Fan in Chicago

Are you expecting the passionate fan base to shrug off this loss and not feel emotional about it ? The rest of my life is perfectly happy but the Bills OTOH make me want to shout (with despair).

Why is it 'end of discussion' ?

But I see the non-QB picks that we have and don't see a resounding success either save for a Dareus or Spiller. My point being that even though I don't have the data analysis of LiterateStylish, I can bet that you can apply the success rate you quoted to pretty much any position in the NFL and come up with a justification to not draft that position. Hassle is, QBs are few and good ones even less so. At the time the pick is to be made, there were atleast 2-3 choices over the past three drafts which could have been deemed risks worth taking (I am not talking about the first round). Let me turn this argument around - should we ignore the QB position in the next draft also worried that the one we pick may bomb out ? How long does this last ? In the last draft itself I was screaming to take a QB so that he can sit behind Fitz and be ready when the rest of the team is ready to contend. But here we are in year 3 of the 'show me the baby' regime with no confidence that the stud surrogate father is fertile or has been shooting blanks. Even if we get a QB next draft, we will wait a year or two for him to develop. Bad strategy and quite depressing if you think about it. What has Fitz shown in the past 2+ years that gives anyone the warm fuzzy that he will not tank in a big game and throw away a roster full of talent (on D, OL, DL and RB)? This is not over-reaction. This is the cumulative effect of this one game past Sunday piled upon a sucky last year. Sorry to go all BillsVet on you.

What reality would that be ? The reality that several teams in the past 3 years (just this regime), drafted QBs while we have this slavish and OCD-level adherence to BPA ?

We agree many times but this time I have to (slightly) disagree. Over three successive drafts, pretty much any team that needs a QB figures out a way to get one. We have for one reason or the other pointedly avoided doing so. I am not arguing in favor of the ones we were not in a position to draft (Newton,Luck, RGIII) but I do wonder how it is that each of the ones that were available to us in the lower rounds are not upgrades to Fitz ? I am not stuck on needing a 'franchise' QB, but I do want at least a competent, reliable, no frills/no boo-boo QB to lead this team. I am not so sure that one or more of the others you list is not that guy. Also, Gailey is known to develop QBs. He may have done a better job of these prospects. I frankly think Gailey is at his wits end w.r.t Fitz and his leash is getting shorter and shorter. IMHO, while Fitz is not as bad as he looked last Sunday, he has consistently underperformed and made cringe-inducing errors that cost us games (Giants game last year, the three INTs this Sunday). His problems are beyond what coach Lee can fix. I was happy imagining him to be a mid-tier QB but continually he is proving me otherwise. I had similarly given up on Losman and Edwards several games before they were ditched by the Bills. I am reaching that point fairly rapidly. I was told the rib injury and injuries to others on O hampered Fitz in the second half of last season. While I somewaht agree, the start of this season is trending to point us otherwise.

I think the OP's point is that we have not even tried with any seriousness to address the QB situation. Quite galling to me is that even the current regime 'always looking to upgrade any position' has pointedly ignored the QB and, to a certain extent, WR positions. History sometimes can teach us to do different in the future Question in my mind is which of them would have done better for us last season and this one ? Which one would have offered a glimmer of hope for the future ? Not saying we should have done anything wild like trading a bunch of picks (Cutler, Palmer), but is it too much to ask for drafting one of the other young ones ? Were all of them such clear underperformers that we didn't draft any of them ? The draft is a crapshoot. The same logic that can excuse the FO from not drafting a QB can be used for pretty much any position ('he was not good enough'). Were Dalton or Kaepernick so poor in comparison to Aaron Williams ? Are you ready to excuse the FO for not attempting to upgrade the most important and difficult to fill position on the team ?

That thought has crossed my mind several times since Sunday. For all of Gailey's reputation as an offensive genius, is his offense too complex for players to pick up ? Is the general ineptness of the offense since the second half of last season more due to the hard headed nature of his system and the unwillingness to adjust ? Not sure of the answers but VY having difficulty, TJ inactive because 'he was not ready', Tarvaris not yet fully prepared (granted he was signed late) is leading me to wonder if simplification may solve some problems on O.

Every 9/11, I relive the memory of the broadcast on the local rock station saying 'reportedly a plane crashed into one of the towers'...... Still feel emotional after all these years. Never forget.

I am repeating myself from another post but is probably appropriate here. There are a lot of new players/players playing new positions on the D. They need time to gel and start being a cohesive unit. Gilmore is a rookie, Moats is playing LB. In this situation, the D was put in bad situations early and often. This was probably the worst of all situations coming at the same time. We will have to wait for another 2-3 games before we start showing outrage about the D. I am pretty sure that when you put this collection of talent together, results will come. The O, on the other hand, I have less hopes for considering the lack of WR talent and continued poor QB play.

Fun game. Exciting to see two competent teams slug it out. Tracy Porter having himself a heck of a game.

