The Buffalo Bills were characterized by their complacency with regards to getting after the quarterback in 2012.

If defensive coordinator Mike Pettine and his staff have anything to do with it, all that will be a distant memory.

The Bills blitzed an astonishingly low 17.5 percent of the time, according to ProFootballFocus.com. Considering the league average was 31.5 percent, the Bills were about as aggressive as a kitten.

That's not the only change we could be seeing from the Bills defense this year. The Bills will focus on defending the pass, and could even employ the nickel defense as their base (as opposed to a 3-4 or 4-3).

Read More »3

The Dolphins face a dilemma in determining whether to re-sign running back Reggie Bush.

On one hand, Bush is coming off a down year. On the other hand, he was their best offensive playmaker, and leader in total touchdowns.

On one hand, they have seen enough out of Daniel Thomas to know he likely won't help much in their backfield. On the other hand, they haven't seen nearly enough out of Lamar Miller to draw any sort of conclusions about his ability to fill Bush's role.

There are a lot of questions, but there are two questions that reign supreme: should he be back, and will he be back?

Read More »82

Help is on the way for the New England Patriots ailing pass rush.

How, exactly, will former Toronto Argonauts defensive lineman Armond Armstead help the Patriots, and fit into their defensive scheme?

That all remains to be seen. But for now, he is exactly what they need: an athletic, versatile defensive lineman. 

Dan Pompei of National Football Post (via Twitter) points out just how valuable and versatile Armstead is:

Read More »26

New England Patriots fans have long wondered if NFL Network analyst and former St. Louis Rams running back Marshall Faulk has an axe to grind with the Patriots. 

They now have their answer: an unequivocal yes.

Faulk created quite a stir among Patriots fans in comments given during the Super Bowl media day festivities. He spoke to Tom E. Curran of CSNNE.com about his emotions over losing Super Bowl XXXVI, and explained why he felt "cheated" out of the Super Bowl:

He talked about his bewilderment over the Rams' ineffectiveness in the red zone and on third down. He explained that the team had practiced plays that they hadn't run in games, and that he was mystified as to how the Patriots were able to stop those plays.

Read More »29

The New York Jets did not pass go and did not collect $200 salary on their way to salary cap jail.

Fortunately, a few rolls of the dice prior to landing there, they happened to pick up a few "get out of jail free" cards along the way.

We know the Jets are cap-strapped for 2013, set to be around $19.4 million over the approximate $120 million limit.

How do they fix it, though? And where do the primary problems lie?

Read More »34

How does one measure success in the NFL draft?

Tony Villiotti of DraftMetrics.com (via NationalFootballPost) decided to use total starts, active players, percentage of annual starts and Pro Bowl berths as part of a four-metric system to determine draft success.

His findings? The Miami Dolphins are among the league's best drafters over the past half-decade.

The numbers show the following to be true for the Dolphins over the past five years:

Read More »6

If the Buffalo Bills are going to put up their first winning record since 2002 any time in the next five years, they'll have to do it with one fewer home game than everyone else.

That is the implication of the renewed deal on the Toronto series, which slates the Bills to play one home game per year in the Rogers Centre.

The problem is, those home games do not have the same environment as a home game at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

"I think that Toronto series has turned into pretty much a joke," Bills center Eric Wood said on "Norton in the Morning" on 97 Rock back in December (via The Buffalo News).

Read More »18

Question: Who could possibly be a worse quarterback than Mark Sanchez was last year?

Answer: JaMarcus Russell.

That is why, when reports surfaced that the New York Jets were having "some very exploratory, informal discussions" (per Conor Orr of The Star-Ledger) about bringing in the former No. 1 overall pick of the Oakland Raiders, it was met with a bit of sarcasm and the discerning "same ol' Jets" response from fans and media.

First things first: "very exploratory, informal discussions" is about as vague as it gets in the reporting industry. Talks could have gone something like this:

Read More »13