32 Teams in 32 Days, Team #4: The Buffalo Bills

The Buffalo Bills. The only New York team that actually plays in New York, but they want to play in Toronto and to be honest, I want them to go there too. The franchise has had very little success in its entire history. Yes its true they do have 4 conference championships, but in its entire history, the Bills have never been able to win the big one. It’s never happened and by the looks of the team that took that field last year, it doesn’t look like its going to happen this year either. They will play some of their games in Toronto and I do believe eventually the Bills will move their franchise there. It’s a good place for the franchise to start fresh in a new home. I think they could use it.

Ok, ok. I know that my intro was a little on the negative side. But there are some good things to say about the Buffalo Bills team. They improved their defense via the draft. It’s going to be fun to see what Leodis McKelvin out of Troy can do at Cornerback. And what Chris Ellis out of Virginia Tech can add to the line at Defensive End. They also signed former Giants pass rusher Kawika Mitchell. Their defense should be much improved this year, but you never know with the Bills. One week they are picking off Tony Romo 6 times, the next week they are getting slammed by Tom Brady. It’s a coin toss on which Bills defense is going to show up. They need to be motivated for one. If they are not motivated, they don’t stand a chance.

Looking at their offense, I see some things that look great on paper. The Bills do have some playmakers on their team. I just never understood why that couldn’t translate into more wins. In the backfield, second year back Marshawn Lynch is sure to make some noise. That is, if he plays. We all know the situation Lynch is in right now, I’m not going to talk about it here, but we have still yet to here whether or not Marshawn Lynch will play this year or will have to go through a suspension first. If he doesn’t play, Fred Jackson may be able to carry the load. He did have a 100 yard rushing game last year and all indications are that he can carry the load in the backfield. They also have Dwayne Wright who they picked up in the 07' Draft, but he hasn’t seen the ball much. Maybe with Lynch out, he will get a chance to show what he can do. Lynch is a big part of this offense and not having him out there will hurt the Bills, but lets hope not too much.

At Wide Out, the Bills got a couple of veterans in Lee Evans and Roscoe Parish. Evans, a first round pick in the 2004 Draft, nabbed in 849 receiving yards last year and 5 touchdowns. Not the year you would expect from a star like him, but there were issues at Quarterback (still are). Roscoe Parish was a second round pick in the 2005 Draft and hasn’t been a star yet, but his time could come this year. They are both young, but have been around in the league for a few years and are starting to build that ground to make things happen. The Bills will also add Rookie James Hardy out of Indiana this year and that could indeed provide them with another playmaker to get the job done. But as we have talked about in the past, everything eventually leads back to the quarterback. The recievers can’t play great if their quarterback doesn’t.

At Quarterback we’ve got the second year sensation Trent Edwards, who last year emerged out of nowhere, filling in for the injured J.P Losman to basically take over the starting job. Right now Edwards is QB1 for the Buffalo Bills, but he will have to battle to keep his job. The soonest sign of trouble will get the Bills faithful to start calling for Losman back. Losman isn’t great, but experience means something in this league and if Edwards can’t get the job done, Losman will get his starting job back. Despite that, Edwards does look like the Quarterback of the future for this team. I expect Edwards to play decent enough to keep his starting job, but I don’t expect many wins to be produced.

The Bills are the last team out of the AFC East that I’ve covered. It’s a tough division for the 3 teams that are not the New England Patriots. Having to play the Patriots twice a year is not ideal, but they are forced to do it and thats whats going to happen. They also have to deal with tough teams in the AFC including the San Diego Chargers and the Jacksonville Jaguars. It doesn’t look like a good year for the Buffalo Bills. It will be a losing season. Maybe its time to pack those bags and get a fresh start. Hey, if the Toronto Bills play horribly, you could always Blame Canada. See things are looking up already.