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By my count, this is at least the third instance in which McCoy has been requested for an interview. He had it easy this season with Peyton Manning as his quarterback and leading the offense on the field, but McCoy had to create an innovative offense on short notice when Tim Tebow was named the starting quarterback. His creative thinking and the implementation of the option was one of the key factors in the Denver Broncos making the playoffs and winning a postseason game.

McCoy is another high-profile target in the Bills search for a new head coach. CEO Russ Brandon would like to add former Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt, and the Bills will also be interviewing Cardinals defensive coordinator Ray Horton and Syracuse Orange head coach Daoug Marrone from the college ranks. Lovie Smith has also shown interest, and the Bills had better call him up for an interview. Smith probably won’t last long on the free agent list.

Russ Brandon said all the right things in a great presser today, but the Bills and their fans need some true action. That action will be seen in how Brandon goes about hiring the new head coach. If it’s Marrone, then the Bills are in trouble. They have set their sights relatively high with regards to the other coaches they are looking at, and Smith and Whisenhunt look like the most attractive options. McCoy has the makings of a quality head coach, so it is wise for Buffalo to ask for an interview.

You can follow Joe Soriano on Twitter @SorianoJoe.

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The Bills are also taking a close look at another Cardinals coach in current defensive coordinator Ray Horton, who also has ties to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Horton is one of the best defensive minds in the game and has helped the Cardinals defense flourish as one of the best in the NFL. Syracuse Orange head coach Doug Marrone will also be brought into Orchard Park for an interview, but the Bills interest in the in-area college coach is quizzical.

Tim Graham of the Buffalo News also wrote that Lovie Smith- fired by the Chicago Bears yesterday- is interested in the Bills gig.

It’s clear to me that the order of talent of those three head coaches goes Smith, Whisenhunt, and then Marrone. The drop-off between Whisenhunt and Marrone is much greater than the one between Smith and Whisehunt, because both Smith and Whisenhunt are and have been viable head coaches in the National Football League.

We’ll see when the Bills schedule an interview with Whisenhunt, and it is Brandon who is currently calling the shots for the Bills. Although Buddy Nix was retained as the GM, the Bills front office is in a period of transition. It’s better for the Bills to have Brandon heading up the coaching search anyway, because it seems like he is much better at it than Nix.

You can follow Joe Soriano on Twitter @SorianoJoe.

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To me, this move doesn’t make any sense. I’m a bit biased here, because Nix rubs me the wrong way personally and that has to do with his comments on Ryan Fitzpatrick earlier this season. In the middle of the season, he kept pressing the point that the franchise has given up on Fitzpatrick and that the Bills would be drafting a new quarterback. I agree with him that the Bills need to move in another direction, but there is no reason for him to tell the press that and give up on his QB in the middle of the year.

Fitzpatrick is actually cheaper to the Bills if he his cut, and it’s time to get rid of him. But it’s not right to hang him out to dry like that, and that lack of professionalism bothered me. Nix, by the way, was the guy who imprudently gave Fitzpatrick a giant extension that was even more unwarranted and bloated than the deal Kevin Kolb received from the Arizona Cardinals.

This has nothing to do with an argument about how Kolb and Fitzpatrick compare, but it’s about Nix being a bad GM in that instance. He decided to give Fitzpatrick a big deal after a few hot weeks of play, which is something nobody should do. Fitzpatrick almost prophetically cooled off as the season wore on and began to look like pre-streak Fitzpatrick, which magnified the decision.

Another thing to keep in mind is that it is more excusable for a team to overpay for a free agent QB with perceived potential, because there is a lot of competition for a franchise QB. It’s a risky business, but teams are desperate and feel the need to make a deal, Otherwise, someone else is. However, when that quarterback is on your team (like Fitzpatrick), then there is absolutely no way to justify overpaying to extend a player after a small sample size of play that goes against his entire career before then.

Bad business like this is why Buddy Nix should be out the door, because it makes no sense to keep him around and have Gailey fired. I blame Nix much more than I blame Gailey, because Gailey was dealt a bad hand of cards by Nix. He didn’t have a true franchise QB, nor did he have an adequate defensive coordinator to help him (Gailey is an offensive guru). That’s not even mentioning the poor drafts Nix has had and his inability to properly evaluate cornerbacks (aside from Stephen Gilmore, who has been very good as a rookie this year).

You can follow Joe Soriano on Twitter @SorianoJoe.