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Do they announce alternates as well?

Your view is not overly cynical. Seems like we are being set up for a situation where a new owner will have the ability to move the team unless a new stadium is constructed. This will be the bargaining chip, whether the new owner means it or will use it as a way to justify moving the team (which may have been the new owner's true intention from the beginning). The new owner will simply blame the state and county for not keeping the Bills in Buffalo because of the failure to build a new stadium. The new lease and improvements to RW stadium are stunningly low compared to the costs of improvements at other NFL stadiums or constructing a new stadium. We may like RW stadium, but even with the improvements, it will not compare favorably to most NFL stadiums. Given the difficulties in the local economy and the state unlikely to be willing to finance a new stadium for the Bills in the future, I think the Bills could be in a tough spot beginning in about five years. State and local officials really need to focus on the possibility of a new stadium now. It will be a lot of work to make it happen, including finding creative ways to finance the construction. If they are smart, they will tie it to an attempt to rejuvenate the downtown area and the local economy.

This is interesting. I wonder if they also will try to sign Levitre, or does this mean that they will sign Urbik and let Levitre leave.

I have no idea whether Whaley would be better or worse than Nix, but the Bills are predictable, and I can see them hiring Whaley rather than conducting a real search for a new GM.

HIs drafting has been poor. LBs, corners and WRs (other than S. Johnson) are terrible. He has drafted a lot of LBs (Bradham, Batten, Moats, White, Sheppard and Tank) and CBs (Rogers, Gilmore, A. Williams, and Brooks) with little or no success. The best players on the team (Byrd, Wood, Levitre, S. Johnson and K. Williams) were drafted before he became GM. He has missed big with Troupe, Carrington, A. Williams, Sheppard and Graham, which hurts tremendously, since these players were drafted relatively early in the draft. The only player Nix drafted who has met expectations is Spiller. His comments about needing a QB now, and the timing of these comments, have been bizarre. M. Williams may turn out to be a good free agent acquisition, but Anderson has been a bust, and Nix also wanted Meacham, who has been a disaster for the Chargers. Byrd, Levitre, Urbik, Moore, Johnson, McKelvin and Rhinehart (among others) are free agents after the season, which means the Bills will have some holes to fill on top of the holes they already have. One more offseason will not fix all of these problems. If Nix does go, I would expect that they hire Whaley as GM. Not sure this would be a good thing, but it would be the typical and easy thing for the Bills to do.

Worst group of linebackers I can remember. Maybe worse than when we had Brandon Spoon in there. Nix has drafted a lot of linebackers over his three years as GM (Bradham, Batten, Moats, Tank, White, and Sheppard) with nothing to show for it.

Some thoughts below. 1. I don't think that Nix has done a good job with drafting. Wood, Byrd, Levitre, S. Johnson, and K. Williams were all drafted before Nix became GM. Spiller is the only star player drafted by Nix so far. 2. Nix has done a better job with some of the lower level free agent/waiver pick ups. Urbick, Pears (before his injury), Barnett, Chandler and Moore fit in this category. 3. WR and QB are weak in this year's draft. Why is the light suddenly turning on this year when there was strong talent at these positions the last two years? 4. I have the minority view, but I think if Gailey is fired, the offense will take a step back next year. While I agree that Gailey's play-calling this year has been suspect, Gailey has made the o-line look better than it is with quick passes, screens and a good rushing attack. He is very creative and his schemes have masked some shortcomings in terms of talent. 5. Is there a connection between getting funds from New York State for stadium improvements and the cost to the State to repair the terrible damage caused by Sandy? 6. It has been way too long since the Bills made the playoffs. The Colts went from worst in the NFL to competing for a playoff spot in one year. 7. This year's schedule should have positioned the Bills to make the playoffs. We played (or will play) the Cardinals, the Browns, the Dolphins (2x), the Titans, the Rams and the Jaguars. Plus the Jets were very beatable this year. This is/was a powder puff schedule. 8. Can't keep replacing coaches and gms every three years, but I have lost all confidence in Nix. 9. What is the plan for keeping our free agents? Kind of shocked that Byrd or Levitre was not re-signed by now. We can' afford to take steps back at this point. 10. Even with not making the playoffs again this year, I will be sad when the season is over and unable to watch the Bills play on Sunday (no matter how bad they are).

He looked like a raw rookie to me. Seemed like he was penalized a lot and had his back to the ball a fair amount. We will see what the looks like with more practice and game experience. Who knows at this point.

