One thing you guys should understand about Buffalo is that, if they get Mario Williams, they could have the best d-line in football all of a sudden. We'll have Kyle Williams, Marcell Dareus, and Mario Williams. THAT'S a nasty line. We'll probably have Kelsay in the other DE spot. Our depth is not bad, either.
Kyle Williams, who played in the Pro Bowl the previous year, was playing for a long time with a bone-spur in his ankle...he finally got that taken care of after going on IR for it in week 5 last year. This left the #3 overall rookie Dareus all alone without much help, and he still did a very good job taking on double teams all year.
Now you add back Kyle Williams and Mario Williams (the Williams brothers) to Dareus, who gained valuable experience last year, and offenses will have serious problems dealing with that. Bad things, man...this will help our secondary better too, as they were not helped by any semblence of a pass rush last year.
As far as Fitzpatrick goes, he cracked some ribs against Washington in week 8 last year when the Bills were 5-2, both of those losses being 3-point nail-biters against eventual playoff teams, including the Super Bowl champs. Whether the cracked ribs is an excuse or an explanation remains to be seen, but Fitz never used it as an excuse. The Bills offense was very effective the first half of the season, though. Coincidence? Dunno. Perhaps other teams figured out the Bills scheme and shut them down that way, which is also a very real possibility.
Meachem is an upgrade too, make no mistake. We re-signed Stevie Johnson already. We should have a two-headed monster at RB.
You guys should respect the fact that the Patriots, not even THAT long ago, were perceived much as the Bills are today...as an afterthought. Things change, don't they? As long as the Dolphins don't get Peyton Manning, I feel that 2nd place in the division is a realistic expectation for the Bills this year at this point...but a lot else will happen before opening day.
The Bills were hit hard with injuries last year, too. More than most...key guys that we'll get back. The KEY to beating the Patriots is putting pressure on Tom Brady...that's already been established and documented. One-on-one, I'm not sure you can take our Pats-Bills match-ups for granted as wins anymore. We beat you once last year and were up 21-0 before you guys brought the hammer down in a big way in the second game.
