QB situation

[HeHateMe]

To clarify things for you: our defense sucked. Our dc sucked. Our coaches fail miserably at coaching our players up. Our HC abandons the run too fast. Our WR unit sucks minus Stevie. Injuries have decimated our team on both sides of the ball. Our depth is nonexistant. Fitz is a limited QB that was successful for a few games before the defenses figured out how to stop us, prevent the short pass and make us beat them mid-deep. We couldn't beat them mid-deep because fitz is limited as a qb and cannot CONSISTENTLY move the chains throwing mid-deep passes. Blame the wrs on many drops. Blame the qb for many more bad passes. He had 23 picks. I'd like to know how many of those picks should have been caught by our receivers. Anyone know?

 

I don't know the exact number but it seemed like a lot. Maybe 6-8 were on the receiver having the ball hit them and then fly into the air for an easy pick. Spiller did this like 3 times at least. That said, Fitz threw it to the other team quite a bit.

[thewildrabbit]

What I'd like to see is someone twist Chan's arm into agreeing he can not manage both head coach and OC/playcalling duties, and get him a real OC.

It's been pointed out, correctly, that Modkins is essentially a Gailey assistant, Nix is a Gailey cronie, and there are effectively NO checks and balances on the offensive play calling.

 

There's no question in my mind that Fitz, given the responsibility and appropriate self-scouting info, could call his own plays.

 

There's considerable question in my mind as to whether that's a wise course of action. Fitz had a different path into the league - he's never had a role before which demanded he put extra effort into developing his physical skill set and he's likely never had much help in developing it.

 

And IMO that's where he needs to put his extra effort and time this off season and next season - he needs the best personal trainer and coach on mechanics he can find, and he needs to throw throw throw in realistic situations, where the receiver is on the move, where he's under pressure, not tossing to receivers who run out, stop, and turn around. And as the season wears on, he needs to put extra time in the weight room, training room, and throwing to make sure his strength and mechanics don't regress. On the principle that each person only has so much time, especially during the season, I think it would be a mistake for Fitz and a mistake for the Bills to give him that dual role at this point.

 

It would also be a huge mistake for the Bills not to bring in someone with the experience and stature to question Gailey. In fact, worst case scenario - consider that Cortez, in his QB's interests, may have questioned Gailey's play calling and pass dependence with an injury-decimated OL and WR, and that may be cause-and-effect in why he's going out the door. Best case scenario, someone is saying "this guy did nothing to help our boys improve their mechanics, let's get someone who can".

I agree, however this man is exactly like Turk Schonert, an arrogant, overconfident, stubborn buffoon. He has had an entire season to make changes in his offense to actually help the QB when he is clearly struggling, he didn't. I have serious doubts he ever will.

 

So unfortunately I don't see him hiring a top OC to call the plays . I'll tell you what will happen, Fitz will continue to get thrown into the fire every game next season until Gailey is fired. Just like George Edwards called bad games, Gailey is doing the very same thing. Does anyone really expect him to fire himself?

 

So I am merely suggesting the next best thing. I'm pretty sure Fitz is smarter then Gailey, and pretty sure he is smart enough to know when to stop throwing into nickle and dime defenses that are primarily designed to stop the pass

[thewildrabbit]

To clarify things for you: our defense sucked. Our dc sucked. Our coaches fail miserably at coaching our players up. Our HC abandons the run too fast. Our WR unit sucks minus Stevie. Injuries have decimated our team on both sides of the ball. Our depth is nonexistant. Fitz is a limited QB that was successful for a few games before the defenses figured out how to stop us, prevent the short pass and make us beat them mid-deep. We couldn't beat them mid-deep because fitz is limited as a qb and cannot CONSISTENTLY move the chains throwing mid-deep passes. Blame the wrs on many drops. Blame the qb for many more bad passes. He had 23 picks. I'd like to know how many of those picks should have been caught by our receivers. Anyone know?

