mjt328

Bad idea. That team has been interchanging parts (with the exception of Brady) for the last 10+ years, and has very little dropoff. I personally think Wes Welker is tremendously overrated. You could plug pretty much any fast slot receiver into his position and get roughly the same results. Somebody is going to pay the guy a ton of money, and they are going to be very disappointed. I really would have liked to see us take a shot at Mallet two years ago, but I would hate to send draft picks to New England - especially higher picks than what we could have had him at two years ago.

OK... Mr. Nix. Is our problem REALLY that we start over every 3 years? Or is our problem that we hired Gregg Williams, replaced him with Mike Mularky, replaced him with Dick Jauron and replaced him with Chan Gailey?

Well, according to Gailey: - CJ gets winded after two running plays - Tavaris Jackson is too dumb to learn the playbook - Lindell can't kick a field goal in the 50 yard range That's just a couple.

I mentioned this in another thread. Cameron was just another moron NFL coordinator that wasn't smart enough to consistently get his best player the ball. He talked a lot about limiting touches for Rice to keep him fresh, and he used that as an excuse to throw all the time with Flacco. But guess who was in the backfield, blocking 275 lb blitzing linebackers while Flacco dropped back? Yep. Ray Rice. People say this is a passing league now, like it has something to do with quarterbacks being more talented today. But the reality is, most coaches today don't have the DISCIPLINE or TOUGHNESS required to stick with the running game.

Some of you Bills fans have the same problem that Nix/Gailey have. You hold onto this tiny little glimpses of competent play that pop up every 2-3 weeks from Fitzpatrick... believing that just someday, just maybe... he will become the quarterback we are all hoping for. Here is the thing. Do you realize that EVERY SINGLE quarterback in the league can put together a good game once in awhile. Mark Sanchez, Blaine Gabbert, John Skelton, etc., have all had good games this season. Even ex-Bills like JP Losman, Trent Edwards and Rob Johnson had times where they looked good. The key is CONSISTENCY. How do they look game by game...quarter by quarter...drive by drive? Do they play good against strong defenses or just weak ones? Do they play well on the road? Do they make plays in the clutch or do they just rack up stats in garbage time? Can they make big throws or is everything screens and dump offs? Do they crack under pressure? Do they elevate the play of guys around them? Christian Ponder is a great non-Bills example. The guy has games like Week 6 against Washington (350 yards and 2 touchdowns) or Week 2 against Indianapolis (250 yards and 2 touchdowns). BUT... He also has 3 games this season with LESS than 100 yards passing. He has 5 games with LESS than 150 yards passing. He has 5 games with multiple turnovers. If I'm Leslie Frazier, I'm scouting for a new quarterback in 2013. If I'm Chan Gailey (assuming he's coaching the Vikings), I'm desperately grasping at those Week 2 and 6 performances ... holding onto the belief that Ponder can be my guy. Bottom line with Fitzpatrick. - In 13 games this season, he's been terrible in at least 5 of them (New York, San Francisco, Arizona, Houston and Miami). In three of those games, our offense failed to score a touchdown. - In 2 of his "better" games this season, he's had a chance to mount a fourth quarter drive to win and got picked off (New England, St. Louis). In another one of his "better" games, he basically cost us the game by throwing a fourth quarter pick when we had the lead (Tennessee). - In one of his best games of the season (1st game in New England), he still managed 4 interceptions.

Don't forget that Fitz threw a perfect strike to a Rams linebacker on the first pass of the game, that the defender failed to grab.

They suck at recognizing talent. They actually think they can win with Fitz. They actually didn't think any QBs available would amount to anything. There is no master plan. They are just idiots.

Tell that to the voters.

Here is my list Tier 1 (Elite) I consider these the guys that could go to any team in the NFL and instantly make them Super Bowl contenders. - Aaron Rodgers - Peyton Manning - Drew Brees - Tom Brady Tier 2 (Semi-Elite) They need a little more help than the guys above, but still consistently raise the level of the players around them. - Ben Roethlisberger - Eli Manning - Matt Ryan Tier 3 (Solid) With a good team around them, their team has a chance to go far in the postseason. - Phillip Rivers - Matt Shaub - Joe Flacco - Jay Cutler - Matthew Stafford - Josh Freeman (borderline) - Tony Romo (borderline) Tier 2 (Fringe) These guys probably hurt their team more than help it. They only have success with elite players around them. - Alex Smith - Michael Vick - Carson Palmer - Ryan Fitzpatrick - Matt Cassel - Kevin Kolb Tier 1 (Backups) Only good for occasional relief duty. - I don't have anyone on this list currently. Too early to rank: - Andrew Luck - Robert Griffin III - Andy Dalton - Cam Newton - Sam Bradford - Jake Locker - Russell Wilson - Ryan Tannehill - Christian Ponder - Brandon Weeden - Blaine Gabbert

So if he's better playing a different position, he shouldn't be playing at all?

Bad is bad. Good is good. Rookie or not, he was bad today. With a better QB and recievers, there is no telling how many yards he would have let up today. If he gets better, I will get excited about him. I've just seen too many Aaron Williams, Justin Rogers, Leodis McKelvin, Ellis Lankster, Ashton Youboty performances... and watched those guys never get better after their rookie seasons.

