Luxy312

Fitzpatrick. The Michael Vick experiment is over. Thigpen certainly isn't the answer. Based on the recent rhetoric from Nix, I don't think the team is at this point even considering a QB in the first round of the draft. Add in no coaching change and I give you no QB change barring an injury.

Some good points raised. I think a key point that people tend to forget is the turnover in starting personnel. This team looks a lot different than the team did 3 years ago. This is nothing like Harbaugh coming to San Francisco where almost everything was already good to go from a player perspective and he just needed to change attitude. You don't take a team like Buffalo, that didn't have the personnel to compete, and make them a playoff contender over night. Regardless, Gailey has to get it under control as far as the play calling is concerned. He's got to find more ways of doing what he did this last weekend in terms of getting both Spiller and Jackson the ball to give them opportunities to make plays and keep the offense on the field. That will help the passing game as well as keep the defense fresh. Most important in that regard is that I want to see this happen against the better teams.

They could tie.....

It's hard to rank a guy that is so handcuffed by his HC. Do people realize that there are plays where Fitzpatrick is given ONE option and one option only in terms of delivering the football. There are plays where he is told that there is no second or third option of someone to pass to. There are plays where audibles are not even on the table. With all that said, some notable numbers stick out here. He's 19th in attempts overall, but 21st in yards and 26th in yards per attempt. By the numbers, he's getting below average opportunity to throw the ball (surprisingly to me), but also not doing much with it. His rating and completion percentage are pretty much average at 17th. Where he's actually done well is sacks taken and TD's. Despite being so low in pass attempts, he's 8th in sacks taken and 9th in TD passes. The guy he reminds me the most of at this point is Jay Cutler. Modest passer rating, TD's better than INT's, but tends to make boneheaded throws from time to time. The only difference is that Cutler has the Bears defense to back him up. Well, except for this weekend anyway.

Signs of life? Seriously? Let's look at the 5 teams that the Bills have beat this year. They're ALL in last place in their respective divisions. Their collective record is 17-43. That's horrendous. Only Miami matches our record at 5-7. The others are 2-10 (x2), and 4-8 (x2). They can't even beat an average team. That said, there are rumblings locally that the Bills would consider a Geno Smith or Matt Barkley if they were drafting in the area that you suggested. I don't know though why Geno Smith would even be part of the conversation. He's not going to make it out of the top-10 draft picks and could even be picked #1 overall if the Chiefs continue to suck as badly as they have. Regardless of that, Welker in free agency? Really? You're talking about a guy that just matched Jerry Rice for games with 10+ receptions. He's the centerpiece of the Patriots offense after Tom Brady. He might be a free agent, but I have no doubts that the Patriots will try to re-sign him, and this time around possibly to a longer term contract to finish his career. I think this Bills teams biggest area of need in players is at linebacker. They're not very good at covering receivers and especially poor at covering TE's. One more thing and probably more important is coaching. Gailey was forced into a run first game plan on Sunday due to the weather. If he just suddenly gets it that this should in fact be a run first team, that's great. I'm not buying it though. He's shown the propensity to ask Fitzpatrick to throw the ball 35 times a week rather than run the ball. He should be fired, but from what I've read, Nix is committed to him and Fitzpatrick for the future.

That's more along the lines of what I was thinking. I wasn't really suggesting that he would be traded for a draft pick, but a veteran player at a position of need. Our linebackers have been pretty average to awful at times.

I don't know if anyone feels similar, but after telling the media a few weeks ago that Spiller was the starter and saying that he would get around 60% of the workload as such, Gailey comes out and runs the heck out of Fred Jackson. Does anyone see this as a potential opportunity to shop Fred Jackson after the season is over?

I wouldn't mind seeing Tressel coach the Bills next season. It also wouldn't hurt my feelings if the old man finally turned over the team to new ownership (Jim Kelly & company). It's a long time overdue!

Don't get me wrong here and assume that I'm not a Bills fan. I am all the way and have been for the better part of 30 years. However, we have seen this play out for the last 12 years in a row. Either they start strong and lose a bunch of games at the back end of the season or they lose at the front and then make a push for 0.500 at the end. Regardless, they play themselves right out of a draft pick. It's really sad to me that it takes windy and rainy conditions for Gailey to realize that this team has a hell of a running game. They finally give more carries to Spiller and Jackson than they give Fitz opportunities to throw. The defense also showed up. However, if you actually look at the last couple of games, they have been. They've been limiting opposing rushers in YPC, which is what we had hoped to see from week 1. Another mediocre season with mediocre coaching.

I posted this elsewhere, but said it somewhat different. A "stud" QB isn't going to solve anything. As long as Gailey is calling in the plays from the sideline and the QB isn't allowed to audible to change them, we're going to see the same result. As long as you give one of the best runners in the NFL only 10-15 carries a game (Spiller) in favor of throwing the ball 40 times, we're going to see the same result. It's easy to blame the player, but sometimes you have to dig deeper to see the real problem.

Fitz didn't kill anything folks. Most of the plays he's running are called in from the sideline with no option for him to even audible. Gailey said it himself. Gailey is to blame here. He handcuffs the offense with idiotic play calling and uses what may be his two best weapons in Spiller and Jackson sparingly. Does giving Spiller only 15 carries to Fitzpatrick's 33 pass attempts make any sense? The defense has limited the running game the last two games in a row and the offense has failed to deliver due to Gailey's stubborn attitude that this should be a throw first football team. Let's not forget that Fitzpatrick was one of the smartest guys to come out of the game in the history of the game. Why he's NOT allowed to audible just baffles me. One example from last game and I'm done. The attempted screen to T.J. Graham where the defender tackled him behind the line and well behind it at that. That was his ONLY option based on what was called in. That's absolutely ridiculous.

