Now What?

Well, the unthinkable happened on Sunday.  A Buffalo Bills QB (Ryan Fitzpatrick) threw for over 300 yards in a game; 374 to be exact.  It was the first time such feat had been accomplished since it happened 59 games previous to that.  Fitzpatrick also threw 4 touchdowns on the day as well as the Bills played well enough to win, but once again got jobbed by the officials.  But that's not what this post is about.  What it is about is, what do the Bills do now?

Fitzpatrick is playing like an absolute man amongst boys out there this season.  He's currently 2nd in the entire NFL is QB rating behind only Peyton Manning.  He's tied for 4th in the league with 11 TD passes despite only playing in 4 of the teams 6 games.  Basically he's doing everything Trent Edwards could never do.  He's going out there, unafraid and throwing the ball; and he's doing it VERY effectively.  He's easily the best QB we've seen in a Bills uniform in 10 years.  Which leads me to my ultimate question/dilemma and reason why I posted this to the blog: What do the Bills now do about their draft selection in the upcoming 2011 NFL draft?

Ralph Wilson has already come out and stated the problems this franchise currently finds themselves in are his fault, and that the team needs a franchise QB and that GM Buddy Nix was going to spend the next few weeks scouting the top college QB's. Which would lead one to believe that Ralph Wilson wants his team to draft a QB in April.  But if Ryan Fitzpatrick keeps this up, how can you justify taking a QB with your #1 overall selection (top 5 pick) when your QB is 2nd in the league in QB rating and CLEARLY isn't the problem?  As crazy as I'm about to sound right now, Fitzpatrick is everything you want your QB to be.  He's fearless, he's smart (Harvard grad, killed the wonderlic), he has decent size, he's only 27, he's mobile, and he's the ultimate team player.  Yes I realize that Andrew Luck could be great, but for every Peyton Manning in the NFL draft, there is a Ryan Leaf. 

It is clear that right now, the reason this team is losing football games is because of the defense.  The defense is putrid, which is shocking considering how great our secondary was last year.  They just physically can not stop anyone at this point in the season.  I'm sure it has something to do with the scheme change, new defensive coordinator, blah blah blah.  But at some point you have to look at the real issues, which are, guys just aren't performing and we don't have playmakers in the KEY spots.  This defense is in DIRE need of linebackers, and defensive linemen.  Buffalo has given up an average of 36 pts per game in their past 5 games.  This team needs defensive help, DESPERATELY.

 Chan Gailey has proved to be the offensive mind we were told he was thus far.  He has the offense scoring about 27 pts per game since Fitzpatrick took over for Edwards, which should be enough to win most weeks in the NFL.  He has Fitzpatrick doing what Edwards could never do; throw the ball downfield to your big player receiver Lee Evans.  Evans has 17 catches and 4 TD's since Fitzpatrick's take over vs. 4 catches and 0 TD's with Edwards.  My point is, come draft day, I pray that Buddy Nix and Chan Gailey sit down and decide that this team needs to trade down a few picks, acquire more picks, and draft defensive players (and offensive linemen).  Someone like Marcell Dareus immediately comes to mind. 

While I wouldn't be UPSET persay if they drafted Andrew Luck, I'm not sure I would be happy.  Drafting a franchise QB seems like a great idea when you're winless, but really ... what more could Andrew Luck do than what Ryan Fitzpatrick is currently doing to get this team winning football games?  The losses fall on George Edwards and the defense.