Choose Your Weapon

Tarvaris Jackson may represent an upgrade over Vince Young.

And getting punched repeatedly about the head and neck might be better than being beaten with a flat-bladed coal shovel.

Three outings by Vince Young, the latest featuring two rather gruesome interceptions, apparently convinced Chan Gailey that for all of the former Heisman Trophy winner’s physical gifts, quickly picking up a complex offensive system is not one of them.

But.

If management believes Jackson, whom reports have heading to town from Seattle for a late-round draft pick, improves the quarterbacking depth chart, you know Gailey and Buddy Nix are at least as worried as the public at large.

Jackson’s first opportunity came in Minnesota, where he so impressed Vikings brass in parts of two seasons as a starter that they went out and exhumed Brett Favre. Twice.

And after Favre mercifully, probably retired, the Vikings decided that a thoroughly shot Donovan McNabb was a better option, shipping Jackson to Seattle.

His performance there last year convinced the Seahawks to draft a quarterback last spring. Kelly Russell Wilson won the starting job in camp, pushing Jackson all the way down to No. 3, a spot where his $4 million contract is thoroughly unfeasible. Jackson is reportedly willing to re-work his deal in order to be traded, rather than released, so at least he seems to have a realistic sense of self.

Jackson’s team has won half the games he has started. His only playoff appearance, with the Vikings in 2008, yielded a miserable 15-of-35 performance in a 26-14 loss to Philadelphia – at home, no less. And that was with the league’s best running back, Adrian Peterson, behind him and a defense ranked No. 6 in total yardage.

In Seattle, Jackson went .500 with a rejuvenated Marshawn Lynch as the focal point of the offense and another top-10 defense.

Accuracy has been Jackson’s main issue. While this should make him feel at home among Buffalo’s quarterbacks, his history makes him hard to think of him as a viable option should Ryan Fitzpatrick continue to struggle as he did through the second half of last season and the first three weeks of the exhibition schedule.

Of course, Young and Tyler Thigpen have been competing for the No. 3 spot this summer, with neither looking like a legitimate backup.

Fitzpatrick, meanwhile, has had a characteristically unimpressive preseason. Last year, he shook off his summertime struggles and spent the first seven weeks of the regular season as one of the NFL’s hottest quarterbacks, before reverting to form.

Whether Young, Jackson or even Tyler Thigpen ends up at No. 2, this much is clear: For all of the Bills’ offseason maneuvering to mean much of anything, they need the Fitzpatrick who blazed through last September and October.

Or else they end this season in the same shape as the previous 12 – a bloody mess.