BuffaloBillsForever Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 We won 9(some say 8) with putrid OL play last season. We essentially have the same great D and ST and have added a legit RB, TE and FB. Also added another top WR....and Watkins won't be a rookie, making our 1-4 WRs all excellent. Even ignoring the possible effects of changing coaching one would have to surmise that even with a putrid OL we should win a game or two more than last year. With a decent OL we could win 11+ games, let alone a great OL. It was also the healthiest team the Bills had in decades. Injuries or staying healthy will be the key to winning more than 9. I just don't see it happening. We got really lucky last year with the lack of the injury bug. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickelCity Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 A resounding "no" to the OP's question. It is a fatal flaw that must be addressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dibs Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 (edited) It was also the healthiest team the Bills had in decades. Injuries or staying healthy will be the key to winning more than 9. I just don't see it happening. We got really lucky last year with the lack of the injury bug.It was certainly better than 2013, and our strength(dline) escaped the injury curse, but our team as a whole was certainly affected by injuries.....though I fully concede that it was likely a better than average year in regards to injuries. Kiko missed entire year. With a poor running game, both our RBs lost significant time(or were hindered) due to injury. Our best OLman Glenn seemed largely set back due to pre-season injury. Our FA OG aquisition(Williams) missed most of season....which I'm sure was not the plan. We rarely had our full starting secondary on the field. The fact that the FO supplied quality depth at many positions which somewhat helped cover the injuries should not detract from the numbers of games missed(or adversely affected) by starters. Edited March 24, 2015 by Dibs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry Jabber Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 No. This roster is 9-7 at it's best. Lol!!! How do you figure? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloBillsForever Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 Lol!!! How do you figure? No QB. Crappy o-line with no depth. No depth at TE. No depth in the secondary which has some question marks even when healthy. No depth at LB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deranged Rhino Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 No QB. Crappy o-line with no depth. No depth at TE. No depth in the secondary which has some question marks even when healthy. No depth at LB. The secondary last year was excellent and rather deep -- at least at CB. That hasn't changed. We lost Searcy, he's most certainly a loss, but I don't think he's irreplaceable or suddenly makes the secondary suspect. Gilmore took a big step in the second half of the season, if he can have a healthy season this year there's no telling how good he can be with Rex. Leodis was playing at a very high level, pro bowl level in my estimation, prior to his injury. If he's healthy (and frankly I don't know enough about ankle fractures to know) he's a top shelf #2. Robey is small but has great instincts, maybe the best ball instincts on the whole team. He's excellent in the nickle slot. And of course that still leaves Graham who's great depth on the boundary or at safety. It's completely fair to question the O-Line, QB and (if you really want to be picky) depth at TE, but it's pretty odd to say the secondary isn't deep or talented. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry Jabber Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 Without having a first round draft pick in the upcoming NFL draft in April, the Bills know that they will not be able to draft a franchise quarterback (QB) this year, so they decided to make it a three way competition for the starting QB position by trading for Matt Cassel from the Vikings, as well as signing former Baltimore Raven Tyrod Taylor to compete with former first round EJ Manuel. Bills Offensive Coordinator, Greg Roman knows he does not have a top 10 QB on his roster, which is nothing new to Roman as he dealt with the same issue in San Francisco. The Bills have loaded up the talent on offense to compensate as they now have McCoy, Watkins, Harvin, Clay, and Woods as their stars on offense.The Bills know their offensive line was terrible last season, which is why they hired renown offensive line coach, Aaron Kromer. Kromer is most notably known for the stellar offensive line he coached in New Orleans which won Superbowl XLIV. While the Bills brought in Incognito to improve their Guard play on one side of the field, it is unknown at this point is the Bills will bring in another Guard, take one in the draft or bring in another Tackle and make a switch at the position. McCoy is a year removed from leading the NFL in rushing and has rushed for 1,300 or more in the past three out of four years. The last time the Bills had an RB that ran for 1,300 or more in consecutive seasons was in 2002-03 when Travis Henry rushed for 1,438 yards in 2002 and 1,356 yards in 2003. To help make McCoy more effective, the Bills signed former Minnesota Vikings fullback Jerome Felton, who helped open up holes for Vikings RB Adrian Peterson. Next, the Bills signed wide receiver (WR) Percy Harvin, whom Bills HC Rex Ryan was very familiar with. Ryan stated that Bills WR Sammy Watkins was double teamed in almost every play last season, so Harvin is being brought in to help take some of the pressure off of Watkins, as well as making plays for the offense. The Bills defense was third in the league last season giving up on average 205.8 