ChanOverChin Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 The Fitzpatrick conversation will be brought up again and again because the Bills cannot and will not make the playoffs unless Fitz performs well. It's as simple as that. We all know it. Gailey thinks that Fitz can perform for an entire 16 game schedule and beyond like he did last year during the Bills' 5-2 start (i.e. prior to the Washington game). In the Washington game he got nailed in the sternum by the helmet of former Bill MLB L. Fletcher, which severely bruised his sternum and broke several of his ribs. That's quite a hit. Fitz was not the same player after that, and as a result, the Bills' season went down hill fast from there. Losing F. Jackson in Week 11 for the rest of the season probably hurt the Bills just as much. During that 5-2 run that I mentioned the Bills beat some pretty good opponents, including the Patriots. Fitz "out-gunslinged" T. Brady in that game, which showed all of us, including Gailey, what he was capable of. He made some clutch plays in the waning moments of the Raiders' game to win that one on the last play of the game. He had also been awarded the Offensive Player of the Month award during the 5-2 run. After a 23-0 drubbing of Washington, Fitzpatrick was completing 67.7 percent of his passes (155-of-229) at 7.6 yards per attempt (1,739 passing yards) with 14 touchdowns, 7 interceptions and a quarterback rating of 97.8. Many people forget all of that. Let's keep him healthy for a full 16 games and beyond and then see what happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Hindsight Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 There is no doubt in my mind that Fitz is a good quarterback. He will quiet his doubters this year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bills!Win! Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Maybe we would make the playoffs if our QB's stop getting hurt in week 5 every year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly the Dog Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 To me, the fact that he got hurt was only a minor reason the second half of the season was a complete bust. Our entire offense collapsed around him due to injuries on the OL and to the WR and to the defense. He had less time to throw, very few WR getting open or stretching the field consistently, and our defense never stopped anyone, so we had terrible field position and had to go the length of the field, huge stretches where the offense was off the field and therefore had less chances and plays to put up stats and points, and we often played from behind or at the very least knew we had to score a bunch of points if we were to win. Even with the injury, Fitz likely would have played fine if not nearly as good if there weren't several injuries to the OL and WR as well as Kyle Williams and Merriman and a few others on D. It's also why I think that Gailey has lofty expectations for Fitz. I do, too. Especially with the defense we should field. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paintmyhouse Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 (edited) Fitz did not out gunsling Brady, the Patriots were just plain stupid and showed no respect at all for Buffalo. Why they were passing the ball after the 21-0 lead they gained on the strenght of 2 Fitzpatrick early INTs is beyond me. Brady had 4 INTs, 3 were tipped balls, that just does not happen to Brady. Considering Brady threw only 8 INTs in the other 15 games, it is safe to say it was an abomination. Maybe the worst coaching job of Belichek's career too. I was at the game too, and it was a blast beating the Patriots, but Fitz did not out gunsling anyone. Not to mention the Pass Interference call on Nelson in the end zone may have been the worst call I have ever seen. Edited July 17, 2012 by paintmyhouse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optometric Insight Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Fitz did not out gunsling Brady, the Patriots were just plain stupid and showed no respect at all for Buffalo. Why they were passing the ball after the 21-0 lead they gained on the strenght of 2 Fitzpatrick early INTs is beyond me. Brady had 4 INTs, 3 were tipped balls, that just does not happen to Brady. Considering Brady threw only 8 INTs in the other 15 games, it is safe to say it was an abomination. Maybe the worst coaching job of Belichek's career too. I was at the game too, and it was a blast beating the Patriots, but Fitz did not out gunsling anyone. Not to mention the Pass Interference call on Nelson in the end zone may have been the worst call I have ever seen. "Pats were just plain stupid." I fully agree with that but we took advantage of it and made them pay for their mistake which is what good teams do. And only 2 INT were tipped, the one of Dareus' helmet and the Woodhead drop. The Woodhead drop was a great play by Scott though, many guys would have given up on the ball or not have made the catch. The other two were great plays by McKelvin and Wilson to get in the passing lane and intercept it. The PI call was a smart play by Nelson though to run into the defender on the way to getting the ball. The guy who got called on the PI didn't intercept the ball and wasn't making a play for the ball; pretty sure he wasn't even looking in the right direction. Anyways, the defender got in the way of Nelson making a play on the ball, warranting a penalty. The referee did right by calling a penalty but calling a PI? Looking back on it, it looks more like a hold but at the moment, I was screaming for a flag. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Over 29 years of fanhood Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Good coaches set high expectations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PromoTheRobot Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 The biggest difference this year I expect will be that Fitz and the Bills will be playing with a lead most of the time. PTR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOUSE Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 I will tell you this, Fitz will be fine UNLESS people want to compare him to Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. He is neither.