Ballad Of The Unknown Quarterback

In addition to a strong arm, decent mobility and a degree from Duke, internet research reveals that Buffalo's new quarterback displays a rapier-like tongue when involved in political debate:

Oh. We Want Marangi's overstaffed research department tells us the above clip is not, in fact, Thaddeus Lewis, who makes his first start for the 2-3 Bills this afternoon against Cincinnati, but Thaddeus Stevens, who apparently did something or other important enough to get himself portrayed by Tommy Lee Jones in some movie.


So we go into today's game unsure of the new quarterback's stance on the equality of man.

Or much of anything else about him.

And The Answer Is ... None Of The Above

Figuring they could not do any worse in the wake of E.J. Manuel's knee injury and Jeff Tuel's Thursday-night meltdown, given what's out there, the Bills coach Doug Marrone announced that Thaddeus Lewis will be promoted from the practice squad to start against Cincinnati on Sunday.

Then Again, I Could Be Wrong

(UPDATE: Or not.

As WWM originally theorized, Josh Freeman chose a chance to be the long-term starter, rather than a fill-in until E.J. Manuel gets healthy, thereby denying us the chance to use the above photograph every single time we mentioned him.

So, according to the Toronto Sun, the Single Wing it is.)

In a post earlier today, We Want Marangi dismissed the likelihood of the Bills signing new former Buccaneers quarterback Josh Freeman.

So, of course, Buffalo management reportedly went all out after Freeman a few hours later.

Bills Re-Sign Moorman, Desperately Seek QB

The Buffalo Bills replaced Shawn Powell with the guy he replaced a little more than a year ago, re-signing the only punter the team knew for most of this millennium.

That Did Not Take Long

I had been working on a post affixing much of the blame for Buffalo's 37-24 loss last night in Cleveland on punter Shawn Powell.

Apparently, I was not the only one to see things that way. The Bills cut him this morning.

On The Bills, Browns, Urban Decay And Ronnie Harmon. Again.

(Editor's note: So I was planning to write about the history of the Bills and Browns and their respective cities. Then I remembered I'd already done that last season.

More than a year has passed since their Week 3 meeting in 2012, and while things have happened on both sides of Lake Erie, not a lot has changed.

Both teams have new coaches and new quarterbacks, and each is 2-2 heading into tonight's game in Cleveland, meaning either the Bills or Browns will have a winning record at this time tomorrow.

As for the two cities on the shores of Lake Erie, Buffalo's wobbly self-esteem recently received another booster shot from another dramatically scored promotional video, while Cleveland's baseball team won its last 10 regular-season games, assuring Indians fans the privilege of seeing them lose their lone postseason contest in person.

That means Cleveland fans may be drunker than usual for tonight's epic clash, which will be telecast as part of the NFL Network's Game-Nobody-Outside-The-Two-Competing-Markets-Wants-To-Watch-Of-The-Week. If you don't have the NFL Network, you can catch it on one of the alternative stations listed here.

The following was originally posted on Sept. 20, 2012. Enjoy.)

When the Buffalo Bills play the Cleveland Browns, it should be something to anticipate.

The two cities are four hours – if  you drive like a reasonable human -- away from each other along the rim of Lake Erie.

The cities are fossilized remains of America’s industrial age, where all that survived from their relative glory days of the early 20^th century are some pretty impressive architecture and even more impressive legacies of systemic corruption.

Having been national punchlines (Cleveland most famously for the river that caught fire, Buffalo for its epic blizzard), the resulting inferiority complexes manifested themselves differently:

Buffalo is creepily nostalgic about the days before it became a shithole, trying to market itself by essentially wailing, “We used to be pretty!”

Cleveland is awfully smug about being a significantly larger shithole – for all its taxpayer-funded redevelopment, it remains the only place I know of where an entire bar district went out of business.

Baltimore Gets Rookie Treatment

It only seemed like the ball hung in the air forever.

In reality, just a second or so passed between Buffalo safety Da'Norris Searcy tipping Joe Flacco's pass and Bills rookie linebacker Kiko Alonso somehow getting his hands under the falling ball and cradling it before it hit the turf, sealing a 23-20 win over Baltimore.

That was more than long enough for every crushing, come-from-ahead coulda/shoulda heartbreaker Buffalo has endured over the past, oh, half-century to flash through the brain of everyone watching.