In some of the posted articles, Byrd is quoted as saying that he would have no problem re-signing with Buffalo and that he is excited for free agency. Does this sound like he wants to stay in Buffalo? Not to me, but who knows.

Levitre and Byrd are above average players and their play is not the reason why we have not made the playoffs over the last number of years. There are no obvious replacements for these players and drafting to replace lost talent has killed this team.

Well, we are better in some areas (o-line) and overall offense, and worse in others (linebacker and secondary (other than Byrd)). Drafting has been average at best, and if we are going to see improvement next year and after, then a start would be to re-sign Levitre, Byrd and Urbick and get a new defensive coordinator.

I remember posting here back years ago that the Bills needed a consultant in the last year of the Donahoe tenure. That would have been the time to do it.

1. Not sure I understand why Buddy Nix is talking about getting a franchise QB now. I think we all know that the Bills need one, so how does this help Fitz and the overall team morale to announce this during the season? 2. Why does Buddy deserve more time and a shot at drafting a franchise QB? His drafting has not been good. Troup, Carrington, Dareus, Williams, Sheppard are all, at a minimum, disappointing so far. He also has not hit on any mid or low round draft picks, other than maybe Hairston. 3. In terms of free agent acquisitions, the signing of Barnett has worked out well, but Anderson is not an every down DE and seems like a bad fit. I don't know what to think about Williams, and we all need more time to see his play over the longer term. One thing that concerns me is that he does not appear to be a leader. That is a lot of money to spend on a player that does not have leadership skills. Also concerned that the Bills were interested in Meachem, who has been a bust in San Diego. 4. One area that has improved is the play and overall talent of the o-line, although Fitz getting rid of the football makes them look better. Fitz receives a lot of criticism, much of it deserved, but he deserves credit for this aspect of his play. Levitre needs to be re-signed, and Urbik should be as well, or else we will regress in the one area that seems to have improved. 5. I thought the combination of Williams and Dareus would be very strong this year, but they have a similar style of play. Williams and Dareus use quickness to try to penetrate. Dareus is huge, but he is not a run stopping DT. What the Bills need is a run stopping DT to pair with either Williams or Dareus. 6. Our linebacking play has been poor this year. I hope that Bradham turns out to be a player, but Nix has drafted a lot of linebackers over the last three years, and none have been particularly effective. I do not think that Sheppard is a starting caliber NFL middle linebacker. He seems to get blocked and taken out of plays way too often. 7. It will be interesting to see if McKelvin is an improvement over Williams at CB. Unfortunately, the Bills will need more CBs next year since McKelvin is a free agent, McGee is likely done, Rogers should not be playing, and Williams does not seem be the answer as a starting CB. 8. If Gailey returns next year, he must get a new defensive coordinator and some new defensive assistants. I hope this is a condition to his return. I do not know if our assistant defensive coaches are good or bad, but we have developed very few good defensive players recently other than Byrd, who also needs to be re-signed. 9. Still worried about the future viability of the franchise. It will look bad when the remaining home games are not sold out and there will be a lot of empty seats for the December home games. The NFL schedule makers did the Bills no favors this year. 10. It has been a long time since we last made the playoffs. Why not bring in a consultant? The Panthers just retained Acorsi to review their football operations. Can't we do the same with Ron Wolff or Polian?

After drafting Gilmore, Williams, Brooks and Rogers, we will still need some cornerbacks since McKelvin will likely leave (he will be a free agent) and Mcgee will not be back.

An additional negative: Williams is not an NFL corner and should not be playing.

1. Gailey, solely as the lead coordinator of the offense, is a vast improvement over what we had before his arrival. The 49ers game was a low point, but his offense can be creative and has made below average talent look better than it is. 2. Wannestadt needs to go. No adjustments during the game or at half-time. Unfortunately, he is no longer capable of being a defensive coordinator, for whatever the reason. Giving up more than 1100 yards in two games is beyond comprehension. 3. I like Fitz, but I am no longer a believer. I wonder how a top 10 qb would do in Chan's offense. Probably very, very well. 4. As a group, our linebackers (other than Barnett) are in the bottom of the NFL. 5. As a group, our wide receivers (other than Johnson) are in the bottom of the NFL. 6. Levitre, Byrd, Urbik and Rhinehart are all free agents after this season. We need to re-sign Levitre and Urbik or else the Bills will be starting over again with the o-line, the only unit that has shown improvement over the last couple of years. 7. Not sure why Brad Smith is on the team if we do not use the wildcat, he is not returning kicks, and Potter is trying to get touchbacks on kick-offs. 8. I guess there is hope for Gilmore, but A. Williams should not be playing and seems to be a bust. Probably the worst starting corners in the NFL right now. 9. The Bills are down to the fourth string right guard. Unbelievable, but typical of our bad luck. 10. The Bills have failed to develop a quality defensive end in years, which resulted in overpaying for Williams and Anderson. 11. I remember suggesting this years ago when Donahoe was the GM, but the Bills need a consultant to figure out how to fix this mess.