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rubes Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Fitz did not out gunsling Brady, the Patriots were just plain stupid and showed no respect at all for Buffalo. Why they were passing the ball after the 21-0 lead they gained on the strenght of 2 Fitzpatrick early INTs is beyond me. Brady had 4 INTs, 3 were tipped balls, that just does not happen to Brady. Considering Brady threw only 8 INTs in the other 15 games, it is safe to say it was an abomination. Maybe the worst coaching job of Belichek's career too. I was at the game too, and it was a blast beating the Patriots, but Fitz did not out gunsling anyone. Not to mention the Pass Interference call on Nelson in the end zone may have been the worst call I have ever seen. Tom Brady as a whole is an abomination, but I think you mean aberration. Which is true, considering how well they were running the ball. I do think Fitz had a great game (after the INTs) and was one of the reasons for the victory, but there were many reasons for it, luck being one of them. I actually don't think the PI call on Nelson in the end zone was that bad of a call. The guy clearly was preventing him from getting to the ball with his back turned. Nelson could have certainly had the chance to break it up. Not the best call, but certainly not the worst. Was it really worse than the end zone PI call in the "Just give it to 'em" game in New England? Now THAT was the worst. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billsfan89 Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Its gonna be on Fitz this year to preform and its going to be on the coaching staff to either develop a deep threat/number two wide receiver or mask that weakness. Its also going to take the team being relatively healthy, big deals were made about Fitz and Freddie going down, but E.Wood and D.Bell were hurt and that hurt an o-line unit that had been looking pretty good during the start of the season. Also on the D Kyle Williams and Merriman suffered injuries that depleted two of the better talents from a D in desperate need of talent. The D looks to be majorly improved in terms or coaching, talent, and scheme, and the offense is healthy and added a couple of pieces like Glenn on the O-line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John from Riverside Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 I know that the QB is the focal point of a team........but those of us that are were not "just fans" and played and coached in the fan base know different....... It takes a team effort to make it to the playoffs...... - Does Stevie make the big catch instead of dropping some? - Does Chan figure out the play calling that allows the use of Spiller and Jackson to keep them both active in the offense - Does this defense dominate Quite honestly......imo if we make the playoffs it is because the bills got it figured on on defense.......we lost several games last year because of DEFENSE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeSpeed Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 I have to add one more reason that the O's success MAY have faded toward the end of the year. Coaches figured out our offense and adjusted their defenses accordingly. It seemed once the Jets D shut us down every team played us like they did and we didn't have an answer. My hope is now that we are in year 2 that we will have more options than what we saw last year to counter with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobChalmers Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 I have to add one more reason that the O's success MAY have faded toward the end of the year. Coaches figured out our offense and adjusted their defenses accordingly. It seemed once the Jets D shut us down every team played us like they did and we didn't have an answer. My hope is now that we are in year 2 that we will have more options than what we saw last year to counter with. I knew we were in trouble for the Jets game(s) the moment we knew Wood was done. The Jets D beat up (and ran past) our depleted OL. Combine that with what has to have been one of the most pathetic pass rush units in NFL history that actually made Sanchez look like a real QB, and we had no chance. Healthy LAST SEASON the Bills would have swept the Jets. This year it's going to be a repeat of the KC opener - something on the order of 40-7 Bills. Mark it down. Jets and their endless hype-machine in the media will not know what the heck hit them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Darin Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 I actually don't think the PI call on Nelson in the end zone was that bad of a call. The guy clearly was preventing him from getting to the ball with his back turned. Nelson could have certainly had the chance to break it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malazan Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Fitz did not out gunsling Brady, the Patriots were just plain stupid and showed no respect at all for Buffalo. Why they were passing the ball after the 21-0 lead they gained on the strenght of 2 Fitzpatrick early INTs is beyond me. If you've seen the patriots play in recent years, they throw the ball in all situations at any time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rubes Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 It was worth a shot... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
first_and_ten Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Fitz did not out gunsling Brady, the Patriots were just plain stupid and showed no respect at all for Buffalo. Why they were passing the ball after the 21-0 lead they gained on the strenght of 2 Fitzpatrick early INTs is beyond me. Brady had 4 INTs, 3 were tipped balls, that just does not happen to Brady. Considering Brady threw only 8 INTs in the other 15 games, it is safe to say it was an abomination. Maybe the worst coaching job of Belichek's career too. I was at the game too, and it was a blast beating the Patriots, but Fitz did not out gunsling anyone. Not to mention the Pass Interference call on Nelson in the end zone may have been the worst call I have ever seen. did you mean aberration,not abomination? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRAWNDO Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 The biggest difference this year I expect will be that Fitz and the Bills will be playing with a lead most of the time. PTR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#34fan Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 Chan Failey needs to set those high expectations for himself. He was actually the one to blame in many of those games where the offense under-performed last year. I'm not a Fitz fan by any far stretch of the imagination. Still even I can see that it's up to Gailey to make the right call based on the talent he's got on the field. Forget Fitzpatrick. He's limited. -We all know it. Offensively, the '12-'13 season is all Gailey's baby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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