Most of us are well aware that Fitz isn't the long term answer at QB. From his comments, it appears that Buddy Nix has come around to the same conclusion. (Of course, Nix also said Gailey's job was safe and look how that turned out.) There is a chance that a premier defender, such as Manti Te'o, could be on the board when the Bills are on the clock. There will also be a number of QB prospects, all of whom have issues of one sort or another. I saw an article - here on Rumblings, I think - about Buffalo, Wishenhunt and Alex Smith. I decided to do a little digging on Smith and provide some comparison to Ryan Fitzpatrick.

I included numbers for 71 games for Smith (2006, 2007, 2009-2012) and 68 for Fitzpatrick (2008-2012).

Name.....Games...Starts..Comp....Att......%.....Yds.......Avg.....TD....INT.....Sack....Sack Yard.....QB Rate

Smith......71............68.........1206..2012..59.7..13405...6.6.....80.....52......167.......997..................81.7

Fitz.........68..............65........1262...2114..59.1..13559...6.3.....88....73.......135.......774.................76.8

Quite frankly, I was expecting Smith's QB rating to be quite a bit higher than Fitz. While Smith is 5 points higher, I don't know that it represents enough to decide that Smith could be the QB Buffalo has been looking for. Each has thrown about as many passes with about as many completions through their 70ish games. Smith's average yards per attempt is a third of a yard higher than Fitz's but again they are close. Smith turns 29 in May while Fitz just turned 30 in November.

Smith does have a much better TD-INT ratio. I looked up some highlights on Youtube and Smith had several throws that went 55 yards in the air. While Smith had to use good mechanics to get the ball to travel that far he didn't need to contort his body as Fitz does just to get the ball to go about 40 yards in the air. What's more, Smith hit on those long passes. (Yeah, it was a highlight reel so they probably wouldn't put INCs on there. Plus he's throwing to guys who can make QBs look good, like Vernon Davis.)

Fitz takes fewer sacks than Smith. I wouldn't put it all on the offensive lines. Fitz has been operating in a quick pass offense but also may make quicker decisions than Smith. While he's not known for it, Smith has some wheels so I don't see Fitz's scrambling to be as big of an edge as some might think.

Something to keep in mind is that the Bills have $10 million in dead money dedicated to Fitz and would only save about half a million against the cap by cutting him outright. I'm guessing that signing Smith would carry a cap hit in the $10ish million range.