BillsVet

The issue isn't whether Fitzpatrick has improved, it's about selling tickets, and with several thousand empty seats, it's clear the Bills aren't placing their current starting QB at the center of any marketing campaign. They need a drawing card and Fitz isn't it. After all, we still have the same owner who demanded Lynch in the wake of McGahee's comments and lo and behold it happened. This team is not similar to the 86 team. They have no Kelly, Smith, Reed, Talley, Wolford, et al. Not to mention it was a completely different era where a few teams had more of the talent than today's era where talent is spread more equally. Who do they have now? Fitz, Williams, Jackson, St. Johnson? Not even close. There was supposedly a light at the end of the tunnel in 06-09, but more failure ensued. With RW/Littman/Overdorf running the show, I don't see how things have really changed.

They'll have their highest draft pick in years.

Yep...of course this is partially mitigated by saving dollars on the guaranteed money for their first round pick. Still they know people aren't lapping up their propaganda like they used to.

Criqui's not bad...he does evoke memories of the glory days.

Right, Cleveland didn't beat NYJ. But in one season they've taken down the Saints and Patriots, which qualifies as something to point and recognize. At the same time, I can't have a negative opinion on Buddy NIx, but you can go ahead and say Holmgren is a "poor" GM in less than year? Besides, he's the president, and Tom Heckert is the GM, but regardless, they're 3 wins up on Buffalo and both are in their first season of rebuilding, HC status or not. You keep going ahead and dragging down other teams to make Buffalo seem okay. And for those who wonder why we "negative" fans keep following, well, this is the team we've grown up with. Sitting idly by and making excuses for 11 years of fail isn't in my DNA.

Cleveland, in year 1 of their rebuild, have 3 signature wins against NE, NYJ, and NO. Buffalo has had a tough schedule, but continue to lose to more talented teams despite getting close. They haven't beaten a playoff caliber team, which seems to be a yearly thing, regardless of the coach. I would disagree the losing culture has changed at all because players aren't satisfied with losing close. Gailey gets something out of mediocre talent on offense, but without support from the front office this season, he can't just out-execute his opponents. Overall team talent needs to drastically improve on both sides of the ball before they go anywhere but the bottom of the AFC East.

Wouldn't doubt it. Bad weather and two teams going nowhere adds up to a lot of unsold tickets. I'm just waiting for the team to start leaking that fans don't support the team after having as many as 4 blackouts this season.

Fixed. Having a General Manager (of football no less) is so overrated. Marketeers can handle that job and pawn games off onto those Rogers people at the same time!

Yes you can. When your defense is dead last in the NFL in rushing yards allowed by more than 25 above the 31st ranked team you can. They're not good at rushing the passer and aside from QB, there's more pressing needs on defense. Then again Smithers and the marketeers need a draw when more fans cancel seasons in 2011.

How many thousand tickets was the team short? Guessing at least 3k.

They're following the Nix Doctrine of having as many 1st round RB's as possible. Hey, it worked in 1970. Why can't it work now?

Going back to the 43 after an entire offseason of teaching and practicing the 34 is another example of this magical plan being smoke and mirrors. OK, I get that they wanted to go to a 34. Fine, but the players they've acquired for it aren't interchangeable and it's not like they've got Belichick coordinating this defense. Sure they need more talent, but can't they get one thing right before trying another? This is what makes the Kelsay deal maddening, because he can't play the 34 and remains one of the highest paid players on the team. Ah well. Next thing you know, TBC will predict this will be a 2-14 or 3-13 season.

It's never happened before in Buffalo (save for perhaps the Polian years), but give football people complete autonomy over football decisions. Sure, the bean counters will set a budget, but I've never felt the football people weren't frequently interfered with by RW and his minions. AFAIK, Parcells took his own people to Miami in 2008. Most of them remain there, but I think BP goes mercenary again and ends up in other town performing a role like he did in Miami.

