How Good Are the Buffalo Bills? 10 Reasons Why They Are a Playoff Team

With eight weeks completed on the 2011 NFL season, it is safe to say that the four surprise teams this year are the Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals, Detroit Lions and San Francisco 49ers.

Each of these teams has been able to reverse the stigma of a losing 2010 season, and turn their fortunes around in relatively short order. 

The Bills are the one team from the group that still isn't that well known, outside of the confines of Western New York and Toronto, Canada. Some of that lack of recognition is changing slowly but surely, but I believe their notoriety will take off if the Bills are able to defeat the New York Jets this Sunday at Ralph Wilson Stadium. 

So, we were wondering, just how good are the Buffalo Bills in 2011? Can they break their 11-year absence from the playoffs? If they reach the playoffs, how far can they go? You would think that the teams to qualify for the AFC playoffs are those teams with a winning record right now.

Out of those teams, in Chan Gailey's 23 games as the Bills' head coach, he has led the Bills to wins over New England, Oakland, Kansas City and Cincinnati.

They lost by three points to both Pittsburgh and Baltimore. They will have a chance to knock off the Jets this Sunday, and they face San Diego on December 11.

The only team that Gailey hasn't coached against is the Houston Texans. That should give the Bills a degree of confidence, assuming that they can reach the "second season."

We are going to go ahead and present the top 10 reasons why the Buffalo Bills are good enough to be a playoff team in 2011. 

No. 1: Fred Jackson

Chicago Bears fans are screaming about how Matt Forte should be MVP of the NFL.

Problem there is that the Bears will have to leapfrog over the Lions and Packers to make the playoffs to give Forte greater credibility. That isn't going to happen, so scratch Forte from the list. 

Aaron Rogers has a great start to his season, and had a ton of fame from his Super Bowl win.

Many people like the underdog, and I am no exception.

The NFL MVP to me is a no-brainer. That is running back Fred Jackson. 

As we come in to Week 9 play, Jackson is the No. 4 rusher in the NFL behind Adrian Peterson, LeSean McCoy and Maurice Jones-Drew.

Peterson and Jones-Drew have their bye this week, so Jackson will vault over them to be in the top two with McCoy.

McCoy leads the NFL by averaging 107.7 yards per game. He has a cast of stars around him, making it harder for defenses to focus on shutting him down.

Jackson is the main man on the Bills, and is right behind McCoy averaging 103.0 yards per game. 

Jackson has yet to fumble this year.

Out of the top-20 rushers in the league, Jackson has the longest run from scrimmage this year, at 80 yards.

He is tied for the most rushes of at least 20 yards long (nine rushes each for Jackson and Forte), and is averaging 5.5 yards per carry, which trails only McCoy's average of 5.6 yards per carry. 

Jackson also has caught 27 of the 33 passes thrown his way.

He averages 13.1 yards per catch and has six catches of at least 20 yards.

He has gained 1,074 yards from scrimmage already.

If you examine all of the criteria listed above, Jackson makes tremendous sense for NFL MVP. 

No. 2: George Wilson Replacing Donte Whitner at Safety

One of the main reasons for the Bills resurgence this year, is the decision to let safety Donte Whitner walk in free agency, and re-sign George Wilson to take his place as the starting safety. 

What has Wilson done this year?

He is tied for No. 3 in the NFL in tackles with 66, and is also tied for No. 3 in interceptions with four.

That is a huge combination of skills to be ranked among the elite in the league.

Wilson is quickly dissecting plays from his safety spot, and is able to use his athleticism and quickness to close quickly on the ball, and makes many plays close to the line of scrimmage.

That was not where Donte Whitner made most of his tackles. 

Wilson is also able to utilize his superior ball skills (since he used to be a wide receiver) to come up with high quality interceptions, as opposed to the play just turning into an incomplete pass.

Wilson is a key reason why the Bills lead the NFL with 14 interceptions, as they are averaging two per game.

In addition, the Bills are now tied with the Detroit Lions for creating the most turnovers in the league with 18.

Wilson is a playmaker, while Whitner just doesn't match up. 

No. 3: Ryan Fitzpatrick Is Leading the Bills Offense

As Ryan Fitzpatrick goes, so go the Buffalo Bills.

It is no coincidence that his two worst games of the year, against the Cincinnati Bengals and the New York Giants, were the two games that the Bills lost.

The Bills weren't embarrassed in either game, as they lost by just a field goal in each game. But if Fitzpatrick had just a slightly better day, we would be looking at a team that was sitting 7-0, tied with Green Bay for best record in the NFL. 

The contract extension is now signed and Fitzpatrick can focus on the rest of the season, knowing that his family, his personal wealth and his retirement years are all secure.

