why is this so hard to understand....

[THE END OF ALL DAYS]

Lots of folks today saying we no longer need to draft QB as a priority...

I think thats wrong thinking

Fitz has played well.... but looking at his body of work you can see that he is not a franchise QB.... but hes an excellent guy to hold the spot as we develope a real franchis QB.

So... you draft the franchise qb this year, let fitz play 1-2 years as we build the rest of our line (both O and D) and while we build, the franchise works in the system behind fitz so that we are not throwing him to the damn wolves to get killed in his first year and destroy him like every other qb we've had since Kelly.

now 2years from now we've built the rest of the team up so the franchise qb now can step in with some solid support around him and suddenly we have a real football team.

this just seems so simple to me.... right?

[imbondz]

it never works that way. one bad game by Fitz, the rookie QB goes in, plays horrible, loses all confidence, career is screwed.

make a decision and stick with it. if we draft a QB, he starts next season like Bradford this year. QB controversy's rarely work.

[justasportsfan]

we need a franchise qb PERIOD!

Kelly Holcomb threw for 429 yards a 3 tds in a playoff game.

[Yasgur's Farm]

There's nothing at all wrong with this offense... From the line to the wideouts... All are growing and getting better.

That said... Our defense is clearly the need and should be top priority after this season. However... I've always been a "best player avaialable" guy with a little weight given to need... It's kinda like a BPA+Need=Pick formula.

[THE END OF ALL DAYS]

it never works that way. one bad game by Fitz, the rookie QB goes in, plays horrible, loses all confidence, career is screwed.

make a decision and stick with it. if we draft a QB, he starts next season like Bradford this year. QB controversy's rarely work.
I respectfully dissagree.... look at GreenBay with the way rogers sat behind farvre for 3 years

[Dr. Taylor Zaius]

Get a franchise QB *****:couch:

[imbondz]

but favre compared to Fitz doesn't even make sense. there was no way rogers was going in if Favre had a bad game. it's just not the same scenario.

[Yasgur's Farm]

That worked well for Favre/Rogers and Brees/Rivers... But I'm hard pressed to come up with more than that over the last 5 years.

[THE END OF ALL DAYS]

but the bills will be bad for at least 2 more years so playing fitz is not like we will miss the SB just because of that position

[Bangarang]

I respectfully dissagree.... look at GreenBay with the way rogers sat behind farvre for 3 years

That's the exception, not the rule.

[DraftBoy]

Imo the best situation for any QB is to sit a full year out and learn before playing. There are examples of success on both sides of the coin, but that is my personal preference.

[DraftBoy]

That's the exception, not the rule.

Palmer and McNair (RIP) both sat out as first too.

[trapezeus]

and if you treat fitz right, he'll be a long term answer to being a part of the organization and not just a rotating member of people who come in and out.

i look at him as a good AVP option. AVP would have been fine as a gap filler while a new guy was groomed. however, we went bledsoe and that was that for him and he went into coaching.

i think fitz has the knowledgebase to be a good QB coach if he can be a good teacher.

[Beebe's Kid]

I guess that when you look around the league there are plenty of QB's that took time to develop. Maybe Fitz took some time, and is developing.

There is one thing that he has that you can't teach, and that's balls. The guy leaves it all on the field. It wouldn't take very long to compile a list of "franchise" QB's that didn't work out because of no balls.

I don't "know" what we've got in Fitzy. I thought I had an idea, but it was very hard to "know," like so many say so flippantly.

I know that our offense couldn't move the ball, now we do. I also know it is not often that a team that puts as many points on the board as we do loses every game.

Here's the silver lining in this big debate...we don't have to make the decision today. Right now Fitz has the second highest QB rating in the NFL behind Peyton. Rating doesn't matter? That would be the argument, I suppose, but truth is, rating does matter.

Fitzy throws picks...He throws picks because he takes chances. I would have to think that he will develop in that area, and make better decisions. He's smart, we "know" that. Also...all of the great QB's throw picks. I am not saying Fitz is great...not by a long shot, but just pointing out that great QB's throw picks because they take chances, and have confidence. If those chances pay off more than not...you are great.

