OldTimer1960

I concur. If you can't judge Colt McCoy yet, then I don't think you can close the book on Fitz yet either. Fitz has a decent #2 WR in Stevie Johnson and a good 4th WR in David Nelson. Campbell is a better TE than the BIlls have had in about 10 years, but he is still no better than a middling starting TE. The OL has been significantly compromised by injury and that has hurt badly too. I am by no means saying that I necessarily believe Fitz is a good starting QB, but I can't say that he couldn't be. Further, I don't believe that Barkley is worth taking that high and RG3 has a lot of questions around him and likely won't go in round 1 at all. I think this team still has to address the defense with pass rushers early and, if they stray from that, they need pass catching talent.

Much easier to play run defense when you know the opposition's offense is playing to kill the clock. If the game had been even or the Bills ahead, the defense would have had a much tougher time bottling up CJ if they couldn't sell out against the run because they'd have had to respect the pass, too.

This team has invested heavily on defense in the draft and free agency in the last 2 years and they are still AWFUL on defense. I believe that there is some talent on this defense including Dareus, Aaron Williams, Barnett, Carrington, etc. At the very least, they can't possibly be this under-talented. The fact that Maybin is producing FAR better than he did here is a HUGE indictment of Edwards and his inability to get the best from his players. I believe that there is some young talent on this team and some try-hard vets also on D, but they are more than getting frustrated and are NOT improving. I think that they should fire Edwards tonight and try to salvage what talent they have on D before they lose all of their confidence and play out as yet 2 more failed draft classes that should be blamed on bad coaching... Comments welcome!

I reluctantly agree. I've wanted to defend Gailey so far, but they had Maybin for 2 years under the immortal George Edwards and he couldn't even get on the field. Now, with the Jets (admittedly, they have better talent around him) he has out-sacked the entire Bills defense excluding the 'Skins game. More an indictment of the coaching staff, especially the FAR-over-his-head Edwards, than the GM IMHO. Edwards is public enemy #1.

Let's ask the same question as every week: How the heck does George Edwards STILL have a job? I know that it is rare to fire a coordinator during the season, but this is horrible. The defense is absolutely horrible.

Yes. At this point, Chan had to be saying thank you that Losman wasn't allowed to carve them up too.

I concur with this. Teams starting at ground zero can scarcely expect to have a good starting lineup and good depth in 1 year. I would like to see a bit more aggressiveness in FA, but that is not the major problem here. The fact is that the cupboard was COMPLETELY bare when Nix and Gailey arrived. Chan worked miracles getting this team off to a fast start. However, it is not his, nor Nix's fault that they lost their starting C and their top 2 LTs (who were questionable themselves). There is no way to really blame them or the OL coach for not being able to patch together an OL after all the injuries they have dealt with. Today, Fitzpatrick and the O had no chance when getting the shotgun snap was a major adventure on every play. Now, the D is truly AWFUL and has better talent than that. They could/should be a middle of the league defense, IMHO. I know that they lack pass rushers, but this is ridiculous. They get NO pressure on the opponent's QB. When Tony Romo and Matt Moore look like world-beaters in two consecutive weeks, it is all on the pass rush.

Yes, yes, yes. Edwards must go. The past two weeks, opponents have completed 80.4% of their passes for 6 TDs and 0 INTs. When the Bills' offense needed the defense most due to a myriad of injuries to the OL and WRs, they played worse than awful. You can't possibly win games when you allow your opponent to complete 80 Freaking % of their passes. I will go further and say that the abysmal defense has contributed to the offense's problems by making them 1 dimensional because they have been playing from so far behind.

On the bright side, this team has a very good RB, a promising rookie DL and...uh, well a good punter.

This team hasn't been in a game past the first couple of drives since the Giants game. They have been completely blown out 3 straight games. Not any fight at all.

I have been a Bills fan since 1970 and I have seen some HORRIBLE teams, but this team that started out well has degenerated into one of the WORST that I have ever seen. It is almost impossible to understand how this team has collapsed SO badly. Clearly George Edwards is in WAY over is head as DC and the patchwork OL and lack of WRs is killing the offense.

God, the wheels have completely fallen off. This is not an NFL team any more. I think they belong in the MAC with the UB Bulls.

This defense is an absolute embarrassment.

OMG, is this an NFL defense? No pass rush and nobody bothered to cover the receiver.

We can only hope that George Edwards resigns because they sure aren't gonna fire him during the season. Ugh, the offense is not good either. At least Fitz is tough.

