Never NEVER Give-up Posted November 30, 2012 Posted November 30, 2012 (edited) There is only five more weeks of the regular season to go. Once we get to the off-season, then we will see how safe Chan & Fitz are. . . . and we're only going to see 2 of those games (Seahawks & Fish) Edited November 30, 2012 by Never NEVER Give-up
Just in Atlanta Posted November 30, 2012 Posted November 30, 2012 My take on Chan: Many of us, myself included, were enchanted with his ability to conjure up an offense to maximize strengths and minimize weaknesses. Our offense during the first half of last year was a thing of beauty to me. Fun to watch, and effective. But many of us, myself included, got it wrong. We thought Chan designed the offense to maximize Fitz' strength--quick decision making--and to minimize the offensive line's weakness--inability to hold a pass rush. That is totally backwards. Rather, the line, it turns out, even without Cordy Glenn, is above average. And it's painfully clear that Fitz will never be able to throw it deep. Hence, a magic grab bag of well-designed, but now expected, screen passes. Only now, we have a brilliant weapon in CJ Spiller, and we're using him considerably less than we should because Chan prefers to conjure up his plays based on what the defenses are throwing us. I have no problem with this--if we had a QB who could chuck it accurately more than eight yards. But that's not the case. Will it change next year?--I don't know.
KOKBILLS Posted November 30, 2012 Posted November 30, 2012 Maybe I am alone, but I am glad they are safe. Seriously? No...really...You're not serious...Right?... You may not be alone, but you don't have much company either... Just giving you a hard time...
bigK14094 Posted November 30, 2012 Posted November 30, 2012 Well, things aren't good in terms of results, we all feel that. But, I have to say that when I step back, and think about the Jaron era vs the Gailey era, I am not near as upset with Gaileys effors as I was with Jaron. So, if Gailey stays, I can live with it for another year or two. I see a lot of good things as well as the oft discussed shortcomings with the Gailey administration. This time its not a clear cut situation like it was at the end of the Jaron era.
26CornerBlitz Posted November 30, 2012 Posted November 30, 2012 After 13 dire years, a lot of are pretty damn fatigued ourselves.
IronyAbounds Posted November 30, 2012 Posted November 30, 2012 I wish someone could explain to me why the Bills gave up a 4th round draft pick, plus spent a cool $3M on Mr. Jackson. What grand plan did Buddy Nix have when he made that brilliant move? An organization rots from the head down. It's been rotted at the top for a long time, and the rot has sunk down to the GM and the Head Coach. It also infects the QB.
Coach Tuesday Posted November 30, 2012 Posted November 30, 2012 I wish someone could explain to me why the Bills gave up a 4th round draft pick, plus spent a cool $3M on Mr. Jackson. What grand plan did Buddy Nix have when he made that brilliant move? An organization rots from the head down. It's been rotted at the top for a long time, and the rot has sunk down to the GM and the Head Coach. It also infects the QB. They gave up a 7th.
RyanC883 Posted November 30, 2012 Posted November 30, 2012 Note that he said Fitz and Chan are "as safe as they ever were." He never says exactly how safe that is. PTR An interesting point. Hopefully that is not safe at all. In San Fran they are upgrading over Smith with a second year QB, in Buffalo, we may be stuck with the worst HC/QB combo in the league. They gave up a 7th. Whatever they gave up it is too much. Fitz has PROVEN he cannot get the job done. Time to try something else. What do we have to loose: spot in the playoffs: nope. Draft position: not really. If Jackson plays well, we can take a QB later and get OLB in RD1. If Jackson sucks, we know we need a QB first.
IronyAbounds Posted November 30, 2012 Posted November 30, 2012 They gave up a 7th. Ok, my mistake. Still, if you are never going to use him, why give up any draft pick or pay TJ a bloody dime? It was an impulse move that was simply stupid.
BillsBytheBay Posted November 30, 2012 Posted November 30, 2012 All that means is Thigpen and Jacksons jobs aren't as safe and that the guy they draft will have time to sit on the bench and develop instead of being thrown in as a starter Day 1 Nix said that Fitz will be the starter until he is beat out. If we draft a QB, and he is better than Fitz, he will start. Why cut Fitz now, when we don't even know if the QB we draft is any good. I think that whats really going on is that people are fishing for answers that he IS NOT going to give with 5 games left. Can we just get through the season before we fire people, draft a QB, and start all over for the sixth time in 10 years. I'm still in with Nix. I can see what he's trying to do. Be patiant. Allow for some continuity. On a side note, I think Bryd's bags are packed. He's just waiting for free agency to hit.
C.Biscuit97 Posted November 30, 2012 Posted November 30, 2012 Nix said that Fitz will be the starter until he is beat out. If we draft a QB, and he is better than Fitz, he will start. Why cut Fitz now, when we don't even know if the QB we draft is any good. I think that whats really going on is that people are fishing for answers that he IS NOT going to give with 5 games left. Can we just get through the season before we fire people, draft a QB, and start all over for the sixth time in 10 years. I'm still in with Nix. I can see what he's trying to do. Be patiant. Allow for some continuity. On a side note, I think Bryd's bags are packed. He's just waiting for free agency to hit. You're 100% right on the QB part. I heard the interview and they were just trying to get Nix to say that Fitz won't be the QB next year. No GM would ever say that with 5 games left. It serves no purpose. Disagree on Bryd though. He will be a priority and if they can sign him, it's only like $5 million for franchise tag on a safety. I'd bet a lot of money he is a Bill next year.
