It's a brand new season in Western New York, and things feel different than last year. This is the first year that the Bills will go into a season without the great Ralph Wilson Jr. and the team is currently up for sale. There are speculations of the team possibly moving to Toronto or even Los Angeles in the future so the front office is feeling a lot of pressure to win, and win now. This is the second season at the helm for Doug Marrone and he brings back most of the same coaching staff. The Bills did get a new defensive coordinator in Jim Schwartz, former head coach of the Detroit Lions. This offseason has been centered around two big problems involving the Buffalo Bills Defense: 1. the season ending injury to LB Kiko Alonso and 2. the issues involving DL Marcell Dareus. The Kiko injury is certainly devastating to a young defense like this one. They will have to rely on young players such as Preston
Brown and Nigel Bradham to step into that role. As for Dareus, he is facing a likely suspension from the league for his arrest of drug charges in early May. Along with that, he also showed up to the first day of training camp out of shape so he is unable to practice. This is not very good for a defense that is the strength of this team and led the NFL in sacks last season.
The one area that the Bills needed help in defensively is the secondary. Safety Jairus Byrd left and signed a new contract with the New Orleans Saints. Competition for his job will be wide open with a lot of young talent led by Da'Norris Searcy. Duke Williams, Jonathan Meeks, and Ron Brooks also have a good chance to earn a starting spot. At cornerback, the Bills finally look like they have some depth as they picked up Corey Graham from the Ravens. He will compete with Leodis McKelvin and Stephon Gilmore for the starting job. Adding Brandon Spikes at middle linebacker will be huge because of his experience in New England. I expect this defense to be better than last year even if there are some struggles early on adjusting to a new coordinator.
Now, lets get to what everyone wants to talk about: The new and improved Bills offense. Led by second year QB EJ Manuel, the Bills look to build off a promising first season together. Stevie Johnson got sent to San Francisco because of the new guys in town, specifically 4th overall pick Sammy Watkins. He has drawn comparisons by many to Julio Jones and its clear to see where that comes from. He has incredible speed with the size to match, which is why he holds so many receiving records at Clemson. Mike Williams is the other new guy we got in a trade with Tampa Bay. Williams is a big physical receiver who provides a red zone threat on the perimeter. It's hard not to get excited with all of the talent at the skilled positions. Along with Williams and Watkins, the other Bills receiver threats include Robert Woods, Marquise Goodwin, TJ Graham, and TE Scott Chandler. Marcus Easley and Kevin Elliott will also be competing to make the 53 man roster. That's just at receiver, at running back we still have arguably the deepest backfield in the league with a great 1-2 punch in CJ Spiller and Fred Jackson. The Bills also picked up red zone specialist Anthony Dixon and speedster Bryce Brown just to add even more depth to the 2nd ranked running game in the NFL. A serious question to ask is how will Nathaniel Hackett manage to distribute the carries fairly to all four guys? I guess we will have to wait to find out.
Fans should certainly be excited about what the Bills might be able to do this year. We certainly are on the up swing and seem to be deeper and more talented than a year ago. My only advice to you die hard Bills fans is to proceed with caution. It has been 15 long, painful years since Buffalo has made the postseason, even longer since a playoff win. It's been so long of a drought that my youngest brother wasn't even born when they last made the playoffs..... and he just entered high school. Making the playoffs with a second year coach and QB might be way out of reach, or we could be a dark horse to make the postseason. The first half of the schedule is very manageable, giving the bills a good chance to start off with a winning record. The only rough patch comes in the last four games where three of those are against some of the NFL's best in Denver, New England, and Green Bay. Another big factor will be injuries and how we deal with them.
Our depth will come into play unlike the last couple of seasons and playing 8 actual homes games won't hurt the Bills either.
My prediction: Buffalo Bills 8-8