What he really wants to do, is lead the Bills to the AFC East crown, and into the playoffs. 

Where does Fitzpatrick stack up with the other top-tier NFL quarterbacks?

In the current leaderboard breakdown of quarterbacks, Fitzpatrick is ranked No. 6 in QB Passer Rating.

In the new ESPN rating that they refer to as QBR, link is provided right here, Fitzpatrick is the top-rated QB in the AFC, and is No. 4 overall in the NFL.

Fitzpatrick helps make his offensive line look good by using quick-decision skills and finding the open receiver.

He is not afraid to stand there and take a solid lick; watch the throw he made last Sunday to Fred Jackson before London Fletcher lit him up.

Fitzpatrick has been sacked fewer times (eight total for year) than any other QB in the league that has started for the entire year.

In short, the Bills are in very good hands with Fitzpatrick.

He makes the offense tick.

He gets what Chan Gailey wants to do, and he is making very good QB pressure-defenses look confused and frustrated that they aren't able to apply more heat.

No. 4: Bills Have a Tight End: Scott Chandler

The touchdown passes early in the season, used to be closer to the goal line.

This past Sunday against the Washington Redskins, the touchdowns were now coming from 15 and 20 yards away.

This is opening up a new dimension for the Bills attack, in that Chandler is actually a very good receiver for a tight end. 

Consider that on the year, Chandler has only been thrown to 18 times so far. He has caught 15 of the 18 targets, which makes you wonder why the Bills haven't thrown it to him more often. 

Out of his 15 catches, 11 of them have gone for a first down, and six of those catches were also good for a touchdown. That is a very productive track record.

It used to amuse me how I would write about drafting a tight end and people would knock me that Chan Gailey doesn't need one or use one.

Look at how handy Chandler has been so far this year. I rest my case. 

Chandler isn't flashy.

He is a solid blocker and uses his big frame (6'5") to shield the defenders away from the ball carrier.

He is a great, big target for Ryan Fitzpatrick in the red zone.

In short, the Bills finally have a tight end.

The Jets can sign Shawn Nelson and try to pump him for information.

The Bills will tell the Jets that they can keep Nelson. The Bills have their man. 

No. 5: Chan Gailey: NFL Coach of the Year

The Bills are playing an enthusiastic brand of football.

They are one of the most exciting teams in the NFL and if you missed their early-season huge comeback wins against the Patriots and Raiders, you owe it to yourself to go back and watch those games to see what I mean. 

Gailey is as low-key a head coach as you could want.

He doesn't let the team get too high after wins, or too low after close losses.

Gailey kept the team playing hard even after starting out the 2010 season at 0-8.

If you heard any of the press conferences from the Steelers or Ravens team after the close losses last year, you would have known that the Bills team had earned their respect last season.

Even then, Gailey had the team headed in the right direction. 

The 2011 season has been difficult on every NFL head coach.

Plans had to be cut back. The number of practices were cut back, and pads are worn far less than ever before.

Gailey has been able to roll with the changes, and maintains his own even-keel personality, that the team seems to feed off of. 

You see how fondly the Bills players talk about Gailey (especially Steve Johnson) and you know that they want to play hard for him, and most of all, they want to win for him.

Gailey was not the Bills first choice as head coach, but with the make-up of many no-name type of players on the roster, Gailey is the perfect choice to lead the Bills team. 

No. 6: Offensive Line Continues to Excel

Andy Levitre, Eric Wood, Kraig Urbik, Chris Hairston, Demetrius Bell, Erik Pears and Chad Rinehart.

You have never seen any of these players going to the Pro Bowl game, or getting many All-Pro votes ever before, but that is all due to start changing after the 2011 season is over. 

The Bills have allowed the fewest sacks of any offensive line in the NFL.

They can run the ball with the best teams in the league.

Their current output, 140.6 yards per game, is ranked No. 5 in the league.

The Bills are averaging 30.1 points per game, which is No. 3 in the NFL. 

All of the above bullet points, can be considered as ammunition for why the Bills unheralded offensive line is far better than anyone was willing to give them credit for.

The Bills have a unique blend of skilled veterans like Andy Levitre that can play left tackle, left guard or center in a pinch.

They can switch guys from the left side to the right side as needed. 

I think a great deal of credit for the offensive linemen has to go to Joe D'Alessandris, who is one of the best offensive line coaches in the league.

If you watched him at the Senior Bowl practices on NFL Network, or attended any of the Bills training camp practices at St. John Fischer college, you would know what I was talking about. 

No. 7: Silver Lining: Injuries to Kyle Williams and Shawne Merriman

Coming into the season, it was believed that the combination of All-Pro nose tackle Kyle Williams, first-round defensive stud Marcell Dareus and inside linebacker Paul Posluszny would form a highly efficient triangle that would move the Bills defense up the charts.

