NFL: Bills Offseason Preview

So as the Superbowl nears, all teams will be looking to the offseason to add talent and cut deadwood on their lists. The Bills, with a change of coaching personnel, may look to change this up or just make a few tweaks. It will be interesting to see if they can hold onto the true talent on their list and if they're brave enough to shuffle things around.

Bills Free Agents

Care of the Something Awful Football Funhouse -

QB Tarvaris Jackson - The Bills acquired Tavaris from the QB inundated Seahawks for a 7th-round pick late in the 2012 off-season. The Bills essentially decided to pay him to sit on his couch for a season. I'm confused as to why we forfeited a draft pick for that privilege. With lots of talk of a young QB coming, he's likely to leave for greener pastures. Or perhaps the desert, where he would instantly be throwing passes to Larry Fitzgerald.

RB Tashard Choice - About all he can do is pass-block well. Otherwise, he sucks. Not very fast, not very shifty, not very strong. He's basically here because he played for Gailey at Georgia Tech, but with Gailey gone, Choice will probably hit the curb quickly. He's best left there.

FB Corey McIntyre - He plays special teams more than fullback. He's a pretty good ST guy and blocks fairly well, but, ultimately, fullbacks are not premium players in this league.

WR Ruvell Martin - A good special teams guy. He had been replaced by Ron Brooks until Brooks broke his foot. Has hands of stone, and will likely be allowed to walk. A good pick-up for your special teams unit, just pray you don't have to see him attempt to play wide receiver.

G Andy Levitre - A top-shelf guard, without a doubt. Can even play LT at a replacement-level in a pinch. Excels in run and pass-blocking. Really, if he walks, I'll be pissed, and anyone who gets him will be in for a treat. I desperately hope he stays and we keep our very good line together.

G Chad Rinehart - Excellent depth guy. Good enough to start on many teams. Can play either guard position. Would probably be hard to retain if a team like the Bears or Cardinals is willing to pay him starter money.

DE Jarron Gilbert - Not much more than a warm body.

DE Kyle Moore - He's taken over at RE in the absence of Mark Anderson. He's a pretty good pass-rusher, but tends to get pushed around in the run game. Nonetheless, a pretty good player. Will probably be a good pass-rush specialist, either for the Bills or somewhere else.

DT Spencer Johnson - A good depth player. Unremarkable, but competent.

LB Bryan Scott - A glorified safety. Honestly, he's not very good in coverage and, being safety-sized, he gets pushed around easily in the run game.

CB/KR Leodis McKelvin - One of the best returnmen in football. He can return kicks and punts equally well. The fact that he's become an alright cornerback only enhances his value, but he's really a kick returner first.

FS Jairus Byrd - One of the best safeties in the league today. He's a rangy guy, able to cover a lot of ground quickly, but, most importantly, is extremely skilled in reading quarterbacks and receivers. Always seems to be in the right place at the right time, and has a good nose for the ball. If that weren't enough to get you excited, he's also a pretty good tackler. He basically does everything, and does it well. I'd be heart-broken to see him go.

The Draft

At the moment I would place the team needs in the following order;
Quarterback, Inside Linebacker, Wide Receiver, Safety (especially if Byrd walks), Guard and Punter (grab Brad Wing!)

Non-retarded Mock Drafts currently having the Bills selecting the following players first off the rank.


Manti Te'o
COLLEGE: Notre Dame
POS: LB
Was in the running for the Heisman (best College player) but had a poor Bowl game.

Mike Glennon
COLLEGE: N.C. State
POS: QB
A reach, but a serviceable quarterback who might be worth taking the risk on.

Cordarrelle Patterson
COLLEGE: Tennessee
POS: WR
A raw, but naturally gifted receiver that, with good development, could become a real threat.

Alec Ogletree
COLLEGE: Georgia
POS: LB
A very athletic top tier talent, good at stopping the run and covering.

So after the Superbowl will be the Combine and Pro-days leading up to the draft in April.

NFL Week 17: Jets @ Bills - Postgame

I know it's late, but I've been busy and to be honest there wasn't much to say about this uninspiring borefest. Two teams who were playing for the end of the year traded blows. Sanchez looked inept and worth of getting sacked, Fitzpatrick didn't do much. Stevie Johnson and CJ Spiller were both great and everyone now looks forward to next year where once again the Bills will sell hope and have a bunch of changes to try and break that record playoff drought.

NFL Week 16: Bills @ Dolphins - Postgame

Not much to say about this game. It was unremarkable, dour and pretty boring. Was not enjoyable on either side of the ball for Bills fans, and judging by the quarter filled stadium, Fins fans didn't even bother.

The first two drives for Miami started off with a lot of power running, carving up the Bills D which had been shown up last week and continued to look like they couldn't stop a slight breeze.

A highlight was a blocked FG off the first drive by Alex Carrington who has now had 3 for the year. After this, Tannehill, the Miami QB, decided to run all over the Bills in his best Russell Wilson impersonation.

Offensively, Stevie Johnson killed a promising opening drive with a fumble. I guess it was symptomatic, because there were a huge number of turnovers by the Bills, which is consistent with the theme of the back half of the season, the  Bills finding a new way to lose each week.  This week was straight up giving the opposition the ball. Dickerson did his best Stevie Johnson impersonation later on, catching and then fumbling and then Fitzpatrick also joined in with a strip.

The team committed a bunch of false starts early on, then shifted focus to collecting other kinds of penalties. Fitzpatrick continues to show his inability to 'get it done', especially on 3rd down conversions. In this instance threw behind Dickerson and Johnson by about 3 miles. He threw a nice deep ball to TJ Graham, when it meant diddly squat, but still.

