Fitzyflakes67

Your wrong though. Yes, we suck now, but when we were healthy we won games. I don't think an awful team would have gotten to 5-2 with that schedule. Even our 2 losses up to that point were by 3 points and could have easily swung in our direction. The problem is we have absolutely no depth, so only now when we are stacked sky high with injuries are we beginning to play all-around bad football. Just look at the Dolphins game and how we had Levitre - our left tackle - playing center. I've never seen so many horrid snaps in one game, it was almost non-stop. How can a QB play a great game and get in rhythm with that happening? Then when the D gives up TDs drive after drive after drive, the deficit of both the score and lack of depth makes the game nearly impossible to come back. With a better D and healthier roster I suspect we wouldn't be getting massacred like we have been. Not saying we'd be elite or anything cause even healthy were not there yet, but we'd probably come away with a .500 or game above season.

I agree that I'd be fairly surprised if he does break out and prove he's for real. On the other hand, was highly drafted for a reason, so it could be possible he just hasn't gotten enough chances. And from what I've seen and heard Spiller is actually very fast, probably one of the fastest on the team. I could be wrong but I recall announcers talking about it, and I've seen have some real nice speed bursts. The fact that he has to start at all irritates me though, cause Fred was on pace for a pro-bowl season and it's just such a damn shame he had to get injured. I mean could we have worse luck? It's such BS.

Fitzpatrick gives us the best chance to win football games right now. He has shown us he can win us games and put up solid stats. Even last year where he played only 13 games he had good numbers, and despite our 4-12 record we played many close games against playoff teams. He has played within the top half of QBs this year, and if not from this bad stretch of three games, I'd say top 10. Things obviously look bad as a whole now, but would we really be 5-5 with Thigpen as our QB? Obviously we don't know, but from what I've seen I wouldn't think so. If Fitz is a "career backup" then Thigpen is a career 3rd stringer. Plus...what kind of message does it say to pull the guy we just paid decent money to pilot our team for the next few years? That would show a complete lack of trust and faith and just look like our management has no clue what they're doing (which could be true, but still). I just wanna say also that Fitz gets only a small amount of blame for our meltdown. It's not like he lost the games, really our defense did. They've given up huge points early, and leave us in permanent catch-up mode, which is more like throw-out-the-gameplan-and-panic mode. Plus our receivers dropped 10+ balls, several which turn into game-changing INTs...can't blame Fitz there. But I think he'll find a groove again before the seasons out. With our crippling injuries playoffs are pretty much beat, might as well just keep him playing so he can keep improving, which he clearly has already done quite a bit.

Honestly Fitz has had a handful of errant throws, but for the most part he has been on target. Sometimes a bit high or behind, but very few truly uncatchable balls. His completion % is still pretty good. To say his "craptastic" throws are the norm is just not true. Our WRs dropped over 10 balls last week, only a few of which were a bit harder to reel in because of the throw. Both INTs should have been caught, regardless of the velocity of the throw, if it's in your hands you must catch it. It's like our WR are thinking past the catch to the contact and get scared, and if that's the case they could help themselves with better seperation. And despite what someone said, Fitz wasn't brought in to be our winning QB. He was brought in as a backup, and outplayed the starter and showed he can work well with our team. In only 13 starts last year he had really solid numbers. He's been up and down this year but still has good numbers and has played a big part in our wins this year. He hasn't been hitting the big play recently, but his play is nowhere near the top of our list of what has caused our mega-slide.

I know it's been beaten to death, but PARAGRAPHS man! I'd like to read your post but that's just brutal.

Why do I allow myself to still have hope? Not even playoff hopes, just hope that our team will actually pull it together and be at the very least, competitive in our next game. Even if we lose I wont mind if we showed up and made a game out of if. Even after three straight train-wrecks and my head telling me more is likely to come, I just can't get myself to fully give up on them. I mean, they HAVE to produce eventually, right? But I said after the Jets game we would bounce back. I said after the Cowboys pounded us it couldn't happen again, particularly against the lowly Fish. I was wrong on both counts and odds are I'll be wrong again this week. Nonetheless I've seen how we can play, and I reckon that alone gives me a glimmer of hope we can do it again.

Playoffs man, gotta end the drought. Think about it...we did not make the playoffs once last decade, but we at least beat the Pats. It's great we ended that horrible loss streak to them, but at the end of the day that means nothing when we are never around come mid-to-late January.

Yes we need a franchise QB, but my god some people here are clueless. We should cut Fitzpatrick? For who? Who is this magical replacement me have waiting in the wings. Even if we do get a QB, Fitz would be a huge asset in helping develop him as he sat behind him for much of the rookie season. Whatever you say about Fitzpatrick and his skill level, there's no denying he's extremely smart and understands our offensive scheme and also what's happening on the field with defenses. Second, I'm all for looking for our future guy asap, and using Fitz as a competent role-filler until that date. But why does everyone assume this is going to happen for us all of the sudden. We've had like 15 years to find the guy to replace Kelly and we haven't even come close. Flutie, Johnson, Bledsoe, Holcomb, Losman, Edwards, etc. I hope as much as the next guy we find our future star, but some of you are acting like it's a guarantee or something. Shouldn't you know better at this point? Fitz is our best prospect right now, and gives us the best chance of winning. Yes he's inconsistent, has accuracy issues, makes some bad calls...but we've seen him play good, and there's no reason he shouldn't be able to pick his game up. And seriously, the "noodle arm" nonsense needs to stop. He's middle of the pack in strength, nothing more, nothing less. Check out his throw to Stevie in OT against the Steelers that was dropped. Easily about 50-55 yards and RIGHT on the money. You really do not need more than that...and fwiw, It doesn't even look like he struggled at all to get it that far. So yeah not only is "noodle arm" being grossly misused here, it's such a moronic term that anyone who says it is immediately suspect.

