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ith the drops he will have from time to time. He should instantly make the Bills passing game much better than it was a year ago, when Trent Edwards was either staving off a heavy pass rush due to an ineffective offensive line, or throwing it to a very marginal wide receiving corps. The addition of Owens should free up Lee Evans and allow him to make plays deep down field thanks to his great gamebreaking ability. The Bills will be without Marshawn Lynch for the first three games of the 2009 season due to an off-field issue, so Fred Jackson and former Indianapolis Colts third down specialist Dominic Rhodes will be called into duty during the early stretch of the season. The Bills offensive line, as kind of touched upon earlier, was generally bad in 2008 so Bills General Manager Russ Brandon decided to overhaul his line by trading last years camp holdout Jason Peters to Philadelphia and by releasing 2006 free agent signing Derrick Dockery. Brandon then drafted center Eric Wood out of Louisville and guard Andy Levitre out of Oregon State with two of the Bills four day one picks in the 2009 Draft. Tackle Demetrius Bell will take over permanently for Peters and be responsible for protecting Trent Edwards blind side, as veteran Langston Walker will resume playing right tackle for the Bills.
Defensively, the two biggest impact players in 2008 were both in the Bills secondary with safety Donte Whitner and rookie Leodis McKelvin both having great seasons a year ago. However, the Bills biggest weakness on defense a season ago was a pass rush that was extremely inconsistent, and the Bills drafted Aaron Maybin with the 11th overall selection to try and jumpstart the anemic Bills rush. Marcus Stroud will resume playing nose tackle for the Bills and attempt to free their linebacking corps of Paul Posluszny, Kawika Mitchell, and Keith Ellison to make plays.
2009 Schedule:
| Mon 9/14 | at New England |
| Sun 9/20 | Tampa Bay |
| Sun 9/27 | New Orleans |
| Sun 10/4 | at Miami |
| Sun 10/11 | Cleveland |
| Sun 10/18 | at NY Jets |
| Sun 10/25 | at Carolina |
| Sun 11/1 | Houston |
| bye | |
| Sun 11/15 | at Tennessee |
| Sun 11/22 | at Jacksonville |
| Sun 11/29 | Miami |
| Thu 12/3 | NY Jets |
| Sun 12/13 | at Kansas City |
| Sun 12/20 | New England |
| Sun 12/27 | at Atlanta |
| Sun 1/3 | Indianapolis |
2009 Prediction:
Immediately we will see what the Bills will be like in 2009, as they will begin the season on the road against the New England Patriots on Monday Night Football.
And while Terrell Owens will unquestionably garner a majority of the attention this season, the Bills will only go as far as young Trent Edwards will be able to take them. Last year in the Bills biggest stretch of the season, Edwards was terrible, throwing for three touchdowns and eight interceptions as the Bills went from a 5-1 start to finish 7-9.
The addition of Owens makes one thing clear for GM Russ Brandon, if Edwards is his guy at quarterback, he will have to produce with two playmakers at wide receiver and one of the better young running backs in the game behind him. If Edwards falters, we may see the Bills not only make a coaching change in 2010 but a quarterback change as well.
In my opinion, the perfect opportunity to win the AFC East came a season ago when the Patriots lost Tom Brady to a season ending injury and the Bills drew the luxury of playing the NFC West and AFC West in the same season. This year will be much more difficult to post not only a playoff season - but a winning one as well given the competition in the AFC East and a much more difficult schedule for the Bills.
Predicted Finish: 7-9, 3rd place AFC East
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Hassellbeck - VSN Writer
www.virtualsportsnetwork.com
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