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Buddy Nix and addressing the QB position


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Hey genius, a better coach turned around the team with mostly the same personnel and QB they had in 2010.

So says you. I'm pretty sure there was a substantial influx of new talent to go along with the new and improved coaching.

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This is more gymnastics and speculation (regarding who Buddy like but did not actually draft). It's true that Seattle whiffed on Whitehurst, but at least they were constantly trying hard to upgrade at QB, even though in Hasselback they had a better option than Fitz. And that same burning desire to upgrade at the most important position led to them drafting Wilson even though they had just signed Flynn to a big $$ FA contract. As a result, they appear poised to challenge for the Super Bowl over the next few years. The Bills, meanwhile, sat on their hands and did not even try to draft a young QB to groom, regardless of what they thought of Fitz.

yep. All the holes that Seattle had on defense, and at the skill positions, it was a surprise they used that many resources on the QB position. And they had so much faith in Wilson, they jumped up and snatched him before everyone else did....in the third round,was it?

I'm not saying that we shouldn't have drafted Wilson, but damn guys. 32 teams passed on him. At least twice. Stop trying to nail buddy to the cross. I still feel that buddy picks what his head coach wants. GM scouts and picks the talent, and the HC let's him know what he wants. The funny thing is that they have said that in the past few weeks. A few folks have.

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Buddy built an OL for this team after 15 or so years of futility. He is to be hailed for this imo.

The thing is, he didn't only miss with Wilson. In 2011, he wasted the second pick in round 2 on a corner who completely, flat out sucks. Then, he took a light in the ass, sub-par linebacker with the 4th pick of round 3. This with Ryan Mallett sitting there. He passed on Kaepernick and Mallett for players who suck, and there is no possible excuse for this.

And I don't care what he might have been told by Gailey, scouts, or anyone else. He blew numerous opportunities to make the Buffalo Bills Football Team one that is playoff caliber.

There are no excuses for missing on this many opportunities.

Mallet sucked then and sucks now. Get over it, Bill. ;)

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He was FAR from "responsible..."

 

He was involved... B-)

It's amusing that so many credit Nix as The Big Kahuna Decision Maker in San Diego, particularly all the good decisions. If he made all the good decisions for AJ Smith (who was asleep at the wheel by this line of reasoning) then someone please explain why the !@#$ Buddy's top talent evaluator decision making skills, now that he is actually an NFL GM, are so below average.

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The only thing that worries me is the weakness in this years QB class.

Nix was responsible in choosing Drew Brees and Phillip Rivers,so he knows QB talent.

 

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.

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The issue for me is the QBs he's 'taken a chance on'. Levi Brown is the only QB drafted by Nix. Did anyone, including Nix hold out anything but the faintest hope that Brown would stick on the roster? Follow the GB model. Draft QBs even when you think you may not need them. The position is too valuable to leave to journeymen. QBs who aren't re-signed are avaialble for a reason. QBs who are traded are sent away for a reason (you can get a decent QB this way, but it's probably not much more successful than the draft...for every Matt Schaub I can give you 5 Castles). This year Smith and Flynn might be available via trade or potentially FA. Nothing more than a crapshoot for either.

 

Draft QBs and draft them often.

 

To Kelly's point, Nix has tried upgrading the QB position via other means. It is just that it did not work out. If Vince Young was able to get his career on track, we could be having an excellent starter for the next 4-5 years. Some of Nix's hands may have been tied due to what Chan Gailey wanted and that might have been his single biggest failing .

 

Gailey wanted a scat back and Nix picks Spiller and in the meantime couldn't figure out if his QB was Trent Edwards or Fitzpatrick.

Gailey wanted a wild-cat QB and Nix signs Brad Smith in FA for 15M

Gailey wanted a QB who knew his offense and Nix signs Tyler Thigpen to a FA contract

 

The only time Nix probably went above Gailey was in signing Young to a FA contract and when that failed, trading for Jackson. However, I think due to Gailey's stubbornness and rigidity, they never could get Young into the program and never attempted to get Jackson into the program. The fact that Gailey started Fitz in a meaningless final game against Jets instead of evaluating Tavaris Jackson shows me how much Gailey was reluctant to figure out the QB position.

