BillsVet

Buddy and Chan talk multiple times each day, or so we're told. This decision to bench and then cut Edwards wasn't made in a vacuum, and I'm willing to bet that it being the QB, this was consensus. Both GM and HC screwed that up by not realizing they could not change a guy who was too shell-shocked to be a good starting NFL QB. Besides, Nix hired Chan and depends on him and his staff to get the most out of the players the front office acquires. In an ultra-competitive league, teams can't afford to make bad personnel decisions on the field or from the front office. Buffalo did plenty of that last year, namely wasting 2 games going with the wrong starting QB.

The fact remains that Nix elected to sign Cornell Green. Making that move is not mitigated nor forgiven by cutting him. Same thing with Trent Edwards. Those were two huge offseason decisions that failed. The decision to move to a 3-4 without close to adequate personnel also demonstrates a lack of foresight, which is puzzling given all the years he's been working in a NFL front office. So there's three poor decisions in one off-season, not to mention that his first round pick garnered less than 500 yards from scrimmage and the 2nd and 3rd round picks struggled to get on the field in the first half of the season. I would think that Buffalo needs to win 8 games in 2011 to demonstrate their rebuild is in the right direction. Anything less and some serious questions need to be asked of Buddy "we're not that far away" Nix.

It is cyclical and it isn't. You have teams that rebuild and become playoff-caliber like Atlanta, Green Bay, and Kansas City. You have the established franchises that are always in the playoffs like NE, PIT, and IND. You've got teams in the midst of rebuilding, and then you've got teams who are spinning their wheels. I know most would put Buffalo in the third category, but I still place them in the latter grouping. We'll know if this franchise is headed in the right direction by the mid point of the 2011 season, if there is one. Should they begin 2-6 on their way to another 4-12 or a 5-11, I think it's safe to say they are indeed inept and worthy of being a bottom ranked franchise. If they go 8-8, 9-7, then no they're not deserving. At least not yet.

The common denominator to all these blue collar and solid OL groups is that proven front offices put them together. They found capable and occasionally top talent late in the draft or via the UDFA route. Beyond Levitre and perhaps Hangartner who might be considered above average caliber on that roster? Furthermore, today's NFL doesn't keep rosters together long, so it's incumbent on the coaches and players to learn fast and play well. We're not going to see 4-5 OL together for 6-8 seasons anymore. And lost in the passing dominated nature of the NFL is the need to protect the edges with good OT's. I don't see Bell ever becoming a good enough OT, and the RT position is a black hole of fringe NFL players. One would hope Hairston could evolve into a good OT, but I don't put a lot of stock into 4th round rookies becoming average starters right away. Moreover, if Erik Pears was so good, then how has he bounced to 4 teams in 3 seasons? And Mansfield Wrotto? He was arguably their worst OT, but then I remember how bad Cordaro Howard and Cornell Green were. This is a position with no depth and marginal talent above that. I for one don't believe it takes 3-4 years to rebuild. Buddy Nix has obviously told RW that's how long it takes, but I beg to differ. Plenty of teams have completed the job in less time and showed real progress on the way there. If Buffalo doesn't win 8 games this season, it's going to call into question the Nix rebuild some have prematurely fallen in love with.

Which OT and which TE in UFA? There aren't many quality OT's, specifically LT's that hit the open market anymore. TE offers a few more chances, but the price for a Zach Miller or Kevin Boss may exceed what Buffalo is willing to play, especially if Gailey continues to feature them as nothing more than extra blocking help. Buffalo has three major holes to get answers/help for: QB, LT, and pass rush. Fitzpatrick has, IMO, become their guy out of default. They deemed a QB wasn't good enough at 9 last year nor at 3 this year. At OT, their depth is alarmingly thin with projects or unproven types. Pass rush is held up with duct tape and baling wire in the form of Shawne Merriman and other unproven youngsters. Until they find better than marginal/average talent at these positions, they'll struggle. Teams in the NFL of today need to be able to pass, protect their passer, and get after their opponent's QB.