And some LBs too. I think the DL is much improved over last year, but there are other breakdowns, especially a lack of pass rush from the OLBs.

YES! This "great" group of WRs is NOT. I try to be optimistic, but let's be reasonable: Stevie Johnson is an average #1WR, David Nelson is an OK to above average #3WR and the rest of them, including Donald Jones, are nothing but 4,5 and 6 WRs on most competent NFL offenses. Compare them to the Jets' WRs, is Stevie as good as either Plaxico or Holmes? TE, while VERY much improved over recent bad TEs, is not exactly a strength. Again, compare Scott Chandler to the Jets' Dustin Keller or the Pats' Gronkowski and/or Hernandez. Throw in that the Bills' OL is now in a shambles, down to their 3rd LT, lost their best OL (Wood) and have had to mix and match the rest of the OL to let Levitre play LT. Unless Bell or Hairston come back this week, the Bills will have their 4th string LT playing, and 2nd stringers at most other positions. Now, granted the offense has been largely ignored in the last 2 drafts because the D was in such bad shape. I lament the Spiller pick, but find it hard to blame them. I still don't understand why he hasn't had much chance, but must be SOME reason that the guys that drafted him high, don't play him.

Chan Gailey should be praised for what he was able to accomplish early in the year with his schemes. But harsh reality has set in at the mid-point of the season and the truth is that they do not have the talent to match up with opponents and schemes can only take a team so far. On offense, defenses have figured out that they can double Stevie Johnson and let the rest of the defense focus on stopping Freddie Jackson. The Bills do not have any other weapons that can win consistently. The WR corp is really weak. I never understood those who were saying the team was "stacked" there. Donald Jones is NOT a starting WR in the NFL, he isn't even a good #3WR. After a nice start, Scott Chandler has now returned to his 1 catch in 3 year form. There is NO speed on the offense, other than Spiller- who they strangely refuse to use at all. On defense, the run stopping has improved, but there is NO pass rush and that leaves not-so-great DBs hung out to dry. The only player on the Bills D that an offense has to account for is Marcel Dareus. They double Dareus and the rest of the defensive players are just average (at best). There aren't enough play-makers on this unit. I can't tell whether Fitzpatrick is a legitimate starting NFL QB or not. There simply isn't enough talent around him to know, but my gut says that it is pretty rare for career backups to suddenly "blossom". We can debate whether the front office needs to be replaced, yet again, but things will not improve until both sides of the ball have better players.

Even with recognition that both the O and D have significant talent deficits compared to opponents, I think George Edwards and his defensive staff should be fired at halftime.

Can't really start much worse on both D and O. They MUST hold here on D or the game will get out of reach fast.

Horrible start. This is a team that is out-gunned in terms of talent.

Today's loss was in many ways a reality check. I am glad that this team has so much heart and will to win that it has over-achieved. However, they still have a significant talent deficit against the upper-eschelon teams in the league. I don't think that they will be able to overcome that talent deficit down the stretch and they will likely not make the playoffs. I am encouraged to see that the talent level is well above what it has been in the past, however this team is still devoid of pass rushers. It lacks a legitimate starting WR across from Stevie Johnson. It has an than OK, but still mediocre TE. It does not have elite CBs and the Safeties are OK, not great. I haven't even touched on the LT, but they have fared alright there and QB is fair-to-midland. I like Fitzpatrick. He is clearly the best QB that they have had in the last decade, but he is not a GREAT QB who can overcome big problems and he doesn't have a very strong supporting cast. I expect this team to continue to fight and be competitive all year, but in the end, they will be better than last year, but not playoff calibre.

You won't get ANYTHING for Spiller right now. I can't understand why they don't get him some touches. It is almost like they are too proud of their over-achieving no-talent players. I really like Freddie Jackson - he is a guy to root for and plays way better than his talent level dictates, but it is almost like the coaches are too stubborn to direct the ball to their most athletic player.

UGH!

The offense is under-manned. There is only one legitimate NFL starting WR on this team (Stevie Johnson) and he was a 7th round pick. Who on earth is Donald Jones and why is he starting? The TE has been a nice story so far, but he does not scare anyone and can't get open with tight coverage. The Jets DBs vs the Bills' WR is a gross mismatch and that is going to make it tough to generate any offense. I would like to see them run a few plays to get the ball to Spiller in the open field. I don't understand why he doesn't get any touches. He is by far the most athletic skill position player on this offense. I am not saying that he should be playing ahead of Freddie Jackson, but they should be trying to take advantage of his speed at least some.