BillsVet

Well, Nix sounds sold on Gailey in 2013, so why not keep the band back together and throw Fitz back out there again? If Gailey finishes the season 5-11/6-10 and Fitz is back leading or near the top in INT's, why not? They're in the middle of a 5 year rebuild and maybe someday it'll all come together. Ralph will demand a sacrifice and it'll probably be Wannstedt as the lamb anyway. They need continuity at HC and QB.

HC's in the final year of their deal do not attract top, let alone decent coordinators. Any NFL coach wants a little more security than 1 year given that they're career-minded people and a potentially 1 year stop in Buffalo isn't going to be a resume builder. Nearly every single HC, OC, or DC in the past 7 seasons has been a retread. DJ, Fairchild, Schonert, Gailey, Modkins, Edwards, and now Wannstedt. The exception is Fewell, who has demonstrated success with the Giants. The point is, the Bills can't find GM's, they can't attract good HC's, and those HC's they do hire typically don't hire good coordinators. Little wonder the rebuild Nix began has been even worse than the Marv/DJ/Brandon years.

Somewhere else I've heard that the job inherited was too much to solve in only a few years...

Frazier interviewed and Buffalo did not pursue him. I amend my statement of him withdrawing, though it seems the Bills weren't impressed and/or they wanted an offensive coach. Same may be said for Rivera. Nix and he knew one another from their SD days, but either the Bills didn't attempt to interview him or he declined. All of this is uncertain, as much of this happens behind the scenes. Still, they were turned down for multiple interviews. IMO that says a lot about how the league looks upon this franchise.

Would any of those teams, if they needed a HC, get turned down repeatedly? That's one question you can't ask for about 31 other teams. Why is that? Why did the Bills fall back on their emergency hire, Chan Gailey, and bring him in under almost cover of darkness?

If you've become a GM, in theory there's little resume building left to do and Nix said he'd done all the front office personnel jobs. The only one he hadn't done, GM, is one he's rapidly failing at. Not that it matters. This is his final NFL job.

DJ had less overall talent, especially at QB and still managed to win 42% of his games. What's transpired since Nix and Gailey came in hasn't been a rebuild, just a tearing down.

Well, Nix said he wasn't trying to build a resume. He isn't doing so well building a team either.

At least 5 B list coaches turned down the Bills when they conducted their last HC search. 3 are now HC's (Jim Harbaugh, Rivera, Frazier) 1 is an OC (Brian Schottenheimer) and 1 remains an OL coach (Grimm). Credit the Bills for going after up and coming types. Discredit them for not having a reputation strong enough attract these guys to even interview. Why would anything change 3 years later if Gailey is fired?

Ergo BB and DJ similar if you take away the latter's bad seasons, correct? It ain't whining if you ain't been to the playoffs in 12 seasons and sit at 3-4 going into a stretch of 2 games on the road against strong teams. Sorry. It's called demanding accountability, which some people refuse to do. Being a fan does not preclude one from not criticizing.

Once Belichick got Brady, he was golden. Brady's made him. Or so say the homers. Because Belichick never was a good defensive coach, never knew talent, never started watching film with his dad when he was a little kid, never knew anything. It's been all Brady. Whatever. And it's always funny to see the homers try to bring down others to bump up their own underachieving team that is seeing another rebuild fail. Belichick would take control and remind people he's in charge and if someone didn't like it, they'd be exiled like Moss or Deion Branch were. And if you were a valuable player past their prime (Vrabel), you'd be sent packing as well.

Why can't he motivate now as a backup player? Chris Kelsay is trying. I think SM needs to do the lights out dance on the sidelines and teach the Jills while he's at it. That would get them motivated.

Washington was aggressive for both reasons. Bruce Allen and especially Shanahan knew when they took over in 2010 that they needed a QB. When McNabb ate his way out of the league and Grossman once again proved he wasn't starter material they knew that they needed a better option And so, they identified RGIII as their man, who, behind Luck, was the best QB prospect in the draft. They absolutely needed a QB for 2012 given the options they had going into the season; Grossman and John Beck. But I digress, you remain aggressive given the supply of talented QB's and the demand for them. It seems like no less than 5 teams are looking for one every year. 10 rookies or 2nd year men are now starting out of the 2011 and 2012 drafts.

Would you accept Chan and his staff coaching the Senior Bowl again?

More often than not it's losers who wait for things to come to them in the draft. Nix's strategy has been to sit tight and hope things fall into place with mere subterfuge. I don't think anyone's saying it's a guarantee that taking a guy in the first results in success simply because here are no guarantees in life, let alone the NFL. This strategy of being uber-conservative when it's time to find your future guy is one reason why they can't get a franchise QB. Of course you can't get the guy with that mentality. Washington paid a huge price for RGIII. But in the rebuild process they're a lot further along than bumbling Buddy.

