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Buddy, Buddy, Quite Contrary

There are two sides to every story. I get it and will take flack for this from the "other side", but, last night compelled me to sit back, take stock and re-evaluate the merits of the Manuel pick. Today is a new day and....I still feel the same.

Throughout his tenure, Buddy has been anything but conventional. Many of his followers use such adjectives as: sly, slick, keen, even genius. All these plaudits, despite the fact that the NFL is populated with stars and solid producers that he eschewed for "his guys". Other teams put their top picks immediately into action, while his wisdom dictates that his picks "season", "mature", "grow", "develop". I'm not going to enumerate and dissect every pick. You all know who they've been. It is my opinion that in every case (except Dareus), when he's picked, there was a conventional, consensus pick that he took a contrary tack away from. There is conventional wisdom and Buddy's wisdom.

Manuel is another in a string of "could bes", "we'll sees", and "potential-es". No one, not one single pundit or draft expert, listed Manuel as the number 1 QB of the group or, for that matter, anywhere close to the 16th pick, even if other QBs been chosen ahead of him. Conventional wisdom had Manuel mired somewhere in the third round or later. Once again, Buddy sees something the other 31 GMs don't.

Problem is, this wisdom has not translated into one step forward in the progress of this franchise. Conventional wisdom would say re-build on both sides of the ball. Yet, Buddy has spent almost all draft capital on a bottom dwelling defense(Wanstedt..blah blah). No one thought Fitz was a starter, but, he was "their guy" (Gailey..blah, blah) Buddy stated it emphatically. Now, it appears that wagon has been re-hitched to Kevin Kolb, because, conventional wisdom says Manuel is "raw", "a project", "a piece of clay", "might be ready in three or so years" and so on. So, Kolb (or God forbid TJax) will have to man the ship.

Frankly, I'm tired of hearing "three years" at almost every turn this franchise takes. In my opinion, those turns have all been "left turns". We're now entering year four of the "Nix enlightenment". After 4 consecutive left turns, where are you? Conventional wisdom says back where you started, that's where.

In this period of enlightenment, we have witnessed a 16-32 record. We have an impotent offense, a pourous defense and, once again another coaching staff. A first time NFL HC, who, conventional wisdom says, will also take time to become established (three years?). We have acquired a few building blocks, but again, conventional wisdom says a franchise can (should, will) be rebuilt in less time or at the very least be farther ahead than this.

I'm a fan and I will root for whomever the Bills put on the field. But, I will also continue to question(and criticize) the contrarian wisdom of its GM, until such time as he proves his wisdom is right and conventional wisdom is wrong. He has not done that, as yet. Au contraire, his first pick in 2013 is anything but a sign he will.

Just another great fan opinion shared on the pages of BuffaloRumblings.com.