EJ and Gilmore

[OpIv37]

Two more Bills draft picks who will never live up to their draft position.

Gilmore got toasted today and was flagged yet again. He should be a lock-down corner justifying that top 10 draft status, but instead he's playing like a nickel or dime corner who should be covering the other team's #4 WR while the FA we brought in to be the nickel corner outplays him.

EJ- I can deal with the missed read on fourth down because he will learn to make better reads. I can deal with that awful sack as long as he learns from it and it never happens again. The safety was epically stupid, and while the OL didn't do him any favors that play, it showed a complete lack of situational awareness. And the accuracy issues abound. He missed at least 4 wide open guys that would have gone for huge gains.

As bad as the D played, we could have won this game if a) we had fewer penalties and b) EJ was more accurate.

[The King]

Gilmore was mediocre to begin with, not being able to play physical has rendered him useless.

[justasportsfan]

b) EJ was more accurate.

hard to be accurate when you're clueless.

[OpIv37]

hard to be accurate when you're clueless.

He certainly looked clueless yesterday.

[GreedoII]

Gilmore is fine. he just needs to know how to tackle...lol

[gr8slayer]

Manuel makes sense, he has an excuse, I don't get what's going on with Gilmore. This is the style of defense that's right up his alley, it's 100% suited to him, maybe he's hurt?

[trapezeus]

EJ's stand out htis issue that didn't seem to be the case in week 1-2 was that he wasn't ready to make a decision early. and he relied on wanting to duck out of the pocket and find a receiver down the field. it worked a couple times. it failed more often. Part of that is being a young qb, part of that is an OC not having him ready to see what he should be seeing. get that clock going in your head.

his accuracy is a problem and i dont see it getting better. i think receivers are going to have days where they bail him out and other days where they just can't. to offset that, they need to run the ball better. if CJ is the main back, he's got to do better than 2.5 yards a carry. they will need a few more looks with different options from those running plays. then have ej be a 20 pass guy that just needs to connect on 12 of them to keep the chains moving. they did that week 1-2. they didn't do that week 3.

also, i don't think i've ever seen a bills team win with 11 penalties. so that is priority number 1. clean that up and it gives you a chance. then fix the strategy items and let the guy you know who has to be average a chance to be average.

[ICRockets]

I still think EJ has a shot to be our guy in the long run, but there's no denying this is the exact sort of game we need to not see from him more than twice a season. Our defense got it done in the 4th, and EJ did not.

[TacklingDummy]

The Bills drives this year...Has the offense really done anything this year?

Bears

15:00 1 01:30 BUF 20 3 4 Punt
11:35 1 04:43 BUF 29 9 71 Touchdown Keyplay: 32 yard Completion to Woods on 3rd down the Bears defender missed played
03:47 2 03:55 BUF 20 6 36 PUNT
11:30 2 03:23 CHI 46 6 14 Field Goal
05:36 2 00:06 CHI 7 1 7 Touchdown Keyplay: Bills D intercepts Cutler
01:49 2 01:13 BUF 13 4 39 Punt
09:34 3 02:41 BUF 20 6 28 Interception
04:23 3 03:28 BUF 18 5 14 Punt
13:19 4 01:39 BUF 38 3 7 Punt
07:52 4 03:50 BUF 48 8 37 Field Goal Keyplay: Kyle Williams intercepts Cutler
00:30 4 00:30 BUF 20 1 -1 End of Half
13:20 OT 03:34 BUF 22 7 69 Field Goal Keyplay: Jackson 39 yard run

Miami Pathetic display of offense with the great starting positions setup by the Defense and Special Teams

15:00 1 03:15 BUF 14 7 40 Punt
09:33 1 04:46 BUF 41 10 49 Field Goal Key: Drive start
02:12 1 01:50 MIA 31 6 22 Field Goal Key: Drive start
12:37 2 02:15 BUF 47 6 40 Field Goal Key: Drive Start
08:44 2 01:13 BUF 25 4 16 Punt
05:19 2 02:58 BUF 31 6 30 Punt
09:35 3 00:12 BUF 0 0 0 Touchdown
03:15 3 03:02 BUF 23 6 77 Touchdown
14:46 4 04:14 MIA 48 8 34 Field Goal Key: Drive start
07:25 4 01:40 MIA 48 3 -2 Punt
05:45 4 01:30 MIA 17 4 4 Missed FG Key: Drive start
03:32 4 01:38 MIA 27 4 7 Field Goal Key: Drive start
00:10 4 00:10 BUF 10 1 -2 End of Game

Chargers

15:00 1 01:57 BUF 20 3 7 Punt
09:45 1 06:36 BUF 20 11 32 Punt
10:18 2 01:51 BUF 36 3 4 Punt
05:54 2 02:58 BUF 8 8 65 Field Goal
00:21 2 00:21 BUF 23 1 0 End of Half
07:31 3 06:15 BUF 33 11 67 Touchdown
14:21 4 01:55 BUF 20 4 6 Punt
10:53 4 02:30 BUF 20 6 37 Downs
06:44 4 01:38 BUF 20 4 -10 Punt
03:28 4 00:05 BUF 9 1 -9 Safety
02:20 4 02:20 BUF 5 14 84 Downs

[Fletch]

As bad as the D played, we could have won this game if a) we had fewer penalties and b) EJ was more accurate.

