Nix may be the biggest problem

[thewildrabbit]

Hmmmm...."backup QB" (Rodgers), backup RB (James Starks), unknown receiver (James Jones, Jordy Nelson)---I would say that offensive tam is the current SB champ GB Packers.

 

Anyway, Fitz is not a backup--he's been the starter for 2 seasons and is paid like a starter. In the first third of the season, he was one of the top rated passers in the NFL. Freddie is a "backup RB?"--and the top RB in the League? Interesting point. Stevie Johnson is an "unknown" WR?

 

The funny part is that when this same crew was winning games and putting up 30 points a game, the same crowd that was claiming everyone was headed to the Pro Bowl (even Bell!!) now says "what's Chan supposed to do with these low/no talent starters on offense?"

Cmon man, grown some brain cells

 

Aaron Rodgers was a back up alright, behind HoF legend Brett Farve, but he was also a #1 draft pick being groomed to be the eventual starter.

 

Fitz OTOH was a perennial back up QB and a 7 th round draft pick. Stevie Johnson was also a 7th round pick that nobody had even heard of until last season. Both Ryan Fitzpatrick and Fred Jackson have never entered a season as "the" starter until this year!

 

But I'm fairly certain you knew the difference, you just wanted to start some crap.

 

 

 

The funny part is Gailey has managed to get better production out of an offense this year without all the #1 picks that the Bills have wasted on the defense

[Trader]

Your a jack ass Nix has forgotten more about football then you think you ever knew about it !! And i'll bet you were one of the biggest bills & Nix fans during the beginning of the year but when the hits the fan let's see who we can blame when it's pretty

obvious !!

 

Look at the IR list jack ass & you'll see why our team hasn't been playing so great of late . Don't forget both Nix & gailey have said that our team isn't very deep & HELLO YA THINK THAT'S SHOWING A BIT .

 

Go back to your freakin recliner and after you get home from your janitor job tomorrow tell us again how much more you know about our team than a man that's done it for some 30 years !! Then go put your app in & see how far you make it !!!

Your a little full of yourself aren't you? Nix has a lot to prove if he is going to be a real GM. I agree he knows football but he is not a leader and I don't believe he has much authority or cash available to him to make the kind of deals he would need to make to really improve this team.

[Canadian Bills Fan]

I think Nix is the problem as well.

 

I dont buy in to the "we build through the draft" anymore. The NFL is a win now league. Not a win in 2-3 years league.

 

He needs to be more active in FA. Especially since the Bills have the cap room to make more than a few moves.

[Coach Tuesday]

Nix is NOT the problem. He is part of the problem. His mandate is to do as much as he can with as little as possible. That is the directive that has been imposed on him by Ralph and the Beancounters. Sure Nix could've done a better job with 2 drafts, but it's very hard to look good as a GM when you have to hit on every single pick in order to be successful (that said, he appears to have missed on every single pick in 2010). Go back and look at Ted Thompson's drafts over the last few years - you'll find plenty of misses (Justin Harrell, Ahmad Carroll). Look at AJ Smith's drafts without Nix. No GM bats 1000 or close to it. The differences are (i) Nix isn't allowed to pay premium dollars for quality free agents and depth (or even to retain his own players); and (ii) Nix hasn't had much time to draft players into a system (and in any event, there is no system on defense - it's a total mess because Nix's coaching choice is an incompetent peabrain).

[BrooklynBills]

Tom Modrak was heavily involved in the scouting process of his first draft and was fired not long after the 2010 draft. As a GM, you are probably relying heavily on your scouting dept.

 

Nix was only on the job for a few months before the 2010 draft so maybe that was a factor in its disappointment. However, this most recent draft has produced what I think are 4 players who are going to be solid contributors in Dareus, Williams, Sheppard, and Searcy.

 

Judging by the rumors about Cam Newton and Blaine Gabbert, Nix clearly recognizes the need for a franchise QB. Fitzpatrick is not being paid like the long term answer. He is basically on 3 year deal.

[LabattBlue]

Tom Modrak was heavily involved in the scouting process of his first draft and was fired not long after the 2010 draft. As a GM, you are probably relying heavily on your scouting dept.

 

Nix was only on the job for a few months before the 2010 draft so maybe that was a factor in its disappointment. However, this most recent draft has produced what I think are 4 players who are going to be solid contributors in Dareus, Williams, Sheppard, and Searcy.

