Dr. K

Of course you may be right and Fitz is not going to get any better. I don't deny that. But as regards the bolded paragraph, I would say that one simple explanation for this paradox is that "the all-important yards-per-attempt" stat (and the completion percentage stat) is far from the be-all and end-all measurement of QB play that the OP has asserted throughout this thread, using it as a club against all counter-arguments. Yes, Fitz did not complete 60% of his passes or average more than 7 yards per attempt. But he was less than on completion per game below that standard, and he did many other things that are important to QB success (such as throw TD passes, run for first downs, make quick decisions that improved the performance of a shaky o-line, etc.), and if you focus on just Alphadawg7's stats you come away with conclusions like Trent Edwards is a better QB than Fitzpatrick. That suggests to me that such an approach is flawed as a universal standard of judgment, even if you put a "generally" in front of it. We'll see how it plays out next season. If it makes any difference to you, I agree that the Bills could certainly use still better QB play if they are to improve, and if Fitz doesn't get any better the team will eventually hit a wall.

He coached the Bills to the only winning season they have had in 10 years. He's the offensive coordinator for the number one seeded team in the NFC. Yeah, in over his head.

So completion percentage, yards per attempt, and 3rd down conversions are the golden stats for judging QB's? Here's a QB A in 2008: He completed 65.5% of his passes (vs. Fitz's 57.8 this year), and averaged 7.2 yards per attempt (vs. Fitz's 6.8 yds per attempt). I don't have available their 3rd down percentages. By your measure (if that's what really matters to coaches, as you say), you would want QB A over Fitz every day of the week, right? QB A = Trent Edwards. Your obsession with completion percentage (when Fitz could go over 60% next season by completing 10 more passes than he did this year) is distorted. If Fitz checked down on every sedon pass, his completion percentage would go over 60% easily. That would not make him a better QB. I really don't know what the point of this argument is any more. You want somebody else at QB? You want the Bills to draft a QB in the first round? WHO? I really can't figure out what you want. So I'll leave it at that.

That sound you hear is Alphadog's fingernails scraping the bottom of the barrel attempting to come up with a counter argument. Every close game ever played could have turned around if the QB had completed one more pass in a crucial moment. This is a laughable argument. You have lost whatever scraps of credibility you have so far retained with this post.

I don't know if it's been pointed out already, but given that Fitz threw the ball 441 times and completed 255, in order to get his completion percentage up to 60% he would have to complete only 9 more passes over the course of the season. Over 13 games that is 0.7 more completions per game. Over 16 games that is 0.56 more completions per game. To get to 63% he would have to complete 22 more over the course of the season. Over 13 games that is 1.7 more completions per game, and over 16 games it's 1.5 more completions per game. So if it's just about completion percentage (and I know it isn't but that's the big complain that is being made here) then we're talking about less than one more completion per game. Does anyone seriously think Fitz can't achieve that? This doesn't make him THE ONE, but in my mind there's too much obsessing about some magical QB who is going to come here and turn muck into gold.

Nope, you are sane. Most of the loudest voices on here are irrational, or when not irrational, blinded by rage. Nervous Guy is right about the groupthink. Fortunately, I doubt anyone running the team is reading TBD for advice.

Generally I find your comments very reasonable. I do think that, unless they are seeing much better work from Brohm in practice, enough that they have confidence he can come in and move the football if he has to, it would not surprise me a bit if they let him go in favor either of a rookie they want to school, or a reliable backup. He just looked out of his depth. He was under a lot of pressure today, and you can perhaps explain some of his problems by that, but frankly, watching him his lack of pocket presence reminded me uncomfortably of Trent Edwards, and to a degree of J.P. Losman. I trust the coaches to figure this out by May. If the Bills do draft a QB, I think he is definitely gone.

Bill, leaving aside the absurdity of what you are suggesting, if you really believe the Bills make game decisions on the basis of whether winning will make them draft later and thus save Wilson some signing bonus money, why are you following this team? I'm serious. Do you really think this is how the staff decide what to do going into a game? If you do, why follow a team that is so inherently spineless, not to say dishonest?

So once a team is out of the playoffs they should tank every game they play in order to improve their draft position. The Bills just wasted their time winning any games at all once they started with eight losses. This kind of thinking makes me sick. It is the definition of a loser attitude. I'm sorry you froze your ass off in the stands watching that game, but you are perfectly free to find another team to root for. Try the Pats. Think how much more fun you would have had if you had been rooting for them.

Sunday's game will be an acid test of just where the Bills stand right now. Has the improvement we've seen really changed the character of the team? Do the players have the capacity to rise to the occasion against what is pretty much agreed to be the best team in the league? And for the coaches: can Gaily coach with Belichick? Can he get the team to play aggressive but smart? Can he devise a game plan that can take advantage of the Pats' weaknesses (which are few) and minimize their strengths, and can the Bills' players execute it? Can they hold the ball, make long drive, keep Brady and Welker off the field? Can the defense man up and stop them when they need to? How will they respond when something goes wrong, or when the Pats make some big play? It really is the equivalent of a playoff game for the Bills, if not for the Pats. I don't know what to expect. I can see a typical Pats blowout, or I can see one of those games where the Bills more or less hold their own but then fail in the end. Neither of those would mean anything to me but more of the same we are so depressingly used to. But if the Bills could somehow pull off a win, it would be a major statement, maybe the major upset of the NFL season.

