It took Kyle Orton and the Buffalo Bills years to find stability and start winning games. There's a lesson in there for the Jets and Geno Smith.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Each baffling New York Jets sequence, each ounce of Jets ineptitude was recognizable and equatable for the Buffalo Bills. The Bills in recent seasons have seen and lived all of that.
During and after a 43-23 bust at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, the Jets were like a mirror for Bills past. After nine straight losing seasons and no playoffs in 15 years, the Bills know baffling and ineptitude like few do. They appeared on track for more this season.
Their beloved, long-time owner, Ralph Wilson, died in late March. A cast of quirky characters - including Jon Bon Jovi and Donald Trump - jumped in as potential buyers with the distinct threat of moving the team. The new owner, Terry Pegula, surfaced just as the season started and promised to keep things in Buffalo. But he made no promises about the futures of head coach Doug Marrone or general manager Doug Whaley or any Bills player.
Here is where the link this season between the Bills and the Jets is captivating:
Both drafted quarterbacks in 2013. Buffalo selected E.J. Manuel in the first round, pick No. 16. The Jets drafted Geno Smith in the second round, pick No. 39. Both quarterbacks made double-digit starts last season. After both started their teams' first four games this season, Buffalo and Manuel were 2-2 and Smith and the Jets were 1-3.
Buffalo decided that veteran Kyle Orton would start game five and each one since. Smith has started all eight Jets games while veteran Michael Vick remained the backup. Buffalo decided that Manuel was struggling too much and needed to sit, to watch, to learn, to develop. The Jets decided that Smith should play and learn and would develop best on the run.
You don't know what you don't know and it's not all crystal clear in the NFL until you make a choice, choose a plan and execute it.
Buffalo's plan is working.
The Jets' plan is in pieces.
This wretched loss for the Jets took them places they never imagined. They are a 1-7 team now with seven consecutive losses. Geno Smith threw three picks in the game's first 11 minutes and was yanked.
Manuel watched as Orton threw for 238 yards and four touchdowns.
The Jets were hammered by a team they count on for annual healing. They had won six of the last eight against Buffalo and the Bills had never beaten them in four chances at MetLife Stadium since it opened in 2010. The Jets likely entered this game thinking Buffalo would be therapeutic. Instead, Buffalo delivered pure pain. Buffalo forced six Jets turnovers and turned them into 20 Bills points.
It's open season now on the long-term future of Jets general manger John Idzik, the short-term one of the head coach Rex Ryan and the quarterback, Smith. Most people are going to focus on just how low this Jets season can go while the franchise must re-work its plan and salvage something meaningful for the next eight games and beyond. That started on Monday when Ryan named Vick the starter.
Marrone and Whaley and the Bills players know they have not fully escaped the same heap.
But they are full of promise with a 5-3 record (2-1 in the AFC East). They enter their bye week primed for a second-half playoff run with a defense that leads the league in sacks (28) and picks (12) and with a quarterback in Orton who has provided stability and much more.
After the Bills turned to Orton before their Week 5 game at Detroit, he won that one and is 3-1 as the starter.
"Our plan last year was to have E.J. sit behind Kevin Kolb, but when Kolb got hurt in the preseason, E.J. was thrust in,'' Whaley said. "Once E.J. started the first four games this year, it was clear to us that we did not want to retard his growth and ability. We didn't want to change him. So, we shifted the approach. We are still very high on E.J. But Kyle being a veteran, every day he can bring it with a different approach. He is not defined by any stats. We reached out to him at the beginning of camp and kept the lines of communication opened. We kept gauging the situation and it worked."
Whaley credits Jim Overdorf, Buffalo's senior vice president of football administration, with making the deal work. Orton, 31, in his 10th season, had decided in the offseason that he was not returning to Dallas and was uncertain about his football future, period.
Orton was drafted from Purdue by the Chicago Bears in 2005, was traded to the Denver Broncos in 2008 and was forced to deal with the Tim Tebow-backup hoopla there before being released in 2011. He then spent a short stint with the Kansas City Chiefs before laboring the last two seasons with the Cowboys.
