It's in My Blood Posted April 30, 2011 Posted April 30, 2011 Once you guys figure out that we can, indeed, win with Fitz, you'll see that it is clear that we need to get stronger on the OL and LB's (DT taken care of). I would personally like to see our offense play ball without having to worry about the defense giving up 400 yards per game each week, and actually be able to run the ball with a lead! Focus on the lines first, then defense the rest of the way! Go get a veteran FA in Free Agency to back up Fitz in case he goes down with an injury. Yes , we can win games with Fitz , like 8-9 wins. We will be drafting his replacement next year in the form of Andrew Luck.
Rockinon Posted April 30, 2011 Posted April 30, 2011 Did someone notice a dog barking? I thought I told him I was finished talking to him. What a barrage of useless yapping.
CodeMonkey Posted April 30, 2011 Posted April 30, 2011 But to dismiss "things like leadership, wisdom, perseverance or a never quit attitude" as "of, at most, minor importance" is one of the most stunningly silly things I've ever encountered I stand behind my statement. When compared to actual ability these "intangables", as the talking heads like to call them, are indeed of minor importance. They are wonderful things for fans to talk and post about because they make the player much more likable, particularly on a team with little ability. But at the end of the day pale in comparison to getting the job done on the field. They are nice qualities to have to be sure, and given a choice I'd rather have a player with than without. Not saying those things are worthless, just no where near as important as ability is all. And if Fitz ends up being a top 5 QB this season? With a great supporting cast, he has a better chance than any of the youngsters coming out of college this year. I do think we can find a better QB at some point, but it just isn't going to happen this year and it never was going to happen this year because the talent is not available. To be honest though, Fitz could very well improve greatly. It has happened before and he seemed to be progressing in that direction last year. That is not something you ignore. That would be a beautiful thing and I would like little more than to have Nix and Gailey (and Fitz) prove me wrong. I just don't see it happening. This isn't a second year kid we are talking about here remember.
thewildrabbit Posted April 30, 2011 Posted April 30, 2011 Let me try this one more time... The reason why some of us are saying there is no "franchise" QB in this years draft is because there wasn't one, we KNOW this because every draft website I've been to is stating there is no Matthew Stafford-Sam Bradford type elite QB in this years draft class. All the QB's in this years draft are PROJECTS, none are NFL ready like Bradford was, none have the pinpoint accuracy needed in the NFL like Bradford does.Most ran a spread offense and were told by their college coach to NOT throw into tight windows, if the main receiver isn't wide open, then run it! Most NFL QB's take 2-3 years to develop, the last few years have been an anomaly in terms of QB's starting immediately. Dan Marino did it, Big Ben did it,Joe Flacco & Matt Ryan did it to a degree. Aaron Rodgers sat on the bench for 3 years while he learned the NFL system. Guys like Payton Manning- John Elway-Troy Aikman came into the league and took their lumps as starters, Matthew Stafford did that as well but has been injured most of the time because he went to a bad team with a bad O line. Cam Newton was only rated as a mid first round pick by every website I went to, not the #1 overall! Newton was drafted #1 overall by Carolina because they were DESPERATE for a QB, they are also darn stupid IMO. But I'm so happy they took Newton, because after reading what Nevergiveup stated, and what Buddy Nix was quoted as saying ""But when he was there and (Cam) Newton was gone, he was there, it was an easy pick."" If Carolina had passed then Buffalo would have selected Newton. That guy is such a huge project and unless the team that drafted him completely revamed their offense to a simplistic style like he ran in college, he won't be effective his first year. Newton does not have pinpoint accuracy, he doesn't know how to call plays, read defenses, setup protections,call alerts, he doesn't even know NFL verbiage as he was a one read and run QB. The way Auburn coaches called plays was by holding up a sign on the sideline with one number on it. This kid has so much to learn I highly doubt he will become a decent pocket passer for at least 2 years or more. So stating that, how would it help Buffalo to draft another 3rd round Trent Edwards- 2nd round Brian Brohm 1st round JP Losman and wait 3 years to see if he will eventually develop, it wouldn't IMO. Like I stated earlier, Fitz is NOT a franchise QB at this point, but who is to say that he can't further develop into a Rich Gannon type journeyman and lead the Bills to the playoffs. The QB play is still very dependent on his surrounding cast, lets hope the Bills give Fitz some help with a TE-OT-OG in the draft.
Direhard Fan Posted April 30, 2011 Posted April 30, 2011 New year and New times. Fitz will do us proper this year. He as all offensive teams need time on the field, Our "D" wasn't there. Wicked Game had it right. Given the opportunity he was there. The "O" line wasn't and the play calling was suspect. We all forget that. We ran on 3 and 3 or 3 and two many times. Now that we have Wjite it won't be that way.HaHa Where was our O coach??
