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The truth is that both sides of the ball need a lot more help than we all thought a few weeks ago. Three weeks ago, there was a lot more conviction that Fitz could be a solution, the OL had played well, receivers were emerging. We just needed a real Tight End. I think the last 2 weeks have blown that up a bit. Defensive side of the ball, we need more help than we can list... My position would be that this organization cannot afford to trade up to get anybody. Trading up has contributed to our problems, in addition to the misses w/ first round picks that has been discussed, the trade-ups for Losman, McCargo and Ryan Denney all cost us additional second round picks, so they've been very costly. The best draft move we've made all decade was trading back 3 slots, selecting Nate Clements, gaining a 2nd round pick and using it on Travis Henry way back in 2001.

I'm absolutely NOT advocating trading up to get Luck. We cannot afford the price on any such idea.

The week before the Miami game, I started a topic stating that the next three games will be critical to either validating or dismissing the optimism about the team and about Fitzpatrick as our long term starter. Those games have now come and gone and I'll say that the optimism is gone. Leo Roth's 2nd comment on this piece says it all: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20110104/SPORTS03/101040314/tbd This team still has an awful long way to go. We need to find a bonafide long-term starter somewhere or we'll continue to flounder and it will be impossible to build a contending team. We cannot afford to trade up to get Luck, it will cost too much for a team that can't afford to give anything and has too many needs. Our skill position big three Fitz, Fred and Stevie are closer to Frank Reich, Kenneth Davis and Don Beebe than they are to Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas and Andre Reed. Hardly the players that an ascending future can be built around... ... massively depressed!

I agree with a lot of what you're saying but question and a point: Q: Is anyone aware of any comprehensive scorecarding/benchmarking of draft success that any site keeps? I would love to see stats on this. How much better are the Pats/Ravens/Steelers than the rest of the league? and so forth Point: My biggest problem with anyone saying that "we should have never picked xxx, it was obvious that he would be a bust" is that nobody really knows that. If the guy wasn't picked where he was picked, someone else would have selected him with the next 5-10 picks. That is true for just about anyone. If the Bills didn't pick Maybin at 11, he would have been picked before 20 by somebody. If the Bills didn't trade up to get JP Losman, the Packers would likely have picked him a couple slots later. If the Bills didn't pick Mike Williams at 4 and selected Bryant McKinnie, the Vikings probably would have taken Williams at #7. Nearly all of these players would be the same bust that they were with the Bills. Its not like if Maybin wasn't picked at #11, then he would have become a 5th round pick. These players are scouted, rated and evaluated to death by the entire league and the top 1-2 rounds land pretty close to where they were picked, its just a matter of who gets the bust. So we could have picked Clay Matthews or Brian Orakpo last year instead and he would be a hit. The Redskins or Packers pick them maybe would have sucked and we'd be saying they can't draft.

Sorry, I meant Talley...

The other thing that irritates me to no end about the Maybin situation, is why can't he isn't at least a Special Teams stud. While thats small consolation for an 11th overall pick... he could at least be Mark Pike or Josh Stamer?? For crying out loud, we have safeties and CBs covering on ST, he wouldn't be an upgrade over that??

Tasker was a 4th rounder...

Yep,... go back to our Super Bowl years and just count the round 1-2 picks that made the team great Round 1: Jim Kelly, Bruce Smith, Cornelius Bennett, Jim Richter, Henry Jones, Will Wolford, Shane Conlon, Thomas Smith, John Fina, James Williams Round 2: Thurman Thomas, Phil Hansen, Nate Odomes Now you just need a small number of later round hits to be great... Andre Reed, Steve Tasker, Darryl Talley We're trying to flip the script entirely and tout how some of these later round guys are turning into such great finds while missing on nearly every top pick. The real reason we're so bad is Mike Williams, Losman, McCargo, Maybin, Hardy, McGahee, Lynch, Whitner (about to leave)... don't depress me by adding more names. There's practically a starting line-up of first/second round busts

Haha... that's a really good one!!!

+1, this is the most inane idea that's been posted in a while

Its a great interview and a testament to how this team has changed that David Nelson and Arthur Moats are featured on the media interviews. They're both well spoken and big hits by the FO. Happy to see these guys in Bills uniforms for a LONG time!!

Well said!!

From the standpoint of whether to think of him as long term solution as QB, absolutely the next 3 games are critical. Great games and hes a legitimate candidate, crappy games and he goes back to the category of adequate back-up or as 1 year starter while first round pick gets ready after that. "his last year and a half"... I don't have a clue what he did before the past 8 games that would give him consideration as QB of the future for this team. Nobody's bashing him, I love the way he's playing. I'm simply pointing out that the next three games are crucial to determining off season strategy around the QB position. He's been starting and upside surprising for about 8 games. He's had 7 excellent games and 1 horrible one. Add three division games to this and we've got a larger body of work. 10 excellent games and 1 bad one is very hopeful... 7 excellent games with 4 bad ones, including the last 3 against division opponents leads to a different conclusion. I don't know where you get a year and a half from, but the next three games determine off season strategy, its as simple as that!

