective Michael Vick. Fitzpatrick had some really good games last year in Houston and even had some with Gailey here in Buffalo, but he too can be inaccurate and threw too many picks and did not pull out a game in the closing seconds when it mattered the most.
Washington (who was ranked just ahead of the Bills at 31) with RGIII and Kirk Cousins are a joke. RGIII is a joke with his injuries, inaccuracy, and inability to see downfield and poor pocket presence. RGIII has really fallen since his Rookie of the Year season in 2012 and I'd rather not have Washington's QB situation more than the Bills. .
I don't put two other teams in the bottom five: Tampa Bay and Tennessee ahead of the Bills even though they have rookie QBs Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota starting. The fans have to be excited with the top-two picks in the draft and possibility of having their franchise guy instead of three guys who give their fanbase not a lot to look forward too. If the Bills aren't 32nd, they're no better than 28th in my opinion and that's not good enough. If they were 20th I'd like their chances just to make the playoffs. If they were 15th I'd think maybe home playoff game and maybe a playoff win.
Problem is they're the worst or at best, bottom 5. In this day of age, you don't win the Super Bowl without a great QB, not a great defense (alone that is I still believe in having a good defense). You can win without a great QB and make the playoffs but you need a great team around him. This is where you need to build a great defense and spend a lot of money in free agency on both sides of the ball to make the team as best as possible. With that though means you need average QB play to win, heck, even slightly below average with the talent on this team. But when you're bottom five or last in the league, the best you can do is 8-8, or 9-7 with the obligatory win in a meaningless game even with all this talent.
One last thing, these three QBs all have issues one way or another with accuracy. One can throw it farther than the other but struggles in another segment where that other QB thrives on. With that said, if accuracy is a problem which it is, then I want the guy with the best athleticism and ability to move the ball and make plays with his legs. That eliminates Cassel for me from the discussion. If he ends up being the starter, I'll be upset as it's just another journeyman guy like Fitzpatrick, Orton, and Kevin Kolb. However, we'll all be saying something along the lines of "he's the veteran and he's had some success and he might be the best option with this talent manage the game."
I don't think however the coaches are necessarily enamored with that or him, or else they'd endorse him long ago. So that means E.J. and Taylor are in the discussion and one of those two are the favorites. We know what we got in Cassel, we don't quite know with E.J. although 14 games is a pretty decent sample size. Taylor is the one true unknown despite being in the league 4 seasons with Baltimore and has 4 seasons worth or practices, training camps, and preseasons. In reality, E.J. is the one I want to see most because it means he's been the best and hopefully it means he's our guy. If not, then it's Taylor no question.
I want running to be a part of this offense if accuracy is a problem, which it is. If you can't them throwing accurately, beat them by running and not just the running backs. I mean run with the QBs and run actual design plays specifically for the QB. Unfortunately, if you do get into a slugfest by passing the ball, this team will fail and it will cost them the playoffs.
They ranked well in all the rest of the categories except QB. QB is like the exam and/or mid-term or even project/report that counts for the majority of your overall grade in school. You can do very well on the other tests and homework assignments, but bomb on the final exam or whatever counts for the majority of your final grade and watch your grade drop. This is that exact case. Although in the ESPN article it's not entirely fair to judge because we have no idea who or what the QB situation will be. Maybe a Philip Rivers or Drew Brees or someone you never think possible could be available or maybe they draft one (I assume unless one of these QBs succeeds they will be drafting one next year no doubt about it). So we can't assume next year or the year after they'll be having the same QBs as this year. In fact i'll assume they won't, I'll bet on it.
Back to Benoit's article he ranked the teams by starting QB. He assumes Matt Cassel is 32nd/dead last. There's the consensus if they put either E.J. Manuel or Tyrod Taylor in instead of Cassel that they still are the worst in terms of QB or it's a fancier way of saying they have the worst crop of QBs in the NFL. Looking at the list I can't say 100% they are 32nd but they aren't far. If not 32nd, I'd say 31st, 30th, maybe even 29th. Wooooo!! that's progress. Ugh! So big deal, if they're not 32nd they're still one of the 3-5 worst at best. Cleveland I think is the worst because I think Josh McCown is worse than either of the Bills QBs although McCown was almost here. Should the Bills lose points however since McCown bailed on them and went to Cleveland instead?