A. Williams looks like a bust (a McKelvin clone). He can't cover. Gilmore is not playing well, at least not yet. Dareus has regressed this year and Sheppard is disappointing. Troup, Carrington, and J. White were misses, for different reasons. Nix's better picks seem to be Spiller and potentially Glenn. What other draft picks by the Bills over the last three years have met or exceeded expectations? Do the Bills have any starters drafted in the fourth round or lower over the last three years? Maybe Moats, but he may have been benched today. Is it, at least in part, the coaching? Not sure when Levitre, Wood, Byrd, Johnson, K. Williams and Poz (if he was still here), are among our best players, all drafted before Nix became GM. I am certainly not suggesting that Modrak did a good job, but I am starting to worry that Nix has drafted poorly. I remember when the Bills drafted A. Winfield. He was plugged in immediately as the third corner, and he played really well in his first year. I have not seen that ability with Williams or Gilmore.

During the game, I noted our safeties and smallest linebackers trying to fill holes that were huge. The running backs were charging at our defenders without being touched or slowed, so the running backs had momentum and the opportunity to run through our guys. You can't put our smallest defensive players in that kind of situation play after play. It is a mismatch.

The second half of the game was one of the worst defensive performances of all time. Wanny had an awful game plan against the Jets in the opener and again yesterday. The Jets have done nothing on offense since they played us and they destroyed us. This game was humiliating. I know this is the topic in another post, but he really deserves to be fired for these performances.

Does not need to be Mangini, but someone who can help with the defense. I like the idea, not sure about who is out there who could fill this role effectively.

Wanny should be fired for this performance. I really do not think this is an overreaction. It was that bad. I watched the game at a sports bar with no sound for the game. Did Wanny switch the defense alignment for the second half? I saw Scott a lot in the second half and the Patriots ran the ball very effectively. If yes, why didn't he switch back to the base defense after the first series of the second half?

There really does need to some kind of an action plan to make sure the Bills stay in Buffalo, the elements of which could consist of the following: 1. Make sure all home games are sold out this year and (as suggested) reach out to Bills fans outside of Buffalo to buy tickets. 2. Emails and other communications to Gov. Cuomo and Sens. Schumer and Gillibrand noting the importance of the Bills to Western NY and NYS and that any voting decisions will depend on their efforts to keep the Bills in Buffalo. 3. Emails and other communications to Goodell. 4. Setting up a website (i.e., savethebills) and take donations to cover costs associated with retaining a PR firm, lobbyists and lawyers. 5. Outreach to the fan bases of other teams. Make this a national issue. I think the fans of most teams would be sympathetic (i.e., the Browns), paricualrly since the Bills are a hard team to dislike (we are not the Cowboys or the Pats in this regard). 6. Most of all, plan for the worst case scenario and make efforts now, before anything has been finally determined.

The value of the franchise will increase dramatically if it is moved to another city, such as LA. The current market value is based on the team being in Buffalo (with Buffalo economic realities and an old stadium). In LA, with a new stadium, the value of any franchise could be more than double.

Not sure if this is coming from the Bills. I would assume that as part of any deal on the lease and stadium improvements there will be significant financial penalties for a lease termination for, among other things, to cover construction costs. This would be a commitment (of sorts) and would make it more dificult and expensive to move the team in the future. I really get the feeling that this is all on New York State and, specifically, Cuomo. I don't think he wants to committ the money.

Cuomo does not "feel" the Bills nor the importance of the team to Buffalo. The proposed stadium improvements are modest, particularly in terms of overall cost and in relation to other recently constructed new stadiums or renovations and the Bills do generate income for the state, including income taxes. I really think there is no excuse for this.