Starter for 2011 isn't the question... I think we all agree on that even if they draft a QB w/ a top 5 pick. ...they draft a prospect? I assume you mean in later rounds and not in the first 3, which gets focused on defense. ...and what of his contract? He's fine through next year. However, it will be a distraction all year if he's doing well, so they need to sign him to an extension. Extensions cost money for a starting QB. We certainly wouldn't do those things if the next 3 games are terrible or marginal. My point is that the next three games, highly affect our off-season strategy. Nix said during the bye week that we needed to find the best QB to draft for the future. Has that changed? What is good enough? These next three games are critical and not throwaways... that everyone is playing for the future is NOT an understatement and has greater meaning that it typically does. This is the inflection point in evaluating the season.

I definitely disagree with that. If he won all three games in the division to close out and threw for 300 yards plus in two of them with 5-6 TD passes and 0-1 INTs he would get a big, fat contract and be declared QB our long-term solution at QB. Conversely, if we lose all three games and he can't get base 150yds/game with 0-1 TD passes and 5-6 INTs then everything that's happened with him till now would be forgotten, every article in the press and discussion on this board would be about which QB we're drafting with our Top 5 pick. With both of these extreme scenarios unlikely, the question is where does he have to fall in-between there??

We've had a lot of discussion about Fitzpatrick, whether he's our QB of the future, whether we need to draft someone in Round 1 and so on... I would submit that regardless of all the hoopla thus far, the next 3 games all against division rivals that we've performed poorly against the last few years will determine how the Bills should proceed with him. He's under contract through next year, so if he's going to be THE MAN then two things will happen from that: -- He needs to be resigned in the off-season to a substantial contract (think Matt Schaub) -- Draft plans most likely no long involve a QB in the first 3 rounds So the question is: What do we need to see over the next 3 games in order to proceed in that fashion? -- How many games MUST we win? -- MUST we be competitive in all three, including New England (ie no more Minnesota duds? -- How MUST the offense perform in these games? -- Can injuries on OL and WR be an excuse if Offense doesn't play well? For the Bills now everything is about optimism and confidence for the future and what pieces are in place. Right NOW we feel it, that's great, but if the next three games don't go well, then all the optimism we feel now will have been shattered. Have at it...

That is simply not the way to assess this situation. Neither team is going to the playoffs by a mile, so we're on even ground there... From that point on everything is measured relative to the indicators for the future: -- Are you getting stronger/better during the course of the season and finishing solid (we'll get the final answer on that in the next 3 weeks) -- Do you have you have the coach for foreseeable future? -- Do you have your QB for the foreseeable future? -- How many new starters are you away from contending? .... plus others I can't think of at the moment On both qualitative questions and measurable football metrics we've improved each quarter of the season so far, while the Redskins clearly have gotten worse, despite the high priced coach of the year and the big pro-bowl, possible hall of famer QB that several wanted us trading for The original poster is correct...

I still laughing on that one!! He is a piece of work, but his press conference leading up the Patriots game comparing himself to Brady because they're both married to Supermodels, was also pretty funny! I don't like the tripping incident, but otherwise I'm having a hard time disliking the Jets. If we had hired Rex Ryan instead of the Gregg Williams / Mike Mularky type assistants, I think we'd be a happier bunch.

All right, I'm getting excited now. This topic has gotten some anger going! That's what I'm talking about

Excellent,... I like you anger and your tone! Much better,... who else?

...is that what it is? I'm just kind of amazed that on this Stadium Wall, on Monday, at the beginning of Dolphin week, in December, when the wusses should be coming to Orchard Park, in the snow, instead of being handed a home game by the NFL Schedule maker, who's from Miami and is showing blatant favoritism... that "fans" of the Bills were sympathetic to the Fin who dove at the Jet coach's knee, trying to injure him. That really says it all...

Isn't everyone supposed to be getting up for this game? Didn't you guys see how that cheating Fin gunner dove at the Jets coach leg trying to draw a penalty??? And then Zack Thomas, that meathead, starts crying about a deliberate conspiracy to set up a wall!! Ridiculous... what's next, interviews with Brian Cox?? I can't want to see what the biggest Dolfag, quitter Dan Marino has to say about it on the pregame shows this Sunday, more homer nonsense for certain! ... and, and... and. All right, I'm running out of things to say. Do we even care about this game anymore? Several years back, I used to check the Miami Herald and Florida Sentinel websites on Dolphin stories just as much as I went to TBD. I can't recall the last time I bothered... where have our rivalries gone?

oohhhhhh!!! ... in the face!!!

Chad Jackson? I surprised he was cut in preseason,... not sure if anyone picked him up?

You make a good point. This line of conversation was started based on people wanting to draft QBs next year. I do like what I see from Fitz. I'd think the test on him may be the coming 3 games. Both the Dolphins and Jets have been pretty "middle of the road" lately. I think he needs to look good against both and beat at least one of them to go into the off-season as a convincing choice. If we wilt in the last three games, in the division, then that will be telling. The next three games make or break this discussion...