 

Judging by the rumors about Cam Newton and Blaine Gabbert, Nix clearly recognizes the need for a franchise QB. Fitzpatrick is not being paid like the long term answer. He is basically on 3 year deal.

Dareus needs to be much much more than solid. The #3 pick overall better have the words "pro bowl" and "1st team all pro" throughout his bio when all is said and done.

[CodeMonkey]

Dareus needs to be much much more than solid. The #3 pick overall better have the words "pro bowl" and "1st team all pro" throughout his bio when all is said and done.

Kinda like a #9 overall?

[Dopey]

Cmon man, grown some brain cells

 

Aaron Rodgers was a back up alright, behind HoF legend Brett Farve, but he was also a #1 draft pick being groomed to be the eventual starter.

 

Fitz OTOH was a perennial back up QB and a 7 th round draft pick. Stevie Johnson was also a 7th round pick that nobody had even heard of until last season. Both Ryan Fitzpatrick and Fred Jackson have never entered a season as "the" starter until this year!

 

But I'm fairly certain you knew the difference, you just wanted to start some crap.

 

 

 

The funny part is Gailey has managed to get better production out of an offense this year without all the #1 picks that the Bills have wasted on the defense

[Dopey]

The last two drafts have not yielded much talent. Dareus is a stud, but the 3rd pick would have been tough to mess up. Otherwise, Nix has not brought in much talent at all. Merriman was a terrible mistake. Smith was idiotic. He does get some props for Barnett, but otherwise the Bills are both thin and not terribly talented. There is a reason Nix didn't get a GM job until he hit 70. With the AFC being so mediocre this year the Bills would have had a shot if Nix had done a halfway decent job.

I think the biggest problem is fans who forget that we are in yr 2 of a total rebuild. In the middle of yr 2, so no it hasn't been 2 yrs yet just a yr and 1/2 and the 1st yr was an evaluation year for this staff. This was a pretty bad team they took over. We are better than last yr and have better talent. That tells you something. We are pretty thin as far as talent, so losing the players we have lost to IR really hurts. Our Oline is a mess due to injury, but was playing really well when healthy. We led the league in creating turnovers when the D was healthy, but we've lost K. Williams,Merriman and Kelsay for a while. Before you say Merriman was a shell of himself and Kelsay sucks, the proof is in the pudding. With them in the lineup we got alot of turnovers. We are going to be fine next season, and for the next few years with Chan and yes with Nix. He helped build the Chargers into a pretty good team over the last 6-7 yrs. They didn't win ths SB, but I would take the Chargers record over the last decade over ours and Nix had alot to do with it. I understand the frustration, but if you think about it, it's not Nix's fault. This was a mess of a team when thay took over.

[Sisyphean Bills]

and the 1st yr was an evaluation year for this staff.

I wonder if people realize what they are implying when they say things like this. So, it took the new guys-in-whom-we-trust one throw-away regular season to evaluate the players they had inherited?

 

Yet, ironically, they somehow knew that switching to the 3-4 was a good move.

[MikeSpeed]

Top 5 excuses why a Bills player isn't playing well.

 

5. He just needs more time to learn the game.

4. He's not playing his natural position.

3. Rookie wall.

2. He needs more touches.

1. (My favorite) All the players around him are bad.

 

Rebuttal:

5. Go learn somewhere else and when you finally figure it out maybe will spend some money in FA on you.

4. If he was playing his natural position well enough he would beat out the player ahead of him and would be playing his natural position.

3. Take an ice bath and a nap and suck it up.

2. If he didn't suck with the plays that he was given maybe he would play more.

1. Maybe if said player would elevate his game maybe the other players around him would too?

Edited November 23, 2011 by MikeSpeed

[BADOLBILZ]

I wish Nix would start remembering some of the stuff he forgot.....About injuries - they happen like they happen to the Bills every year for a reason. Because of a lack of talented. Better football players beat up lesser football players. I remember my father making a point of this in 1980, our first good year of my football lifetime. He kept saying that good teams don't get hurt as often, they hurt the other team. We only lost one starter that year.

 

This is the case, IMO as well. The people who think that the Bills annual IR body count is a cruel twist of fate don't realize that fast and physical teams bring that pain to the Bills. And when you get behind in games, you become ultra-susceptible to getting walloped by the defense.

[All_Pro_Bills]

I wonder if people realize what they are implying when they say things like this. So, it took the new guys-in-whom-we-trust one throw-away regular season to evaluate the players they had inherited?

