What positives do you see coming into this season ?

[mrags]

Let's see. There's so many things I'm excited to see out of this team this year. Let's just hope there's a season, which I think there will be.

 

1st I'd like to see that Fitz is and will be the true leader at QB that we all have wished for. For so long we've been thinking we need to draft an early first round guy to make it work. With other pieces around him I thi I Fitz is and can be the guy. I'm looking forward to 3,500+ yards, 25+ tds, less than 17 ints, some good leadership to win in close games, and some major Elway sized balls to go with it.

 

2nd I think the OL is goi g to be fun to watch. It could start off completely different than it finishes and often does. I'm hoping for a line like this: Bell, Levitre, Wood, Handgartner, Hairston (I think Hanny will get in as RG due to his experience, which would be good to have him right next to wood at C, and the rookie at RT) i'm looking for major improvements in the run game this year and better pass protection.

 

3rd the WRs on this team I think are the strong spot(or will be by the end of the year).

First of all I think Evans days of being a Buffalo Bill are done, at least as a productive one. I honestly think he will be cut, or we will get a 4th round pick for him after the season starts and a team needs one due to injury.

With that said, I thought Johnson was turning into a true #1 WR last year and can do that, unfortunately I think this will be the last season of him being the #1 and that's only because I think Easley will be unstoppable very soon. He's got Andre Johnson size and if he's even half as good he'll be our #1 for years to come. With Nelson and Parrish running crisp routes on the inside of the field and Jones and Rosevelt spelling anyone needing a break. I think this is our future of WR and i couldn't be happier about it.

Our RBs will follow suit with the WRs. Spiller will get many more touches, he'll have about 800 rushing and 500 recieving this season. Freddy will get a little break as far as touches but that won't matter. He will still be the Freddy we all love. And White will show us some flashes and get a few of us wondering whe. Freddy is gonna retire so we can see some more of White on a regular basis.

 

4th our defensive Line COULD be monsterous within a year or two. I'm hoping for a big rookie year out of Dareus. I think you'll eventually see Troup start at DT with Dareus and Williams at DEs. The great thing is you can move them around so much that any one of these guys could play any position on the DL in a 3/4. That helps us free up space for our LBs and isolate double teams where we want them to happen. I really hope Jasper makes the team and gets in a little this year. What excites me most is thinking of Jasper at DT and Dareus and Troup at DEs. If Jasper was ready by the end of this year (I know, long shot) then we could trade Williams after another pro bowl season and get at minimum a 1st round pick for him. Just think if we got that and then that 4th for Evans we would have alot to bargain with (possibly You know who) or just to continue to build our young team in other areas.

 

5th our LBs might be the weakest point of this team or they might be stronger than we think.

First, I'm not a Poz lover at all, but with better talent around him, and not expected to be the best LB on this team, he might be decent. I personally want him resigned unless another stud is out there instead.

I can see Moats and a healthy Merriman at OLBs and wrecking havoc on many QBs. Moats really started to co e on at the end of last year and the thought of him with a healthy Light Out really gets my electricity pumping. I also see Batten filling in at both ILB and OLB as well as Coleman possibly starting early in the season at OLB or possibly spelling for both Merriman and Moats. Andre Davis will probably start at ILB with Poz and you'll see alot of Shepard early and often. We tried the Kelsey experiment at OLB and he sucked because he couldn't cover a slug. What about filling him in as a backup ILB on running downs and just ask him to do what he did as a DE for so long. I'm just saying I can see it happening.

 

6th I think the CBs are the weakest point of the team but that won't last too long. Williams and Searcy are going to start evenually but I think Williams is the only one to start now. I think you'll see McGee play his last game as a Bill probably by about game 6 or 8. At that point you'll see Williams and hopefully Florance, if not it will be McKelvin. I would love to have Williams and Florence start with McKelvin as the nickle from day one but I don't think it's gonna happen.

I think Donte will be back as a Bill, but that's only because he can't make anywhere near what he thiis he's worth on the open market. In the end, he will actually turn down a little more money with another team to come back to Buffalo. He will be our starting SS but will be on a short leash because we have Searcy and Wilson who can come in if Lil Donte is playing at a sub par level. Byrd is our FS and will be there for a few years.

I can see our stating DBs in the future as: Williams, Florence/McKelvin, Byrd, Searcy with McKelvin/Corner as our nickle, and Whitner, Scott, and Wilson backing up nickle, dime, SS and FS.