Can't speak to how many penalties we'll have in the future, but get used to EJ being inaccurate. He's been that way for years. Whaley should have researched the pick quite a bit more. Penalties like we have them are a coaching issue. 86 penalty yards per game on average. The good news is that Belicheat's disciplined Pats are last.

Pegula can't get involved soon enough.

[justasportsfan]

I still think EJ has a shot to be our guy in the long run,

I don't think he'll ever be able to zip a ball on a consistent basis if he had to. Even Kelly mentioned EJ needing to fix that. Because of that, I don't think he'll ever evolve to being more than a slightly above average qb. We need more than just an above average qb if we want to get to the sb.With an above average qb (if EJ ever gets to be one) we better have a running game and a D like the seahawks.

[Fletch]

I think you're being kind. I don't think he'll ever even become an average QB. He's destined to become a poor starting QB at this level.

I'm not sure why anyone thinks that he was a whole lot more than barely adequate at FSU. He enjoyed an enormous talent advantage when his Noles played their schedule that just doesn't exist in the NFL. He was good but hardly great down there.

[CommissarSpartacus]

Gilmore needs to get a ****ing haircut.

You only get to be look like a Nubian warrior after you show you can play like one.

[Meathead]

yesterday was the first time i because officially concerned about ejs game. he still has time to recover but he cant be having horrible stretches like he had yesterday more than a couple times all season. everybody has bad games but theres bad and then theres epic bad, like he was yesterday. final stats look respectable, but they dont tell the real tale of ineptitude when they needed him to not suck

so yeah entirely possible it was just the kind of real stinker that every qb throws now and again. and they definitely need to give him the chance to see if he has that key ability to rebound. but if it happens again in the next few games i think they really have to look at sitting him and see if orton can spark the team. even if that happens ej isnt finished, lots of young qbs have been sat down and recovered later, but of course it would not be a good sign for him

[Meathead]

You only get to be look like a Nubian warrior after you show you can play like one.

then again if hes trying to look like a nubian princess hes been right on the money

may be time to consider having graham ahead of him in the rotation

[YardRat]

Could you be more specific with details on why Gilmore sucked yesterday? Thanks in advance.

[streetkings01]

Still cant understand how a QB with a strong arm consistently throws Chad Pennington like passes down the field.

[JohnnyGold]

What an awful day.

I want to write
"you guys are over reacting, we need to give him time", because it's only week 3, we're 2-1, we're in first place, and EJ looked pretty good the first 2 week.s

But then, I want to write
"EJ made some errors that are so far beneath division 1 football players, much less NFL qbs, yesterday, that we can't not start Orton if we're serious about winning."

Both options suck:
either keep starting the qb who is (likely) not up to the job, or, at best, needs this year and maybe next year to develop, and miss the playoffs again, when this team is loaded with weapons and has already proven it can win games with ball control and a strong running game,

or

give up on the starting qb after not even 16 games, and continue the qb carousal that has been spinning for 17 years now, with another journey man qb who's sure to come in, light it up for 3 weeks, then settle in mediocrity as we clamor for the next man up to take over.

I swear, if Pegula fired everyone associated with this organization on October 9th, said they were using the season to evaluate EJ, and promoted Schwartz to interim head coach, I would be dismayed for about 10 minutes, than happier than I've ever been following this team. I'm just so sick of the same story year after year after year after year.

step 1) have optimism following draft
step 2) optimism builds heading into preseason, reading reports of a qb playing GREAT ball during OTAs
step 3) enter deep, deep depression following preseason week 1
step 4) beg for bills to sign 30 year old journeyman qb
step 5) regain optimism as bills win 2nd preseason game
step 6) lose all faith as bills get blown out in 3rd "dress rehearsal" game
step 7) devastating injury makes me tell friends/wife im canceling sunday ticket (bonus points for happening in offseason this year!)
step 8) *optimism peaks* 2 weeks with no games before season starts, start to think anything is possible
step 9) optimism turns into the unspeakable... pondering playoffs... as bills play hard for first 4 games, usually going 2-2 or better, and even if 1-3, theyre fighting hard and it looks like they're one step away
step 10) season spirals out of control, bye week comes, enjoy time with my wife not watching football, say im done for the year
step 11) spend weeks 8-12 doing projects around the house with game on in the background, bills steal a few games
step 12) ESPN.com releases playoff calculator, I find a way Bills can make the playoffs at 7-9
step 13) Bills are eliminated from playoffs following weekend with 13-6 loss to a 2-10 team
step 14) watch games hoping we lose to improve draft slot, but for some reason, bills always win these games with their backup qb, get to 6 or 7 wins, and settle in to pick 13
step 15) convince myself that we were just a few losses away from the playoffs last year, and the backup qb who started weeks 12-16 can lead us to playoffs, all we need is a solid draft
step 16) super bowl ends, begin reading about draft prospects
final step) create alternate reality in my mind where the Bills are the only team who drafted new players, and thus, are the only team to improve over the offseason. REALLY CONVINCE MYSELF OF THIS FACT. repeat from step 1.

[YardRat]

Still cant understand how a QB with a strong arm consistently throws Chad Pennington like passes down the field.

He doesn't consistently step into his throws.