The Buffalo Bills Are Becoming a Joke

January 27,1991 is a not so distant memory for the fans of The Buffalo
Bills. Scott Norwood missed a field goal in the final seconds that would
have given The Bills the win in Super Bowl 25 versus The New York
Giants. Slowly but surely the wheels started to fall of for The Bills
after this game. The Bills made three consecutive Super Bowl appearances
following this loss, only to have each loss be more devastating that
the last one. After the one point loss to The Giants, The Bills lost the
next three Super Bowls by a combined score of 119-54. The Bills
remained competitive through the 1990s but have since joined the
category of also-rans.

Since Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly retired in 1996, The Bills have
had a carousel at the position. The Bills had something going with Doug
Flutie at quarterback until head coach Wade Phillips decided to bench
Flutie in favor of Rob Johnson for the postseason in 1999. The Bills
lost in “The Music City Miracle” versus The Tennessee Titans and have
not been to the playoffs since. Even when The Bills tried to address the
quarterback situation in the draft, it left fans scratching their
heads.

In 2004 The Bills used a first round pick on quarterback JP Losman. The
highlight of Losman’s time in Buffalo was when he left town. The Bills
followed this up by drafting quarterback Trent Edwards in the third
round in 2007 and he flamed out as well..In four years The Bills whiffed
twice at the most important position on the field. Recently the draft
has found The Bills picking consistently in the top 12 only to make
mistakes in personnel. When teams draft that high and miss on the pick
it can set the franchise back a few seasons. Since 2000 The Bills have
either released or traded most of their first round picks. Recently The
Bills released Aaron Maybin who was the eleventh overall pick in 2009.
The Bills made the mistake of selecting a linebacker that only weighs
226 lbs which is about 20-25 lbs off of what a linebacker normally
weighs. Maybin was asked to go up against left tackles in The National
Football League that generally weigh in over 300 lbs. The pass rushing
skills that worked in college couldn’t translate to the pros. 2007 saw
The Bills draft Marshawn Lynch and the running back had constant run-ins
with law enforcement. Lynch was traded last season to The Seattle
Seahawks and had one of the best touchdown runs in playoff history when
he had defensive players for The New Orleans Saints bouncing off of him
like dandruff.

1995 was the last year that The Bills won The AFC East. Since that time
they have seen each divisional foe win the division at least twice with
The New England Patriots making five Super Bowl appearances. The glory
years of this franchise in Western New York were when general manager
Bill Polian and head coach were Marv Levy were running the shots in the
late 1980s and 1990s. The Bills drafted players such as running back
Thurman Thomas and wide receiver Andre Reed during this time which made
The Bills one of the best teams in football.

The same way that The Bills have had constant turnover at quarterback,
they have had that same problem with head coaches and general managers.
Since Polian left in 1993, The Bills have had five general managers
while they have had six head coaches since Levy retired in 1997. For any
team to succeed you need stability at these positions. As The Bills are
now finding out this is the equivalent of having a runaway train with
the engineer being on a coffee break. The engineer in this case is owner
Ralph Wilson. His beloved Bills have become a joke and the highlight of
their season has been playing one home game a year in Toronto.

Current general manager Buddy Nix has had three drafts under his belt
with little results to show for. Head coach Chan Gailey has put his
poker chips in the hands of quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. In my opinion
Fitzpatrick is a career backup that should be looked upon to play a few
games in the case of the starter being injured. Gailey feels that
Fitzpatrick is the guy and that’s scary. The Patriots have Bill
Belichick who is leading that team and Tom Brady at quarterback to form
their duo. The Jets have the upstart quarterback in Mark Sanchez to go
along with head coach Rex Ryan. The Bills don’t have anything to get the
fan base excited for better times. The Patriots and Jets have built
their foundations which is why they are competing for division supremacy
while The Bills have become a doormat. Sooner rather than later for The
Bills and their fan base, they need to figure things out.