WhitewalkerInPhilly

I'm loving this! If they could somehow swing Lovie Smith (a long shot to be sure) we could get him as DC to pacify his fans while keeping an offensive minded team builder as HC.

Actually, this is pretty promising. I know it's only at the college level but he definitely pulled his team out of a period of being absolutely abyssmal, knew what to do with Drew Brees as the OC for the Saints, was an O-line guy and might be looking to snag a QB first round. I'm still skeptical as hell though...

... ... Damn, it's entirely too early to start drinking. Seriously? This isn't just because I wanted Lovie. I'm not a big fan of the idea of recruiting a college head coach but if we were going to do it, we could have tried getting someone with a slightly more productive program. Please, someone give me hope for how we're going to get a fix for our QB spot, creatively use our run game and bolster a talented yet underperforming defense.

I do think that we have to keep in mind what talent we have, and who is the best fit to maximize that. Would I love for the Bills to be an offensive powerhouse? Hell yes. Are we built for that right now? Hell no. Do we have a very solid front four, an elite safety and a developing CB corps? Yes, I think we do. You wouldn't guess it from our stats, but we haottve some very talented players. How about our run game? Spiller is lightning in a bolttle, but he needs to be used creatively in order to keep him from getting worn out. Jackson is still great at moving the pile. I kept saying during last offseason "we need to find a way to run both effectively" and we barely did it. Shockingly, when we did, we tended to win. With our quietly solid O-line, we should be able to do some great things. So, when you mention a coach with a winning record, a proven track record with getting the most out the defense, a propensity to run the ball and a DESIRE to come to Buffalpo I start drooling. By no means stop searching, but Lovie Smith definitely deserves a shot. I can't think of any fired coaches who would be a better fit, any assistants currently in the playoffs who we can count on to be lured away to a franchise with a 13 year playoff drought and any college coaches who wouldn't be a roll of the dice.

I think there are a lot of questions no one ever asked Chan. But now that Chan is gone, there is no reason to keep Thigpen and maybe Jackson has a chance to compete for the starting job. Assuming we don't draft or trade for someone we think we can start.

I am. For thirteen years (and counting) and proud of it.

Am I the only one coming to defend Nix here? Yes? Fine then. Ok, Nix hasn't done a phenomenal job. And if there is some legendary guru scout out there who is willing to come to Buffalo and do the job then we should look into it, but I don't see a large stock of those. Nix, while certainly with his flaws, did manage to get Mario Williams here (who had a 10+ sack season), got three very solid first round picks in Spiller (now a premiere back), Dareus (had a great rookie year before a sophomore slump) and Gilmore (who climbed to the top of the depth chart as a rookie, more than can be said of McKelvin). He quietly built a very solid O-line, proved that Carrington at the very least is a solid backup who can block field goals, and negotiated good deals with some of our veterans. He, rightfully, deserves some **** for Fitz and Chan, but overall we've done a lot worse.

It's a little sad, but it certainly is due. Chan dealt with a lot of dysfunction when he came in, and I think the culture change helped some things but the man is just a god-awful play caller. I wish the best of luck for his sucessor. And I wish an "allelujah, thank god and amen" to Ralph Wilson.

Man, that sounds like a longshot but that would be beautiful.

I am also mystified as to why this is pinned. One, I highly doubt that the Ravens are terribly hard at work replacing Flacco. Second, Flacco has done his best work behind a stout defense and running game, and has little reason to want to leave. Three, even if the Raven's don't want him back or Flacco wants to take the show on the road what motivation would he have to come here? Fourth, is the money it would take to bring him here worth it?

I have no hard feelings toward Kelsay, and he's been a very solid though not spectacular player. But I do believe that after seeing Merriman start contributing, seeing Anderson play while healthy and seeing the emergence of Moore, Kelsay is simply on the wrong side of 30. The D-line is starting to finally come together and he's just not on it right now.

The man never played a game this season. I'm not shedding a whole lot of tears since it's to keep our O-line numbers up. Though considering that we can't seem to count on Wood finishing a season, looking into a few quality backups doesn't sound like a bad idea now.

I don't doubt that the players are doing better. The Graham article counts for a lot for me. I think our D scheme is still far from perfect, and Wanny should be kept on a tight leash, but I can't deny that Mario Williams is making the progress we were hoping he would. I remember people saying that we would be happy if he got 10 sacks, and already he's at 9.5. He's clearly turning the corner faster and is finally looking to be worth the money. We do have him locked up for a long time, remember? Meanwhile Stephon Gilmore is coming along nicely. We kept seeing him get beat consistently early in the season but I think he's been playing admirably against the opponents #1 receivers. So really, I don't know Wanny is doing anything, but we are seeing markedly better play, even against crazy good offenses like the Texans and Patriots.

I think he's promising and well, to be blunt, what really are our odds for the playoffs going forward? Considering that he was thrown into the deep end of the pool for his first start I think he did alright. I seem to remember Gilmore getting picked on early and often during the beginning of the season and he has come a long way since then. I'm still holding out hope that Aaron Williams can turn it around but to be honest I'm feeling better about our secondary than I did this time last season.

Seriously, where has this run defense been all season?

Is anyone else thinking "Hey, this is the D-line they promised us in preseason"?

I think this is a good point. Whenever someone comes off with a hot new defensive system it takes a while for people to catch up. For more recent examples, look how the Bills played for the first few weeks last season. We were lighting up the scoreboard until people figured out the best ways to make Fitz miss. We also had Tebow mania, which took a lot of people by surprise, but as the season closed you could definitely see that people were figuring him out. He's still playing better than Fitz though

Well, the title of "best O-line" is certainly a little bit subjective but I certainly believe that we are much better than the average rating we received in the beginning of the season in the previously mentioned article. (Ranked 13 out of 32) Yes, Fitz has been throwing short routes, but right now we are third in sacks allowed, third in rushing yards per attempt, and have helped Spiller to lead the league in yards per carry. With the exception of Pears, no one has played more than 5 years and Glenn has made Nix look like a genius and Mayock look like an idiot (not too tricky) so barring career ending injuries I think our O-line will be a tough unit for years to come. If we want to take a rookie QB and try to groom him for the future, the time is going to be at this next draft.

I don't think my screenname has ever been quite so appropriate. HE WON'T DIE! Ahahaha!

For this season? I highly doubt that's going to happen. I do think that Fitz' effort so far will quite possible have them looking around for the next QB to start grooming. I can see grabbing someone in the draft and trying to help Fitz teach him game management. I don't even mind that Fitz does't have a cannon, but you see him simply missing open men. He makes the right choice, but simply can't deliver.

In spite of all of my cynicism, I can't just throw in the towel this season. So we're not elite...I still think we're better than the Phins, and better than the jets without holmes and Revis. If we can beat the Titans and go 4-3 into our bye, we have an entirely winnable stretch of games to finish out the season. 10-6...chancy, but maybe.

As snarky as I want to be, it does give me hope that everyone in the division is having a hard enough time to all be 3-3.

But entirely ACCURATE! BYRD IS THE WORD!!!

That would be great. We could use everyone we possibly can for the Texans.

He does look like the future. He looked pretty good today running off of a banged up O-line and he knows routes well enough to be dangerous.