If you prefer looking on the dark side of everything, particularly everything pertaining to the Bills, you might want to dismiss Alonso's second interception of the game -- the fourth of his young career -- as the last in a series of random breaks that added up to an upset of the reigning Super Bowl champions.

Watch the replay, though, and you see that there was absolutely nothing lucky about the play. Searcy tipped away a pass that, if completed, would have put the Ravens in position for a game-tying field goal -- albeit a long one.

Alonso displayed incredible athleticism and focus in gaining control of the ball before it hit the turf. His professional experience, or lack thereof, had nothing to do with making that play. You've either got it, or you ain't.

Alonso is what a lot of Buffalo fans desperately wanted (and, judging from the number of No. 51 jerseys still visible around town, still believe) Paul Posluszny to be -- an every-down middle linebacker capable of making game-changing plays against the run or pass.

It is tough not to feel pretty good about Alonso's fellow second-round pick, Robert Woods, too.

Woods got himself open repeatedly, most notably on a 42-yard touchdown strike from Buffalo's previously most notable rookie, E.J. Manuel.

The Bills' first two choices in the most recent draft already show the sort of connection that usually does result from experience. Manuel-to-Woods almost resulted in a second touchdown, but for a close-but-probably-correct replay reversal.

Aside from his route-running and hands, Woods, who finished with four catches for 80 yards, also showed his running ability on a 13-yard reverse.

Then there's Manuel.

It is not difficult to imagine what was going through his head as the ball, and seemingly the game -- along with a fair amount of the good will he has built up with the local fan base -- bounced away from him after a botched fake read-option handoff to Fred Jackson with 3:22 remaining as his team clung to a three-point lead.

Probably something like this:

"OHSHITOHSHITOHSHITOHSHITOHSHITOHSHITOHSHIT."

You could almost see Terrell Suggs swooping in, snagging the ball in stride and fleeing to a go-ahead touchdown that would so rattle Manuel and the Bills, neither would be able to form a cohesive strategy for recovering.

But the J.P. Losman flashback ended as quickly as it started, when fate put Stevie Johnson in possession of the wayward ball with a truly lucky bounce, ensuring that Manuel would not have a worse day than another rookie quarterback who had outplayed him seven days earlier.

Manuel's passing numbers were not overwhelming, or even especially whelming -- 10-of-22 for 167 yards and the touchdown to Woods, which was countered by his first two-interception game as a professional. A week after getting sacked eight times by the New York Jets, the Ravens only got to him twice, although one resulted in a lost fumble.

The touchdown to Woods, though, came on the sort of deep throw not seen very often around these parts since, well, I have to mention that Losman character again. He also completed third-down throws on Buffalo's first two scoring drives. And two of his best throws of the day -- the non-touchdown to Woods and a perfectly floated deep sideline throw to Scott Chandler -- wound up hurting his completion percentage, after the replays were reviewed.

Plenty of more seasoned Bills also contributed, of course. Fred Jackson and C.J. Spiller repeatedly gouged Baltimore's run defense, which came in ranked fourth in the NFL, but gave up 203 yards on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Buffalo's run defense (third-from-worst before Sunday) stuffed Ray Rice and Bernard Pierce badly enough in the first half to convince the Ravens to give up on that line attack completely in the second.

Their complete inability to deal with Marcell Dareus might have had something to do with that. Bearing his strongest resemblance yet to a third-overall draft choice, Dareus was in on seven tackles and registered two sacks, capping his day by flinging the 6-foot-6, 245-pound Flacco to the ground with one arm on the second.

And then there was Aaron Williams, who was so lousy at corner through two professional seasons that the Bills made a safety out of him, only to put him back at his original spot out of injury-induced desperation. While his day was far from perfect, most notably when Torrey Smith torched him for a 74-yard gain midway through the fourth quarter. But he also accounted for two of the five picks of Flacco, with the second -- a remarkable, leaping grab -- saving a touchdown.

All of which sends the Bills to Cleveland, winners of two straight under former third-string quarterback Brian Hoyer, for a Thursday night game that suddenly looks like something of a crossroads for two teams who nobody expected to do much this year.

One-quarter of the way through the 2013 season, neither Buffalo nor the Browns could ask for much more.