I really don't think Buffalo can attract top management or proven coaching staff, which is why they've been so bad of late. Someone will mention Whaley, but in effect he moved from Pittsburgh where he wasn't going to be GM and working for Kevin Colbert to Buffalo where I'm sure he was given the inside track for the top spot. Without that assurance I doubt he leaves the Steelers. OTOH, Wannstedt seems to be living off his reputation 15+ years ago. He has a lot to prove after being out of the league so long. Whether Bills fans want to admit it or not, Buffalo has become the NFL's Siberia for down and out players and coaches. When the owner hired Levy, then followed that up with Brandon and Nix, people wrote them off because it was clear RW was more concerned with his comfortability than with actually improving. Even if he wanted to hire top people and pay big money, it's not a top organization. That's how you end up with guys like Dick Jauron and Chan Gailey for HC's.

Apology accepted. I have nothing personal against Fitzpatrick. He's an outstanding teammate and someone who leaves it all on the field, in contrast to his predecessor at QB. I don't get emotional about the team or players because it clouds an individual's viewpoint. We don't have to repeat their track record the past decade, and they're still a ways from being a playoff caliber team. I think the Bills will be drafting high in 2012 and looking for one of the top QB's because Fitz is a journeyman.

He's had 3 seasons of taking the majority of his teams' snaps. And during that time I haven't seen anything to indicate he's a long term guy. Some of those games he had last season were just plain awful. In 4 out of 13 starts he threw for less than 160 yards. In 5 of those games he completed less than 52% of his passes. That's not the type of consistency I'm looking for from a franchise caliber QB. The guy's a great story and an outstanding teammate. But that's not enough to win games in an ultra-competitive league where QB play more often than not is the difference between winning and losing.

There's no evidence Fitz is a long term answer at QB. He lacks a strong arm, struggles with his accuracy, and turns the ball over far too often, notably in the KC game. Not having a strong presence at OT, the lack of a threat at TE, a marginal running game, and a poor defense surely exacerbates his situation, but it's not a complete excuse for why he struggles. Buffalo hasn't had much at QB to compare him with either. Teams have a year of tape on Gailey and Fitzpatrick. In the NFL it's not always what you do out of the box, but how you react after someone sees what you do well. It's entirely possible the offense stagnates or improves marginally in 2011. Besides, after 3 seasons of starting the majority of his teams' games, what stands out to demonstrate he's a top-10 caliber QB? Because if you don't have one of those, you're not getting to the playoffs.

No play sums up how badly Buffalo was versus the run last season that this one: Peterson 43 yard run Players out of their gaps, LB's misdiagnosing, and DB's taking bad angles. Of course, it doesn't help when the team decides to go 3-4 and ends up playing more 4-3 by season's end. Some teams can make the transition to 3-4 from 4-3, but the Bills were set up to fail, especially when you bank on having Chris Kelsay and Marcus Stroud playing the strong-side in your new base.

GB traded Favre and didn't release him. They made an organizational decision to go with Rodgers during 2008 as Favre neared 40. But I digress. The point remains that solid ownership (CEO in this case) combined with excellent front office management and talent evaluation can and does produce success. Rodgers with the Bills' supporting cast doesn't win enough. But take an organization that gets the QB and surrounds him with top talent while featuring a very good defense and they'll win. That's the GB Packers. If you're inferring that just having a franchise QB is sufficient in a QB driven league, well, that's false. It's much more than that.

Quibbling and sophistry. How predictable from you. You think GB knew (EDIT: they) had a SB MVP on their hands in early 2008 when AR hadn't started a game in 3 seasons?

It's ironic in the discussion of big market versus small market that Green Bay was the SB champion this season. Some will rush to point out how the Packers spent a lot of money, but pay close attention to where they allocated their dollars. It was re-signing current players, originally drafted, undrafted, or in the case of Ryan Pickett, on free agents they're giving a 2nd contract. And I'm sure someone will point out their ownership structure is different, and that's valid. Except it has nothing to do with their ability to build a championship caliber team, while transitioning from a HOF QB and implementing an entirely new defense. The Bills are where they are because the owner sought to meddle and only now is delegating authority over football decisions to actual football people. You won't see Mark Murphy telling Ted Thompson what to do, even though both played in the NFL. For all the credit some Bills fans give RW, he is directly responsible for their inability to win these past 11 years. Small market or big market, a team has to have an owner who A) finds quality people in the front office and B) let's them do the job they're hired to do. Maybe RW is finally realizing this, but in the interim it's inexcusable to waste an entire decade like Buffalo did.