Swift Sylvan Posted April 30, 2011 Posted April 30, 2011 I hardly think that Fitz is the 32nd best starter in the league, I'd put him at 20-25th best. I do think our defense last year was the 30th-32nd best. If we only have the choice of fixing one (and if this draft did fix our D) then I am all for the draft that we had.
Rockinon Posted April 30, 2011 Posted April 30, 2011 That would be a beautiful thing and I would like little more than to have Nix and Gailey (and Fitz) prove me wrong. I just don't see it happening. This isn't a second year kid we are talking about here remember. He has never been given the starting job from day one either. After last year, I think he has as much of a chance as anyone to really pull off a great season. And it would be an awesome Buffalo story too. A "beautiful thing". Can you imagine how many jaws would drop if he puts up more than 4000 yards? Or more than 30 TDs. I think he has it in him.
Swift Sylvan Posted April 30, 2011 Posted April 30, 2011 He has never been given the starting job from day one either. After last year, I think he has as much of a chance as anyone to really pull off a great season. And it would be an awesome Buffalo story too. A "beautiful thing". Can you imagine how many jaws would drop if he puts up more than 4000 yards? Or more than 30 TDs. I think he has it in him. I mean for whatever Fitz can do, he certainly has been the best QB we have had in a while. Especially with the stat line of 3000 yards in 14 games.
Hapless Bills Fan Posted April 30, 2011 Posted April 30, 2011 And if Fitz ends up being a top 5 QB this season? With a great supporting cast, he has a better chance than any of the youngsters coming out of college this year. That may be. But where in B'lo is he going to find a great supporting cast? I support our draft - we drafted for D, and strong, proven players not "potential" in the early rounds. It's what I thought we needed to do. In my humble opinion, we still have huge gaps at RT and TE and maybe LT. I'm kinda wondering if the thought was to leave Fitzy in there playing catch with 2nd tier receivers this year in between running for his life behind our hardworking, but patchwork OL. Solidify the OL play, let the promising receivers shake themselves out and learn their craft behind Fitz, then pick up a QB, the OL position of need, and best wideout available in 2012.
MRW Posted April 30, 2011 Posted April 30, 2011 That may be. But where in B'lo is he going to find a great supporting cast? I support our draft - we drafted for D, and strong, proven players not "potential" in the early rounds. It's what I thought we needed to do. In my humble opinion, we still have huge gaps at RT and TE and maybe LT. I'm kinda wondering if the thought was to leave Fitzy in there playing catch with 2nd tier receivers this year in between running for his life behind our hardworking, but patchwork OL. Solidify the OL play, let the promising receivers shake themselves out and learn their craft behind Fitz, then pick up a QB, the OL position of need, and best wideout available in 2012. Maybe the idea was to try to build a really solid unit on one side of the ball and try to establish a team identity a la Pittsburgh or Baltimore. Fitz has shown the elusiveness and improvisation necessary to stay alive/make the occasional play on offense, and with stronger defensive play should see more opportunities even though the offense will be inconsistent at best. I can't say I'm all that unhappy with that thought, if the D with these new players and Wannstedt can come out strong. A lot of "if"s in this approach, but I'm hoping this team will actually field a unit that we can say is a strength.
CodeMonkey Posted May 1, 2011 Posted May 1, 2011 He has never been given the starting job from day one either. After last year, I think he has as much of a chance as anyone to really pull off a great season. And it would be an awesome Buffalo story too. A "beautiful thing". Can you imagine how many jaws would drop if he puts up more than 4000 yards? Or more than 30 TDs. I think he has it in him. And I think Bambi's mother shouldn't have died and lap dances should be complimentary after the 6th drink. But go ahead and billieve. More power to you
reddogblitz Posted May 1, 2011 Posted May 1, 2011 I mean for whatever Fitz can do, he certainly has been the best QB we have had in a while. Especially with the stat line of 3000 yards in 14 games. 13 games
Hapless Bills Fan Posted May 1, 2011 Posted May 1, 2011 I stand behind my statement. When compared to actual ability these "intangables", as the talking heads like to call them, are indeed of minor importance. OK, we'll have to agree to disagree then (or you can disagree to disagree I guess ) I think it's widespread across every field of endeavor - athletics of all sorts, science, all kinds of scholarship. Is a certain amount of ability needed, yes. Over and over again, the kid with that certain amount of ability and the "fire in the belly" goes further and lasts longer than the incredibly talented, outstandingly gifted one who's just cruisin' I've seen this myself with students and colleagues. Now, if you take an outstandingly talentied individual with a fire in the belly, they'll go furthest of all. But there's that intangible factor you dismiss so glibly. To say ability trumps all and intangibles are of minor importance - again, we have to agree to disagree.