I have to say that Fitzy has surprised the **** out of me. I'll admit that I was ready to cut him in the preseason. I am not exactly ready to hang our future on him, but if he continues to produce, I would at least consider it.

Fitzy is smart, has balls, he can run, and has shown more accuracy than I ever imagined. Most importantly...he's a leader. I know Bills fans feel we need a QB, but we might have gotten lucky, and stumbled onto one. I am not giving him a key to the city yet, but if he continues his current pace the rest of the year, how do tell him he's out??

Assuming that everything remained the same and our offense ends the year looking like it did yesterday...I would go all D in the first couple rounds. Quicker payoff, and we are ****ing horrible. We could potentially build a monster D quickly, and be contending in a couple years.

There is a reason to watch the rest of these games...imagine that.

[Beebe's Kid]

and if you treat fitz right, he'll be a long term answer to being a part of the organization and not just a rotating member of people who come in and out.

i look at him as a good AVP option. AVP would have been fine as a gap filler while a new guy was groomed. however, we went bledsoe and that was that for him and he went into coaching.

i think fitz has the knowledgebase to be a good QB coach if he can be a good teacher.

I agree with you, except that AVP wasn't a fraction of the competitor that Fitzy is.

If Fitzy keeps up the way he's playing, he'll get a job and won't be able to pass it up, to carry the clipboard for a young kid making 60 mill.

[Beebe's Kid]

Palmer and McNair (RIP) both sat out as first too.

If Palmer was a Bill, I'd be disappointed. I may be alone, but he is not a "franchise" guy, in my eyes. Well...he is fine to be somebody else's franchise guy...just not ours!!

[trapezeus]

I agree with you, except that AVP wasn't a fraction of the competitor that Fitzy is.

If Fitzy keeps up the way he's playing, he'll get a job and won't be able to pass it up, to carry the clipboard for a young kid making 60 mill.

yeah, i thinkt he bills will have to pay fitz a bit of a premium to keep him. but most people aren't looking to be above .500 this eyar or next. so you pay extra to keep him. He's going to absorb some brutal shots during this year and next. at that point, he might just be willing to start transitioning to a lucrative life of coaching and be a potential replacement for gailey. gailey isn't exactly a spring chicken.

There has to be a way to give fitz incentive to be in the organization long term.

[Jan Reimers]

Since we don't have to decide on the draft right this instant, I'm in the camp of evaluating not only Fitz, but our WRs, O-line, and several other positions/players over the remaining 10 games.

I'm not convinced that Fitz is the guy, but if he plays well the remainder of the season, and there's not a QB in the draft that we really love, the pressure to reach is off. We could then go heavy on D, which we KNOW we desperately need. Fitz still might not be the long term answer, but we could win with him and a better D.

[THE END OF ALL DAYS]

win what? the goal is the super bowl not a winning record. 9 times out of 10 SB winners have awesome QBs not journeymen

[DesertFox24]

Everyone on here wants some guy with a name. Fitz has no name at this point.

Look he might not ever become the guy and come crashing down to earth or maybe he does become a good player.

The one thing all of you should pay attention to is what the ravens said about us, THAT IS RESPECT FROM THE BEST DEFENSE in the NFL.

Warner was a nobody and became a somebody because he was put in the right system, maybe Fitz could be same guy.

The one thing I will say it is nice as hell to see someone with some balls throwing the ball in tight windows that guys like Favre and Jimbo do/did.

[THE END OF ALL DAYS]

hey desert can you throw up a link on what the ravens said about the bills post game?

[Night Train]

No matter where we select in Round 1 this coming April, it's 90 % the pick will be a QB. It's the last marketing move they have left to prevent a complete collapse in season ticket sales.

I just happy that Fitz played very well and wasn't a reason whatsoever in a tough loss. Long term, he is still a backup and most everyone knows this.

Our first pick will be QB but that better be followed with like 5 picks for the Front 7 on D. And they need to nail them.