I would love to blame the D and perhaps to a certain extent I do. BUT, the D is far different from what we had for much of last season - Kyle back from injury. Mario W, Anderson on the DL. Moats as LB. Gilmore as starting CB. I would allow them some time to gel. The O did not do them much favors by the bad positions where the turnovers happened. Before the D could get any sort of momentum going, they were continually on the back foot trying the defend a short field. For this week, I give them a bit of a pass. Not totally, but would say they were last of the problems (and we all know that is not saying much)

The Cromartie one. I think it was the third one - sorry if I forget which one in this sea of offensive hilarity

It could be a combination of reasons - maybe this incompetent display is on Gailey as he should have had the O ready. If so, he should relinquish calling plays and get himself a dedicated OC. It could be the WRs we have - besides Stevie (who did not seem to by playing at full speed) we did not have anyone distinguish himself. I have no idea why TJ was inactive. But this situation is on Nix. Why did we stubbornly not try to upgrade that position ? Why was Gaffney not brought in for a look see ? Lastly, as I ranted about Fitz in Bill's thread, his performance was really pathetic. Maybe it was timing but there were throws, in particular the third INT where you had to wonder wtf was he looking at. Was his hand eye coordination so shot that he cannot make that simple throw ? I am not even talking about a deep out which needs a strong arm and accuracy (both which Fitz can only dream of having). A simple throw above the defender would have resulted in a decent gain. Sorry, Simon but I am totally pi$$ed at Fitz for propagating that loser feeling in the team.

Sorry, Bill. I have to disagree with you also. I have been a CJ doubter so far even after his decent performance in the second half of last season. I still feel that the pick could have been used for a different position. But, today, the kid played with heart. He kept trying and despite his fumble, did not sit moping around. I was, however, shocked and sickened by the incredibly incompetent and atrocious display of QB'ing by Fitz. Not that I expected him to suddenly be transformed into an upper echelon QB. But is it too much to expect a Dilfer-like average performance ? He single handedly sucked the life out of the O and the entire team. I wish we could throw out his second half numbers and show him out to be what he really did - one of the worst first half performances we have ever seen. The third INT had be shaking my head - there were two receivers in that area and there was no pressure in his face. Yet he underthrew that ball right to the defender. Finally, agree with you on McK. I have been advocating seeking out a trade partner in the past offseason for any team dumb enough to give us anything. Don't know if we tried but we should do so now or when we have Brooks back at the latest. The earlier we cut our ties with this sorry excuse for a CB, the better off we will be (eball - I hope you are listening)

Worst part is that this wasnt even under pressure or tight coverage. It was a simple catch. there were two receivers in the vicinity

Why is TJ inactive? On a WR depeleted squad, this is not good.

First of all - good find. Thanx for posting, Second, his is a very inspirational story and am glad he will attend the Bills @ Texans game. Good luck to him and hope he continues to do well. Lastly, when the Bills are fighting for a playoff spot in December (as I expect them to be), I hope the Bills fly him to the game and serve to motivate the current team to bigger and better things.

No matter the reason behind his getting first team reps, it is always a good thing when a mid-round rookie is trusted by the coaches enough to be in that position. It probably implies that the coaches feel he will learn well on the job and not be a total embarassment/ give up a game killing play. With the woeful lack of depth at the LB position, I will be ecstatic if he starts contributing early in his career.

I am uncomfortable with the WR corps right now. Compared to the second half of last year, we have a healthier Fitz, Jones back from injury, added TJ Graham and lost Roosevelt, Hagan and Aiken. I hope TJ pans out but it is too much to expect him to contribute right away. So, unless Jones becomes a legitimate threat (as opposed to being the #2 by default), we are in no better place than the end of last year. We had Spiller and Smith last year as WR options but that still did not make our passing game half way decent. The expectations from the current WRs is assuming no injuries. As thin we are at LB, we are equally so at WR. All the arguments about why we are 'okay' with this WR group is just trying to reconcile with a poor situation. This is similar to how we kind of convinced ourselves over the past 2 seasons that the OL and DL will be 'okay'. Well they were not. And unless we add one or two proven WR threats, we have to expect the offense to be limited over the course of the season. I looked at the roster and the tough thing is going to be deciding who to cut if we indeed sign a WR from yesterday's cuts. I cannot think of only Sam Young as being partly 'expendable'. Or we wait till after the Jets games, see if Tarvaris has caught up with the playbook and add a WR in place of Thigpen. Bottom line - we cannot honestly go into the season feeling good about our WR group.

I just can't see the Bills going into the season with five WRs when two of them are Smith and Jones. I know Jones impresses many here but until he consistently produces in the regular season, color me unimpressed. We already had a sad sack WR corps and now we have made them razor thin. Not saying that the cuts were wrong but I think we have an eye on a couple of cuts from other teams. Gaffney, Branch ?

I hear what you say but Fairley is not a backup for them. Not sure about others on their D

Dude, we put in all backups at the same time. Do you seriously not see the difference between that and 1-2 substitutions ?

First one hurts the most. Stay here, its therapy

I agree with your hypothesis. However, I have some color commentary (read: not supported by data) to go with this thread. The teams in your analysis above are largely successful franchises which have been providing above average seasons consistently. Much of their success is by good drafting over the years. The Bills have done neither. SO, in the pre-season, I bet these teams are more interested in discovering emerging players and backups. The Bills, on the other hand, have been fighting to find starters for key positions year in and year out (QB, tackles, DE, CB etc). Perhaps as a consequence, the Bills have followed up poor preseason performances with equally underwhelming regular seasons. This is the key difference between the Bills Superbowl teams and the ones that you quoted above. While I have hopes for this coming season, it is not related to the preseason performance but rather to the increase in the overall talent level.

Ofcourse I was joking but not in a snarky way. I have no idea it would draw such a strong reaction from you. If you frequent this board, you will see such silly responses to many threads. In any case, there was no reason to hit back at me with the 'mama' comment.