Please can someone inform me on how last year with a worse team we managed to stay in so many close games against great playoff teams? I mean...the Chiefs, Ravens, Steelers, Bears, Patriots. Now were supposedly better on both sides of the ball yet we've been blown out three straight times by teams who have looked downright awful at times this year. WTF is going on??

Yeah it's another heartbreaking year as a Bills fan. Honestly I like Fitz and really hoped he was our guy - as he showed he could be in the first month of the season - but he is just not a very good QB. I know we have no better options but signing him that soon was a mistake, shoulda waited until the end of the season. I feel bad for the guy cause he finally had his chance to prove he's worth something in this league, instead he's regressed a ton. I would not be surprised if we finish 5-11. We are without a doubt the worst team in the league right now. We went from a top 5 ranked Offense in points scored to dead last over the last three weeks. We couldn't score a touchdown against the low-ranked Miami pass D, yet our D made Matt Moore look like Dan Marino. We've gone from showing about as much heart as any teams had with those two comeback wins, to looking like the most unenergized, lifeless, and depleted teams out there. As soon as Miami scored one TD I knew it would go bad for us. And I honestly see no reprieve in the future...it's sad that when were on the field I no longer have faith to do anything on either side of the ball. Ugh...just had to become a Bills fan for some reason...

I can't believe this happened to us again. I fully expected we would come out and play football today instead we've gotten embarrassed by a 2 win team.

I know we can win, just don't know if we will. We beat them last year with a worse team and they had a better team. I don't care if they have tape on us either, we have tape on them. Plus look at any video collection of Fitz stats and he hits long 20-30 yard passes plenty of times. He can clearly do it, the plays being called are just all much, much shorter. But if we do lose it's obviously over, yet I doubt we lose out. The nature of the league alone proves that, regardless of how crappy we've been playing.

He's just having that once-in-a-lifetime season (or for Brady twice, '07, and '10). He played only a little above average in the first half of last year, then all of the sudden he hit this hit streak that carried through the playoffs into this season. We shall see how long it lasts, but so far he's the best in the league this year. Brady is still better overall, but he obviously has a much larger body of work.

How do you figure? Since the first three he's had three mediocre to bad ratings of 75, 51 and 45, and three good to great of 88, 93, and 116 (this was AFTER the extension). To me that is pretty much a model of consistency. He's just had two bad games in a row and it's a "what have you done for me lately" type of league. Plus the 49 against the Cowboys doesn't mean much to me, because there were just SO many dropped balls, and several tipped balls which also played apart in one of the INT. Another was a misplayed route on garbage time. He actually had a first half rating of over 100 but it was too much to comeback so play become fairly reckless. We can all agree there are only like 5-8 great, franchise caliber QB's, and while Fitz isn't there he's definitely in the next level, which is better then a lot of teams have. Plus, we have no other option anyway, so it is what it is. I for one am gonna keep supporting him and hope he finds his stride again, as I know he can.

I love how everyone here has all the answers. Perhaps if we replaced Gailey and staff with some Two Bills Drive posters we'd be winning these games.... Running the ball when your down 3 touchdowns just ain't gonna happen.

Honestly, every team has tape on every team, it's no excuse. The Redskins and Eagles had tape and we beat them, and we almost beat the Giants. The Jets just outplayed us due largely in part their talented D, and the Cowboys just tore our D apart putting us in a hole we couldn't climb out of. We DID move the ball, and coulda scored much more. Missed FG, tipped ball got picked, Jackson fumble, botched 4th down, a ton of dropped balls. It wasn't like we couldn't do anything...just SO many mistakes. We've really only been shut-down by two great pass defenses. I mean, people know how to beat the Pats and slow down Brady. They have "film" on their recent losses, that doesn't mean it's always gonna happen. Sure we need some better play calling at times, but we need to execute better as a team. We need to play a balanced game on both sides of the ball. And people say Fitz can't score, yet he put up solid numbers with a worse team last year against some solid defenses. There's a reason they kept him, he's obviously capable.

Despite a few poor games, I think Fitz is still very capable of driving our offense and scoring points. With a worse team last year he played well against solid defenses like Baltimore and Pittsburgh. I think we just flatout got dominated by the Jets and their cornerbacks but against Dallas we were just down big so quickly we had to play against our strengths and just couldn't produce much. We really were a few plays away from scoring more points and we did really have a ton of dropped balls. I'm really hoping this is just a bad stretch and we get back to playing solid football. Also, I think our great start was misleading. We had some huge breaks in our two comeback wins and without them it woulda been just like last year, close losses to good teams. Now we've clearly evened out and happen to be going through a pretty ugly slump. I still think were improved and will be an 8-8 team, which is about what most of us hoped for.

