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The Bills are a hot mess and benching Tyrod Taylor for financial reasons didn't change that. In fact, starting EJ Manuel at quarterback really only made things worse.

Manuel started on Sunday against the Jets in a meaningless Week 17 game and he was all kinds of horrible.

Most notable was an incomplete pass he threw to the sideline -- there was't a Bills player within like 50 yards of where he was aiming the ball.

I mean, just, how? That's not cherry picking either. Manuel was pretty much terrible across the entire field.

Plenty of people noticed.

Manuel also got hit hard, but he was eventually just yanked because he was not good at football. Manuel would finish the day 9-of-20 for 86 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions.

The result was Cardale Jones, taken in the fourth round by the Bills this past offseason, getting his first regular-season snaps in the NFL. There's no real way to effectively judge what Jones can do in this spot -- it's Week 17 against a Jets defense that's eliminated from the playoffs and just loosely trying to protect a multiple touchdown lead.

The whole Manuel situation begs a bigger question about Buffalo's future, which is in the hands of GM Doug Whaley.

Whaley had an opportunity to pin the Manuel pick on former GM Buddy Nix but declined to do so, instead taking the onus for the selection on himself. He ran off Doug Marrone, hired Rex Ryan and ran him off too, used a first-round pick on Manuel and gave away a first-round pick to move up and draft Sammy Watkins (instead of just standing pat and taking Odell Beckham, Jr. or Mike Evans).

It's difficult to imagine the Bills getting substantially better on his watch.