YPG so I don't get where the question marks are? Also, when McKelvin when down to injury, Corey Graham stepped in and the secondary didn't miss a beat. No depth at LB? Didn't people say the same thing when Kiko Alonso went down in the offseason last year with a knee injury? The Bills had the 4th best defense and 2nd best special teams last season and went 9-7. With a revamped offense, I can see the Bills as either a wild card team or the AFC East champs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloBillsForever Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 Don't forget the lack of injuries. This team was extremely healthy last year. Probably one of the most healthy teams in all the NFL I would bet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billsfan89 Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 No the Bills can't win 11 games without at the very least a capable O-line. If their O-line is below average or horrible it won't be a playoff season for the Bills. I do think the team will draft a guard in round 2 but even as it stands now I think the O-line will be way better than it was last season (Not that it would be hard to do). In 2011-2012 the O-line play was actually pretty decent and good at times. Wood developed into one of the better centers in the league, Glenn was really good his first year, Levitre was a good guard, Urbik developed into a solid starter, and even Pears played passable. 2013 Levitre leaves and they don't do a good job replacing him and Wood, Glenn, and Urbik all regressed while Pears aged out. I think Marrone was a huge reason for the regression. The overall regression of the unit and the individuals is on Marrone. With InCognito and a new coaching staff (As well as the experience gained by Henderson and Cyrus) alone the offensive line should improve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Augie Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 Could Maronne make the Jags Oline so bad the HC gets fired and Maronne gets promoted? Don't laugh, they hired him to coach OL after last year! Life can be very funny, especially with perennial bottom feeders. We are better due to his subtraction at this point. Any talent we can add is gravy (and we need some gravy). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloBillsForever Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 So the Bills were in the top tier in terms of least injuries. 8th healthiest team in 2013 and 10th healthiest in 2014. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky Landing Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 I have this weird, optimistic delusion that Kujo is going to miraculously change from Venus DeMilo into an incarnation of Cerberus. I'm usually dead wrong about every prediction I make, and I've generally learned to discount my gut feelings. But, I can't shake this one. Kujo's going to completely turn it around this season. Word. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atlbillsfan1975 Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 They drafted three guys last year. Henderson will be better and one of the other two will step up. Urbik back at RG will help his game. I doubt oline is as big a problem as some of you think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 You can't spend your time worrying about injuries/something you can't control. So all things being equal, the Bills have enough talent on all 3 sides to do extremely well this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cold Front Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 (edited) The o-line should improve with an nfl caliber coaching staff in place. As recently as 2012 this unit was considered a strength of the team. Thankfully the quitter and the hack are gone. Roman will install his version of the spread offense which is a better fit for our personnel. I found this from 2012, http://www.buffaloru...ine-cordy-glenn 2013-2014 Bills offensive playbook https://youtu.be/vcvou0SAxZI Edited March 24, 2015 by Cold Front Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffwagonscircled Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 It's a lot easier to go 11-5 with a bad oline than it is to go 11-5 with little talent at skill positions. So yeah, we can go 11-5 with a bad oline Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloFan68 Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 With the current changes & the draft yet to go - yes 11 or more wins coming this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CardinalScotts Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 No. This roster is 9-7 at it's best. went 9-7 last year and they have ugraded in a major way and the schedule is much easier 11-5 to start before the draft Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanC883 Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 We won 9 games with the same line last year. Add in equivalent (at least) QB play, a much better running game, and more weapons, that should equate to 2 more wins. I then add another 2 to account for the fact I expect the line to play better w/o Marrone and with their addition of RI. 13 wins next season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max997 Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 We will need to be creative. But if they want to pound the ball, they should really get more help. They couldn't run the ball last year and so far they only just added one guy. Doesn't look good. How about looking at the entire picture instead of complaining about lack of acquisitions They added Incognito They no longer have Pears at RG They get Chris Williams back who may not be great but the running game was clearly better with him in the lineup then without. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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