Nix needs to go

[Fixxxer]

As I said on another thread, Nix should name Whaley the new GM and let him bring a rookie HC with the plan of taking a QB early next year draft. Keep Nix as a consultant, no matter how much you hate him, he still has connections in the college ranks.

[JPS]

I was just going to start this thread after looking at the last 3 drafts. He's exactly the same as the previous regimes. The Bills are taking exactly the wrong players at the wrong times. Just think about the 2012 draft. He lets 2 QBs who could be our starter go in the 3rd and trades up to reach for TJ Graham. And he cut everyone after the 4th round. If that's not incompetent, please give me a better example.

[Captain Hindsight]

The O line is significantly better since he arrived. Scott Chandler was a very nice find too.

 

I have a hard time saying he didnt bring in good talent. resigning our own guys have been the best culture change Nix has put in. If he continues it with Byrd and Levitre and Rhindhart, we can continue to add talent, rather than replace it

[BuffBill]

HIs drafting has been poor. LBs, corners and WRs (other than S. Johnson) are terrible. He has drafted a lot of LBs (Bradham, Batten, Moats, White, Sheppard and Tank) and CBs (Rogers, Gilmore, A. Williams, and Brooks) with little or no success. The best players on the team (Byrd, Wood, Levitre, S. Johnson and K. Williams) were drafted before he became GM. He has missed big with Troupe, Carrington, A. Williams, Sheppard and Graham, which hurts tremendously, since these players were drafted relatively early in the draft. The only player Nix drafted who has met expectations is Spiller.

 

His comments about needing a QB now, and the timing of these comments, have been bizarre. M. Williams may turn out to be a good free agent acquisition, but Anderson has been a bust, and Nix also wanted Meacham, who has been a disaster for the Chargers. Byrd, Levitre, Urbik, Moore, Johnson, McKelvin and Rhinehart (among others) are free agents after the season, which means the Bills will have some holes to fill on top of the holes they already have. One more offseason will not fix all of these problems.

 

If Nix does go, I would expect that they hire Whaley as GM. Not sure this would be a good thing, but it would be the typical and easy thing for the Bills to do.

Totally agree, if anything this organization is in worse shape then it was when he got here "with a plan", what a joke. The only player he drafted that should even be on a Pro Bowl ballot is Spiller, and I am not sure he should get in. Just about any good player on this team, drafted or free agent, with the exception of Mario, was here before Nix arrived. He has pretty much bungled 3 drafts now. Has made the QB position a joke-where the F is Tarvaris Jackson? He traded a multiple 1,000 running back, who is what, 2nd in the NFL in yards this year, and headed to the Pro Bowl and probably the playoffs. He has passed over so many good QBs for players like Aaron Williams and T.J. Graham. He brought in a head coach that nobody in the NFL wanted as a coordinator much less a head coach. Alot of us aren't surprised, since when the signing happened I thought, how many people in any profession get their "Big Break" in their 70's? Not many unless you get hired by the clueless Buffalo Bills.

 

The O line is significantly better since he arrived. Scott Chandler was a very nice find too.

 

I have a hard time saying he didnt bring in good talent. resigning our own guys have been the best culture change Nix has put in. If he continues it with Byrd and Levitre and Rhindhart, we can continue to add talent, rather than replace it

Not saying I don't agree with your points, they are valid, but I also sometimes think that on a team that continually wins 5-7 games a year, how many players do you want to bring back? Will the same players bring the same results? Just a thought.

[Saint Doug]

The O line is significantly better since he arrived. Scott Chandler was a very nice find too.

 

I have a hard time saying he didnt bring in good talent. resigning our own guys have been the best culture change Nix has put in. If he continues it with Byrd and Levitre and Rhindhart, we can continue to add talent, rather than replace it

 

It is true, under Nix we have found some great players already in the NFL ranks. However, during this same time Whaley has been Director of Pro Personnel and a Pro Personnel scout. So, I wonder how much credit should actually go to Whaley for these pick ups.

 

As for Nix, I used to be a big supporter, but this game against the Seahawks has me thinking. We could have had Wilson, but we reached for some other scrub instead. We could have had Dalton, Kaepernick, or Cousins, but we reached for some other garbage instead. Why was Nix so scared to pick up a non-first round QB in past drafts? For this, he needs to held responsible. Keep him around for a bit, but completely hand Whaley the keys.

[BuffBill]

It is true, under Nix we have found some great players already in the NFL ranks. However, during this same time Whaley has been Director of Pro Personnel and a Pro Personnel scout. So, I wonder how much credit should actually go to Whaley for these pick ups.

 

As for Nix, I used to be a big supporter, but this game against the Seahawks has me thinking. We could have had Wilson, but we reached for some other scrub instead. We could have had Dalton, Kaepernick, or Cousins, but we reached for some other garbage instead. Why was Nix so scared to pick up a non-first round QB in past drafts? For this, he needs to held responsible. Keep him around for a bit, but completely hand Whaley the keys.