We couldn't beat them deep because the O line is so bad the QB doesn't have the time to throw more the 3 step drop back passes. You don't remember Fitz needing to scramble to make first downs in the 2nd QTR of that Patriot game? The WR's not getting open, the line not holding their blocks

 

There have been numerous threads on the very subject of how good / bad the O line is. Here is a link to one of those threads.

 

http://forums.twobil...l/page__st__140

 

 

click on the links in my quote

 

So many posters here just don't get it, and probably never will!

 

What does it say about an offensive line when two starters go out (LT& RT)and they still play well, this in itself would usually decimate a team. The Washington Redskins come to mind. Then the backup LT who is a rookie plays well, then he goes out and the guard moves over to LT and the line still plays well.

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Fitz and Fred make that line look so much better then actually it is. Fitz has an uncanny ability to find the open receiver and deliver the ball to him in 3 seconds or under, so yea...he earned his payday!

 

QB

 

""The team that takes the shortest amount of time to throw is the Buffalo Bills. Fitzpatrick, also a top-10 quarterback according to Total QBR, has to get the ball out so quickly because Buffalo's offensive line is the second-worst in the league at allowing pass pressure within three seconds in the pocket.""

Just wanted to add this:

 

http://articles.nyda...cks-chris-canty

 

The NY Giants changed their style of defensive play just for Fitz.

 

""The Giants' pass rush won't necessarily surrender Sunday, but it will change tactics. Big Blue has piled up 11 sacks since Umenyiora's Week 4 return, but isn't likely to get many against Buffalo. On average, Fitzpatrick fires the ball just 1.5 seconds after taking the snap, Umenyiora said.

 

"On set plays," Umenyiora said, "nobody can get to him."A great QB can make an average line look good, if you don't have a great QB...you had better have a damn good offensive line

 

Now this was waaay back when Center Eric Wood was healthy, what do you think has happened since? With men like Colin Brown at center. I think Gailey & the Buffalo Bills were lucky to have Fitz at QB, at least it made them somewhat competitive, a rookie or Tyler Thigpen would have gotten killed and the sack total would have been thru the roof.

 

All I'm saying is, give fitz a chance to call his own plays.

[NewEra]

1325707840[/url]' post='2354692']

I agree, however this man is exactly like Turk Schonert, an arrogant, overconfident, stubborn buffoon. He has had an entire season to make changes in his offense to actually help the QB when he is clearly struggling, he didn't. I have serious doubts he ever will.

 

So unfortunately I don't see him hiring a top OC to call the plays . I'll tell you what will happen, Fitz will continue to get thrown into the fire every game next season until Gailey is fired. Just like George Edwards called bad games, Gailey is doing the very same thing. Does anyone really expect him to fire himself?

 

So I am merely suggesting the next best thing. I'm pretty sure Fitz is smarter then Gailey, and pretty sure he is smart enough to know when to stop throwing into nickle and dime defenses that are primarily designed to stop the pass

 

You suggest fitz is smarter than gailey. Why don't we just sign Christopher Langan to call our plays. He's smarter than both of them combined. "smarter" is a bad term to use in this debate. Does fitz know more about offensive play calling than gailey? I dunno the answer, but I would think not. Just because fitz is "smarter" than Jim Kelly, doesn't mean he'd be better at calling plays. It doesn't mean he's better at reading defense. I was a big critic of chans play calling the 2nd half of the year. I agree that it appears he is stubborn and maybe a bit arrogant. Most nfl coaches are btw. Having a qb with a career record of 18-33 calling the plays would be a big mistake IMO....unless you're looking to draft Matt Barkley #1 overall in 2013.

