I believe that Smith was given some time when Boller was injured and he played well. He was going to be the starter in 2008 but came down with tonsilitis (or something like that) and lost a lot of weight. Before he got sick, Ray Lewis and the other starters all supported him going into the season as the starter. Flacco ended up the starter and the rest is history. I watched Smith a lot in college and always said that he would be, at minimum, a competent back-up. I think that he is not the long-term solution at QB but would certainly be a good stop-gap for the next 1-2 years while the Bills starighten out their offensive line. I liken him to a younger version of Doug Flutie.