 

Yet, ironically, they somehow knew that switching to the 3-4 was a good move.

Yes, a bit of a head-scratcher in the decision department. A paradox of sorts.

 

I'm not clear on whether or not Nix is a good GM but he's probably a good GM relative to the funds Ralph's bean counters budgeted for the GM's salary. Look around the league at the top front office talent and ask yourself if the Bills are ever going to be willing to pony-up the millions to pay the going rate?

 

We've got a minor-league level front office budget mandated by ownership's finance guys (and signed off by the owner) and that's the way its been since day 1. It's not going to change. We're just going to have to rely on luck (hiring Polian and Levy on the cheap) and the concept of random variance (the blind squirrel theory) to produce a winner on the field sooner or later.

 

Our front office is simply outmanned and outgunned by almost every other front office in the league and everybody in the football world knows that.

 

On a more positive note I wish Bills fans everywhere a Happy Thanksgiving......

[BADOLBILZ]

It's deja vu all over again. The 2010 draft is looking like more of the same old, same old. If people defended Modrak, then they will defend Foghorn Nix. Buddy please upgrade our OL with a 4th, 5th and a 7th rounder because you said it was a priority. Please upgrade our WR corp with more undrafted F/As. Please spend 10 million on a LB who went on IR after stretching in practice and played a few games the next year and then he gets achilles surgery. Now there's a building block for the future.

 

Foghorn Nix

[bbb]

This is the case, IMO as well. The people who think that the Bills annual IR body count is a cruel twist of fate don't realize that fast and physical teams bring that pain to the Bills. And when you get behind in games, you become ultra-susceptible to getting walloped by the defense.

 

Bingo!

[Billsguy]

They inherited a team with one playmaker and traded him. They inherited an undersized 4-3 defense and are switching to a 3-4. It will take a few good drafts. Be glad you got to see some good football at the start of the season.

 

Lather,rinse and repeat.

 

Every three years the Bills management says the same thing. New coach, new GM - let's give them two or three drafts. Three years later....

 

Lather,rinse and repeat.

[KOKBILLS]

the 1st yr was an evaluation year for this staff.

 

Evaluation YEAR????

 

A YEAR to evaluate the talent?...I know that can't be exactly what you meant...But I'm kinda hoping Coaches and FO types who have been around football their entire lives don't need a full year to know what they've got...

[Adam]

And this comes from a fan base that considered Aaron Schobel to be a great player. Sorry, but Rome wasn't built in a year and we are rebuilding. We switch to either a 4-3 or 3-4. Face it, the miniature front we had wasn't suited for either.

 

Marcel Dareus is playing at a high level, but our defense isn't built to the point that it can take advantage of what he does, which is tie up blockers. Maybe Kyle Williams would help a bit, but we need linebackers that the opponent fears to do that- and we don't have one yet. Also, our secondary is terrible.

 

Spiller is a guy who has the speed and talent to open things up for other playmakers- problem is we don't have any. Ryan Fitzpatrick isn't accurate enough to be a franchise quarterback, but that doesn't mean we should focus on the QB position. We need to fix the OL and add a threat at WR.

 

We have the makings of a decent team, we just need guys who will put our current talent over the top. Gailey is running an offense that maximizes our talent, but unfortunately, it has to be gimmicky, since it isn't talented. Teams have taken those gimmicks away.

[Dopey]

I wonder if people realize what they are implying when they say things like this. So, it took the new guys-in-whom-we-trust one throw-away regular season to evaluate the players they had inherited?

 

Yet, ironically, they somehow knew that switching to the 3-4 was a good move.

If you're asking if I realize what I'm implying when I say things like this? The answer is yes, I realize what I'm implying! To your next question: A throw away season?!?! What were they supposed to do with the roster they inherited in their 1st season?!?! Pretty simple. Play them and see what you have. They did it with Trent and the rest of the roster.

I am missing the irony. The staff didn't say there was 3-4 talent on this team, they said they were building a 3-4 D. They are starting over. We knew this coming in( at least I did). The 4-3 Tampa D was terrible and soft when the new staff took over. We are a yr and 1/2 into the process guys.

[Adam]

Lather,rinse and repeat.

 

Every three years the Bills management says the same thing. New coach, new GM - let's give them two or three drafts. Three years later....

 

Lather,rinse and repeat.

I agree. We need to stick with this group and ignore than fans who read the buffalo spews and listen to wgr55. No knowledgeable people in those groups.