[RyanC883]

Did he miss Stevie and chandler weeks 8-12? Did he miss Stevie weeks 12-16? Did he throw 1/2 of his passes high/low/wide during our losing streak? Did he throw screen passes in the dirt? Did he underthrow 2 passes which led to picks and lost us the giants game? Everyone loves to talk about Stevie's dropped pass vs the jets2, did anyone remember fitz throwing wide with Stevie WIDE open in the end zone a couple plays later? Did anyone notice how his arm got much less accurate and weaker as the season went on? Did anyone notice how we went 0-17 in 3rd conversion at one points, he was the qb all 17 plays. Did you realize that he's not a good qb? He's a decent qb, that MIGHT be ale to lead a team loaded with talent to the playoffs, only to throw several picks and lose a game for us. Let's stop all the fitz praise. He deserves praise for his first few games and a couple QUARTERS after that.

 

 

I realize that he will most likely be our qb next year because we won't be in the position to draft a stud (unless you think Tannehill is a stud. He'll definitely be on the board!). There aren't any FAs to go after worth anything. Hopefully we can grab one next year and build up the talent on defense, WR and OL.

 

P.S. fitz isn't very good.

 

Well said. I'd make a run at Dennis Dixon in FA. Could start, if not, decent backup. Better than what we have now. Should come cheap since he really wants the chance to play.

[thewildrabbit]

You suggest fitz is smarter than gailey. Why don't we just sign Christopher Langan to call our plays. He's smarter than both of them combined. "smarter" is a bad term to use in this debate. Does fitz know more about offensive play calling than gailey? I dunno the answer, but I would think not. Just because fitz is "smarter" than Jim Kelly, doesn't mean he'd be better at calling plays. It doesn't mean he's better at reading defense. I was a big critic of chans play calling the 2nd half of the year. I agree that it appears he is stubborn and maybe a bit arrogant. Most nfl coaches are btw. Having a qb with a career record of 18-33 calling the plays would be a big mistake IMO....unless you're looking to draft Matt Barkley #1 overall in 2013.

Yea well, I'll bet Christopher Langan would do a better job of calling plays Hell, I'll bet even Capt Lou Albano, Langan's lookalike would do a better job too.

 

Jeez, what does it tell you about the play caller who just keeps calling pass plays to have his QB throw into a defense primarily designed to stop the opponents passing game? Its utterly moronic in my view!

 

 

Seriously, whats the big deal if he calls all the plays? Jim Kelly was so successful at it because he had a set number of plays, run and pass. Kelly would look over the defense, call the play at the line and they would go with it. Fitz already does part of that, as he looks at the pre-snap read and calls the protections. He basically knows what defense he is looking at in order to do that successfully. Both Levitre and Wood were gushing about how good Fitz is with the line and protections. they claim he is the main reason the line gives up so few sacks.

 

Fitz can audible to a different play if need be, but whats the point of an audible if its an empty backfield as he can't switch from a pass to a run? Gailey is just to pass happy for his and the teams own good. He thinks he has Aaron Rodgers behind center, he doesn't. He has a career backup starting and is trying to force him to be something he is not.

 

578 attempts passing vs 391 attempts rushing which is kinda crazy considering how few throws go to the Bills TE vs other teams TE. The Bills actually have a better running game then passing game stat wise.

 

Would you believe me if I told you that all during the Jim Kelly era the Bills ran the ball more often then they threw it most years.

Edited January 5, 2012 by Fear the Beard

[Hapless Bills Fan]

Well said. I'd make a run at Dennis Dixon in FA. Could start, if not, decent backup. Better than what we have now. Should come cheap since he really wants the chance to play.

 

Wow. 3 career starts, a 2-1 record, 59% completions for a 6.8 YPA average, 1 TD, 2 INTs, and a 71.4 QBR. Yeah, I can tell he would really have it all over Fitz for the starting job, much better than what we have now.

 

Are you guys stoned, or just dumb?

 

Maybe it was Fitz's beard?

 

You could hang ANYTHING on that face fungus. Anything. Small children. Christmas ornaments. Pickles. Manly bits. You could probably hide an OLB in there.

 

Maybe that's why Fitz play deteriorated - hard to throw completions with an opposing LB hanging off your neck.

Edited January 5, 2012 by Hopeful