 

I would like to give a one-time pass to Nix due to how Gailey has toyed around with this position and put Nix in a bad situation. For a team to be successful the GM and HC must be able to work together and Nix did just that, except that his trust in Gailey as a HC and Talent evaluator was misplaced. Chan Gailey has single handedly put back this franchise by 3-4 years.

 

To make it worse, the Bills defense has been 30th and 31st in the league in the past two seasons against the Run and Nix has been forced to close that leak unsuccessfully. He has been forced to invest top draft choice in Dareus, Gilmore, Troupe and big time FA money in Williams, Anderson and Barnett. Again, some of that blame goes to Chan for not hiring the right defensive coaching staff that can put the players to succeed.

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Fans want every QB there is. So when someone breaks through like a Russell Wilson everyone acts like they saw it a mile away.

 

PTR

 

The ole fan fallacy. They also only want the guys they hear about on ESPN. They seem to forget that an NFL organization is responsible for thousands of players and many you never hear about.

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I believe the crux of the matter is that Buddy believe Chan when he told him that he could win with Fitz, so he turned his attention elsewhere because this team had so many holes.

 

When Fitz put the lie to that, Buddy put his buddy out on the street.

 

Now without question, he knows he's got to get a QB.

i dont think thats a good excuse. buddy is supposed to be the talent evaluator--not a lackey yes man who cant see what most of us mere fans saw.

 

that said he made some good picks over the last 2 yrs. some.

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So says you. I'm pretty sure there was a substantial influx of new talent to go along with the new and improved coaching.

 

Meh...the big pieces they added were Aldon Smith and Navarro Bowman--which were excellent moves. Rest of the additions on defense were role players like Whitner and Carlos Rogers. Offense remained largely the same with the exception of Kaepernick, who didn't really play any significant role in the team's initial turn around.

 

Coaching was a huge piece.

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<snip>

The only time Nix probably went above Gailey was in signing Young to a FA contract and when that failed, trading for Jackson. However, I think due to Gailey's stubbornness and rigidity, they never could get Young into the program and never attempted to get Jackson into the program. The fact that Gailey started Fitz in a meaningless final game against Jets instead of evaluating Tavaris Jackson shows me how much Gailey was reluctant to figure out the QB position.

<snip>

Why would Nix have to go above Gailey? Gailey worked for him. This paragraph is evidence that Gailey and Nix were not on the same page and that Gailey was not manipulating Nix like a puppet. Nix brought in two athletes who apparently bonded to Chan's offense like oil to water. (By the way, Thigpen was a pistol QB -- see Kaepernick -- and Smith was signed as a wildcat QB. So really, the only pocket QB that was capable of running the Brady-light offense was Fitzpatrick.)

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Mallet sucked then and sucks now. Get over it, Bill. ;)

 

Do you have a link to Mallets suckitude ? Not sure how he's sucked for so long. Backing up Brady does not equal suckitude IMO.

 

Just another qb ignored in the draft by buffalo that's probably light years better than fitz and co.

 

 

Mallett was a machine in college.

Edited by Ryan L Billz
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To Kelly's point, Nix has tried upgrading the QB position via other means. It is just that it did not work out. If Vince Young was able to get his career on track, we could be having an excellent starter for the next 4-5 years. Some of Nix's hands may have been tied due to what Chan Gailey wanted and that might have been his single biggest failing .

 

Gailey wanted a scat back and Nix picks Spiller and in the meantime couldn't figure out if his QB was Trent Edwards or Fitzpatrick.

Gailey wanted a wild-cat QB and Nix signs Brad Smith in FA for 15M

Gailey wanted a QB who knew his offense and Nix signs Tyler Thigpen to a FA contract

 

The only time Nix probably went above Gailey was in signing Young to a FA contract and when that failed, trading for Jackson. However, I think due to Gailey's stubbornness and rigidity, they never could get Young into the program and never attempted to get Jackson into the program. The fact that Gailey started Fitz in a meaningless final game against Jets instead of evaluating Tavaris Jackson shows me how much Gailey was reluctant to figure out the QB position.

 

I would like to give a one-time pass to Nix due to how Gailey has toyed around with this position and put Nix in a bad situation. For a team to be successful the GM and HC must be able to work together and Nix did just that, except that his trust in Gailey as a HC and Talent evaluator was misplaced. Chan Gailey has single handedly put back this franchise by 3-4 years.