Apparently he felt we didn't need a QB because we had Fitz and Thigpen, then Tarvaris Jackson. It wasn't until recent weeks that he even gave a hint that he still wasn't convinced that Fitz was taking this team to the promised land.

[JohnC]

Golimore, Glenn and Bradham look good. Dareus has had a rough year with the death of his brother which he admitted made it hard to play but has been better of late.

 

But overall Nix could have done way better than he has, and really dropped the ball hoping Fitz would be the answer. Even if you think he is the guy you still bring in guys that can challenge him so that they can make him work harder or take over if he isn't the answer.

 

The Bills record under Nix is 15-31. As bad as the record is the team is actually worse than its dismal record would indicate. How many games over the past three years have the Bills won against teams having winning reocrds? Maybe one or two? The real measure of how good a team is is how it performs against good teams. When the Bills played the 49ers and Seahawks they got steam-rolled. It was like UB playing Alabama.

 

Nix hired Chan Gailey. I still don't understand the hire. He was a retread coach in a league full of recycled mediocre HCs. What was the appeal? Nix, also an odd hire, made understandable because he was hired by a buffoon owner who has a history of weird hires, has passed on many opportunities to get a qb prospect on the roster without even using a first round pick to do so. He selected CB Aaron Williams in the second round a couple of years ago over Kaepernick and Dalton. Last year he moved up in the third round to select a track/receiver, Graham, instead of taking either Russell and Cousins in that same round.

 

The problem with old school type football people such as Nix/Gailey is that they are too imprisoned by their rigid thinking. There is little creativity or ability to see beyond their outdated views and think outside of their small box. Russell Wilson didn't fit their mold of what a qb should look like. So they passed. As the game in Toronto demonstrated he as a rookie exhibited exceptional talent. If anyone watched Kirk Cousins yesterday in the Skins/Browns game it was obvious that as a rookie he is a much more accomplished player than the veteran qb that Nix/Gailey decided to anoint as their franchise qb. The same pedestrian qb they gave a relatively rich contract that was beyond his limited ability.

 

Expecting incompetents to make decisions to get this bedraggled franchise out of its generational rut that they themselved created is futile. When you get on a merry-go-round you go in circles. That cycle of futility stays the same because the same caliber of decision-makers keep getting us on the same circular ride to nowhere.

 

You don't have to be a genius or have gone to Harvard Business School to figure out that when you hire mediocre people you get mediocre results. It's as if this organization is afraid of hiring quality staff out of fear that it will be too strong willed to knuckle to the foolishness of the owner and the fools who surround him.

[All_Pro_Bills]

This seems like a 'good' time for Nix to step down and hand the job over the Whaley. He was brought in from the Pittsburgh organization a few years ago setting up the expectation that he was being groomed to take over the GM job in the future. Well the future is now.

 

But going back and saying you could have picked this guy or that guy instead of the player they did is nothing more than a Monday morning QB routine. I could do that with my fantasy team too year after year! Its a nice exercise but it gets us nowhere closer to solving the problem.

 

I think the problem with the Bills goes way beyond who they draft vs. who they didn't draft. IMO, the problem is one of systemic failure and an environment that perpetuates it. Simply, the Bills just 'feel' depressing and the organization sucks the life out of players and fans alike. At the end of the season, after watching week after week of bumbling and futility, I feel totally spent rather than looking at the season with the sense that it was all worth it and the team made some progress toward the ultimate goal of a championship.

 

You've got to turn that around by starting at the top. How many times have we written or read that it all starts with ownership? For one thing, the front office and the coaching staff need to get younger (the owner is old, the GM is old, the coach is old). I've got nothing against 'old' people, we're all going to be one of them in the future hopefully, but the team lacks the energy and optimism that youth can bring.

 

Promoting Whaley sounds like a good first step to me and letting him make the decision on coaches and pro and college personnel might finally get things going in the right direction.

[Captain Hindsight]

 

 

Not saying I don't agree with your points, they are valid, but I also sometimes think that on a team that continually wins 5-7 games a year, how many players do you want to bring back? Will the same players bring the same results? Just a thought.

Will replacing guys like Whitner with DaNorris Searcy really improve the team? What about letting guys like Jabari Greer go?

 

Would you miss Byrd? How about Levitre? Before Nix got here those guys were as good as gone and instead of adding a good safety to pair with the guy who is a pro bowl caliber player, we would be replacing him with a 4th rounder who was out the league in 3 years. Me personally I am sick of that. I hate that we underachived this year but I have a hard time putting that on Nix.

[peterpan]

Don't forget that Nix also resigned Kelsay to another HUGE deal.

