dubs

I don't remember anyone being excited that Gailey was hired and also the Cowboys are tied for first in the NFC East.

Totally agree, bananathumb, that is probably what Ralph was/is thinking. It would be frustrating to think though it means scrapping the whole idea. Just because Donahoe didn't work, doesn't mean the next one won't. Step 1 is getting the framework in place and step 2 is getting the right people in place. Donahoe was a miss. I'd love to see Polian fill that role. Probably a pipedream though.

Like any good organization or business, success or failure is largely determined by the leadership and the culture they promote. If you take companies like Apple or IBM, they became successful because their leaders instilled a culture that cultivates the values that are important for that industry. Apple, for example, goes to great lengths to promote creativity and innovation. Wal-Mart takes cost savings to an obsession by keeping track of even little things in the corporate headquarters, such as pens, pencils, and paperclips. Coca-Cola promotes their heritage and pride by using the color red in everything you see at their headquarters. My point is, the Bills have no vision, no brand, and no real culture that breeds success. I think this is the fatal flaw of the organization. In my opinion the NFL is a collection of smaller businesses that compete with one another and the primary measure of that is success on the field and accountability. Ultimately, it seems that the Bills lack that accountability because Ralph seems unable to manage an organization giving his current age and health. The real leaders are not "football" people, Brandon and Littman. They are marketing and finance people, respectively. Both crucial to an organization, but in a supporting role. The Bills (Ralph), needs to bring in a new CEO to lead the organization, but a person with a successful football past. Brandon needs to either be realigned to Head of Sales and Marketing (which I think he's done a good job with) or let go. The new CEO needs to be present, visable, and hold the GM accountable for the product on the field. He needs to know the league, have experience, and contacts and use these to bring in a new GM and ultimately new coach. Secondly, the new culture needs to be based on a standard of excellence. You see it with the Patroits. As much as we hate Bill, after every game he's talking about how the Pats need to get better, no matter what the score. No excuses, no BS. The Bills need to emulate that and get the right people in place. The NFL is a crazy organization where from year to year teams can vary. Personally, I think we have a decent group of players that can be very competitive in this league. I think if we get new leadership and a new culture as described above, the team isn't that far off from making some noise. But we need to do this as soon as the season ends, becasue it takes time. Unfortuantely, I think we are at a critical juncture with the Bills. I think fans are sick and tired of losing in the way that we are, without seeing any tangible progress. I worry that if things don't materially change, the Bills are going to lose perhaps the greatest asset they have, a passionate and committed fanbase.

Respectfully disagree. The fundamental flaw is leadership, coaching, AND the QB. IMHO, it's in that order as well.

While Gailey, Wanny, and Fitz are a huge problem and must go, the buck has to stop somewhere and my thought is Nix or even Russ. I don't really know how accountable Brandon needs to be but my guess is he's not really accountable to anyone, given what seems to be Wilson's lack of ability to be involved. We need a bold and respectable football person leading this organization. Someone with contacts and connections in the industry. That person should be CEO with a football background not a marketing person like Russ Brandon. I'd advocate for Bill Polian. As a CEO he can make big decision on football, but hire a GM like Whaley who can oversee all football operations. Then we need to be bold with our head coach selection. We need to hire a younger, hungry coach who's not afraid to act courageously. Until we fix the highest level of the organization, we are going to keep reliving these types of seasons over and over again.

And a couple QBs!

aaaannndd....nevermind. Charlie Batch just beat the Ravens..wow

Well, The Chargers just gave up so Cincy is about to win.

If Pittsburgh and Cincy lose, it'll look more possible than most people thought going into today. You never know, it would be nice to see the team in the playoffs again. I don't think anyone is saying it's probable.

Ravens just went up by 7. Cincy still down by three with SD driving. Crazier things have happened.

You just never know...Maybe by the last game of the year we will have to just beat Greg McElroy and the Jets (and we have a repeat of the debacle loss to the Steelers a few years ago)

6) Steelers: 6-5 (Tied to Balt now) 7) Bengals: 6-5 (Losing to SD now) T8) Bills: 5-7 T8) Jets: 5-7 T8) Dolphins: 5-7

Awesome. Hope that's me soon and hope that's lots of fellow Buffalonians that have moved away.

Every time I read an article like this it just reminds me of how much I'd love to move home. I'm sure a lot of people on this board are in a similar situation. Went to college and moved away for career opportunities elsewhere. When you're younger, it's an exciting and fun adventure. You feel you're doing the right thing, etc... But as I get older I really question whether or not it it's worth it. I still don't know what the answer it but wrestle with it frequently. I sincerely hope that the renaissance people speak of really takes hold and gives some of Buffalos Prodigal Sons an easier decision to move back home and make Buffalo a permanent home again. Wait...this is a football board, sorry for the sappy post!!

Relax guy. I'm not saying you can't watch or can't have an opinion. I'm saying that its pretty messed up if you want to watch a team that make you so miserable and would like the team to leave even though it would really hurt a community of your friends and neighbors.

Anyone who wants the Bills to move should just stop watching games (and posting on bills fan websites). No one is forcing you to be a fan. As someone who's been watching the Bills for 36 years, it's sad to see where they are at this point and where they've been the last ten years. That being said, it's will always better to know that the bills are in Buffalo. If they moved, life would go on and be just as great, but a little piece of me and I'm sure hundred of thousands of other people would die.

I don't get it. I'm connected via Ethernet. It's like watching Atari football with constant pauses.

At least I am not missing a close game. Go Bills!!

It's got to be Comcast or something. This is excruciating.