 

To make it worse, the Bills defense has been 30th and 31st in the league in the past two seasons against the Run and Nix has been forced to close that leak unsuccessfully. He has been forced to invest top draft choice in Dareus, Gilmore, Troupe and big time FA money in Williams, Anderson and Barnett. Again, some of that blame goes to Chan for not hiring the right defensive coaching staff that can put the players to succeed.

I wouldn't give Nix a pass on anything!!

 

Buddy Nix has been the head of football operations and thus is responsible for every move made in Buffalo. The man chose Chan Gailey as his head coach and stuck with him the very same way that Gailey stuck with Fitz the last 3 years. Halfway thru this past season Nix gave Gailey his endorsement and stated he would be his HC for 2013 and beyond! What happened with that? Nix also stated he thought Gailey was one of the premiere offensive minds in the NFL. If that were even remotely true Gailey would have been offered a job as OC or HC on another team.

 

Gailey couldn't identify talent at any position and neither can Buddy Nix, a man who everyone around here has been touting as the greatest thing since Bill Polian. BTW it was John Butler who picked Drew Brees and Charger HC Marty Shottenheimer who had coached Phillip Rivers in the senior bowl that year, and liked what he saw.

 

Buddy Nix did a worse job as GM then Marv Levy! Besides CJ Spiller (who was Gaileys waterbug pick), what player has turned out to be a future pro bowler, superstar? Look at all the maybes and bums over the last 3 years, on a team desperate for a pass rusher, desperate for a QB, desperate for a WR, desperate for LBers.

 

Not to even mention how badly the defense has performed over the last 3 years despite all the draft picks spent on defense, its moronic some how some of you still defend this failure of a GM.

Buddy Nix is responsible for the entire team, offense and defense !!! 16-32 is horrid. How this man still has a job as GM is beyond me.

Edited by FeartheLosing
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Buddy built an OL for this team after 15 or so years of futility. He is to be hailed for this imo.

The thing is, he didn't only miss with Wilson. In 2011, he wasted the second pick in round 2 on a corner who completely, flat out sucks. Then, he took a light in the ass, sub-par linebacker with the 4th pick of round 3. This with Ryan Mallett sitting there. He passed on Kaepernick and Mallett for players who suck, and there is no possible excuse for this.

And I don't care what he might have been told by Gailey, scouts, or anyone else. He blew numerous opportunities to make the Buffalo Bills Football Team one that is playoff caliber.

There are no excuses for missing on this many opportunities.

Good points. I agree that Aaron WIlliams is not a good CB but he was projected on most draft sites as a Safety in the NFL. Sheppard was a 4th or 5th rounder who was seen as a spot starter/back up and a special teamer. Mallett has done nothing in the pros to say passing on him was an error. NIx is not alone in these misjudgements, the whole scouting staff is to be held accountable. Dalton and Kaepernick were there in the 2nd and one should have been chosen. They need to scrap the evaluation system they use, bring in a outside set of eyes (like Bill Polian) and improve on the nuts and bolts while they can. I almost think an average fan can do just as good a job for the Bills by studying draft sites, senior bowl games and watching the combine. (tongue in cheek) Edited by Nitro
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Do you have a link to Mallets suckitude ? Not sure how he's sucked for so long. Backing up Brady does not equal suckitude IMO.

 

Just another qb ignored in the draft by buffalo that's probably light years better than fitz and co.

 

 

Mallett was a machine in college.

Because he barely beat out Brian Hoyer and hasn't looked good (like, for instance, he had one good game and three poor ones in pre season). He completed less than 50% in those games?

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So every GM who hs whiffed on some players is a buffoon. So the GM's who let Urbik go, Pears go and who thought Cordy Glenn was a guard....what are they? JJ Watt could be the next Roid bust and Dareus could have a huge year next year. You probably thought Eric Moulds was a bust because his first two years were awful. You can't just cherry pick the bad without crediting him with the good. We are strong in the trenches thanks to Buddy. He's being phased out so quit the bile.

Well, wood and Levitre were already here when Buddy got here. Pears sucks. But Glenn looks like a stud, so I give him that. Our Trenches on the other side were abysmal.

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Ummmm... Because twice the Chargers had the #1 overall pick?

 

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.

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