NoSaint Posted November 30, 2012 Posted November 30, 2012 An interesting point. Hopefully that is not safe at all. In San Fran they are upgrading over Smith with a second year QB, in Buffalo, we may ​be stuck with the worst HC/QB combo in the league. Whatever they gave up it is too much. Fitz has PROVEN he cannot get the job done. Time to try something else. What do we have to loose: spot in the playoffs: nope. Draft position: not really. If Jackson plays well, we can take a QB later and get OLB in RD1. If Jackson sucks, we know we need a QB first. Nope - qb no matter what if ones there. Just a matter of which qb might keep the seat warm.
Shoto Posted November 30, 2012 Posted November 30, 2012 If Buddy plans on keeping Fitz, Chan and Wanny....I say its time for a new GM someone who will not accept mediocrity. The Bills are pathetic and I am a life long fan. As long as we accept these poor performances then we get what we desire. I want a better team
Alphadawg7 Posted November 30, 2012 Author Posted November 30, 2012 (edited) Lastly, I think Chan and Fitz need to calm down - they are over-compensating. Chan's dialing down the offense, playing it to safe (because Fitz's confidence is shaken and his penchant for interceptions). They need to wing it and have fun. IF Fitz can be as good as he played in wks 1-7 last year and Buddy is correct when he says that if a guy did it once he can do it again - I believe it will come if they relax and let it happen. I understand where you are coming from in your post, however, I disagree with this part of it that I quoted above. Fitz did not play as well in weeks 1-7 as many people think he did. First off, we should have lost the Raider and NE games on Fitz INTS that would have ended the game in both cases. In Raiders game, he threw 2 straight INT's in the endzone on back to back passes, but the ball hit the Raiders defenders right in the hands and they dropped it. On the third gift attempt, he finally got one in there and it ended up being the difference in the game, but it never should have happened after 2 straight horrible passes that should have been intercepted. Then in the NE game he threw what would have been probably the game ending INT essentially by throwing a bomb to the endzone about 12 yards short that was easily intercepted. He was again bailed out, this time by a defensive penalty that had no affect on the outcome of the play. Freddie later ran the ball down there for them and we instead got a TD that put us ahead for good. There were many other mistakes, dropped INT's etc that he got lucky on, not to mention our D producing turnovers and TD's (along with ST's) that also bailed him out like that Spiller KO for a TD. Fitz's stats look ok, but the on field product during the 7 week stretch was not nearly as impressive as the stat sheets suggest which is why so many were upset over his contract at that point. More importantly, once the D stopped producing turnovers at an insane rate and teams realize Fitz can not throw deep and all of Chans O is within 10 yards of the LOS this offense was just dead. Just like it has been during large parts of this season. And lets not forget, that our avg points per game this year were padded with blow out points we added when game was all but over in two blow out losses earlier in the year. Fitz was awful and so was the O in the Jets game where he piled on stats and points once we were down like 41-3 in the fourth. And in the NE game, Fitz and the O were just awful in the 2nd half and didnt start scoring again until NE was up huge and played prevent. Thats the problem with Fitz, he gets a lot of garbage time production to make his stats look better than his actual on field performance. Yes, he has had some good games, but I can name lots of bad QB's that had good games. Like them though, Fitz has way more bad games than good games and that has always been his issue. You're 100% right on the QB part. I heard the interview and they were just trying to get Nix to say that Fitz won't be the QB next year. No GM would ever say that with 5 games left. It serves no purpose. Disagree on Bryd though. He will be a priority and if they can sign him, it's only like $5 million for franchise tag on a safety. I'd bet a lot of money he is a Bill next year. He didnt have to say they are moving on from Fitz, but he could at least say they plan to examine all positions and staff in the off season and make the best choices for the team. This team has four lousy wins, maybe some of these idiots need to know their job is on the line. The problem is, I actually think Nix meant everything he said and that he feels Chan and Fitz or the immediate future. I dont get from Nix that QB is a pressing issue. He seems to want a young guy at some point to groom for later, but doesnt seem to think he needs one to replace him in the near future. My concern is, what happens with our young guys like Byrd, Levitre, Wood, Spiller, etc when they start becoming free agents (some of them this offseason) and our GM is providing no hope for change by sticking with what hasnt worked. The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same things and expect different results. Chan is insane as he keeps doing the same things week in and week out, including under using our most talented position on this team...RB...and depending on a weak arm and inconsistent QB who is now 8 years in the league with no signs of improvement. Edited November 30, 2012 by Alphadawg7
DrDawkinstein Posted November 30, 2012 Posted November 30, 2012 Lotta reaching and trying hard to get upset in here. Nix has made it clear that QB will be top priority in the offseason. He has always stuck to his word. No good manager throws his employees under the bus, especially in the middle of a season. THAT is how you run off guys like Byrd, Levitre, Spiller, etc.