 

7th I'm looking forward to Chan with another year under his belt. Looking forward to Spiller getting some more touches. Moving the DE and LBs around alot under Wanstash and Buddy Nix making a few small deals that pick us up just 1 or 2 more draft picks (even if it's as low as a 4th rounder).

 

Sorry for all the spelling errors and missing letters. Typing all this from my phone. Hope u all enjoy my high hopes for the season.

Edited May 22, 2011 by mrags

[Alphadawg7]

I'm going to go with our WR core, I really like the Joker, Nelson, Easley (If Healthy) & Lee Evans. I can see that totally being the strength of our team, like a huge strength.

 

What else do we have to look forward too ??

 

I can see why there is excitement with the WR's, but at the same time they are tied to Fitz and how much he can improve this year and utilize the WR's. I don't have a lot of confidence that Fitz's season will be much different than this last season. I really hope he does come out strong this year, but based on his week to week performance last year, I just don't have confidence in him being consistent.

 

I think the group that excites me the most is the RB's. With FJ and CJ as the clear two top backs and a year under CJ's belt now, I fell like Chan and company are going to be able to better utilize these two. A lot of people think our run game was really bad last year, but we really were not. We were 10th in the league in YPA, and FJ was I believe the 5th or 6th leading rusher in the NFL once he was named the starter after the Lynch trade. Our team rushing total was more affected by how often we passed more than how well we ran the ball and the puzzling RB rotations in the first parts of the season.

 

That being said, I am also very excited to see our Defensive unit as a whole as well. I want to see our new D line, how the LB's fare with a (hopefully) healthy Merriman, and how defensive back field is affected by the new front 7.

[HumbleAndHungry]

I am most excited to see Dareus and Williams lined up together. Hopefully troup will continue to improve. We have a potentially great D line in the making. Jasper is intruiging but has a lot of work to do and is a huge work in progress.

[Scrappy]

Let's see. There's so many things I'm excited to see out of this team this year. Let's just hope there's a season, which I think there will be.

 

1st I'd like to see that Fitz is and will be the true leader at QB that we all have wished for. For so long we've been thinking we need to draft an early first round guy to make it work. With other pieces around him I thi I Fitz is and can be the guy. I'm looking forward to 3,500+ yards, 25+ tds, less than 17 ints, some good leadership to win in close games, and some major Elway sized balls to go with it.

 

2nd I think the OL is goi g to be fun to watch. It could start off completely different than it finishes and often does. I'm hoping for a line like this: Bell, Levitre, Wood, Handgartner, Hairston (I think Hanny will get in as RG due to his experience, which would be good to have him right next to wood at C, and the rookie at RT) i'm looking for major improvements in the run game this year and better pass protection.

 

3rd the WRs on this team I think are the strong spot(or will be by the end of the year).

First of all I think Evans days of being a Buffalo Bill are done, at least as a productive one. I honestly think he will be cut, or we will get a 4th round pick for him after the season starts and a team needs one due to injury.

With that said, I thought Johnson was turning into a true #1 WR last year and can do that, unfortunately I think this will be the last season of him being the #1 and that's only because I think Easley will be unstoppable very soon. He's got Andre Johnson size and if he's even half as good he'll be our #1 for years to come. With Nelson and Parrish running crisp routes on the inside of the field and Jones and Rosevelt spelling anyone needing a break. I think this is our future of WR and i couldn't be happier about it.

Our RBs will follow suit with the WRs. Spiller will get many more touches, he'll have about 800 rushing and 500 recieving this season. Freddy will get a little break as far as touches but that won't matter. He will still be the Freddy we all love. And White will show us some flashes and get a few of us wondering whe. Freddy is gonna retire so we can see some more of White on a regular basis.

4th our defensive Line COULD be monsterous within a year or two. I'm hoping for a big rookie year out of Dareus. I think you'll eventually see Troup start at DT with Dareus and Williams at DEs. The great thing is you can move them around so much that any one of these guys could play any position on the DL in a 3/4. That helps us free up space for our LBs and isolate double teams where we want them to happen. I really hope Jasper makes the team and gets in a little this year. What excites me most is thinking of Jasper at DT and Dareus and Troup at DEs. If Jasper was ready by the end of this year (I know, long shot) then we could trade Williams after another pro bowl season and get at minimum a 1st round pick for him. Just think if we got that and then that 4th for Evans we would have alot to bargain with (possibly You know who) or just to continue to build our young team in other areas.