I had hoped last week was an aberration but this is clearly not a good team. I gotta say we had lots of chances for points and blew all of them, and considering we went down 21 in the first quarter we were in panic mode from the get go. Hopefully we'll win at least 8 games, but even that is suspect. Just another typical Bills let down.

We actually started 3-1 in those first four, not 4-0. 2-2 since with a big victory against a talented Eagles team (who - not that it matters much - incidentally just blew out Dallas), and had a solid, complete performance against the Skins who did start the season with some decent momentum. Let's hope we can bounce back after a loss for the third time.

In all fairness, we moved the ball fairly well in the 4th quarter and arguably we were one different 4th down call from more points. It felt like once we stopped playing with reserve we made a few things happen. Also, I think the offense went on cruise control after the opening 2nd half score in the Toronto game, mostly relying on our defense. This upcoming game will give us clarity on if were truly in a funk or not.

Minus the Jets game the offensive production has been fine. Fitzy usually throwing between 200-300 yards, Jackson has been pretty consistent with 100 or near-100 yard games. Remember against Wash we were very close to scoring 30, same with the Giants game. Really just a few bad throws by Fitz screwed us, but it's not like we've been shut down and can't move the ball at all. If you expect us to score on each drive your dreaming.

Yeah, and pretty much every solid playoff contender team has lost a few ugly games this year. This is how the NFL goes. Remember the Jets getting dominated by the Ravens a few weeks back? Then the Ravens lost 7-12 to the Jags and nearly lost to the Cardinals. And how about last year when the Jets were 9-2 and got wrecked by the Pats then lost to the Dolphins? This stuff happens. We played our worst game of the year, but before we get into panic mode, let's see what happens over the next few weeks. One win and the tide will turn again.

I know we played bad last week, but it's so discouraging to see everyone immediately thinking the glass is half empty. It's like everyone forgot about our shutout the week prior, granted it's the Redskins, but people act like we've been getting dominated. Were halfway through the season and there's obviously a lot of tape on how we play offense, but that goes for everyone. Teams know how to slow down Brady but that doesn't mean they all will. You'd think we've been getting totally shot down by some responses here, when apart from 1 game we've scored between 20-30 points and had good offensive numbers. Are people expecting we score every drive of the game? I just think people need perspective. Look at most playoff caliber teams week to week and their numbers mostly aren't better then ours, even in victory...they just have defenses that can aid them. There are so many examples of good teams having games like we did, for instance; Ravens dominated the Jets then lost to the Jags. The Steelers - playoff caliber team - lost twice to the Ravens, yet they highly outplayed NE. The Bears got handled by the Lions, but now they're getting tons of praise for a few wins. All of these teams are good yet they've had bad games like we just did. That is the nature of the NFL. Last year the Jets got destroyed by the Pats, yet came back and beat them in the playoffs. All I'm getting at is we should at least give it a few more games before we declare the end of the world. And remember, despite our lesser play, we lost two games by 3 we could have won if one or two plays went different. Only once have we not been in it, and even that didn't start until turnovers in the 3rd quarter.

We've definitely struggled more on offense the last few games but still, other then the Jets game we lost both by 3 points. Even without the powerhouse performance of weeks 1-3, we have played well enough to win. It's not like we've been constantly dominated, we played a few hard-fought, close-call games that happen all of the time in this league. Plus all of the games we lost are against solid first place teams. One different play and we pull out those wins and are 7-1. Then everyone is saying "yeah, we had some tough challenges but we won, and that's all that matters". Not every game we play is gonna be a tour-de-force offensively, things vary week to week for almost every team, that's how the NFL is. The amazing Pats offense has been held to 20 or less for three weeks straight. Before the Packers went on their nasty run to win it all they were 8-6 with losses to 6-10 teams like the Redskins and Lions. The Lions loss in particular was concerning as they lost 7-3, and suddenly the Packers were in "hot water". This year alone we have great teams having bad weeks like the Jags beating the Ravens, and Rams beating the Saints. This is just how things go. We've cooled down a bit, but one solid game vs. Dallas and the tune will change again.

I'm actively rooting for the Pats, and would be so even if the games outcome didn't have an effect on us. Dont get me wrong, I hate the Pats and would root for their failure against any of the other 29 teams (Buf goes without saying), but since Ryan took over the Jets have become my number one most-hated team. The cockiness and endless empty guarantees make them probably the most-obnoxious team in the league. They lose a few games and throw each other under the bus, then win a few and it's right back to their mouth-running status quo. I hate Brady for his unprecedented success that has made it that much harder to us to compete in the division, but I respect him as an elite QB and for what he did for that franchise. Plus he does his talking on the field and never resorts to the cheap, classless talk of the Jets. He's gone and done what the Jets only talk about. Plus, I feel like the Pats loss the Giants in the SB - effectively ruining their run at being the greatest team ever - will forever satisfy why wishes of them failing,