There really hasn't been a true sea change like there should have been last offseason. Modrak may or may not have sway, but he's survived through the tenures of 4 GM's. Jim Overdorf is there, as he has been since the 80s. The power structure was barely addressed and all of this begs the question: why? Why doesn't a new GM get to bring in their own people? Every other team, upon hiring a new GM, typically finds new pro and amateur scouting directors, and doesn't have an Overdorf type pulling strings from behind the curtain. Say what you want about Nix and this being early, but merely firing the poor VP of Pro Personnel is not sufficient. With the track record of failure in the front office, more comprehensive changes were needed. And they didn't/couldn't do it because RW didn't authorize it.

Davis will be 33 next season and has missed plenty of games in 09-10. I'd draft LB heavy, if they weren't so poor at QB, OT, TE, and now perhaps CB.

RW wanted Lynch badly (after the McGahee comments) in 2007 according to many reports. What's the sense of having a college scouting director, scouts, heck a GM when the owner knows all and sees all? That said, Polian may be trying to motivate Hughes for next season. BP isn't the type who drafts for the coming season anyway, although Saffold's progression is something he's kicking himself for not recognizing. The league is infatuated with pass rushers, both DE's and OLB's that people reach. Even BP is apparently human on draft day now and then.

SD hits on high picks and they hit on mid round guys like Shaun Phillips. They get contributions from all over the place, most notably their 1st round QB and former UDFA TE. Still, the Chargers rebuild took a full four off-seasons and 3 regular seasons. I don't think most fans have the patience in Buffalo to wait that long before the team is good. Who knows what will happen by 2013 with the lease expiring. The point is that Buffalo as a small market team needs to find 3-4 bonafide NFL starters every year. From 2006-2009, it appears they've got K. Williams and Levitre who I think are good players. And then there's Whitner, Posluszny, Wood, and Byrd in the average category. That's just not going to cut it, especially when you play those Pats 2 times per.

The player Spiller is most compared to is Chris Johnson, 24th overall pick in 2008. In his rookie season, Johnson rushed for 1228 yards on 251 carries and caught 43 passes for another 260 yards. That's almost 300 touches, and the team also featured Lendale "tequila" White that year. This may not be a Spiller problem as much as it is a HC/OC issue for not getting him the ball. It's also noteworthy that Gailey is calling almost 60% passes since Fitzpatrick became the starter. Part of that may be just playing behind, but it's not exactly comforting knowing how high a pick Spiller was and the fact he's not involved in the passing game much either.

In all seriousness, what is the plan beyond repeatedly saying they'll build through the draft? I'll grant that the OP should have thought the QB thing through, but he's not far off. This franchise doesn't have all the time they had in SD.

Teams don't succeed on offense because they've got great interior OL play. It's good to have, especially against 34 NT's, but winning in the NFL means passing the ball and having OT's who can play on an island against good pass rushers. The Bills have rolled the dice far too many times on practice squad types and late round picks and the result is more sacks and QB hits yielded. I think Fitzpatrick knew this early on Sunday and it showed. Just for the sake of argument though, look at Baltimore's starting O line on Sunday: Oher, Grubbs, Birk, Chester, Yanda. That's 2 1sts, a 2nd, a 3rd, and a top free agent from 2009. What I wouldn't give to have Steve Bisciotti for an owner who gives Ozzie Newsome the freedom to do what he does best: find talent that wins games.

Lots of luck. And not the Andrew kind. I'm talking about being lucky, which is what the franchise is banking on per the owner last December.

On the day Shanahan was fired in Denver no less. Talk about an owner who wants a winner. Bowlen may not be well, but he's not worried about financial considerations in the face of a lockout. Denver's a mess, McDaniels is an imperious youth, but the pocket book isn't Bowlen's primary concern like it is for RW.

Don't forget an off-season of film study, OTA's, training camp, and 4 pre-season games.

It proves they're down to a few warm bodies and found another one on the street who'll come in, maybe give a Chris Draft type performance, and then be cut in the off-season. This is what happens to teams who are physically inferior: they rack up the injuries and regardless of whether there's a TV in the weight room.

Belichick's coaching tree continues to die.