Obviously I'd say the Browns are 32nd with McCown starting and the train wreck known as Johnny Manziel on the roster. Heck even our former beloved QB Thad Lewis is there in the mix. The same Lewis who went 2-3 in a backup role behind Manuel two years ago and the same guy who "regressed" badly and was released during the preseason last year.
I think Houston could be worse than the Bills as well as currently Brian Hoyer is their starter with Ryan Mallett as their backup maybe competing for the starting job. Doesn't matter if you have two quarterbacks you have none. Mallett did not really impress me and Hoyer was so awful down the stretch for Cleveland last year it made Kyle Orton look like Tom Brady.
The Jets also might be worse as well as Geno Smith is the starter as determined by Chan Gailey already without a competition with fellow backup Ryan Fitzpatrick. Smith is terrible as he's horribly inaccurate and is a turnover machine who was benched several times last year in favor of an aging and ineffective Michael Vick. Fitzpatrick had some really good games last year in Houston and even had some with Gailey here in Buffalo, but he too can be inaccurate and threw too many picks and did not pull out a game in the closing seconds when it mattered the most.
Washington (who was ranked just ahead of the Bills at 31) with RGIII and Kirk Cousins are a joke. RGIII is a joke with his injuries, inaccuracy, and inability to see downfield and poor pocket presence. RGIII has really fallen since his Rookie of the Year season in 2012 and I'd rather not have Washington's QB situation more than the Bills. .
I don't put two other teams in the bottom five: Tampa Bay and Tennessee ahead of the Bills even though they have rookie QBs Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota starting. The fans have to be excited with the top-two picks in the draft and possibility of having their franchise guy instead of three guys who give their fanbase not a lot to look forward too. If the Bills aren't 32nd, they're no better than 28th in my opinion and that's not good enough. If they were 20th I'd like their chances just to make the playoffs. If they were 15th I'd think maybe home playoff game and maybe a playoff win.
Problem is they're the worst or at best, bottom 5. In this day of age, you don't win the Super Bowl without a great QB, not a great defense (alone that is I still believe in having a good defense). You can win without a great QB and make the playoffs but you need a great team around him. This is where you need to build a great defense and spend a lot of money in free agency on both sides of the ball to make the team as best as possible. With that though means you need average QB play to win, heck, even slightly below average with the talent on this team. But when you're bottom five or last in the league, the best you can do is 8-8, or 9-7 with the obligatory win in a meaningless game even with all this talent.
One last thing, these three QBs all have issues one way or another with accuracy. One can throw it farther than the other but struggles in another segment where that other QB thrives on. With that said, if accuracy is a problem which it is, then I want the guy with the best athleticism and ability to move the ball and make plays with his legs. That eliminates Cassel for me from the discussion. If he ends up being the starter, I'll be upset as it's just another journeyman guy like Fitzpatrick, Orton, and Kevin Kolb. However, we'll all be saying something along the lines of "he's the veteran and he's had some success and he might be the best option with this talent manage the game."
I don't think however the coaches are necessarily enamored with that or him, or else they'd endorse him long ago. So that means E.J. and Taylor are in the discussion and one of those two are the favorites. We know what we got in Cassel, we don't quite know with E.J. although 14 games is a pretty decent sample size. Taylor is the one true unknown despite being in the league 4 seasons with Baltimore and has 4 seasons worth or practices, training camps, and preseasons. In reality, E.J. is the one I want to see most because it means he's been the best and hopefully it means he's our guy. If not, then it's Taylor no question.
I want running to be a part of this offense if accuracy is a problem, which it is. If you can't them throwing accurately, beat them by running and not just the running backs. I mean run with the QBs and run actual design plays specifically for the QB. Unfortunately, if you do get into a slugfest by passing the ball, this team will fail and it will cost them the playoffs.
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