BillsVet

Buffalo 8th in the NFL in spending on defense. Not surprising given the M. Williams, K. Williams, Dareus, and Anderson deals. But 28th in offensive unit spending? I'd chalk this up to Nix believing his HC (and the HC himself) believing that they could win with less and rely on scheme. That obviously didn't work. Good stuff.

What about just good old fashioned strategery?

Modrak was fired 5/4/2011. Yes, because I start no more than 5 threads a year.

From Peter King's MMQB this AM: Baalke knew the Bills weren't going to take Kaepernick or Dalton at 34, and he figured Cincy would take Dalton at 35. Peter King reported leading up to the 2011 draft that Buffalo was a "black hole" of information. Unlike teams that attempt to use subterfuge, the Bills buttoned up completely that year. Yet, how did SF and presumably other teams needing a QB know the Bills would not take either Kaepernick or Dalton?

Guess Crayonz is officially back under a nom de guerre.

Off topic, but you could make a case that every GM makes mistakes. After all, who is the backup QB in New England? And how many snaps has he played the past 2 years? The draft remains an inexact science, but some play the game better than others. Polian's record before his son took more control was stellar. To say anything different is foolish.

Agreed. The team seems to have re-structured behind the scenes, placing Nix is a position of lesser input.

Buddy should know by now how to be a GM and should not have needed 2-3 years to realize his errors. At his introductory PC he talked about having served in all the roles under GM as preparing him for the GM of football position RW hired him to do. The point is, while every GM makes mistakes, Buddy's blundering ways are inexcusable and make the job for the incoming GM, Whaley, and their new HC much more difficult. Acknowledging mistakes, either latently or overtly, does not excuse the bad decisions made.

The point remains. SD continued to attempt to improve the position and not settle for one guy in Brees, who they themselves selected quite high. Three years after that pick with Brees having just tossed 27 TD's passes they selected Rivers. Why? Because they liked drafting QB's? Or because they wanted to improve? OTOH, Nix during his tenure chose not to even draft one real QB in 3 drafts. Buddy may have been doing the scouting from Tennessee for SD, but it was Smith who was the brains of that operation. Buddy's record in Buffalo seems to demonstrate that.

Compare the Chargers approach to the QB position from 2001-06 against Buffalo's from 2010-12. San Diego used 3 1st-3rd round picks in those 6 drafts on QB's. In Nix's 3 years with Buffalo, he spent none. Why did two teams that employed Nix take decidedly opposite methods for acquiring a player at the game's most important position? It would seem Nix didn't quite have the say many have ascribed to him in San Diego.

As has been said repeatedly here, 2 other teams began significant rebuilds in 2010: Washington and Seattle. They had several things in common with Buffalo that year, including a new GM, new HC, did not have a clear answer at QB (I'm aware of McNabb in WAS), and were switching defensive schemes. It's okay to say Nix has been an abject failure. And as bad as he was at finding a QB, he might have been worse on defense where the team spent huge resources to upgrade a unit that ranked at the bottom of the league for his entire tenure.

Chan and Buddy were both bull-headed throughout these past 2 seasons with Fitzpatrick at the helm. And to make matters worse, the team fell prey to the media clamoring for the guy to get a contract extension after the quick start in 2011. This despite Fitz's performance from 2008 to 2010 indicating that while a fine backup, he was not starting quality. I hope things change in their evaluation of the QB position. But Nix's grand plan for rebuilding was DOA when he and the HC wouldn't budge from doing anything but playing Fitz.

LB's have to be able to cover and stop the run. The days of 2 down guys who come off the field are essentially over, and it's obvious the Bills have a few of them like Kelvin Sheppard who are liabilities against the pass. It's nice for Nix to acknowledge this now, but the trend toward passing oriented offenses has been going on a few years now. Regardless, the LB's struggled in run support, which is all the more indication that this is a part of the team sorely lacking. And that's before even contemplating a move to a 30 front.

