T master Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Have you all thought of this 9 QB's in 1 season tried out at 1 bills drive this season ... We all know the draft picks that we could have made prior to this past year of which none were QB's . The picks that we could have had instead & we all talked about here like Orapko, or Mathews that were sitting there at our picks that we didn't take & could have . But none of those guys would or could have won a SB with out a really good QB. So what if we would have took Dalton, Wilson, Cousins, Foles would we be any better for it ? They say everything happens for a reason, so by keeping Fitz was that a good decision ? I for one think we would have been better off keeping him & paying him rather than releasing him & still paying him & getting nothing for it just b/c he would have been a great mentor for EJ !! Plus when EJ went down this year there would have been more confidence from the others on the team when he had to come in INT's & all . Also we wouldn't have spent money, draft picks & time on the likes of T Jack , Thad Lewis , Kolb, Matt Flynn, Lienhart, Arron Corp, Tuel, Dixon . That is 9 QB's in one season But IF we would have kept Fitz & paid him as i said earlier & got something for the pay we would have had 3 QB's this season instead of 9 & a more stable situation for a rookie QB & the team to be in rather than 9 Qb's in 1 season 9 !!!! Carry on ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 This is going to be a long off-season... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swnybillsfan Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Have you all thought of this 9 QB's in 1 season tried out at 1 bills drive this season ... We all know the draft picks that we could have made prior to this past year of which none were QB's . The picks that we could have had instead & we all talked about here like Orapko, or Mathews that were sitting there at our picks that we didn't take & could have . But none of those guys would or could have won a SB with out a really good QB. So what if we would have took Dalton, Wilson, Cousins, Foles would we be any better for it ? They say everything happens for a reason, so by keeping Fitz was that a good decision ? I for one think we would have been better off keeping him & paying him rather than releasing him & still paying him & getting nothing for it just b/c he would have been a great mentor for EJ !! Plus when EJ went down this year there would have been more confidence from the others on the team when he had to come in INT's & all . Also we wouldn't have spent money, draft picks & time on the likes of T Jack , Thad Lewis , Kolb, Matt Flynn, Lienhart, Arron Corp, Tuel, Dixon . That is 9 QB's in one season But IF we would have kept Fitz & paid him as i said earlier & got something for the pay we would have had 3 QB's this season instead of 9 & a more stable situation for a rookie QB & the team to be in rather than 9 Qb's in 1 season 9 !!!! Carry on ... great points, but i think the problem would have been the possibility for some players to gravitate towards fitz. if all things worked out the same, and fitz came in and won a couple of those games and we were in the thick of the race what happens then? and if manuel came back from injury and struggles, do we have a divide in the locker room? do we have fans screaming for fitz to keep playing while ej sits? and what about the salary that the backup qb is making? also, there are the fitz's feelings on the matter. i love fitz as a human being and really respect the way he gives everything he has, but i don't think it would have been a good situation for anyone had he stayed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjmac Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 This is going to be a long off-season... Aren't they all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KOKBILLS Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 This is going to be a long off-season... You can say that again... great points, but i think the problem would have been the possibility for some players to gravitate towards fitz. if all things worked out the same, and fitz came in and won a couple of those games and we were in the thick of the race what happens then? and if manuel came back from injury and struggles, do we have a divide in the locker room? do we have fans screaming for fitz to keep playing while ej sits? and what about the salary that the backup qb is making? also, there are the fitz's feelings on the matter. i love fitz as a human being and really respect the way he gives everything he has, but i don't think it would have been a good situation for anyone had he stayed. The Bills were going nowhere with Fitz...Period... Now...Maybe they're going nowhere without him...But the two things are mutually exclusive... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 Huh? The Bills would be 9-1 if what happened? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronc24 Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 Have you all thought of this 9 QB's in 1 season tried out at 1 bills drive this season ... We all know the draft picks that we could have made prior to this past year of which none were QB's . The picks that we could have had instead & we all talked about here like Orapko, or Mathews that were sitting there at our picks that we didn't take & could have . But none of those guys would or could have won a SB with out a really good QB. So what if we would have took Dalton, Wilson, Cousins, Foles would we be any better for it ? They say everything happens for a reason, so by keeping Fitz was that a good decision ? I for one think we would have been better off keeping him & paying him rather than releasing him & still paying him & getting nothing for it just b/c he would have been a great mentor for EJ !! Plus when EJ went down this year there would have been more confidence from the others on the team when he had to come in INT's & all . Also we wouldn't have spent money, draft picks & time on the likes of T Jack , Thad Lewis , Kolb, Matt Flynn, Lienhart, Arron Corp, Tuel, Dixon . That is 9 QB's in one season But IF we would have kept Fitz & paid him as i said earlier & got something for the pay we would have had 3 QB's this season instead of 9 & a more stable situation for a rookie QB & the team to be in rather than 9 Qb's in 1 season 9 !!!! Carry on ... As soon as the words "keep" and "Fitz" appeared, I stopped reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PolishDave Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 I for one think we would have been better off keeping Fitz & paying him rather than releasing him & still paying him & getting nothing for it just b/c he would have been a great mentor for EJ !! Even though it is a very unpopular position to take on this forum, I happen to agree that this team would be better off with Fitzpatrick on it. A lot of Bills fans hate Fitzpatrick because they put the majority of blame on him for how bad the Bills were last year. Admittedly Fitzpatrick didn't have a very good year. But, there is no doubt that he is head and shoulders more talented than anything on the Buffalo QB roster right now. So yes the Bills would be better off with him here. And in the supposedly "open quarterback competition" Fitz would likely would have won it easily. He would have started this team all year. It is quite possible that the Bills would have one at least one of those Patriot games given that Fitzpatrick generally played well against them. Heck, he was QB the last time the Bills beat the Patriots. I am not a huge fan of Fitz in all honesty because I think he is just an average quarterback. But, this team wins more games and has a shot at the playoffs if we just had average quarterback play. And I had no problem with the team deciding to get a new quarterback to replace Fitzpatrick, But if you are going to do that, it has to be an upgrade at quarterback, not a downgrade. Even the signing of Kolb was a major downgrade from what Fitzpatrick brought to the table even with his tendency to throw picks at the end of the game. You don't just fire players or fire coaches unless you have a better replacement to fill in for them. That was the one major mistake the front office made coming into this year in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireChan Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 (edited) Even though it is a very unpopular position to take on this forum, I happen to agree that this team would be better off with Fitzpatrick on it. A lot of Bills fans hate Fitzpatrick because they put the majority of blame on him for how bad the Bills were last year. Admittedly Fitzpatrick didn't have a very good year. But, there is no doubt that he is head and shoulders more talented than anything on the Buffalo QB roster right now. So yes the Bills would be better off with him here. And in the supposedly "open quarterback competition" Fitz would likely would have won it easily. He would have started this team all year. It is quite possible that the Bills would have one at least one of those Patriot games given that Fitzpatrick generally played well against them. Heck, he was QB the last time the Bills beat the Patriots. I am not a huge fan of Fitz in all honesty because I think he is just an average quarterback. But, this team wins more games and has a shot at the playoffs if we just had average quarterback play. And I had no problem with the team deciding to get a new quarterback to replace Fitzpatrick, But if you are going to do that, it has to be an upgrade at quarterback, not a downgrade. Even the signing of Kolb was a major downgrade from what Fitzpatrick brought to the table even with his tendency to throw picks at the end of the game. You don't just fire players or fire coaches unless you have a better replacement to fill in for them. That was the one major mistake the front office made coming into this year in my opinion. It's funny because we all heard, "Fitzpatrick is the main reason we lose games," last year. The horrific defense was an afterthought. Then this year we hear, "The 2013 Bills have a top 10 defense and talent all over the board, look how much Whaley has improved this roster, QB play is the reason we lose games." Bills fans still can't understand that EJ and even Thad are worse than Fitzpatrick was in 2012. He might not have been what you call "clutch" or elite enough to win an SB or make a deep playoff push, but does anyone doubt he could've taken this squad to be in the hunt week 17? Supplant his stats over all of our QB play this year and it's quite obvious. This even more damning when we did NOTHING with the $20 million cap space, and I think Fitzpatrick's hit comes next year. What was the point? Oh maybe a locker room schism from our first round pick? We're not even a blip on the media's radar, who create most of the controversy and issues out of nothing. But don't cut SJ13 until we have a guy who will play better than him. You hear that about WR's, not the most important position in the game. Edited January 2, 2014 by FireChan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homey D. Clown Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 Have you all thought of this 9 QB's in 1 season tried out at 1 bills drive this season ... We all know the draft picks that we could have made prior to this past year of which none were QB's . The picks that we could have had instead & we all talked about here like Orapko, or Mathews that were sitting there at our picks that we didn't take & could have . But none of those guys would or could have won a SB with out a really good QB. So what if we would have took Dalton, Wilson, Cousins, Foles would we be any better for it ? They say everything happens for a reason, so by keeping Fitz was that a good decision ? I for one think we would have been better off keeping him & paying him rather than releasing him & still paying him & getting nothing for it just b/c he would have been a great mentor for EJ !! Plus when EJ went down this year there would have been more confidence from the others on the team when he had to come in INT's & all . Also we wouldn't have spent money, draft picks & time on the likes of T Jack , Thad Lewis , Kolb, Matt Flynn, Lienhart, Arron Corp, Tuel, Dixon . That is 9 QB's in one season But IF we would have kept Fitz & paid him as i said earlier & got something for the pay we would have had 3 QB's this season instead of 9 & a more stable situation for a rookie QB & the team to be in rather than 9 Qb's in 1 season 9 !!!! Carry on ... Just ask the fans, local media and anyone with a pulse here in Tennessee on Fitz. I think you'll find that he lost more games for the team in typical fashion than he contributed to winning. Cutting Fitzpatrick was a very good move. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PolishDave Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 Cutting a player when you don't have someone better to replace him with is stupid in my opinion. And making the assumption that "anyone is going to be better" is just as stupid. Cutting or releasing players like that are decisions made based on emotion which rarely end up being good decisions. I thought the job of a general manager was to improve the talent at every position as much as possible so that the coach is equipped with the best tools available to win as many games as possible each season. Isn't that what they teach at General Manager 101 classes? If you think that cutting or releasing a player without having a suitable replacement for him is a good idea, then you and I have drastically different ideas of what good managers do. You only do that when the players attitude is a cancer in the locker room. Which in this case was the exact opposite of the situation at hand. I believe that all you guys who are glad that Fitz is gone from this team are basing that decision on emotion only and not on logic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmur66 Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 These were Fitz's options: -Take a big pay cut and stay in Buffalo as a mentor/backup -Take a big pay cut and go somewhere nice as a back up. What would you do? I agree it would have been nice to keep him around but it wasn't going to happen with the contract he had. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PolishDave Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 These were Fitz's options: -Take a big pay cut and stay in Buffalo as a mentor/backup -Take a big pay cut and go somewhere nice as a back up. What would you do? I agree it would have been nice to keep him around but it wasn't going to happen with the contract he had. I agree that his contract was a problem. That was the mistake of Mr. Nix who decided to sign him to big money while he was on a hot streak. That was the real mistake right there. Had they not done that, they could have signed him at the end of the season to a very reasonable contract in my opinion. But they still could have kept him until they got a better quarterback. Yes they would have been paying him more than he was worth. But they still were under the cap. So they didn't have to let him walk. They chose to let him walk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xsoldier54 Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 Actually with quite a bit smaller of a sample size, Thad Lewis' numbers were eerily similar to Ryan Fitzpatrick's. Both turn the ball over way too much with fumbles and INT's outnumbering TD's. Fitz had a QB rating of 82. Lewis was 81. I don't believe things would have been much different if the team had kept Fitz. They had seen enough of him and decided to move on. Suggest we all do the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1B4IDie Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 (edited) These were Fitz's options: -Take a big pay cut and stay in Buffalo as a mentor/backup -Take a big pay cut and go somewhere nice as a back up. What would you do? I agree it would have been nice to keep him around but it wasn't going to happen with the contract he had. I agree that his contract was a problem. That was the mistake of Mr. Nix who decided to sign him to big money while he was on a hot streak. That was the real mistake right there. Had they not done that, they could have signed him at the end of the season to a very reasonable contract in my opinion. But they still could have kept him until they got a better quarterback. Yes they would have been paying him more than he was worth. But they still were under the cap. So they didn't have to let him walk. They chose to let him walk. In a perfect world without Egos and bloated contracts, Fitz as the Week 1-3 starter then mentor would without a doubt be a great course of action for the Bills. However we live in a world with egos, meddling journalists, salary cap, and mismanaged contracts. Also I don't think the new regime wanted to start their (inevitably short) stints with the Bills in full QB controversy mode. The plan was get a Veteran to push the Rookie. However they choose an obviously horrible option that, with the exception of slipping on a Mat, was easy to foresee that he wind up on IR at the end of the year one way or another. Maybe that was the plan, bring it Glass Joe so EJ is forced to start at some time. That atleast would be a more encouraging plan than thinking Kolb would ever contribute to the team. Edited January 2, 2014 by Why So Serious? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Campy Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 (edited) It's a moot point - I can't imagine a scenario in which Fitz chooses to stay in Bflo after Nix was recorded ripping him during that call with Mark Dominik Edited January 2, 2014 by Campy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Never NEVER Give-up Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 Given the Bills wishes and his choices, he wanted to leave and because he was such a stand-up guy, the Bills wanted to give him every chance to land softly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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