The Bills are not immune to the offseason player troubles that have plagued the NFL so far.
Starting runningback Marshawn Lynch had his license revoked after a hit-and-run incident where his defense was, "I didn't know I hit anything."
I am going to use that next time I get a bad test grade. "Test? What test?"
On to the season preview.
Key Addition/Subtraction
Kawika Mitchell- From the Giants
Michael Gaines- To the Lions
Key Games
Sept. 21st, vs. Raiders- The Raiders are an up-and-coming team, if the Bills can hold them down, it will be a big win.
Oct. 26th, at Dolphins- You need to win the games you are supposed to win, winning those games in the division is even better.
Nov. 9th, at Patriots- The Pats are at the top of the division, bringing them down is big.
Nov. 17th, vs. Browns- These two teams could be vying for a Wild Card berth, which makes this game big.
Season Outlook
Lynch had a good season last year, and despite the troubles, he is likely going to improve to around 1,250 yards and eight-nine TD's.
Trent Edwards took over last season for J.P Losman and hasn't looked back, but if he struggles, there is going to be a lot of adversity at the QB position. Losman had a better QB rating than Edwards last season.
Lee Evans is really good receiver who doesn't get as much respect as he deserves. Despite a bad QB situation last year, he still had nearly 850 yards and averaged just over 15 yards per catch.
They strengthened their secondary by adding Leodis McKelvin in the Draft, who is going to join Ashton Youboty, who didn't get a lot of playing time due to injury, as a good young corner.
Paul Posluszny not only has the toughest last name to spell in the NFL, he also is likely to become a force in the NFL as a linebacker.
My Prediction
The Bills are good, and they are getting better, but the quarterback position is going to be their achilles heel this season.
They could finish anywhere from 5-11 to 9-7, and I am going to put my guess right around 8-8.
I'm Joe W.
Joe also writes at TheDailyCub.com, a Chicago Cubs blog.
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3 months ago
Sounds about right. They'll be in the playoff race until week 15 or 16.
3 months ago
I think you are selling the Bills short. Bills were 7-9 last year with 17 guys on IR. 33% of their opening day roster was overturned during the season. They were signing guys off the streets who ended up starting. Michael Gaines who is listed as the biggest subtraction for the Bills was out of Football and Bills signed him and he started the next week. Bills stay healthy, look out. Added in Marcus Stroud as well as Mitchell to the defense which will get two starters back from injury as well (Posluszny at MLB and Ko Simpson at FS) Edwards stats were significantly better than Losman until they played two games in blizzards to end the year. Bills have drafted well three years in a row and quietly had an excellent offseason. Bills will go 10-6 maybe 11-5. They play the NFC and AFC West, who were just terrible last year.
Raiders up and coming?! The only thing up and coming about the Raiders is their payroll. I'll give you McFadden is the real deal to an already solid running game, but other than two cover corners they have nothing on D and no one for Russell to throw the ball to.
3 months ago
I agree 100 percent Andrew, well put
3 months ago
Key addition: Kawika Mitchell? Um, Marcus Stroud, anyone?
Have you seen the Bills schedule, it isn't out of the question for them to win 10 or 11 games this year.
from 3 months ago
I agree.
Marcus Stroud when healthy is a force to be reckoned with, which cannot be said of Kawika Mitchell.
3 months ago
"I didn't know I hit anything."
How come I haven't heard that until now? That's great!
from 3 months ago
It's probably the best defense I've heard since, "I couldn't have killed her because when she was shot, I was going back into the restaurant to get my gun.
from 3 months ago
That, and the whole OJ Simpson thing. "I didn't kill her, but if I did...here's how I would have..."
3 months ago
Raiders up and coming team! Come on Joe!
from 3 months ago
I have to say I like what the Raiders are doing. Other than Tommy Kelly this offseason, I haven't disagreed with any of their moves.
