In Buffalo, nostalgia reigns supreme. When Bills owner Ralph Wilson, 87, reached into the franchise’s past and hired former coach Marv Levy, 80, as general manager last winter, part of it at least seemed cute. After all, Levy is a Hall of Famer who helped take the Bills farther than anyone ever had. Yet by hiring Levy, Wilson, who is as hands-on as any owner, including Daniel Snyder – also ensured that the current braintrust of the team would be a combined age of 167.

I’m not the type of person to criticize age. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find somebody who respects their elders as much as I do. Yet I’m also far from the only person to ask just what the hell has been going on in Orchard Park lately. Over the past three seasons, the Bills’ offensive line has surrendered 132 sacks. That’s an average of 44 per season (43 last year), or nearly three a game. Using these statistical facts as a reference point, football personnel – or, toilet cleaning personnel – would generally consider addressing this issue, an Achilles heel in the success of any football team, via the draft or free agency.

To review, the wet paper bag-quality of the Bills’ incumbent O-line has in the past few years: Helped drive Drew Bledsoe out of town, to a Super Bowl contender where everyone realized he wasn’t finished; risked further injury to Willis McGahee, who is already running on one rebuilt knee; cost the team four years’ worth of number one pick money on Mike Williams, the street corner who took out charter membership in the Tony Mandarich Club; and potentially damaged the learning curve of J.P. Losman, whose gunslinger mentality might be calmed with more than four nanoseconds of drop time.

In response, 17 decades of experience called the name “Donte Whitner” at the draft in April. While the only true first-round line option they had in the draft was Winston Justice, the selection of Whitner possibly ensconced Levy in the Rob Babcock/Rafael Araujo school of paying first round money for second round talent. (Not to mention also letting Matt Leinart slide, but that’s a story for when Losman is inducted into Canton alongside Leinart.)

LOL.

Even if addressing the problems on the line weren’t going to be via the draft, you’d think the Bills would look into free agency or trades seeing as they’re not completely hamstrung by the cap? Nah. They subsequently showed zero interest in Jon Runyan, and after essentially dissing then-Cardinals tackle L.J. Shelton last year while trying to barter a deal for Travis Henry, Buffalo ensured they wouldn’t be able to sign him as an unrestricted free agent this year. Instead, Shelton will ply his trade in Miami, where he’ll likely experience something the Bills haven’t in seven years: Playoff football. In the end the Bills almost mercifully signed Melvin Fowler, by all accounts a serviceable centre/guard to play alongside the incumbents – Mike Gandy, Jason Peters, Duke Preston and Chris Villarial.

The quarterback stockpiling continues, however – Kliff “with a K” Kingsbury last week joined Losman, Craig Nall and Kelly Holcomb. I suppose in the land of nostalgia, you build from the top down. With poor material.

What do you think about the Bills? Let John Chick know at john.chick@atomicsportsmedia.com