Hmmm....no way I can watch a whole game like this... Gotta figure out something stat. My liver can't handle going out for the game every Sunday.

Does anybody else have issues with streaming the games through the NFL Ticket app on the PS3. I recognize the picture quality is going to suck, but the constant interruptions and pauses to the streaming content is maddening. I am connected directly through an AirPort extreme, not wirelessly. Thanks.

Per Tuesday Morning Quarterback (my favorite Sports Writer/Economist on the Planet): http://espn.go.com/espn/playbook/story/_/id/8363360/is-green-bay-sync-san-francisco-next-nfl-powerhouse Yet Another Awful Bills Team: The Bills have a league-worst 11-year postseason drought, and that is unlikely to change anytime soon as they allowed 48 points versus the weak offense of the Jets. Despite the NFL being a passing league, the Bills have no quarterback they drafted on their roster, just an assortment of quarterbacks other teams didn't want. At the halfway point of the 2011 season, starter Ryan Fitzpatrick had 14 touchdown passes versus seven interceptions. The Bills awarded him a contract extension with a monster bonus, and since then he has celebrated by throwing 19 interceptions and 13 touchdown passes. By the last third of last year, defensive coordinators had figured out that Fitzpatrick never looks over the center of the field -- all his passes go sideways or up the sideline. Since opponents figured this out, he's been throwing picks. His sideways pick-six to Antonio Cromartie on Sunday at Jersey/B was so predictable, Cromartie appeared to be the one running the pattern. After the game, Cromartie said the Jets were expecting Fitzpatrick to throw sideways. Buffalo's awful secondary does not help. The Bills allowed a 123.4-rating day by Mark Sanchez, one of the worst passers in the league. At cornerback, Buffalo has Leodis McKelvin, 11th choice of the 2008 draft; Stephon Gilmore, 10th selection of the 2012 draft; and Eric Williams, 33rd choice of the 2011 draft. All helped Sanchez look like a Hall of Fame quarterback in his prime. McKelvin and Gilmore were burned badly for touchdowns. Winning in your division is the NFL's test of manhood. Buffalo is now on an 0-6 streak against the Jets, a 2-6 streak against the Dolphins and a 2-21 streak against the Patriots. For a decade the Bills have been the league's worst-managed, worst-coached and worst-drafting franchise. There's no sign of any change -- and no sign anyone at the top of the Bills' organization cares.

Yes, which is why I put that. I'm not suggesting that the Bills FO should know for an absolute certainty who's going to be a good QB and who's going to be a bust. I guess my point is generally when a QB is drafted in Round 1, it's because he has all the tools to be a very good QB. Size, Arm Strength, Accuracy, Pehaps Athleticism. What is clear to me with Fitz is he just doesn't have the arm strength to be a good NFL QB. He overcompensates by trying to throw harder and I think it results in inaccuracy. I think the organization needs to try draft a guy with those tools before we make another draft pick.

Also, since 1998 (when Peyton manning - oldest QB on this list was drafted) 38 QBs have been drafted in the first round and our only pick was JP Losman. Not that telling. About a QB per team, except when you factor in the fact that some of those teams never needed to draft another one.

I am not sure if this has been done before, apologies if this is redundant, but Sunday was really the last piece of evidence I needed to convince me that as much as I like Fitz, he's just not a quality starting QB in this league. My OCD nature got me to looking up all the starting QBs in the league on opening day and how they got into the league. I think there are a few telling statistics, that while not surprising and can sometimes be misleading, lead me to believe that in one way or another we must address QB early in next year's draft. Of the 32 starting QBs in the league, 23 (72%) were drafted in Round 1 and 2 in Round 2 (78% if you combine Rd 1 & 2). Tony Romo is the only undrafted guy and the lowest drafted guy is…wait, Ryan Fitzpatrick at pick 250. Of the 32 starting QBs in the league, we wouldn’t have been able to draft 16 of them because they were off the board when our pick came up (unless tried to trade up). Of the QBs that were drafted in Round 1 or 2 that we didn’t draft, instead we took: Nate Clements in 2001, Drew Brees was first pick of Rd 2 Donte Whitner in 2006, Jay Cutler drafted later in Rd 1. Leodis McKelvin in 2008, Joe Flacco drafted later in Rd 1 Aaron Maybin in 2009, Josh Freeman drafted later in Rd 1 Aaron Williams in 2011, Andy Dalton drafted 1 pick later in Rd. 2 Marcel Dareus in 2011, Gabbert, Locker, Ponder all drafted later in Rd 1 Stephon Gilmore in 2012, Weeden drafted later in Rd 1 In the if you trade up for a QB, you better be sure he’s the real deal department (aka the try not to throw up in your mouth department): In 2004 we traded up to pick JP Losman. We gave Dallas our next year number 1. The following year, in 2005, our pick was the 20th pick. Aaron Rogers was the 24th pick in that draft. OUCH. There are also a lot of misses in by teams selecting QBs in the first few rounds. And there are some exceptions to teams getting lucky drafting a guy late (Brady) or picking up a UFA (Romo), but I think the point is that if we want to get an above average QB on this team, we either need to be terrible for a year and get a high pick, do everything we can to create a package to trade up (a la Redskins), or "reach" for a guy who according to the experts might not have a Top -15 grade. ** Disclaimer - I understand that: 1) Hindsight is 20/20. 2) Extraneous reasons (coaches, players around him, etc...) could prevent a QB that was successful somewhere else, not be as successful in Buffalo *** I tried to attach the spreadsheet but it looked like a jumbled mess...