I thought I was pretty clear. LOL. Lady Brady gets so much referee love, I just can't stand it. How many times do we need to see the guy take a light tap from a defender and then make that face while holding his hands up to the back judge? It's absolutely tiring to say the least. Regardless, my other comment holds true. I want this team to make the playoffs on their own merit.

I can't in any good consciousness root for the Patriots. It cuts against the fiber of my soul. I would love to see that smug, whiny, cry baby suffer a Joe Theisman and for their season to go down in flames. When all is said and done, I want to see the Bills make the playoffs because they earned it and not because they backed into it on another teams success. 10-6 is probably a lock for the wild card. 9-7 may not be enough. I think that old statement applies here. Just win baby!

I couldn't be happier with Glenn's play. The Bills were patient in the draft and waited to get him until the second round. For all of those naysayers pissing and moaning about the draft last year, it's starting to look pretty good. With time, I think the offense should gel and start to finish games and scoring drives.

I've never really been a big Kelsay fan. I would be more than happy with Kyle Moore playing the other side. He does seem to have a more explosive first move than Kelsay and what we probably were expecting to see from Mark Anderson.

I'm glad that our high priced defense finally showed up. We've missed the type of play we saw from the front four all season. They did what they haven't been able to do in the prior 9 games and that is stop the run. This led to Miami being forced to pass, which is why they were able to get after Tannehill all day. I'm glad to see the team win, but this was far from a complete game. The offense couldn't finish drives. Yesterday's game was one of those situations that are a reminder to me as a fan that the team isn't there yet. Miami is 24th in the NFL in total offense. I expected the Bills to be able to get after them a little bit on the defensive side of the ball. Their defense though is ranked 28th. The Bills have to be able to score touchdowns against bad teams to win. Indianapolis and Seattle I think are the only hard games remaining on their schedule. If by some freakish chance they can win a few in a row and carry momentum, they have an outside shot at a wildcard. More likely though is we'll see the same lackluster finish that we've seen for the last 10 years. This team should be 6-4 and not 4-6. Maybe we'll see at least one complete game before the end of the season. One can hope!

Based on where this team appears to be headed, I would get behind drafting a guy like Manti Teo in the first round all day. Fitzpatrick isn't the problem. Anyone who knows anything about the NFL knows that if your offense is scoring 31 points that you should win most of those games. Once again, they lost the turnover battle. They were -3 in that department. Notwithstanding everything else, a team that's +3 in turnovers will win the ballgame about 95% of the time based on history. Why is CJ Spiller not getting the ball more? The guy is electric on the field and averaging 7.3 YPC and yet they stubbornly split with Freddy every game. It's manic bad logic from the coaching staff. The linebackers are a huge weakness on this team. They can't cover and can't fill the gaps to stop the run. That's why this offense runs out of gas at the end of games. Stop someone!

It was a cheap shot and should have been called. It's the classic referee's blowing Tom Brady and the Cheatriots, like they do every weekend. There's very few guys in the league that when they take a hard shot that I'm glad. Brady is one of those guys.

it's easy to make Fitzpatrick a scapegoat and pretend that he's the only reason this team is losing games. He's not. The defense has been atrocious, in particular against the run. They routinely can't stop anyone more this year than last. The Mario Williams experiment has been a monumental bust. Our pass defense isn't any better than it was last year. Penalties were ridiculously in favor of the Patriots though.

I'm with the original poster here. I couldn't even bring myself to watch the game. In hindsight, it wasn't the defense's fault yesterday. They did a pretty good job on the Houston running game, allowing a mere 3.7 YPC. It's Gailey's offense that deserves the blame. They have a guy averaging 6.5 YPC on the season and they can only get the ball in his hands 11 times. Really??? That's the best you can do with your most explosive playmaker??? 6 rushing attempts and 5 passes. Meanwhile, there were 38 pass attempts from Fitzpatrick. It's baffling to say the least. Gailey get's a fat "F" after coming off a bye week and having no plan to get playmakers more involved.

When all is said and done, the defense was not the problem yesterday. They allowed a mere 3.7 YPC. The problem once again was coaching. 38 pass attempts for Fitzpatrick and only 16 rush attempts for the Bills RB's. 0-3 in the red zone. Absolutely pathetic play calling.

Tom Golisano. Much of the local media has him as well as a collection of Jim Kelly and 3 other investors involved to keep the team in WNY.

Exactly right. Go back and look at the defense when Schobel was still playing. They played with fire and motivation. This defense is not motivated at all. To say that the team is talented enough when they've NEVER shown it is speculation at it's very best. 5.7 YPC allowed from opposing runners and 170+ yards just on the ground per game??? They can't look much worse than they have, so speculating that they may have the talent to compete is speculation at best. The Bills have a grand total of 10 sacks on the season and Kyle Williams has 3.5 of those. Our $100 million has 1.5. That's just awful. This was a front four that was speculated to become one of the better in the NFL and be able to get after the QB without linebacker help. They stink, period.

Well said and spot on.

"Smart" players on defense? Really? They rank 31st overall. They're just bad.