Why Buffalo Bills Are Starting To Regret Paying Big Bucks to Ryan Fitzpatrick

After a hot start to the 2011 season, the Bills awarded their quarterback with a hefty contract that made a declaration that he was their starter for the foreseeable future. 

Now that the Bills find themselves in a free-fall, they are starting to regret giving Fitzpatrick that huge deal. They have no one to blame but themselves due to their failure to recognize Fitzpatrick's limitations.

Fitzpatrick is a very streaky player. He will have stretches of spectacular play then follow it up with complete ineptitude. The Bills offense relies a lot on timing and confusion. When that timing is thrown off and defenses figure out what the Bills are trying to do, Fitzpatrick is very limited as a player. 

It is also possible that Ryan's early success was more of a product of playing in Chan Gailey's quarterback-friendly offense than his actually ability. Gailey has made a living making terrible quarterbacks, like Tyler Thigpen, look serviceable and using "smoke and mirrors" to create offense. 

When you go back and look at the Bills great start to the season, the key question is, was Fitzpatrick really the reason why this team was winning? Or was it an overachieving offensive line and an opportunistic defense (which has also turned for the worse as of late) that gave Fitzpatrick a chance to succeed?

This game against the Jets will tell us a lot about Fitzpatrick. If he can perform without a lot of his receivers and their best offensive player, Eric Wood, the Bills will certainly feel better about the decision they made. If the fortunes of the Bills continue to spiral downward, the Bills can actually get out of Fitzpatrick's contract at the end of the season. 

One thing we know for sure: the next month will have a huge impact on the direction the Buffalo Bills will go over the next few yeas.