This. Brandon and Jauron inexplicably decided to retain Losman in 2008 after he'd lost his starting job the previous season. A move like this shows a lack of savvy and was a decision of convenience owing to Losman still being under contract. Cut ties and move on from Fitzpatrick. RF said after the finale that he was a starting QB in this league and it's clear he is not.

There are enough information sources within the NFL to see that Brandon was not truthful about the hiring process. All of this would be moot if the Bills started winning and weren't so focused on rebutting criticism.

Gotta disagree here Dawgg as there's more to the Lovie Smith thing than just this. Chicago obviously has a higher standard and this team was trending in the wrong direction. Sure, Phil Emery probably wanted his own guy in there after he got the job last off-season, but it's worth noting that Lovie could never develop the offense. He went through more coordinators and Emery had to know it wasn't going to get better. From 2004-2012, Smith's offenses were ranked higher than 14th once, and that was the SB season of 2006. Emery is also big on analytics, and he had to have known that's not an outlier, it's a trend. He also talked about OL a little bit here: http://blogs.suntimes.com/bears/2013/01/phil_emery_provides_tremendous.html

I recall a few years ago when Len Pasquarelli would write articles playing up his friend Tom Donahoe. There is a relationship between all of these NFL insiders and the teams they cover and while I'm not alleging the local media is complicit here, sports reporting isn't exactly what it used to be. I'm not crazy about the hire of all these SU guys into the pro level. Gailey couldn't build a quality staff either, gathering guys from his many stops in the college ranks. At the same time, I don't see the Bills getting a new 3 year window like Gailey, Nix, and company received in early 2010.

Sure, RF has a weak arm, but how does that explain Stevie being over 13 yards per catch the past 3 years and Scott Chandler out-doing Jones by more than a yard per reception since 2011? Scott Chandler doesn't run by some defensive lineman. TE's simply shouldn't be gaining more yards per touch than your #2 WR.

Donald Jones is banged up each season and for his career has averaged less than 11 yards per reception. He shouldn't be more than depth on this roster. David Nelson is a guy just over 11 yards per catch, and if SJ moves to the slot, Nelson is without a role save for 4 WR sets.

Most Bills fans are taking a wait and see approach with this team now more than ever. When Marv was introduced, there was a lot of blind optimism. The same could be said when Nix took over, owing to his personnel experience over Brandon and Levy who had little business being GM's. Sure, there are some homers who'll beat the drum for everything OBD does, but 13 straight losing seasons has most fans remaining ambivalent or emotionally detached from the decision making. That said, I don't think Marrone gets a lot of time and the personnel decisions made this off-season will tell us a lot. As Buddy said, it's time to win and they haven't done it.

I think the days of two down run stopping LB's who struggle in coverage are over with the read-option in vogue. When you look at the ILB's who received All-Pro votes, most are not 250+. Almost all are in that 230-240 range and aren't a liability when the QB drops to pass. Buffalo doesn't have a guy like that, save for maybe Barnett who's entering his 11th season.

It's interesting that no draft pick or free agent signing of Buddy Nix received any votes either. Building a team isn't about having Pro Bowlers or All-Pros (ask the Chiefs) but there remains a distinct lack of talent on this team.

Yes. That and the fact he hasn't been a position coach in the NFL. McDaniels had BB running the show. Guy has gone entire seasons without coordinators. The OC choice should elicit this response:

It's because it is. Marrone has NFL experience, worked around some talented people, has been a HC and someone not what I'd call a retread. I like that these long term decisions aren't being made by someone like Nix, who is best served scouting. That said, time will tell.

The hire indicates to me that Nix has become GM in name only. He'll continue to scout, which is where he's most comfortable but the higher level stuff is Whaley's domain now. And that includes building this team's identity and synthesizing that with the personnel side of the house. Nix struggled to build an identity and mesh it with Gailey's vision. It would seem more competent people are in the GM and HC roles as opposed to a week ago.