It's also a good thing the Bills limited Spiller's touches this season. That way he was nice and rested for his career long 62 yard run.


Offence was particularly offensive and impotent, until the 4th quarter where they decided to do something.
Then the interception at the end was the most fitting of plays for such an awful game.


A feature of this game was a bunch of awful calls including Bush's 2nd TD, Stevie J's TD, the Dickerson turnover. I'd be madder about them if the game meant anything, but now its just time to relax and look forward to the Jets v Bills snoozefest next week.

NFL Week 15: Seahawks @ Bills - Postgame

The cards come crashing down as a disinterested Buffalo is blown out by a dynamic Seattle.

The Bills started promisingly, the first play was a sack by Kelvin Sheppard, but this game quickly turned into an ugly rout as in that same first drive, the Seahawks strolled down the field and set the tone for the rest of the game. They easily dispatched the Bills anaemic Defence and let the Bills suffocate themselves out of the game.

The Bills first drive was as impotent as the Seahawks was mechanically proficient, a 3 and out a net loss of yards after a penalty on the first offensive play of the game for the Bills.

Russell Wilson was fantastic for the Seahawks and it has been pointed out following the game, that in the same round of the draft Wilson was taken the Bills took TJ Graham, a WR who has been great at doing not much and dropping most things thrown his way. Russell is in the discussion for Rookie of the Year.

The Bills Defence was shown up for what it was, a bunch of flat-track bullies, downhill skiers, and players that look good against flaccid offensive teams but crumple like tin if any dynamic pressure is applied. The 'option' plays absolutely confounded the Bills who over-committed to either the QB or the RB and got burnt nearly every single time. After the tone-setting first drive of the Seahawks, their second consisted of 5 plays churning up 58 yards and a second Russell Wilson rushing touchdown.

Mario Williams would be in contention for "Most Underwhelming Player of the Year" if such an award existed and he seems absolutely unwilling to take any blame at all, with him being eager to point out to everyone that he plays on a team of underachievers. Ryan Fitzpatrick would be up there for "Most Consistent", which is to say he has consistently been terrible and totally unable to spark the Bills offence into action.

Conversely, the Seahawks Defence kept the Bills to small yardage gains, with minimal 'chunk' gains. They made the Bills earn territory and punished them for mistakes, which the Bills freely made as the mounting pressure and scoreboard deficit got to them.

There were not many positive things to take from this game. CJ Spiller broke the 1,000 yard rushing mark in a stoic display, which is a credit to him given his minimal opportunities. Stevie Johnson made an amazing catch, but this team seemingly does not seem to care or does not have the right direction in order to make the talent on the roster effective.

The Bills now have to salvage something from the season with the remaining two games being played against Divisional opponents and a good chance to get a small piece of respect before the organisation (hopefully) cleans house.

NFL Week 14: Rams @ Bills - Postgame

Bills do best to not appear competent. Shamefully succeed.

I think this might be the most frustrating game from the Bills this year. After keeping the Rams totally in check in the first half, marching down the field several times, keeping the visitors on their half of the field and looking generally dangerous, something had to give. A change in defensive coverage allowed the Rams to score when it was critical to do so. Sam Bradford, Rams QB, converted a brace of 3rd downs and even a 4th down, capitalising on bad zone coverage with some dinky passes. This was on the back of an insistence to not use what chances were presented to the Bills to actually win, preferring to keep the game close for some unknown but infuriating cause.

The game started with a bunch of 3-and-outs, 4 in a row actually, this was not because both teams were defensive powerhouses but rather that they were both offensively anaemic. It was a sign for things to come.

For the Bills, this was mainly because of awful play-calling by Head coach Chan Gailey which unfortunately has been a theme of the season. The Bills have moved past the point where a lack of talent is truly holding them back, except for maybe at the QB position, and the coaching staff are instead gimping them with continually erratic and mind bending plays.

To highlight this point, Running-back CJ Spiller is averaging 6.6 yards-per-carry, which is absolutely astounding, but in today's game he had 9 carries. Out of a total 58 offensive plays, 20 of which were rushing, 9 were given to your star player. That is absolute drivel. I think I could call better plays on Madden after chugging 2 litres of methylated spirits.

I guess my biggest gripe at this stage is that Chan Gailey has the idea of what he wants his offence to play like, and is moulding his players to fit that. Instead of playing to the list's strengths, he's forcing his crud down their throats, when you have such an electric play-maker on your team like CJ Spiller, you should be shaping your offence around him. Also, stop playing so fucking conservatively. You can't rest on a lead of only 5 points hoping your Defence will 'get the job done' because if there has been a slogan for the Bills this season, it's "Shit the bed at the worst possible opportunity".

The defence was actually holding up for the majority of the play. This was mainly because the Rams star receiver, Danny Amendola, was sitting out and they were getting no penetration on the run. But still, they kept the Rams to measly gains on every drive of the first half, which is a positive. In the second, the Rams adjusted and the Bills didn't. Changing from Man-coverage to Zone-coverage on the final drive, was a move by a madman, Defensive coordinator Dave Wannstedt, who undermined the good effort the D had put up all game by putting them in a position to be chipped away at and ultimately, cost the Bills the game.

Fitzpatrick was serviceable, but unable to put the team on his back and carry them over the line. I don't blame him though, as he was put into a position to lose and made the most of it, disconnected with his rookie receiver TJ Graham (not the first time this year) and gave up the easiest pick ever seen.

Here lies a similar rant