"Every situation he has been in he was pretty much behind somebody but there has always been situations that surfaced where he was needed,'' Whaley said. "He is a polished, veteran quarterback and player.
"He has become a big part of getting our guys expecting to win instead of hoping to win. For the last two weeks now we have played against young, struggling quarterbacks. You've got to win games against young, struggling quarterbacks. We took the next step today. Even in the games we've won, we have fought back and forth. But today we put our foot on the throat. We played in a higher gear. That's something we want.''
That is what Orton did in Buffalo's first possession. After being sacked for a 6-yard loss, on second-and-16 from the Jets 22, Orton threw a laser pass to receiver Robert Woods for a 22-yard touchdown. It was a perfect pass that hit Woods in perfect stride just as he turned back to look for the ball as he crossed the front of the end zone. It was as accurate and as sharp an NFL touchdown pass as you will ever see.
Coaches call this "throwing the guy open.''
Orton throws his experience around.
"Having Kyle has proved to be very beneficial,'' Bills defensive end Mario Williams said. "When he is given time, he can make plays. He can make throws. He stands in there with great heart. And when he gets hit, he lets his blockers know he got hit. And why. He lets them know and kicks their butts in gear.''
Manuel added: "People may see what he is doing on the field right now but they don't see his approach. The way he speaks to the offensive coordinator (Nathaniel Hackett), the way he talks to everybody in the quarterback room, the way he talks to all of the offensive players. He lets you know what he expects. No, he demands it. It has become a collective thing. Kyle will go through all of the plays with the coaches during the week and be very clear about `I like that' or `I don't like that.' I'm watching. I'm learning. Every practice. Every play in every game. I'm always prepared if my number is called. But I am definitely learning how to do some things by watching him.''
Marrone should be credited for fostering such an environment.
Photo via Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Even before this Jets game, with both Bills starting running backs injured and out (C.J. Spiller and Fred Jackson) and with backups named Boobie Dixon and Bryce Brown in, Orton was supposed to crumble under the pressure of being the center of the offense. He heard it ...
"NO WAY YOU'RE GOING TO WIN WITH KYLE ORTON THROWING THE BALL FOR FOUR QUARTERS!''
"ORTON IS NOT A GAME-CHANGING QUARTERBACK!''
After his first special scoring throw to Woods, he tossed a beautiful bomb to Sammy Watkins for an 84-yard gain. That was the second longest completion this season to only Denver Peyton Manning's 86-yarder. Orton had reached 16,000-plus passing yards for his career by days end.
"I knew I had to play well,'' Orton said. "I had to play smart. I don't know everything, but I've been around. When you are a young quarterback, it's all big. You think you know how to prepare, but you really don't know how to prepare. I'm excited about where we are going.''
Bills fans have seen their team collapse too frequently to become too giddy. Too many Bills delightful starts have fizzled into baffling, inept endings.
"It's a matter of turning that mentality,'' Whaley said.
A task Orton is grabbing by the throat.
The way Orton sees it, after all of the tangled tests of his career, what is left of it is too short and too important to waste on dallying. He is direct and he is blunt in his goals and play on and off the field.
"What has happened to E.J., some of what Geno Smith is going through, it happened to me early in my career,'' Orton said. "I studied. I learned. I went through it. I don't know, you've got to stay in the moment. There is always a lot of stuff you could worry about. If you let yourself do that, that is when you get into trouble. Joe Tiller (his Purdue coach) told me a long time ago about credit and blame for quarterbacks, the whole thing that goes with that. That always stuck with me. I'm throwing the ball better now than I ever have in my life. I'm thinking in games as well as I ever have.''
And that took Orton 10 seasons, four teams, 78 games, 73 starts and an onslaught of criticism, doubt and insults tossed his way along the way. It toughened him.
It made him the Bills starter.
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