The major ramification from RW hiring/promoting familiar and lesser talented individuals is a huge blow to the franchise's reputation. This was illustrated in the HC search last January when they were repeatedly rejected for interviews, forcing Nix under cover of darkness to seek out a man who hadn't been a NFL HC in a decade. It also didn't help when, before introducing Nix, RW admitted he didn't personally know potential GM candidates and therefore eliminated them from consideration. I doubt that comment earned Buffalo any credibility points, especially from guys who wanted to be a GM and didn't get an interview. As a result of these recent hirings, Buffalo has become and remains the NFL's Siberia.

I take it you're not enamored with Billy Volek then?

I'm not pinning my hopes for a decent TE on him regardless. Even teams with fine #1 TE's have need for blocking TE's, and Chandler didn't play in a regular season during 2008 or 2009. We're not talking about a guy who could be a #2, but rather a fringe NFL player. I too would like to see Buffalo pursue a Kevin Boss or Zach Miller, but don't believe Gailey will use his TE's as anything more than blockers. Still not sure, because he's supposedly an offensive genius and he's relegating a position most of the league has decent talent at. NE drafted two outstanding ones thus far last year. No amount of WR's makes up for this either.

I'm not seeing this hype of Scott Chandler. He's on his 5th team (2 stints with Dallas) in 4 seasons, has caught one pass in those years, and was on a practice squad all of 2009. I'm not sure there are many good TE's who spent their first 4 seasons in the NFL this way.

Now he's just got find that elusive baby. For now, we've got a lot of labor pains to deal with, literally and figuratively.

I think we should chalk up all the southern picks to Nix. Clearly, that's his favorite area to scout, and as Pro Personnel Director he lived in Tennessee.

I really cannot wait for the Bills to tank the season so they can draft Andrew Luck.

When does our version of Al Cowlings show up then?

For a NFL HC to say that a rookie RB not named Barry Sanders can make an OL look better is downright laughable. For a newly hired 70 year old first time GM to make the latter statement, it's plain ridiculous. We're told that Nix and Gailey are straight shooters who tell it like it is. Well, which is it? Were they not far away or was it (gasp) the GM and HC spouting hyperbole to rile up a downtrodden fan base? I point this out because we've heard, dating to Gregg Williams, a lot of talk without much results. I don't think the fan base has a lot of patience with the franchise given the past decade of failure. There isn't one signature win since Levy took over and there are no star players on that roster. Rebuilding takes time, but it doesn't have to be 3-4 years like the owner said. Just ask Atlanta, Baltimore, and Green Bay.

Wanting to lose is definitely unfathomable to any NFL owner, executive, coach, or player. That said, during Nix' tenure with the Chargers, they didn't exactly light it up until picking top 5 for 3 out of 4 drafts from 2001-2004. With those picks, they acquired LaDainian Tomlinson, Quentin Jammer, and Philip Rivers. Tomlinson was outstanding, Jammer has his ups and downs, and Rivers is a top shelf QB. And of course, they picked high in the 2nd and 3rd rounds as well. No one wants to go through the pain that was the 2010 Bills season again. But I often look back and see how SD was rebuilt to provide a window into what a Nix rebuild takes. IMHO, I think Buffalo will pick top 5 again, although I suspect Whaley is GM for the 2012 draft. Still, they can't win the games from the front office. It's up to their players and coaching staff and I don't see enough talent at the critical positions to believe they'll win 7-9 games.

The PR people have to be squirming whenever RW is in front of a camera or giving an interview. He made mention in announcing the BiT series that Toronto was building and things were happening there. Then he talked about Buffalo not doing so well. Sure, it's true, but it wasn't the right time to make that comment. Scott Berchtold and his staff seem like they're working to protect the owner from...himself. He's not able to be out front like a younger man, but when he does he says something which rankles people. Just look at the cancellation of his HOF ring ceremony in 2009. Biggest problem at OBD is their terrible track record has made it so qualified people aren't willing to even interview anymore for their top football jobs, GM and HC. And so the Bills end up with lesser known and more likely lesser qualified people because the owner doesn't have any contacts throughout the NFL.

Thigpen is more of a gimmick QB and Jackson plain stunk against Buffalo in December. Trevor Pryce is at the end of his career, but I'd be fine with Tyson Clabo. Unfortunately, they already have Erik Pears, who will dominate now that he's on his 4th team in 3 years. I truly don't think Nix cares for spending big resources on his OT's, unless of course it's for a 34 year old has-been spouse abuser.