Yep. If Chan has proven anything in 3 years, it's that he's: 1) Stubborn 2) Incapable of seeing Fitz's weaknesses 3) Going to play to play matchups instead of dictating the flow of the game Next time a defense stacks the box, he will be back to 35-40 throws. Personally, I think St Louis is going to be ugly.

Really? He was terrible today. He got beat several times and never looked back for the ball. In a closer game, that stupid personal foul could have cost us a win. The only thing that saved his butt was that Henne sucks.

Why do our cornerbacks never turn around to look for the football? We have watched Leodis McKelvin waste his talent for 4-5 years, simply because he has no idea when to turn around and get his hands up. Today, watching Ron Brooks was absolutely brutal. I'm sure this guy has the skills to play, but what the heck? Also, I think Stephon Gilmore needs to work on being more subtle with his contact. I absolutely love his physical play, but he's getting flagged way too often.

The only thing that scares me is winning worthless games against the Jags, Rams, Dolphins, etc. A late season winning streak (against the bottom feeders of the league) will be all the ammunition Nix needs to keep Gailey. It would also mean a lower draft pick and less chance we move on from Fitz next year. I'm a longtime Bills fan who is tired of the losing. But I realize that turning things around will require those changes.

I can understand why Nix is tired of answering the same questions over and over. But everyone on the planet (except Nix and Gailey) can see that our coach is an idiot and our quarterback sucks. Honestly, I think the Buffalo media and Bills fans are expecting Nix to admit his mistakes and say something like "I've already been talking to Bill Cowher and Marty Schottenheimer" or "We are definitely replacing Fitzpatrick after the season." Instead, he continues to give our current guys a vote of confidence and refuses to throw them under the bus. We'll find out pretty quickly after the season whether Nix is being honest or not.

Nobody would be suprised except Chan Gailey. Fitz has had several games like Brees is having.

We can't keep waiting around - wasting season after season - hoping for a can't miss prospect to fall in our lap. It isn't going to happen. People keep ripping the upcoming draft class, but it's a pretty deep group. I would be willing to bet that at least 2-3 of this year's prospects become solid or better NFL starters. And that would be a SIGNIFICANT upgrade over Fitz. Are we looking at Andrew Luck or RGIII...no. But in my opinion, both Geno Smith and Matt Barkley are better prospects than Ryan Tannehill and Brandon Weeden last year. We absolutely have to take a chance drafting a quarterback early. And if he doesn't work out, there are no rules against taking one again in 2014, or 2015, or until we get it right.

Makes perfect sense to me.

Exactly. Elite "can't miss" prospects at QB are actually pretty rare. Guys like Cam Newton, Sam Bradford and Matthew Stafford weren't considered "elite" either, but they still went #1 overall. This draft class reminds me a lot of the 2011 group. If anyone recalls, once Luck decided to stay in school another year, there was a huge void at the quarterback position. None of the guys left on the board were considered top prospects. Regardless, Newton still went #1 overall. Locker, Gabbert and Ponder went early in the first round. Dalton and Kaepernick went early in the second.

Ugh... We just can't win here. Buddy Nix wants to stay the course, and doesn't want to fire Chan. Chan still thinks Fitz is the answer at quarterback. If Ralph steps in and forces a change, he will continue to reinforce his reputation as a medler who won't let his football personnel do their job.

For what Chan asks our O-Line to do, I think they do an exceptional job. Whether they would excel in another coach's blocking scheme... there is honestly no way to tell. Some linemen are better at power blocking schemes. Others are better in zone schemes. Some are great at pulling and getting up the field. Others are better handling the blitz. Some are great run blockers. Others are better in pass protection. In the Bills current offense, the ball gets out of the QBs hand very quickly. Our linemen are usually only asked to block for a couple seconds - and that obviously helps their sack numbers. But at the same time, the spread offense rarely provides additional blocking help from running backs and tight ends when the defense decides to blitz. So there is a little bit of give and take. Same thing with the running game. Our offense is designed to spread the defense out, then take advantage of draws and misdirections. Our linemen are frequently asked to pull and get upfield to block on outside runs and screen plays. They obviously do a great job at both. Rarely is our O-Line asked to match-up 1-on-1, make a big push and force the defense backwards. But then again, rarely does it get help from a fullback, extra lineman or even a double tight end set. That makes a huge difference.

No. Nix/Gailey took over this team 3 years ago, which is plenty of time to turn around a team. In the years prior to them taking over, we were 7-9 three times in a row, followed by a 6-10 season that was accomplished partially with an interim coach. This year's schedule - compared to most other seasons - is a cakewalk. So far, we have played 4 games against teams with a winning record and still have a record of 4-7. The only winning team we have coming up on our schedule is Seattle. This team is not making progress, and a decent argument can be made that they are moving backwards.

I love this post. I remember how Jauron's offensive philosophy was to "play for the field goal." Then on defense, it was "bend but don't break" and giving up a field goal was considered a victory. Loser's mentality.

Usually it's the guys with big physical skill that rise. Scouts start focusing on potential and forget about how they played in games. I'm thinking Landry Jones makes a climb back up into 1st round consideration. If Tyler Bray and Aaron Murray declare, you might see them jump too.