Success Continues to Elude Upstate New York; Hinges on Edwards

1.  First and foremost, the Bills need to avoid off-field distractions.  As an organization, they have always held low profile, blue collar players and now they have two guys who constantly bring negative attention to themselves—Marshawn Lynch and Terrell Owens.

Lynch has been suspended for the first three games of the 2009 season while TO just has a knack for breaking up clubhouses.  Is Edwards mature enough to handle such a great responsibility of leadership?  I think he’ll be up for the challenge, but it will turn ugly if they start the season 1-3. 

2.  The second key to the Bills success this season- the continued development of Trent Edwards.  You can say what you will about his first couple of seasons in the league, but he has shown promise. 

And now, with arguably two of the top 15 wide receivers in the game, it becomes a make or break season for the young Stanford man. 

He has great skill-position talent surrounding him coming into the season, it will be up to him to get the ball in the play makers hands.  I worry about Jauron’s conservative playbook frustrating this seemingly potent offense, but I certainly see a few 40 yd+ grabs this year by Evans and Owens.

3.  The biggest concern for this season has got to be the offensive line.  The Bills traded the frustrated Jason Peters during the NFL Draft, which leaves a considerable gap at the tackle position.  Further, the Bills O-Line really underperformed last season…is it reasonable to think that they will be better in '09?  Probably not. 

They drafted two talents on the O-Line, but you cannot expect them to step right in as impact players.  The Bills are going to need nothing short of a miracle to keep Edwards from having a couple more concussions.

The play of the defensive line is going to be paramount.  Aaron Schobel’s injury last season was  a real detriment to their productivity, but Marcus Stroud was a real bright spot in the middle.

If Schobel is able to regain his pro bowl form and Stroud maintains 08 form, look for the defense line to wreak havoc on opposing QBs.  Aaron Maybin will be able to jump right into the rotation, at least as a pass rusher, which will add tremendous depth (and maybe this is the year that John McCargo proves that he warranted a first round selection).

The optimistic Bills fan in me wants to say that we can win 10 games and take a wild card spot, but the realist says otherwise.  The TO experiment will not work, the offensive line is a complete mess and I’m not sold on Edwards. 

I think the bills can realistically predict another seven or eight win season and maintain their level of irrelevancy.