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One thing that was clear today is that Fitz's quick decision making, pocket awareness, and mobility have masked the problems on our o-line. RT is a disaster and needs upgrading. I know many have praised Bell's play this year, but I am still not convinced that he is a starting caliber LT. The o-line needs to be addressed this offseason.

I think this analysis points to the biggest problem with our rookies: our draft picks did not contribute enough this year. Spiller has been very disappointing and Gabriel confirms what many of us have suspected: Troup and Carrington are developmental projects with upside. The Bills need to get better value with their picks and more of an immediate impact. I appreciate that not every draft pick can contribute in the first year, but the reality is that we received very little production from our top four picks in last year's draft. For a team that is lacking overall talent, it is a bad sign that our top picks did not make an impact this year.

Some thoughts below: 1. Not to state the obvious, but the Bills lack talent. RT, outside linebacker, TE, DE and DT are all priorities. The question will become how many holes can be filled this offseason with the draft and free agency, and whether the Bills will spend money on free agents. My concern is that the Bills will create a number of new holes by not re-signing certain players and releasing others that are well paid. In the first category are Whitner, Poz and Florence. In the second category are Stroud and Evans. The magnitude of the needs and potential holes will not allow the Bills to address all needs in one or two offseasons, unless the Bills make a significant number of free agent acquisitions. 2. Overall, the Bills offense was more enjoyable to watch this year. Fitz made some plays, and even converted on long third downs. Gailey did well with what he had when you consider the o-line, injuries, and lack of a starting caliber tight end. 3. The defense continues to be a disaster. Could not stop the run in many games this year and in passing situations applied no pressure. We do not have the right personnel for the 3-4 defense. Not sure if Edwards is the right guy as DC. 4. Williams had a very strong year. Also good to see Stevie Johnson develop into a strong starting WR. Moats seems to be a player, and I hope he develops. Troup and Carrington were somewhat disappointing, but some of this should be expected as first year players. 5. Spiller continues the trend of underwhelming first round picks. Granted, he is a rookie, but many rookie running backs have great first years. We will not have success if we continue to draft poorly with our first pick. Lynch, McKelvin and Maybin have all been disappointments. Maybin seems to be a complete bust. McKelvin has had three years to develop and still looks lost at times. 6. The secondary could go from a strength to needing additional players. We could potentially lose Whitner, Wilson, Flrorence and Youboty. 7. The play of Whitner and Poz continue to be a mystery to me. Should they be re-signed? I would love to get an independent third party analysis of their play. Whitner seems to have trouble covering TEs, although he made a lot of tackles this year. Poz has always seemed a bit slow, but also makes a lot of tackles. 8. Stroud seemed awfully quiet this year. I know that he switched positions (DT to DE), but did he make plays? 9. We need more production from rookies, meaning that we need to select players in the draft who can contribute immediately. 10. The bottom line is that it was another poor season for the Bills. It has been more than 10 years since we made the playoffs. We need upgrades, including at many of the same positions that we needed last offseason. I think many were thankful that we did not finish 0-16, but we need to communicate to the front office that the team's performance this year was not acceptable.

Agreed. I think that is why the current situation is so depressing and why it may take years for the Bills to be competitive.

The problem is that we lose players and we do not have the ability to adequately replace them either because we draft poorly and there is not a young player ready to step in or we are not active in free agency. At this point, our strategy of building through the draft cannot keep up with the holes that we have and the holes that are always being created, particularly when the replacements are usually worse than the players let go or not re-signed. If anything, the talent level is deteriorating. What we need are upgrades at almost every position other than RB, cornerback, K, and punter.

Way too early to make judgments about this draft but ... 1. We are not getting very good production from our picks in the current season; 2. None of our picks are stand-outs in their first season to date: 3. Other teams are getting more production from their picks in the last draft (i.e., the Chiefs and the Pats); and 4. The overall talent level on the team is so poor that I would have thought there would be more production and playing time for our first year players. Hopefully we will see more production and flashes from our first year players as the season continues.

Should the Bills extend Whitner and/or Poz? What about Youboty or Florence? It is a depressing thought, but one could argue that there are no players with contracts that will expire this year or next year that that should be extended. Our overall talent is very poor.

The troubling part of this is that he seems so far away from being a productive member of the defense. A project is one thing, but not being able to contribute at all in his second season (even to special teams) suggests that his long term prospects are poor.

This really is good news (for once)! I may hate that the team is terrible and has not made the playoffs in 10 years, but I would never want the team to move under any circumstances.

Three years of above average drafting would not be enough to fix this team. Clearly, RW does not care about the marketing of this team. How many other owners would say this when many teams have been turned around in one or two years? After 10 years of incompetence, Bills fans deserve better.

I see nothing positive in this season so far. Questionable moves, odd timing and a sense that no one is in charge. Some things that concern me greatly: (i) our young players seem to be regressing (i.e., Byrd, Levitre and Wood), (ii) replacements for players that were not re-signed or waived are not performing (i.e., Stevie Johnson), (iii) our rookies are barely having an impact, (iv) our defense is a disaster, and I am not sure if our defensive coordinator knows what he is doing, and (v) we do not have enough draft picks next year to fix this mess. We are not rebuilding this year. As others have stated, we do not even have a nucleus for future success.

For every Freddie Jackson there are five missed draft picks. Peters and Jackson were great finds as undrafted free agents, but our drafting has been horrible over the last number of years. After 10 years of ineptitude, this franchise, including the current front office, does not get a benefit of the doubt. However, Nix and Gailey are the guys, so they will be given an opportunity to fix things, whether or not we agreed with their hiring. Not much we can do at this time, other than hope for improvement and complain when things go poorly.