McBeane Posted November 30, 2012 Posted November 30, 2012 Look, there's 2 ways to look at the Bills - year thirteen or year three. Most FANS look at the former and while OBD understands this, they are looking at it as year three - only. (And WE should understand that too. But as a collective bunch, we tend to be too emotional.) Buddy has been straight with us since day 1 and while that has always been refreshing, it hasn't always been comforting. He has explained that in year 1 there were so many guys who shouldn't even be on a football team. In year 2, they added more depth/draft choices and year 3, he added FA's. EVERYONE's expectation was that the players would perform better than they have thus far - if anyone says they believed differently, I would try to find a nice way of saying you're lying. The hope was Fitz would play like he did in wks 1-7 last year, the defense would be vastly improved and ther rest of the younger players would continue to get better, rounding out the team and seeing it excel in all 3 phases of the game. That's why Chan says he sees improvement but is frustrated they haven't been able to put it all together week over week. At the beginning of the year we could score, but the D was horrendous, now the D is better and we can't score. And Special Teams - one week good, the next bad. Up & down performances across the board. This is why we are all frustrated. This is why Chan & Buddy are frustrated too. (I also listened to the whole GR55 interview this morning.) Buddy said more than a few interesting things (paraphrased): On Fitz - There's an old saying in scouting, if you've seen a guy do it once, he can do it again. (This is why they believe in Fitz.) On Fitz & Chan's jobs: After Howard (3x) & Jeremy (1x) asked him the question 4 times (!!!) - Buddy said if you want to keep asking the same question we can just "let this thing go dead" (because he's got nothing else to say on the subject). He had already said moments before that he addressed that question 3-4 weeks ago and nothing has changed (so he sees no need to address it further). On a new QB: He's also addressed this many times before - they are always looking to improve all positions, QB too. He wants to be sure there is a long term guy at the QB position before he retires. Read that any way you want - if there is an upgrade ouy there - they'll pursue him - trade, FA or draft. On Rolando McClain - he couldn't say because he belongs to the Raiders. Then Jeremy thought he was smart and asked if he's looking to upgrade LB - that is when Buddy said they're always looking to upgrade all positions. (Way to go Jeremy!) I wish they had asked what was Buddy's scouting report on McClain coming out of college and if they were interested in him back then. Look, I hate to be an apologist for the Bills because I am also sickened by what I've seen this year. It's inexplicable what has transpired. I believed like most, that we were going to have a good year. It's hard to understand why they haven't been able to put it all together. I think the reason they are preaching 'stay the course' to the players is that they DO beliveve they can do better collectively and they believe it will come. But being 4-7, it obviously hasn't come as soon as anyone had hoped/wanted. Lastly, I think Chan and Fitz need to calm down - they are over-compensating. Chan's dialing down the offense, playing it to safe (because Fitz's confidence is shaken and his penchant for interceptions). They need to wing it and have fun. IF Fitz can be as good as he played in wks 1-7 last year and Buddy is correct when he says that if a guy did it once he can do it again - I believe it will come if they relax and let it happen. Chan also needs to turn Fitz loose, stop with the kid gloves already (4 yds per attempt? really?). Let him wing it. It's better to go down swinging. We know they will pursue improvements in the position anyway, so why do we need to endure this crap along the way. Turn it loose!!! Very good post. Thanks for sharing. What a difference context makes.
White Linen Posted November 30, 2012 Posted November 30, 2012 Can anyone remember an example of just staying the course has worked? Has there been a QB and Head Coach combo that has had the same or less success than Fitz and Gailey together, the GM let them stay the course, and then they went on to be successful?
purple haze Posted November 30, 2012 Posted November 30, 2012 Folks are being so emotional they can't hear the nuance of Nix's statements. Gailey and Fitz are the guys, for now, is basically what he is saying. The fact that he talked about drafting a franchise QB of the future should tell fans all we need to know about his view of Fitz. He ain't the answer. Now they have to find someone better. Can that be done by next season? We'll see. But Fitz's sand is running out. Gailey could be gone if Mr. Wilson decides. So it's not worth asking Nix about Gailey's status right now. Everyone knows the results have not been good enough, including Chan and Fitz. But no reason to throw people under the bus. I think it's fairly apparent over the past three years that Buddy sees what we see. He might not move in our time, but he will move. See Mario Williams and Mark Anderson... As moronic as Gailey can be he would probably be less so with a QB who can make all the throws a starting QB in the NFL is supposed to make. And our WR's would be a lot better too. Having Fitz is like playing with one arm and that's the arm that can't throw. Nix said QB will be priority in the off season for a reason. We just have to be patient.
TheFunPolice Posted November 30, 2012 Posted November 30, 2012 Ralph could have told Buddy that he loves Fitz and Chan and wants no changes
Coach Tuesday Posted November 30, 2012 Posted November 30, 2012 Can anyone remember an example of just staying the course has worked? Has there been a QB and Head Coach combo that has had the same or less success than Fitz and Gailey together, the GM let them stay the course, and then they went on to be successful? Maybe Kubiak ans Schaub?
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