Chris Brown of BuffaloBills.com joined the rest of the local media for a session with Nix on the practice field and put Nix's spin into perspective. In the end, the prevailing theme to come out of Nix's presser was that he is trying to prepare the fan base for a true rebuilding of the franchise.
As for the two big roster moves, Nix had detailed answers at the ready.
"We wanted to see for ourselves what Trent could do," he said about Edwards. "We knew he had the ability. He's willing. He's intelligent. He did all the things we asked. We went through OTAs. We went through preseason, camp the whole deal and he did everything we asked him to do, and there was promise there.
"Buffalo has got people all over the league that have been here that are playing good for other people. I didn't want to come in here and cut guys that could help us win. So then we got into the regular season and it didn't work out. We didn't have the production that we wanted. We decided that wasn't the answer for us or for him so we made the change."
Edwards landed in Jacksonville with the Jaguars as a backup to David Garrard and will be back in Buffalo this Sunday on the visiting side when the 0-4 Bills host the 2-2 Jaguars at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Ryan Fitzpatrick is the new starting quarterback for Buffalo and hasn't done that poorly in his last two games, nearly leading the Bills to an upset over the New England Patriots two weeks ago.
As for Lynch, who was a first-round pick of the organization a few years ago, he had voiced his desire to be traded shortly after the Bills drafted running back C.J. Spiller in the first round of April's draft. But early on Nix and Bills coach Chan Gailey seemed to like the idea of having a three-headed backfield. Eventually that changed in the eyes of the coach and the general manager.
"Three backs, obviously when we kept him and went through camp and got two guys hurt (Lynch and Fred Jackson) in the first six plays of preseason it felt really good to have three backs," Nix said. "Now once we got them all healthy and they're not getting the number of touches then we decided it was time. There's no need in me trying to say we would've been better off to have done it then or now or whatever.
"I don't understand what good it does to go through the summer or preseason with a draft pick in your pocket that you can't use until April. Why not do it when we did it? It's the same draft pick. It's in our pocket and we can't use it until April."
Well, that's one way to look at it. Regardless of the reasons, Nix and Gailey are trying to right a ship that has been sinking for a decade and restore it to the glory days of the 1990s when the Bills made it to four consecutive Super Bowls. To that end, he is hoping the fan base will show a little patience.
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