why would he come here if he coulda gone to the rams and started
why would he come here if he coulda gone to the rams and started
One set of rules for all in the beloved community
1) because the Bills offered 5 million and the Rams already have a couple mil invested in Shaun Hill. So if in fact the Rams were interested in Orton they would have had to pay up to a guy that had not been through camp and OTA's as Hill has (and Hill has not looked bad).
2) He has been around and I am sure he knows the chance are in his favor as far as learning the playbook and getting a chance to play.
Can we not ***** about every single move? We needed a backup and we got, IMO, a very good one. Orton wasn't coming here any sooner than he did for multiple reasons.
Thad Lewis obviously took multiple steps back and that created the hole in the first place. I'd like to know what QB we should have picked up 4 months ago not knowing that Lewis would implode?
I non-bigoted up and heard that news yesterday, and was immediately relieved/optimistic for the season, a feeling I haven't had all summer... in fact, the last time I went into a season this excited was 2012. I thought Wannstedt and Mario Williams would turn around a defense that would have the Fitzpatrick led Bills back in the playoffs! Week 1 against the Jets killed that...
Back to this year: I explained it to my wife like this. Before we signed Orton, there were 4 scenarios in play. Here they are, ranked in order of how beneficial they would be to us as Bills fans, and what I thought/think were the likelihood of the scenarios taking place:
1) EJ plays well, the Bills make the playoffs (15%)
2) EJ plays poorly, Tuel takes over early in the season, the Bills make the playoffs (0%)
3) EJ plays poorly, is given the year to "learn on the job" the Bills miss the playoffs with 4-6 wins (42.5%)
4) EJ plays poorly/is injured/Tuel does or does not take over, regardless, the Bills win 0-2 games (42.5%)
Obviously these odds aren't from a Vegas book, but to me, the coin flip didn't seem to be between whether or not we were going to make the playoffs, but rather would we be giving the first overall pick in the draft to Cleveland.
But now, our floor has been raised.
1) EJ plays well, the Bills make the playoffs (15%)
2) EJ plays poorly, Orton takes over early, the Bills make the playoffs (40%)
3) EJ plays poorly, Orton takes over, the Bills don't make the playoffs, but finish 7-9, 6-10 (40%)
4) EJ plays poorly, is given the whole year to "learn the job" and the Bills finish league worst 2-14 (5%)
So to try and quantify the football viewing experience of a Bills fan... in my mind now, there's a 55% chance we get a wildcard, but only a 5% chance that this season is such a trainwreck that I'm going to be questioning why I even watch this garbage by Thanksgiving... whereas before Orton, playoffs were only 15%, but the real 50/50 bet was on whether we would be giving Cleveland the first overall pick.
It's the difference in losing 2000$ at the casino the day after you paid your mortgage... or bringing your mortgage check to the casino the day before it's due to try and double down.
Tatonka (08-31-2014)
HHURRICANE (08-31-2014)
If you can point out a front office, any front office in the NFL, that doesn't have a list of repeated failures on their resume as they are trying to build or maintain a team please point them out.
Thanks in advance.
'Don't ask me'? What the hell kind of response is that? Especially from somebody that hangs his hat on being smarter than the guys in charge? If you can't come up with a better option as to what the FO should have done, maybe you should just STFU.
YardRat Wall of Fame
#56 DARRYL TALLEY #29 DERRICK BURROUGHS#22 FRED JACKSON #95 KYLE WILLIAMS
Don't Panic (08-31-2014),feldspar (08-31-2014),Novacane (08-31-2014)
What I'm saying is that I wasn't paying attention to who was available as a back up months ago. And unlike the guys who get paid millions to figure it out, I don't get to see these guys practice every day so it had no way of knowing just how bad the backup QB situation is. We have an epic cluster**** here and you're actually defending the people responsible and attacking me?
Gimme a ****ing break. Yes, all FO's make mistakes but there is no excuse for botching the most important position on the team this badly.
DynaPaul (08-31-2014)
better days (08-31-2014),feldspar (08-31-2014)
Orton is one of the better backups, so it makes sense that he demanded fringe starter money, I have no problem with it we were paying Fitz 7 million per year.....
We got Orton.
Stop *****ing
We don't have a time machine to travel back to July and convince Orton to sign here before he weighed all his options.
The guy had to bluff retirement to worm his way out of Dallas... of course he was going to be selective about where he signed. He wants an opportunity to start.
The Neckbeard is ours now. I'm content.
Manuel / Orton Duo Takes Bills to Superbowl!
Can't wait!
He just looks like a Superbowl Winning QB!
My faith doesn’t make me perfect, it makes me forgiven.
Orton was the best available QB for the Bills to bring in without trading away more draft picks, which would of given several people here a mild stroke. I'd also be willing to be that Orton watched the preseason games & was targeting teams that had a lot of talent but needed a QB for years to come, not just one season. After watching our preaseason games, I'd say we're the best team without a NFL caliber starting QB.
BertSquirtgum (08-31-2014)
Kyle Orton did a savvy job gaming the NFL system this summer.
He bluffed his way out of Dallas via retirement talk.
He patiently waited for the right opportunity to arise as the preseason unfolded because -- at some point -- he wants to be a starter again. Not forever entrenched behind Tony Romo.
And as it happened, Buffalo had the ultimate QB meltdown during the preseason, which not only made the Bills Orton's best option, but also drove up his pricetag. Win for Orton. Win for us. Because we desperately need his help.
I guess St. Louis could also have been in the running for his services but they seem content with Shaun Hill.
So for those playing the 20/20 hindsight game boohooing about how we should have signed him sooner, keep in mind that Orton wasn't looking to sign immediately after his release from Dallas. He didn't want to wind up behind another deeply entrenched starter.
The Rams also have the least amount of cap room in the NFL ($1.5M), and will have to restructure contracts by next Wednesday just to sign a PS and account for the 52nd and 53rd player on the roster (the offseason Top-51 rules stop then and the in-season rules kick in). They just don't have more room to spend much on a QB because they are already (Bradford has a big number), they are too tight to the cap.