3 months ago
Joe, The Raiders spent their first round pick on a running back. They already had one of the best group of running backs in the NFL, it just didn't look like it because they didn't have an O-Line. They still dont have an O-Line. Al Davis is clearly not the Genius he was 20 years ago! As a matter of fact Al has been called everything but a genius lately.
from 3 months ago
I know he hasn't been bright lately, but I have to think that he stole DeAngelo Hall from the Falcons who are rebuilding. They have a great secondary and, despite overpaying Kelly, he's still good and is going to be a help on the d-line. They don't have an O-Line and JaMarcuss Russell is still young. He can be starting to get better and, if he progresses like he should, he is going to create a good RB-QB combo.
from 3 months ago
We can save the rest of the convo for the Raiders preview.
3 months ago
The Bills will have potentially 5 new starters on defense this season, all of whom are considered an upgrade over the previous season. So an improvement to the defense is already expected. Add into the fact that the Bills played two games against an insane New England Offense and the number improve again.
Lastly and more importantly is the strength of the schedule the Bills played last year to this year. Buffalo has a MUCH easier road to hoe then they did last year, and it will be directly expressed in their improved record.
The thing holding the Bills back the most will be their offense, and whether or not it can produce enough points. With more opportunities presented by the defense as well as a healthy Marshawn Lynch for a full 16 game season and things are already looking better. Lynch missed enough time that 1400 yards and 10 TDs is not out of the question. Lynch was on pace for 1350 yards (84 yards a game) with 8-9 TDs last season.
With only a slight improvement in ability from his rookie season he easily can garner 50 more yards and a touch down or two to make my prediction fact. Potentially with an improved passing attack, and more opportunites, along with weaker opponents, there is no telling what marshawn could do. If I said he would improve his yards per game from 84 to 94 that equates to 1500 yards. So really the hope is their.
Edwards is again, like always, the catalyst for the team. If he plays well, they could be a top 10 team. If he plays poorly however the worst I see the team performing is on pace with last season at 7-9.
Better red zone production, better defense, weaker opponents and overall maturity of an extremely young team leads me to predict two scenarios.
7-9 with Poor Quarterback play
11-5 with similar play as JP 2 seasons ago (3000 yards 19+ TDs)
3 months ago
Key additions...James Hardy!!! He's gonna be legit!
3 months ago
so those four key games count more than other games? a win is a win, 16 games on the schedule
from 3 months ago
Key games are games that are likely to be more important because of an opponent going for the same thing or two evenly matched teams that are going to create an exciting game. Every game still counts, these ones are just more exciting/have more hype. Like which win do you think is more important for the Pats, beating Miami, a bad team that doesn't pose a real threat, or Indy, a good team with a steady rivalry where both teams could be vying for home field advantage? I think the choice is obvious.
3 months ago
Nice summary and predictions. I could see them getting 9 or 10 wins and potentially landing a wild card spot. It'll be a struggle to overcome Cleveland for that spot though.
3 months ago
While the Bills have no chance of winning the division over the Patriots, they will be in the wild card mix all the way until the end of the season, and they have a strong chance of making the post-season. And as far as the raiders picking up Deangelo Hall, big deal, they can add all the big names and burn-outs they want, but that doesn't mean anything, so long as Al Davis is at the healm not much is gonna happen, sure he might have been GREAT at one point, but those days are over, now he's some old crazy relic of the AFL, keep in mind, a few years ago he played with the possibility of bring back Jeff George, I'm just waiting for Jamarcus to get hurt so he can try to bring back Ryan Leaf, or Tommy Maddox, all in all, he's crazy, and the raiders have a few years to return to form, and start winning again, while the Bills are almost there, they have a good up and coming quarterback from Stanford and a solid running back, a new refreshed D (which was the only thing stopping them from the post-season last year) and a smart coaching staff, and the O-cordinater is a disciple of Wyche, all in all, it should come together this year for the Bills.
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