 

We improved when he got injured.

 

Can we rid ourselves of under achievers please? Fitz and Kelsay need to go and the Bills need to be big players in FA again this year, on top of resigning our own good players.

[EasternOHBillsFan]

Totally agree Throw the checkbook at Polian and give him complete and total control, and things have to get better (can they get worse?). If you hire Polian, I think the chance of the Bills luring in a "real" NFL head coach greatly improve. Who wants to come here the way it is? All we will get is another unwanted, unsuccessful retread like Gailey or an unproven coordinator, and that works about 10% of the time in this league.

 

Here is the bulletin:

 

BILL POLIAN IS NEVER COMING BACK TO THE BUFFALO BILLS IF RALPH WILSON IS ALIVE.

 

Ralph Wilson screwed us when he overreacted to the Polian-Littmann feud after Super Bowl XXVII, and chose Littmann over Polian, dooming us to this GM fiasco we have had for years. Is it any coincidence that our suckitude began after our Polian players retired?? Nope, and now we still pay. He might even be retired for good, who knows?

 

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1993-02-07/sports/1993038135_1_bill-polian-levy-corporate-game

 

I hate Jeff Littmann, and I have never met him. Yeah, I'm a Bills fan...

[GG]

Nix hired Chan Gailey. I still don't understand the hire. He was a retread coach in a league full of recycled mediocre HCs. What was the appeal? Nix, also an odd hire, made understandable because he was hired by a buffoon owner who has a history of weird hires, has passed on many opportunities to get a qb prospect on the roster without even using a first round pick to do so. He selected CB Aaron Williams in the second round a couple of years ago over Kaepernick and Dalton. Last year he moved up in the third round to select a track/receiver, Graham, instead of taking either Russell and Cousins in that same round.

 

The problem with old school type football people such as Nix/Gailey is that they are too imprisoned by their rigid thinking. There is little creativity or ability to see beyond their outdated views and think outside of their small box. Russell Wilson didn't fit their mold of what a qb should look like. So they passed. As the game in Toronto demonstrated he as a rookie exhibited exceptional talent. If anyone watched Kirk Cousins yesterday in the Skins/Browns game it was obvious that as a rookie he is a much more accomplished player than the veteran qb that Nix/Gailey decided to anoint as their franchise qb. The same pedestrian qb they gave a relatively rich contract that was beyond his limited ability.

 

Expecting incompetents to make decisions to get this bedraggled franchise out of its generational rut that they themselved created is futile. When you get on a merry-go-round you go in circles. That cycle of futility stays the same because the same caliber of decision-makers keep getting us on the same circular ride to nowhere.

 

You don't have to be a genius or have gone to Harvard Business School to figure out that when you hire mediocre people you get mediocre results. It's as if this organization is afraid of hiring quality staff out of fear that it will be too strong willed to knuckle to the foolishness of the owner and the fools who surround him.

 

The Gailey hire reeked of desperation 3 years ago, and it's abundantly clearer now. Bills were in an embarrassing position of having each high profile candidate turn them down. Accounts are that the jet was fueld up for a trip to Palo Alto to throw the kitchen sink at Harbaugh, and he said don't bother. Within 24 hours Bills announced the Gailey hiring out of the blue.

 

It's not that Wilson didn't try last time around. He put on a real effort to recruit top flight coaching. The trouble he didn't recognize was that by hiring Nix as GM a few weeks before, he poisoned the well, because the coaching candidates didn't want to risk their careers on an unproven 70-yr old GM who was very likely over his head.

 

Now we see that it worked out exactly how they feared.

[thewildrabbit]

The O line is significantly better since he arrived. Scott Chandler was a very nice find too.

 

I have a hard time saying he didnt bring in good talent. resigning our own guys have been the best culture change Nix has put in. If he continues it with Byrd and Levitre and Rhindhart, we can continue to add talent, rather than replace it

It only took 3 drafts and free agency periods to fix an O line that should have been in the very first off season. This team is filled with cast offs, bums and underachievers. So many defensive players drafted the last 3 years and only the first round picks are doing ok, not great, just ok.

 

Jeez, look at the Job John Elway did in Denver in his two years, and he never had experience at running a franchise.

 

Buddy Nix sucks, the HC he hired sucks, and the DC the HC sucks most of all.

 

The sad thing is will be that nothing changes until this loser of an owner passes on.

[John Cocktosten]

Buddy Nix is a failure. The Bills have been terrible in his tenure. These are his players, his drafts, his FAs and his coaches. On top of all of that he's been a big loudmouth. Taking shots at the Raiders and McNabb for no reason and letting the entire world know what his plans are for every draft have been have been mind numbing.

 

The biggest indictment of Nix is his management of the QB position. Do I really need to elaborate?

