vincec

As usual, Vince nails it. This is the "inconsistency" that Gailey is talking about. To bad he appear to have no clue as to how to fix it.

Like Eric Moulds and Aaron Schobel before them.

This board is funny. I wonder if you can put ANY QB out there that won't be bashed by some on this board. "The Bills should trade for Brady." "No we don't want him. He stinks. He's past his prime and won't be any good without Belichick" or whatever. Anyway, it's all fantasy of course as Carolina will absolutely not part with Newton unless he has finally and definitively shown that he can't get it done several seasons from now.

They have gotten much bigger though.

The Bengals went to the playoffs last year because of their defense. That's where the Bills still need the most work since Nix and Gailey seem to be going in reverse on the defensive side. I'd be looking at MLB, S, OLB and DE in some order in the first four picks. As for QB, Gailey would be better off trying to bring in a veteran.

The current Bills defense is unquestionably weaker than the last one Jauron fielded in 2009. All three of their linebackers are weaker and their secondary is weaker. That defense finished 16th in the league. There's not going to be a Wannstedt miracle. The current roster is a bottom half group.

I agree that they definitely improved the offense. They don't seem to have a clue on defense however.

Jauron's last season, the starting secondary was McGee, Florence, Byrd and Whitner. Wilson was a backup seeing little action and Scott was splitting time with Ellison at LB. McKelvin was playing and struggling as usual. I'm just not sure why Jauron's defense needed to be gutted. They came in and in three years switched schemes, replaced 3 of 4 secondary starters, all three LB starters, and 2 of 4 DL starters. That's 8 new starters out of 11 plus a new system for a defense was was solidly in the middle of the pack and probably only needed a couple of players to take the next step. What have they gotten out of all these changes? Certainly not any improvement.

"He's doing this to show that Vince Young was his decision and it's working out". I had never heard that before. If that's true, then how did that work out for him after all?

It's interesting that the only player in the secondary playing well also happens to be the only holdover from the Jauron era. Buddy and Chan have worked their magic at the other positions.

Eli Manning is #8? He get's a lot of press for an "underrated" player. Also, not sure how Ngata, Welker and Whitten could be on this list.

This is my thinking as well. They are reacting too much and anticipating to little.

Perhaps part of the problem is that Williams and McGee are struggling to cover WR while Wilson, Scott and Barnett are struggling to cover TEs, and the front four is struggling to get pressure on the QB. Now you may say that this is all Wannstedt's fault, except that they stunk just as bad under Edwards the previous two seasons. They've pretty much stunk as soon as Nix and Gailey got here and started jettisoning Jauron's defensive personnel, so if you're going to blame someone I'd start there. I may be in the minority but I've got a feeling that Wanny will turn the defense around, but it may take a little time.

I assume that I'm in the minority here but I think the Bills have decent talent at WR. Johnson is clearly good, I think Jones is also solid and Graham has shown good potential. If you throw in that Nelson will be back next season and that you have Spiller and Jackson out of the backfield then I think you have plenty of good receiving talent on this team. Need better QB play.

5-4. In overtime.

I don't see Gailey moving on from Fitz at this point. If they do draft a QB next season (which isn't a given), then it will surely take a couple of years for him to become productive and Gailey will either have started winning with Fitz in the meantime or will be gone by then. So, at this point it's easy to see why Gailey is 100% behind Fitz. The only scenario I see around this is if they pick up a veteran via trade or FA in the off season.

Just wait until the weather starts to get cold. He won't get any out of the end zone then. I suspect that he is being kept on to audition for Lindell's job next season. It's probably a waste of a roster spot but really, who would they add that would make any difference at all?

When the next QB is the equivalent of JP Losman or Trent Edwards, then Rivers will be wistfully remembered as well.

These two posts are oases of reason in this thread. People in Buffalo used to bash Jim Kelly too. I even remember semi-serious calls for Frank Reich to replace him. You never fully appreciate what you have until he's gone.

I guess that's why they waived Snow and Ross and re-signed Howell and Merriman.

It's not his fault. The offensive players have been hitting him in the face and holding. He's also double and triple teamed on every play, the defensive scheme stinks PLUS he hurt his index fiber counting the money in his clip.

Except that the Jauron defense worked decently well with 0 HOF players. If the DL was penetrating into the backfield and disrupting things then everyone else would not have to play perfect. The offense would be reacting to them and there would be lots of blocking breakdowns leading to free men. The single gap scheme is actually much simpler to play well than a two-gap defense. I agree with you about the linebackers, however. They could use all the help they can get.

The advantage to the single gap style of defense is that the DTs can be aggressive because they don't have to react to two gaps or protect the LBs. They're supposed to "play on the other side of the line of scrimmage" as Gailey talked about after the NE game. They're just not doing it. Many good defenses in the NFL are single gap defenses. Also, given the evidence on the field, and by his own admission, Gailey doesn't know anything about defense. So Chan's analysis of the defensive situation when he got to Buffalo is suspect.

I think that there is one other change from last season. Last season Kyle Williams was injured and Dareus was moved to Williams 3 technique position on the line. This season he is playing the 1 technique between the guard and center and facing more double teaming. Typically the 3 technique players are quicker, penetrating style DTs while the 1 technique guys are the space eating run stoppers. Dareus is not small, but he is more of a 3 technique player and is struggling at the 1. This was actually a major concern of mine before the season started. I don't think you can be effective vs the run without at least one immovable object in the middle and the Bills don't have one.

They have the answer. They just know that the public won't like it so they are not giving it.