BillsVet

Remember when Gailey split training camp LG reps in 2010 between Rinehart and Levitre for a time? Made little sense then and over time was proven that bigger wasn't better between those two. Nix wanted a bigger line for a waterbug type RB complemented by a QB who threw most of his passes less than 10 yards. How's that for synergy?

Nix backed the franchise into a corner with his ill-advised moves, not just himself. Whaley and Marrone need upgrades all over the field, not just at QB, leaving one to wonder just what Nix was trying to do as GM.

Without better starting QB play, Buffalo remains a 5-7 win team. Nix really left this team in a huge hole, and it'll take more than a season to get out of it.

Buddy went out and spent a bundle last year on their own UFA's and of course, Williams and Anderson. It resulted in a 6-10 season that was all but over around mid-season. If analytics is truly the new game in town, then spending on high-dollar UFA's aside from their own seems unlikely IMO. Data will drive decision making, not necessarily the ideas of a GM whose record is extremely suspect. And the data shows that winning enough to make the playoffs doesn't require big dollars in UFA. Too many teams are winning without engaging in off-season spending sprees.

Chan's trying to demonstrate his16-32 record in his 3 seasons wasn't all his fault. That and hopefully lay the groundwork for future work in the NFL, although he or his agent told Tim Graham he had 2 offers for 2013. Apparently is taking the season off. Either way, not taking a QB high enabled Nix to spend loads of draft picks on defensive players to staff his bottom dwelling unit. After all, he needed those picks to attempt to build 2 different defensive schemes in 3 seasons.

Brandon Moore is a RG, not a LG. IIRC, Gailey started to split Levitre's reps with Chad Rinehart during 2010 training camp. It didn't last long, and Rinehart ended up becoming the primary backup. Here was Buddy trying to build a big physical line for a smallish outside the tackle 9th overall pick RB and a quick passing attack. Talk about a disjointed plan, but either way Levitre fit and excelled. If the Bills find themselves having to use a decent (higher than 3rd round) pick on a guard because Levitre left, they're back to their old ways. Remember, Levitre and Wood were selected in 2009 when the Bills were basically without 2 starting guards. They managed to select solid players and may be back to square 1.

Buddy believes analytics is a fancy highfalutin way of saying the Bills needs to invest in Mel Kiper's draft magazine or your aforementioned method of picking players.

Jim Overdorf can only work on one contract at a time.

Buddy said they saw him do it before, so apparently he can do it again. As if NFL defenses and coaching staffs permit teams to do the same offensive game-plan each week and don't try to force opponents and their players to do things they're not good at. Like throwing beyond 15 yards across the middle of the field and down sidelines. Rarely do teams keep the former starter around to backup a new guy.

Guessing what player teams will select versus determining who are the better players remains two different subjects. If I want the best assessment of talent, Mayock is the guy.

I stand corrected on where Mayock ranked Ayers. Anyone with enough bad opinions gets fired, whether it's NFL GM's or draftniks. And if they're not fired, their credibility is hampered as in the case of McShay, who I've seen isn't well received in NFL scouting circles. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/03/31/todd-mcshay-backlash-builds/

I'll provide the link for you, and Ayers wasn't ranked as the best prospect in the 2009 draft. He was third according to Mayock: http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_12230256 If the standard is perfection, then every single draftnik falls drastically short. But it should not diminish the reputation of Mayock, who remains the best in a sea of mediocrity. I don't know who Russ Lande is, but it'd be helpful if there was some context and included his previous prognostications.

Who was responsible for converting from DJ's Tampa 2 to a 3-4 and then back to a 4-3, in just 3 years? Doesn't Nix deserve blame for never sticking to a scheme, not drafting adequately to fit either, and ultimately ranking near the bottom in most statistical categories? And why would a QB taken by Nix in the first have an above average chance at success? He's told us how so many QB's in the 2011-12 weren't good enough already. I really hope they keep Nix out of the draft room and give him a gold watch the following day at his retirement.

Russ is under the gun again with 2 key UFA's hitting the market. I would expect the personnel folks have a plan for how to address both players, and, at the least, are in the middle of evaluating the team and their needs. Not opening negotiations 1 month into the off-season is concerning though Teams will spend on a guard if they've got lots of cap space, like Tampa Bay did last season on Carl Nicks. The NFL is a win-now league, and while guard is a more easily replaced position, teams will spend if they can get a dependable instant upgrade so as to focus on more in-demand positions. http://espn.go.com/n...ct-cap-strategy The Bills have 20.6M in space, but look at the teams with more. There are 13 of them and with solid UFA's rarely hitting the market, I can see a team spending on a good player like Levitre.

I would have a little more hope if that OC had an honest to goodness starting QB who can make all the throws and has some receivers. Look, good coaching is important, but talent wins on game day. An offense in today's NFL demands a QB who has no less than 3 options in the passing game. Hopefully the new OC gets that at some point.

Buffalo 8th in the NFL in spending on defense. Not surprising given the M. Williams, K. Williams, Dareus, and Anderson deals. But 28th in offensive unit spending? I'd chalk this up to Nix believing his HC (and the HC himself) believing that they could win with less and rely on scheme. That obviously didn't work. Good stuff.

What about just good old fashioned strategery?

Modrak was fired 5/4/2011. Yes, because I start no more than 5 threads a year.

From Peter King's MMQB this AM: Baalke knew the Bills weren't going to take Kaepernick or Dalton at 34, and he figured Cincy would take Dalton at 35. Peter King reported leading up to the 2011 draft that Buffalo was a "black hole" of information. Unlike teams that attempt to use subterfuge, the Bills buttoned up completely that year. Yet, how did SF and presumably other teams needing a QB know the Bills would not take either Kaepernick or Dalton?

Guess Crayonz is officially back under a nom de guerre.

Off topic, but you could make a case that every GM makes mistakes. After all, who is the backup QB in New England? And how many snaps has he played the past 2 years? The draft remains an inexact science, but some play the game better than others. Polian's record before his son took more control was stellar. To say anything different is foolish.

Agreed. The team seems to have re-structured behind the scenes, placing Nix is a position of lesser input.

Buddy should know by now how to be a GM and should not have needed 2-3 years to realize his errors. At his introductory PC he talked about having served in all the roles under GM as preparing him for the GM of football position RW hired him to do. The point is, while every GM makes mistakes, Buddy's blundering ways are inexcusable and make the job for the incoming GM, Whaley, and their new HC much more difficult. Acknowledging mistakes, either latently or overtly, does not excuse the bad decisions made.

The point remains. SD continued to attempt to improve the position and not settle for one guy in Brees, who they themselves selected quite high. Three years after that pick with Brees having just tossed 27 TD's passes they selected Rivers. Why? Because they liked drafting QB's? Or because they wanted to improve? OTOH, Nix during his tenure chose not to even draft one real QB in 3 drafts. Buddy may have been doing the scouting from Tennessee for SD, but it was Smith who was the brains of that operation. Buddy's record in Buffalo seems to demonstrate that.

Compare the Chargers approach to the QB position from 2001-06 against Buffalo's from 2010-12. San Diego used 3 1st-3rd round picks in those 6 drafts on QB's. In Nix's 3 years with Buffalo, he spent none. Why did two teams that employed Nix take decidedly opposite methods for acquiring a player at the game's most important position? It would seem Nix didn't quite have the say many have ascribed to him in San Diego.