"Two days ago, the New England Patriots traded running back Laurence Maroney and a sixth-round draft pick to the Denver Broncos for a fourth-round pick.

Raise your hand if your immediate reaction was, "Why couldn't the Bills do that?" Really, how is it that the Pats, the class of the division, can deal a former first-round draft pick for a modest return, while the Bills continue to hold on to Marshawn Lynch?

Well, we have witnessed this phenomenon for a decade, haven't we? It's the Patriots way. Once they decide a player has outlived his usefulness, he's gone. It doesn't matter how big his profile, or when he was drafted. Bill Belichick cuts ties and moves on.

Maroney was the 21st pick in the 2006 draft. He had his moments. Maroney had consecutive 100-yard games in the playoffs after the '07 season. A year ago, he scored a touchdown in six straight games and had nine TDs overall. But he was injury-prone, had troubles with fumbling and supposedly didn't fit the Patriot mold.

So off Maroney goes to the Broncos, where Denver head coach Josh McDaniels, a former Belichick protege, was looking for depth at running back. Evidently, Belichick doesn't care if people think he got too little in return for a former No. 1 pick.

Back in April, when the Bills took C.J. Spiller with the ninth overall pick, I felt Lynch's days in Buffalo were numbered. The number is up to 147 and counting. Lynch, who has twice run afoul of the law and lost his job to Fred Jackson a year ago, is still a Bill, part of a cluttered three-man running back rotation.

It's amazing that Lynch is still here. As I understand it, the Bills could have traded him at draft time, or in the summer, for a fourth-rounder. The Seahawks were desperate for help. But apparently the Bills didn't think a fourth-round pick was enough.

They also worried about the potential embarrassment of having Lynch blossom elsewhere.

Chan Gailey keeps saying he has three starting running backs: Spiller, Lynch and Jackson. In the opener, Gailey called 14 running play for his backs. Jackson, who proved himself as a featured back a year ago, had four carries for 19 yards. It wasn't a three-headed monster. It was a plodding, indecisive mess.

Lynch is just getting in the way at this point. It'll be hard enough finding enough touches for Jackson and Spiller. Why do the Bills feel this obligation to involve Lynch in the offense? He's been a constant embarrassment to the organization. He was slow to get involved in Gailey's offseason program. Why not trade him?

"Well, opinions vary about whether [three backs] is too many or not," Gailey said Wednesday. "We feel like having the three we have right now is a good situation for us. We've got to continue to get better with each one and see how their roles play out as the year goes on. In the NFL, you can't have too many good running backs sometimes.""