 

5th our LBs might be the weakest point of this team or they might be stronger than we think.

First, I'm not a Poz lover at all, but with better talent around him, and not expected to be the best LB on this team, he might be decent. I personally want him resigned unless another stud is out there instead.

I can see Moats and a healthy Merriman at OLBs and wrecking havoc on many QBs. Moats really started to co e on at the end of last year and the thought of him with a healthy Light Out really gets my electricity pumping. I also see Batten filling in at both ILB and OLB as well as Coleman possibly starting early in the season at OLB or possibly spelling for both Merriman and Moats. Andre Davis will probably start at ILB with Poz and you'll see alot of Shepard early and often. We tried the Kelsey experiment at OLB and he sucked because he couldn't cover a slug. What about filling him in as a backup ILB on running downs and just ask him to do what he did as a DE for so long. I'm just saying I can see it happening.

 

6th I think the CBs are the weakest point of the team but that won't last too long. Williams and Searcy are going to start evenually but I think Williams is the only one to start now. I think you'll see McGee play his last game as a Bill probably by about game 6 or 8. At that point you'll see Williams and hopefully Florance, if not it will be McKelvin. I would love to have Williams and Florence start with McKelvin as the nickle from day one but I don't think it's gonna happen.

I think Donte will be back as a Bill, but that's only because he can't make anywhere near what he thiis he's worth on the open market. In the end, he will actually turn down a little more money with another team to come back to Buffalo. He will be our starting SS but will be on a short leash because we have Searcy and Wilson who can come in if Lil Donte is playing at a sub par level. Byrd is our FS and will be there for a few years.

I can see our stating DBs in the future as: Williams, Florence/McKelvin, Byrd, Searcy with McKelvin/Corner as our nickle, and Whitner, Scott, and Wilson backing up nickle, dime, SS and FS.

 

7th I'm looking forward to Chan with another year under his belt. Looking forward to Spiller getting some more touches. Moving the DE and LBs around alot under Wanstash and Buddy Nix making a few small deals that pick us up just 1 or 2 more draft picks (even if it's as low as a 4th rounder).

 

Sorry for all the spelling errors and missing letters. Typing all this from my phone. Hope u all enjoy my high hopes for the season.

 

I didn't want to knock Lee Evans but there is a chance that he actually takes heat off the kids while they get better. The WR's upside is so much more huge right now because we will have someone open all the time, almost assured. That doesn't mean Fitz can get it to them but it will force the defense to back-up & try to stop us, which makes the run game even better.

[Talley56]

Utilizing Roscoe Parrish. I liked how we were finally able to work him into our offense last year before he went on IR. I'd like to see what he can do for a full season under Gailey.

[JoeF]

First, I will be excited if there is a season...it makes no sense when you have the pro sport with the shortest careers to lose a year -- hopefully saner heads will prevail in June and training camp will begin on time.

 

If there is a year--there will be Free Agency--I still don't have a feel for where Buddy and Chan think the Bills have holes until Free Agency. My guess is they are looking for QB depth (obvious and already said), more T depth, a swing veteran LB (Stephen Cooper), another SS (assuming Whitner says bye-bye). I think they go hard after Florence (3 years - $14M - $7M Guaranteed) and Poz (5 years-$22M, $11M guaranteed) and the rest will be starting experienced players who are obtained for average contracts--like a Cooper - 2 years - $5M, $2M guaranteed.

 

Once the roster is filled out with 4 or 5 moves--here is what I think:

 

1) Dareus truly proves he can swing from DE in run situations to NT in pass and is a 4 down player.

2) Troup becomes a force and can take 30% of the snaps so Kyle can go hard on every play he is in

3) Poz and Sheppard are chip blocked rather than assigned to OG because the D-line are beasts and out YPC goes from 4.8 to 4.0 (a massive improvement)..

4) The Bills Sack total and pressures go up. Sacks from 27 to 45...if this happens -- interceptions go from 11 to probably double

5) That rush attempts and pass attempts are equal this year rather that 60 pass and 40 run--and that our yards per carry goes to 4.5 from 4.3

6) That Fitz's INT ratio goes from 4.0% to 2.3% due to a better rushing attack and more familiarity with the receiving core..

 

If we do this--the wins will come. No record prediction--no playoff prediction but we need to get better all the key things--stopping the run, rushing the passer, running the ball and balancing the offense...if we do that we win more and I think they can.

Edited May 22, 2011 by JoeF