Fair enough. I want improvement in the line, I agree they need better run blocking--and so does Gailey, to hear his comments both Sunday after the game and yesterday. The fact that he is so outspoken about that need makes me think the situation will not be ignored. I hope they will spend their high draft choices on the lines and linebacking, not on a QB. And yes, I want to see Bell play better than he has, but IMO in posts like this you have made him seem much worse than he is, distorting the picture. If a DB came up and pushed Peters from behind, after the whistle, when he was leaning forward after just blocking someone, he too would stumble forward, and it would not indicate he was incapable. Peters is gone, a long time now. I hated it when the Bills let pat Williams go, and thought Gregg Williams was a moron for saying with regard to Williams and Ted Washington that he hated "big fat guys" on the line. But that stuff is water under the bridge, and guys like us who bleed for the team have to let it go. I think Bell is already serviceable, and will become a good, if not great, LT. You are more worried about this than I. We'll see how it plays out. I hope you won't mind my throwing my two cents in from time to time. Peace.

I saw that play last week that you are talking about, and you mis-characterize it as much as you do this sack by Misi this week. On that play, Bell was engaged with a lineman/linebacker up to the whistle, pushing forward. As the whistle blew, he let up, and at that point the defensive back pushed him from behind. Bell did not even see the guy, who came up behind him and hit him while he was engaged with a guy in front of him, and after the whistle. You make it sound like he is being pushed around face on by defensive backs. I have to say that I think you are still pining for Jason Peters, and that it is evident in your every comment on Bell, whom you will never give a fair shake. Yes he is not Jason Peters. When Bell is in his eighth year at LT for the Bills, maybe not a pro-bowler but a good player, are you still going to be dissing him because Peters would have been better?

There's much I agree with in your comments, as usual, but I think you are wrong about this play. I watched it twice just now, and that sack was on Fitzpatrick for holding the ball too long. Bell held off Misi on his initial rush (quite well in fact considering Misi took an inside path, across the inside of the formation to Bell's right) and nobody else helped out on the block. Bell used his arms to push Misi off on his initial move as they moved to Bell's right along the line of scrimage. It was only on his second move, when they were already on the RIGHT side of the pocket (away from Bell's side entirely) that Misi got by Bell to trip up Fitz. Also, it did not look to me like Fitz took anywhere near the kind of hit he was taking on other sacks earlier this season. He just got caught and went down. IMHO

Go see "Love and Other Drugs" if you want to see Anne Hathaway in her sexiest role yet.

Notice that Evans got hurt while blocking downfield for Stupar on his 35-yead catch-and-run. Evans does things that a veteran receiver is supposed to do. He has been a good citizen, and made some big plays (though not as many as we might hope for from a #1 receiver). I'd like to see him kept, and see what develops with him aand Fitzpatrick.

As of today, Schaub is the 13th ranked QB, Eli Manning the 18th ranked, and Fitzpatrick the 19th ranked. Here are some relevant stats Schaub 20 TD 10 Int 7.5 Yds/Attempt 90.5 Rating E. Manning 24 TD 19 Int 7.2 Yds/attempt 86.1 Rating Fitzpatrick 21 TD 11 Int 6.7 Yds/Attempt 85.0 Rating If as you say a team can contend (or even win a Super Bowl, over the undefeated Patriots, in perhaps the greatest upset in SB history, as E. Manning's team did) with Scahub or Manning at QB (both of them on much more talented teams than the Bills) then I think Fitzpatrick can do as well, if the Bills improve in other areas. I think the Bills would be better served, and see the playoffs sooner, if they draft an OT, DT, DE, or LB in the first instead of a QB.

Please God, no.

But they usually give 3 points for home field. So on a neutral field they expect the Browns to beat the Bills by 2.

Th Absolute Truth. Posted with wit. Thanks.

Sage Rosenfels for the Dolphins. Bills were up 21-0 when he came in, and he had the best game of his career and beat them.

This guy has to be trolling. Or else he's had a lobotomy.

I find I agree with almost everything you post this time. So you must be right I want to suggest you consider something (I could be wrong) with regard to your skepticism toward Bell. Now, granted Bell has been extremely raw and in no way up to the level that Jason Peters was playing at in his pro bowl season. I know how badly you think the Bills F.O. handled the Peters situation. Might it be that your anti-Bell judgments up until now have been colored, at least a little, by your disgust and dismay at the loss of Peters, and the stupid way (in your opinion) the Bills lost him? NOt to say that Bell has been playing up to the Peters standard (when Peters was playing at his best form). But maybe you might have underestimated Bell's abilities just in reaction to the way he came to be the starting LT? I'm just asking. GO BILLS!

Absolutely. Put away the Twitter posts and concentrate on football. We'll see how mature he is by how he handles this. He's just a kid so far, an talented, good-natured one, but still a kid.

Idiocy.

another win, and then another, and then another... Come out of the season with a sense of purpose and confidence, know who is a player, let the draft sort itself out when it gets here. You get the idea.