Agreed. Nix is overseeing this mess and needs to be held responsible for what's happening. He's spent a lot of resources on the defensive side of the ball and they're still not getting the job done. So while people talk about firing coaches or replacing players, this is a problem that leads directly to the GM and the plan he's implemented.

Going with other teams' castoffs isn't what I'd call trying. They haven't selected a QB outside of a 7th rounder in 3 seasons and expect the position to get better picking up free agents? How many decent QB's come up on the UFA market anyway?

As a NFL GM, you don't get passes on drafts during your tenure. Given Nix's activities now as the highest guy on the football side of the house, is there any question that he was scouting players from the time he was hired as national scout in early 2009? He knew the draft prospects for the 2010 draft and simply saying because Modrak was present the draft was bad is absurd. And how does this explain drafting Levitre, Byrd, and Wood in 2009? Dumb luck? Nix was heralded by many here as a "top five talent evaluator" from his days in SD. Many were quick to praise him for the Charger's good moves and not hold him accountable for others. It was simply a way for many here to proclaim this guy something different than previous individuals not qualified to be GM's like Levy and Brandon. The reality is, Buddy's rebuild is very close to failing if it hasn't already.

Good intentions don't win football games. There are several people out there in various levels of management who want to succeed but aren't talented enough. Buddy Nix is one of them, and the result is on display 16 times a year.

How many times must it be noted that ownership, i.e. management, is directly responsible for this failure? The culture at OBD is a reflection of the owner, who while elderly, remains ultimately responsible. Unfortunately, I don't think any of RW's handlers have the nerve to tell him that firing anyone will make for an interesting employee search. And who's going to lead it? Brandon again? The other 31 teams have to laugh when Brandon gets involved on matters like that.

Organizationally, the GM has waffled on decisions and used resources to cover up his bad decisions. Going from a cover 2 4-3 to a 3-4 and back to a 4-3 under scheme eats up a lot of resources. They tried to accelerate the defensive scheme change and inevitable growing pains by going after UFA's Williams and Anderson. That hasn't worked either. An organization that commits to something as mammoth as a defensive change (or a QB) that fails will always be on the treadmill to nowhere. It's why the Buddy Nix rebuild has failed already: he himself set it back with horrible decisions he needed to get right. And people wonder why real HC's don't want to come to Buffalo.

They can (supposedly) even spending among the 32 NFL franchises with a salary cap. But they'll never be able to evenly distribute talent across the league for owners, GM's, and coaching staffs. If the latter was possible, Buffalo would remain below the minimum for going on the millennium now. Ironic given that Polian was on put on the Wall of Fame yesterday.

Nix's tenure with the Bills has essentially been a reverse Midas touch to a football team. Going with the 3-4, saying Fitz can be their guy, the 2010 draft minus the first round pick, now perhaps the 2011 draft, going to the 4-3, signing Merriman, cutting Moorman, signing Mario and Anderson, trading for Tarvaris Jackson to sit him. Goodness, I could go on and on, but the trend continues this season. BTW, Donahoe was 31-49 or .388 in 5 seasons, Marv/DJ/Brandon from 06-09 were 27-37 or .422 in 4 seasons. Gailey and Nix 39 games are 13-26 for a .333 winning percentage. They've gone from mediocre to bad and this rebuild has failed.

I guess the coaching search in 2010 has been quickly forgotten. When Brian Schottenheimer, Ron Rivera, Russ Grimm, and John Harbaugh decline to interview, what makes anyone think the Bills could attract a proven type? And just why would guys who want to be HC's not accept an interview? There is something catastrophically wrong with this franchise and most fans cannot see it until it becomes as obvious as the sun.

1) When you average 220 yards per in your last 15, what can you say in a league dominated by passing. He's not good enough and the scheme is organized to limit his weaknesses. 2) Bringing down Russell Wilson to prop up Fitzpatrick. It's a common tactic employed on TBD to lessen our own team's problems. Of course, Wilson is a rookie who, in his 6th career game, topped Belichick and Brady. Not to say it's a one-man effort, but that's impressive. The Bills with Fitz couldn't do it until their fifth try against NE. Bear in mind Seattle and Buffalo both began rebuilds at the same time, in 2010. 3) There won't be a monster performance in all likelihood. Attack if you must, but offensively the Bills are not doing anything that confuses opponents. Most all of Fitz's throws are down the sideline inaccurate or within 10 yards. Predictability is something they've excelled at. 4) It's debatable, but this is a team and SJ's comments about going back to his old ways make me wonder. Could he be frustrated with this scheme? I saw him chuck his helmet after a missed pass in the NE game and he slammed the bench not long after. I don't expect them to be pals, but WR's need to get the ball and Fitz can't do it enough.