Gray Beard

I sure hope they get somebody with some upside as a backup. Maybe a middle round draft pick. They clearly know they need to, both for the sake of having somebody who can play if Fitz get hurt, and also for the sake of grooming somebody to replace Fitz in the next year or two.

Perfectly Stated!

SUPER BOWL!!! But seriously, the guy has been flawless and occasionally makes tackles on punt coverage. I'm glad to see him get re-signed.

Totally agree. Full length fur coats, a gorgeous woman on each arm. It's so not about stats.

If any of the Bills were in the Pro-Bowl, then I would watch it just to pick out the helmet in the crowd. With no Bills in it, I have pretty much transitioned to college basketball for my sports entertainment. I remember when Brian Moorman was in the Pro-Bowl, and he entered some of the skills competitions. He did some sort of obstacle course, and he actually did ok. He skipped one of the hitting parts of the obstacle course and took the time penalty instead, but since he was so fast it almost didn't matter. Pretty funny stuff.

I'll rephrase the question: Can the Bills get to the playoffs with Gailey as the head coach? I say yes. In other words, I don't think his coaching is amazing enough to make much of a difference. With a few more pieces of the puzzle in place in terms of the players on the roster, Gailey is competent enough to be the coach of a playoff team.

In my opinion, the biggest reason the Bills have not been successful is the lack of pass rush. Those four teams all have some absolute beasts in their front sevens. We all know that the pass rush is one of the biggest needs for the Bills, and these games drove that point home to me in a big way.

With the Bills I don't think the quality of the tight end is as big an issue as the types of plays that are called. Chan doesn't use the tight ends or fullbacks very much. When Chandler went out, Lee Smith came in and did almost as well. It is hard to get a good read on how good the tight ends on the Bills team are since they are used so sparingly. Speaking of fullbacks, there are plenty of RBs on these playoff teams that look to be about the same size as Corey McIntyre, and they carry the ball pretty often. Again, is it talent, or play calling?

That's a good point. With the old analog signal you could get a fuzzy picture from pretty far away. With the new digital signal it's either there or it's not. It may come on and off if you are receiving a weak signal, but in general the ability to receive a usable signal is significantly diminished with the new signal format. It would be nice if they would redefine the coverage area from the TV stations, but that would mean that somebody would have to admit that the new digital format has some shortcomings compared to the old analog format. It could be hard to get a bureaucrat to admit that something new isn't as good as something old.

I'm in the Utica area. We get our CBS on cable from Syracuse. When Syracuse is blacked out so is Utica, and it's a 200 mile drive to the stadium from Utica. Supposedly the Syracuse over-the-air signal reaches into the exclusion zone near Rochester, so the station is subject to blackout. Since the over-the-air signal is the determining factor, the CBS station in Syracuse may still be blacked out, since the FCC is talking about cable access, not over-the-air access. I suppose if the games were on ESPN or NFL Network, the rules may be different. Except Time Warner doesn't carry the NFL Network, and you have to be a popular team to get on ESPN for Monday Night Football. In other words, I don't think this ruling will help.

I have been posting for a while that I like Fitz, but I think the team should start looking for his successor sooner rather than later. I would like to see a rookie and/or a young FA brought in as a competent back-up, or as a replacement if Fitz has a string of bad games. I believe that Thigpen never went in because Gailey knows that he isn't even as good as Fitz with sore ribs. I would like to see Thigpen released, Brad Smith reclassified as a WR, and then there would be room for 2 QBs to be groomed or put in as needed. I have not given up on Fitz as a good QB for the next few years, but if this year was the "real Fitz" then a successor should be a priority. If Fitz was truly hurt and he plays better next year, then maybe he can continue to develop into a top ten QB. Nix and Gailey know whether Fitz was playing hurt or not, and that may influence their aggressiveness at bringing in other QBs as competent backups or to compete for the starting job.

I don't disagree with your assertions. I am not quite as optimistic as you, but in general I think you are more right than wrong. I don't think Fitz has the accuracy, strength or quick release that some of the best QBs have. I am not saying he is bad in those respects, just not as good as some others. He was running around to keep the play alive for the last few games of the season, which I think is a good idea since the O-line isn't reliable enough to give him all the time he needs for anything other than a quick slant, etc. Unfortunately, his accuracy goes from marginal to poor when he has to throw on the run. But with more playing time as a group, Fitz and the team will all get better and good things will happen sooner rather than later.