 

It's amazing to me that so many fans bought this guy's act from the very beginning. He's a 70 man who's been in football forever and he's just getting his first shot as a GM with a franchise that is a joke. I wonder why? Shocking that he is an utter failure.

[thewildrabbit]

The Bills record under Nix is 15-31. As bad as the record is the team is actually worse than its dismal record would indicate. How many games over the past three years have the Bills won against teams having winning reocrds? Maybe one or two? The real measure of how good a team is is how it performs against good teams. When the Bills played the 49ers and Seahawks they got steam-rolled. It was like UB playing Alabama.

 

Nix hired Chan Gailey. I still don't understand the hire. He was a retread coach in a league full of recycled mediocre HCs. What was the appeal? Nix, also an odd hire, made understandable because he was hired by a buffoon owner who has a history of weird hires, has passed on many opportunities to get a qb prospect on the roster without even using a first round pick to do so. He selected CB Aaron Williams in the second round a couple of years ago over Kaepernick and Dalton. Last year he moved up in the third round to select a track/receiver, Graham, instead of taking either Russell and Cousins in that same round.

 

The problem with old school type football people such as Nix/Gailey is that they are too imprisoned by their rigid thinking. There is little creativity or ability to see beyond their outdated views and think outside of their small box. Russell Wilson didn't fit their mold of what a qb should look like. So they passed. As the game in Toronto demonstrated he as a rookie exhibited exceptional talent. If anyone watched Kirk Cousins yesterday in the Skins/Browns game it was obvious that as a rookie he is a much more accomplished player than the veteran qb that Nix/Gailey decided to anoint as their franchise qb. The same pedestrian qb they gave a relatively rich contract that was beyond his limited ability.

 

Expecting incompetents to make decisions to get this bedraggled franchise out of its generational rut that they themselved created is futile. When you get on a merry-go-round you go in circles. That cycle of futility stays the same because the same caliber of decision-makers keep getting us on the same circular ride to nowhere.

 

You don't have to be a genius or have gone to Harvard Business School to figure out that when you hire mediocre people you get mediocre results. It's as if this organization is afraid of hiring quality staff out of fear that it will be too strong willed to knuckle to the foolishness of the owner and the fools who surround him.

Great points

 

Don't forget that this owner doesn't want a smart, strong willed leader in power as that would usurp his own control. This owner wants someone who he can manipulate, and micromanage. It was stated that during the season Jauron needed to spend hours on the phone every day with Wilson. Calling GM Buddy Nix or the HC on the phone every day is absurd in a Jerry Jones sort of way. What other top HC / executive would stand for that nonsense?

 

It sucks as we fans have no alternative but to wait until this owner passes to see a winning team. What sucks even more is the screw job he is giving the devoted Buffalo Bills fans by selling to the highest bidder and not ensuring the team will stay in the area.

[ganesh]

A real coach might make better of this group. I say fire Nix & Gailey, promote Whaley.

 

As for possible head coaches I'm all for bringing in Raheem Morris as Head Coach & AVP as our OC. Bring in a guy like Brendan Daly to be our DC.

 

:wallbash: He was a horrible coach with the Bills. We need some tough coaches that will maximize the potential of the players on the team. This team really needs a disciplinarian.

[Chicago_Mike]

I would offer the GM job to Bill Polian. If he took it I'd tell him to fix the Bills and then get out of the way.

 

What makes you think this Whaley cat could pick better players?

Bill Polian got a raw deal in Indy, just like he did in Buffalo. The guy is a jerk, but, at this point, who cares? I want him to be our jerk. He's a winner, makes bold/smart moves and doesn't take losing as an option. Do any of us really think that if he was still here we'd be in this 10-year drought with garbage play on both sides of the ball? Probably not.

[mattsox]

Whaley's cred comes from his time in Pittsburgh. That, and he's not 75 years old.

 

LOL. That's all true!!

[Captain Hindsight]

A real coach might make better of this group. I say fire Nix & Gailey, promote Whaley.

 

As for possible head coaches I'm all for bringing in Raheem Morris as Head Coach & AVP as our OC. Bring in a guy like Brendan Daly to be our DC.

You cant be serious. Morris was fired because his team was blown out 7 times last year. Including 6 in a row to finish the year. Not only did the Bucs have a lack of talent, they were woefully unprepared every week

 

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/tam/2011.htm

 

AVP was a joke his one season here as an OC and shouldnt be more than a QBs coach in his career

[bananathumb]

Buddy has failed in his drafting, by not providing a Plan B for quarterback in case the big signing of Fitz failed (which it has), and the hiring of the worst D coordinator I have ever witnessed in operation.

 

Buddy himself said it when he was hired: "Show me the baby".

Well, his baby is a 3year old toddler now, and man is it ugly!

 

You can't flog a baby, but you can fire its parent.