Then you added a healthy Shawne Merriman attacking from outside linebacker, and the sky was the limit. The best laid plans of mice and men...

Posluszny signed instead with Jacksonville.

Williams hurt his foot earlier in the season and his trademark burst off of the line of scrimmage has rendered him to be far less effective than normal.

Since Williams wasn't creating as much havoc as usual, the opposition was able to devote enough attention to neutralize Dareus. 

Merriman looked great in the preseason game against the Bears, but we haven't seen that version of Merriman ever since.

Enter the bye week.

The Bills knew they had to be creative to improve the pass rush.

They opted to put Dareus at nose tackle, and he turns in his best game of the season, racking up two-and-a-half sacks against the Redskins.

The defense spent the bye week focused on winning their one-on-one matchups, and it showed in the Redskins game.

The defense had four sacks in the first six games (dead last in the NFL in that category) and then exploded with nine sacks in Week 8. 

Replacing Merriman with a more energetic and athletic (at this stage of his career) Danny Batten and Arthur Moats may bring new life to the defense.

Athletic inside linebacker rookie Kelvin Sheppard has replaced Andra Davis in the lineup.

The pass rush seemed to be coming from everywhere, and even Jairus Byrd wound up with the second sack of his career.

It will give the Jets plenty to think about when they are devising their game plan for this coming Sunday. 

No. 8: Red Zone Offense

Since so many games in the NFL come down to a margin of three points or less, being able to maximize your potential touchdown scoring opportunities in the "red zone" can separate the men from the boys. 

Coming out of the win against the Redskins, the Bills saw their ranking in red zone offense slip from No. 1 in the NFL to No. 2 overall.

The Bills only cashed in one red zone opportunity out of four chances last Sunday, which dropped them to No. 2.

The Tennessee Titans are No. 1 at 70.59 percent, while the Bills are now at 68.0 percent. 

The Bills settled for one field goal, Rian Lindell had a second field goal that bounced off the uprights, and London Fletcher stepped in front of a pass intended for Steve Johnson in the end zone.

Those were the three chances that got away, or the game could have easily been much more lopsided than the 23-0 final score. 

From the power-running of Fred Jackson, the height of David Nelson and Scott Chandler, the shiftiness of Steve Johnson, the execution of Ryan Fitzpatrick from the spread offense, and Brad Smith from the Wildcat offense, and the hands of Donald Jones and Naaman Roosevelt, the Bills offer up many problems for the defense in the red zone.

When it starts getting colder in December and January, all of the above should still be viable options going forward. 

No. 9: Nick Barnett in the Middle: Paul Who?

Paul Posluszny had legions of fans in Buffalo.

When be decided to bolt for a bigger payday in sunny Florida, football experts panned the Bills choice of veteran free agent linebacker Nick Barnett as too old, injury-prone and basically washed up to be any kind of a factor. 

Well, here we are eight weeks into the season, and Nick Barnett has been holding up fine.

He is second on the Bills team in tackles, trailing only George Wilson.  

Barnett has come up with the two huge interceptions against the Philadelphia Eagles, that basically stole the game for the Bills.

He also has forced a fumble this year.

How many interceptions or forced fumbles has Posluszny come up with this year? None and none. 

Barnett is quicker from sideline to sideline and brings an additional edge to the defense that they did not have last year.

The kicker in this whole equation? Posluszny is making $42 million over six years in Jacksonville.

The Bills signed Barnett for $11.5 million over three years. 

That is what I call win, win. 

No. 10: Opportunistic Defense Continues to Strike

It was nice to see Jairus Byrd join the interception party this year, as he came up with an interception in the end zone to help preserve the shutout of the Redskins. 

The Bills lead the NFL in interceptions with 14, and are tied with the Detroit Lions for creating the most turnovers in the NFL with 18.

Detroit has their bye this week, so you would like to think that the Bills can reclaim the top spot in the NFL again for turnovers. 

The Bills have employed a bend-but-don't-break philosophy in defense over the first six games.

With the new emphasis on pass rush, it will be interesting to see how effective they are against teams that are missing two starters like the Redskins were. 

Pitching a shutout should give the defense more confidence.

As some of the injured starters are rounding back to health, Terrence McGee and Chris Kelsay for example, the Bills will have a very good mix of veteran savvy and youthful exuberance going down the stretch.

Getting a talent like Aaron Williams back will help out as well.

If Kyle Williams can come back to be effective in the stretch run, that would be a welcome sight. 

Are the playoffs out of the question for 2011?

Not at all.

The Bills will have to survive their three-game road trip that runs through Dallas, Miami and the Jets.

If they can win two of those three games, they are well on their way towards securing a playoff berth. 

What do Bills fans think?