No one is expecting a turn around in a matter of weeks, but after 10 years of futility, it is reasonable to want to believe that our current front office is competent. I understand that rebuilding the Bills is a huge undertaking, but we are not seeing any signs of progress, particularly on the field. We all knew the weaknesses going into the season, and if anything, we have more holes to fill now. Wanting to hear from the GM or the owner after losing the first four games seems like a reasonable thing to me. When we speak of accountability, most of us are not talking about firing Nix or Gailey, but the desire to hear that about the plan to improve the team, even if it is a repeat of prior statements. We also want to hear that losing is not acceptable, and resources will be made available to improve this team. Ultimately, we want to know that someone is in charge and that they care about the direction of this team and tne franchise. Buffalo fans worry about things that other fans do not need to think about (i.e., RW and the future of the franchise). More communication from the front office and the owner would certainly help.

Agreed about accountability. Nix should be talking to the fans. I feel like no one is in charge.

The Bills were a poor team last year, and the front office has created so many new holes in the roster that it will be impossible to improve this team without stellar drafts and significant free agent acquisitions, both of which seem highly unlikely given the track record of this franchise. Assuming we build primarily through the draft (and even assuming some strong drafts), this team is years away from being competitive. Why were none of the needs addressed in the past offseason? How can we improve if needs are not addressed and new holes are created? Players that seemed to have promise last year are regressing (i.e., Byrd, Levitre and Wood) and our rookies are not contributing in a meaningful way. High picks in the draft (Whitner, Lynch (traded), Maybin, McCargo, McKelvin and Hardy) did not or have not developed into strong players, particularly considering where they were drafted. Why does anyone think that this front office can rebuild this mess? I know that many posters think that we need to hit rock bottom before we can really improve, but we hit rock bottom last year and now we are worse. I am starting to believe that we have reached a tipping point. The talent on this team is so poor and the plan to reconstitute the team so undeveloped and underfunded that we will not be able to recover (kind of like a death spiral).

Seems like a crummy deal to me. Lynch can be a pro bowl caliber player. I understand that he has had off field problems, but Seattle got him really cheap. The Bills probably thought that Lynch would holdout in the offseason to force a trade since next year is the last year of his original contract.

Has RW been attending the home games?

The front office know what they had this past offseason and did nothing to fix it. Nix is not new to the Bills. Why do you think this offseason will be any different? The other problem is that we don't have any young talent with promise that would benefit from more playing time. Our starting talent is poor and our back-ups are worse.

RW should have cleaned house. i thought he promised this last year after firing Jauron. I have lost all confidence in this front office and I have no hope that they will turn things around. The same people who have been evaluating talent over the last 10 years are still around, and drafting as poorly as in years past. McKelvin, Whitner, McCargo, and Maybin are either busts or borderline busts. Maybe part of the problem is coaching, and our defensive coordinator seems overmatched, but we clearly do not have the players to compete. Sadly, we all new the weaknesses after last season and none of them were addressed in the offseason. That is on the front office. To hit rock bottom after 10 years of poor play is unacceptable.

Nix should be out there speaking to the fans at this time (or Ralph Wilson).

Building through the draft is great if you have competent people in scouting and making the decisions on the players to draft. Our drafting has been horrible, and I have no confidence that it will get better. Meanwhile, the team is either releasing or not re-signing players who are better than the players replacing them. If anything, on a net basis, this team is losing talent and not improving. While it is way too early to make a judgment about this year's draft, PFT has an article about all of the first round (and other) players making contributions this year. I know that KC is getting good production from most of their draft class. For a team that has so many holes, I find it very surprising that our draft picks are not making more of an impact to this point. I do not agree with the posters who point to the free agent rookies who made the team this year. I think that is a sign of our poor overall talent and nothing more.

You can't look at this situation in a vacuum. Yes, the Bills released an underperforming player at a key position, but is there an adequate replacement for him? He also was a captain, and I can assure you that players on other teams are not going to respect the Bills for making this move at this time. We all want better players. In fact, we all wanted a top front office. Instead, the Bills cut players and the replacements are worse. It is the cumulative effect of all these actions that is troubling.

This team needs new and better talent. Buddy deserves time, but going into the season with no upgrades through the draft or with free agents at QB, offensive tackle, WR and outside linebacker make me wonder.

How is this decisive or quick moving? After last season, I never thought that the Bills would go into this season with Trent as the starter. I was shocked that the Bills did not bring in a QB for more competition, either with a high round pick or a veteran free agent pick up. Moving quickly and decisively would have been realizing after last season that TE was not the answer and moving on at that time. Instead, TE gets most of the first team reps in the offseason and the preseason and starts the first two games. How does this make any sense?

I understand that TE was benched for this play, but cutting him in this manner will have ramifications. The way this was handled reflects poorly on the front office, and these type of things do impact the perceptions that players have of a team (in this case the Bills). Yes, the media and the experts are already negative about the Bills, including our front office, but there are many reasons that college players and free agents will not be attracted to the Bills, and creating new reasons is not helpful. Overall, the impression is that this team and organization are a mess. Maybe cutting TE was the right move, but it sure makes the team look bad on a number of levels and feeds the impression that our front office and coaching staff are clueless. I have no problems disagreeing with the so called experts, but they seem to be right about the Bills a lot lately. After 10 years of futility, it is becoming increasingly difficult to disagree with the negative perceptions of this team and I am becoming concerned with the ability of the current front office to make good decisions and build a winning team.