Sisyphean Bills Posted May 1, 2011 Posted May 1, 2011 OK, we'll have to agree to disagree then (or you can disagree to disagree I guess ) I think it's widespread across every field of endeavor - athletics of all sorts, science, all kinds of scholarship. Is a certain amount of ability needed, yes. Over and over again, the kid with that certain amount of ability and the "fire in the belly" goes further and lasts longer than the incredibly talented, outstandingly gifted one who's just cruisin' I've seen this myself with students and colleagues. Now, if you take an outstandingly talentied individual with a fire in the belly, they'll go furthest of all. But there's that intangible factor you dismiss so glibly. To say ability trumps all and intangibles are of minor importance - again, we have to agree to disagree. Bingo. In specifics, many extremely talented football players fail in the NFL not because of a lack of talent but because they just don't figure it out. Every player drafted in the last 3 days has talent, but most will not make it. The window is small and they have to seize the opportunity. It's not enough to be the best athlete on the field, for one thing it is probably no longer true. And too often these kids think they've "done it, mission accomplished" when they get drafted, not realizing that it has only really just begun and they haven't seen anything yet.
Deep2Moulds46 Posted May 1, 2011 Posted May 1, 2011 I think Fitz is ok if you are like me and have no expectations for this year. I think he can run our offense, get guys involved, put together a few exciting Sundays, but with the way this team is built, probably still finish around 4-12. Im glad the Bills didnt take Dalton. Why take a QB who reminds you of a young Ryan Fitzpatrick. This wasnt the draft to take a franchise QB unless you had the first pick, and even that one is debatable. THe Bills were unlucky that the year they hit rock bottom, there were just not any QB's there to take. Next years QB crop does look better...even beyond Luck. You have Barkley from USC, the Ariz Qb and the Mich st. QB. Im glad this team didnt just take a QB for the sake of taking one.
fansince88 Posted May 1, 2011 Posted May 1, 2011 Agreed... I'm not saying the Bills can't win with Fitz at QB because I can't see into the future...I am saying that winning consistently, winning 10 Games or more in a Season with the QB Ryan Fitzpatrick has been thus far in his career is almost impossible...He's going to have to get MUCH better...And it's a stretch at this point to assume a QB with a 12-23 Record as a Starter and a career 73 QB Rating is going to be able to improve that much...Even though 2010 was by far his best season so far Fitz is going to have to do MUCH better for The Bills to be a consistant winner...I'm not a gambling man, but if I was I would not bet on Fitz...Not yet anyway... Cherry picking? It could be easily be explained as how Fitz did after Teams got a few weeks of Game Film on him...I don't see how that's cherry-picking...It's reality...And the stats from those last 9 Games are MUCH closer to the QB he was before the first 4 Games...So, at this point anyway, it's actually more likely the first 4 Games were the exception...And I'm not predicting anything...Just saying it is what it is... So, you would rather gamble on one QB than 7 defensive players?
Geno Smith's Arm Posted May 1, 2011 Posted May 1, 2011 he's 28! he's had 6 full off seasons and 6 full training camps and he is still going to be a 55% passer and around 70-75% qb rating the qb play around here has been so piss poor the last 15 years, this is actually an improvement, but he is not a long term answer. Those are Doug Flutie numbers. But Flutie played with an awesome defense. Fitz will have a better year this season.
KOKBILLS Posted May 1, 2011 Posted May 1, 2011 So, you would rather gamble on one QB than 7 defensive players? Look...The name of the thread is "We can win with Fitz..." That's what the discussion was about...The Thread was not about the Draft at all...It was about Fitz...If this whole Message Board thing is confusing to you I'm sure we can get someone to explain it to you... What I'm trying to say, in a completely smart ass way (my apologies), is your question has nothing to do with My Post...The Draft was awesome...I'm thrilled...I think we still need a QB...I don't think we can win consistently with Fitz at QB...I hope I'm wrong...Any questions?
The Senator Posted May 1, 2011 Posted May 1, 2011 Once you guys figure out that we can, indeed, win with Fitz, you'll see that it is clear that we need to get stronger on the OL and LB's (DT taken care of). I would personally like to see our offense play ball without having to worry about the defense giving up 400 yards per game each week, and actually be able to run the ball with a lead! Focus on the lines first, then defense the rest of the way! Go get a veteran FA in Free Agency to back up Fitz in case he goes down with an injury. I agree completely - let's give Fitz the ol' Harvard cheer... "Ryan...Ryan...he's our man, if he can't do it... We'll hire adequate support staff and surround him with superior talent at all appropriate positions, enabling him to successfully execute our plan!"
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