I don't know if Cortez or Nixon were good or bad, but filling coaching positions with quality people sounds tough. Who wants to come to a losing team? Do they pay as well in Buffalo as they do elsewhere? Do you end up taking chances with guys who have never coached at this level before? I wonder if more moves could be made, since the positions that I feel were not playing up to potential were cornerbacks and outside linebackers. I never thought the quarterback or wide receivers were poorly coached, but I admit I am not really sure what the responsibilities of those position coaches are.

My only concern with Moorman is that he is so skinny I don't know if they could have him run a fake. This year they ran a fake by snapping directly to George Wilson. In past years, Moorman would run it himself. With him being so skinny these days, if he ran with it and got hit, he would get killed. I don't remember him being quite as skinny in the past. I think he has gotten skinnier over the past two or three years. Otherwise I think he is still a very good punter. He also used to do a pretty good behind the scenes tv show. I don't know if it is still on, I remember seeing it about two seasons ago on the Time Warner Sports channel.

Van Halen

I know it's pretty meaningless, but the Sporting News has a mock draft, and this is what they say about Buffalo: 10. Buffalo Bills: Riley Reiff*, OT, Iowa. Ryan Fitzpatrick struggled greatly over the second half of 2011, and if the Bills can’t provide better pass protection in 2012, their passing attack will not improve. Read more: http://aol.sportingnews.com/nfl/story/2012-01-07/mock-draft-with-barkley-jones-staying-put-ams-tannehill-moves-into-top-10#ixzz1ioogtili

With a formation that includes somebody lined up in the backfield there are several options: you can hand off, or run play action, or he can stay and block, or he can sneak out for a dump off pass. With an empty backfield, these options are not available and the defense has less to worry about. This has been a common criticism/complaint/observation by posters on this forum since early November.

+1,000,000 And throw in a little fullback, too!

They wouldn't even be able to keep their name if they moved. The only city that makes sense with "Bills" is Buffalo. Kind of like the Browns becoming the Ravens, or the Oilers becoming the Titans. It would be even easier to lose interest in a team with a different name.

I feel that the Colts were built on a few very good players, and a supporting cast that wasn't all that great. They peaked two years ago. Last year they were in the playoffs but were significantly less dominant. Obviously it can't be proven, but even with Peyton I would have predicted them to be a middle of the pack team this year. I feel that they spent big money on QB and pass rushers, and could no longer afford the rest of the supporting players. When their better receivers left, they fell apart. Their O-line is also getting old. Was this Polian's master plan, to put together a few key pieces and make a run, and then have it fall apart because it can't be sustained? I never viewed the Colts to be a "dynasty" like the Patriots, Steelers, Packers, and a few other teams that seem to be perennial playoff teams. Those teams are able to get by with some of the pieces missing better than the Colts, even with Peyton in the game. I know Bills fans will immediately say that they would gladly have a house of cards that gets into the playoffs and even into the Superbowl once, and maybe that is the right approach in this parity league. Actually, the Colts provide a good recipe for success: get a great QB, a few very good receivers, a very good O-line and some very good pass rushers. Almost the opposite of the Bills at this point.

I think Fitz needs to work on his touch. He throws too hard for some short throws, underthrows most long throws, and isn't great at lofting it toward the corner of the endzone. It isn't arm strength that is the problem in most of those situations, it's knowing when to throw hard, soft, high, low, etc. I also find it strange that he underthrows so often on throws of 20 yards or so. That range isn't an arm strength issue. I would think that the cautious thing to do would be to overthrow and hope the receiver can run under it. We all know that those underthrows lead to interceptions.

And the Houston offensive coordinator kept calling pass plays rather than call a ball control game. I remember watching that game and thinking that he was an idiot and he was letting Buffalo get back into the game (Gilbride, I think). On ESPN, Chris Berman had a motorized covered wagon going in a circle with the Bills logo on it. That was the original "Nobody circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills" game.

I have been wondering/hoping that after the season ended, news would get out regarding the severity of Fitz's injury as a result of that hit from London Fletcher.

I actually agree with PTR quite often. And I agree that tight end should be added to the list. The Bills need some starters (OLB!!) but in many cases the first string players are pretty good, and the second string players are a huge drop off in talent. With injuries, the number of second stringers on the field becomes a problem. When you have a pretty good first string but the second string isn't so good, you can afford to draft some players in later rounds that will add DEPTH, and aren't necessarily the all-pro starters that everyone wants for all positions.

My daughter graduated from UConn in 2009.