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The Buffalo Bills are a team that many thought would be significantly better on offense in 2009 than they’ve shown. The addition of Terrell Owens was supposed to open up the offense, especially with Lee Evans lining up across from him.
Once Marshawn Lynch returned from his early season suspension, he combined with Fred Jackson to form a mighty one-two punch. At quarterback, there were significant questions regarding Trent Edwards, but he was supposed to be able to take the next step and guide the team.
Clearly, that has not been the case through nine games. The team is ranked 29th in yards per game at 268.2 and is tied for 28th in points with 140.
In short, they have been bad.
A lot of that is due to the struggles of Trent Edwards. Has he been completely awful? No, but in his first game back after sustaining a concussion, he went 18-28 for 185 yards, one TD and one INT.
Overall, he’s actually completed 60.2 percent of his passes (better than Eli Manning, Matt Ryan, and Donovan McNabb), but has thrown just six TDs and seven INTs.
If those numbers weren’t bad enough, his inability to connect on the big play nullified the outside threats, for all intents and purposes:
1) He had just 14 completions that went for 20 yards or more, putting him 25th in the league.
2) He had just two completions that went for 40 yards or more, also tying him for 25th in the league.
When you have Lee Evans (two 1,000-yard seasons) and Terrell Owens (nine 1,000-yard seasons), you need a QB who can throw the ball deep and let them make plays.
That’s not to say that Ryan Fitzpatrick is the answer, having thrown for 3,044 yards in his career on 335 completions. That doesn’t really scream success, now does it?
While Owens and Lee are due to have a bit of a resurgence (at least owners hope), I wouldn’t put much stock into Fitzpatrick being the one to lead them to greatness. They have struggled and nothing much appears primed to change.
They are low-end options and at this point, you have to think that’s how they are going to remain for the rest of 2010.
What are your thoughts on the Bills? Any chance for Owens and Evans regaining their form?
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