Buffalo Bills could present a threat next season

You can count on the fact that the Bills will be a threat next year.

Edwards is a question mark. He did well for a rookie, but the jury is still out IMO. There is no questioning his arm strength, as someone said earlier. He has just as strong an arm as Brady, but with a quicker release.

Getting rid of OC Steve Fairchild will only help this offense. The hybrid H-Back/TE experiment failed, and the new OC Turk Shoenert has axed that and installed a real FB, which will help out Lynch and Jackson tremendously.

We fixed the D with free agency, and the draft will finish the job by fixing the offense(#2 WR, secondary depth). Edwards aside, it's hard to find any weaknesses on the Bills in 2008.

If we can stay healthy, there is no way the Patriots sweep the Bills again this year.

PonyExpress said:

The Bills look like a playoff team to me.

The first time I saw Trent Edwards play in the NFL, vs the Jets, his pocket poise and talent were obvious. That was his first start as a rookie. He is a winning QB who will become a playoff Qb if healthy. They have an elite LT, a very solid rb, a downfield threat in Evans, several lesser Wrs who were underused by Losman and started to emerge with Edwards, such as Parrish. The defense can apply pressure, but the DTs are shaky if that overdrafted NC State kid never pans out. The LB corps will be every solid with Crowell and Mitchell and Poslusny et.al. The corners are shabby, so I expect them to address cb in the 1st 2 rds of the draft. There is young emerging talent on that roster all over the field.

The head coach is a top notch professional who earned a lot of respect form his team for the way he handled the injury bug last season.

The team became very close after the injuries, the Everett tragedy (and triumph), and the Buffalo football culture has a habit of making teams close knit.

These signs of progress in Buffalo were hidden from Pats fans by the spectacular beatdowns suffered vs the Pats last season. Those blowouts will probably be a source of anger for years to come for those young Bills players who were humiliated on national TV.

But with all the talk of Parcells and Mumbles Mangini the Bills can get lost, and I see them making the playoffs and providing the only legit challenge to the Pats division title hopes next season.

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I am very weary of the Bills.

The addition of Marcus Stroud to a line that already includes Aaron Schobel and Chris Kelsay is a line to be scared of and it can rival that of the Giants, regardless of whether McCargo works out.

I think that you under-rate the Bills Corners. Youbouty showed good progress and McGee has very good ability as well. Its the depth behind them that is an issue.

I fully expect the Bills to draft a WR. I wouldn't be surprised to see them reach for Dexter Jackson via a trade down in the 2nd or in the 3rd round. I also wouldn't be surprised if they took a WR in the 1st round.

DropKick Flutie said:

If we can stay healthy, there is no way the Patriots sweep the Bills again this year.

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If you want to say there's no way the Patriots will come close to repeating the 94-17 combined debacle of last year, great. But to say there's no way the Patriots will sweep a healthy Bills team is assanine. Not only is there "a way" it could happen, it's clearly the likely occurrence.

You heard it here first folks, DropKick Flutie says there is "NO WAY the Patriots sweep the Bills again"......................unless there are injuries, so he's got an out, the toolbag that he is...............

BelichickFan said:

If you want to say there's no way the Patriots will come close to repeating the 94-17 combined debacle of last year, great. But to say there's no way the Patriots will sweep a healthy Bills team is assanine. Not only is there "a way" it could happen, it's clearly the likely occurrence.

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The Bills defense you will face will be a completely different animal from last year. DTs Stroud and Spencer, LB Mitchell, and the starters returning from injury, LB Posluszny and safety Ko Simpson.

You put up 94 points on a raw UDFA cornerback (Greer), a WR converted to saftey (Wilson), a 220lb linebacker (DiGiorgio), and a horrible defensive line. The Pats will score on the Bills for sure, but Brady and company will find it a whole lot tougher in 2008.

I stand by that statement. The Bills will win a game vs. the Patriots in the 2008 regular season.

DropKick Flutie said:

The Bills defense you will face will be a completely different animal from last year. DTs Stroud and Spencer, LB Mitchell, and the starters returning from injury, LB Posluszny and safety Ko Simpson.

You put up 94 points on a raw UDFA cornerback (Greer), a WR converted to saftey (Wilson), a 220lb linebacker (DiGiorgio), and a horrible defensive line. The Pats will score on the Bills for sure, but Brady and company will find it a whole lot tougher in 2008.

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Fine, whatever, the Bills might be improved. But to say there's no way the Patriots will sweep them is just . . . stupid.

Is DiGiorgio starting this year, btw ? He was a good scorer on my fantasy team last year and I was assuming that will change with Mitchell there and Poz back . . . serious question, btw

Nah, DiGeorgio won't start... it'll be Crowell, Poz, Mitchell. I like DiGi a lot. He has great heart and a high motor, but he is just too small... that's why they signed Mitchell.

DropKick Flutie said:

Nah, DiGeorgio won't start... it'll be Crowell, Poz, Mitchell. I like DiGi a lot. He has great heart and a high motor, but he is just too small... that's why they signed Mitchell.

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Thanks - he was a very productive fantasy LB last year but, obviously, I won't be keeping him now.

Is Leonhard going to get the nod over Ko Simpson? I think Leonhard did a helluva job for the Bills, all things considered.

I think the Bills will definately have an overall better defense than the Patriots in 2008

We have castoff Jason Webster and erratic Ellis Hobbs at corner
and 4 other guys in thier low to mid and upper 30s at safety and linebacker,Its hard not to think otherwise we will not be as good as previous years.

The difference in the division depends on Brady and Co. otherwise the Bills have a very legit chance to end the Pats 5 year division win streak.

DaBruinz said:

Is Leonhard going to get the nod over Ko Simpson? I think Leonhard did a helluva job for the Bills, all things considered.

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Maybe... but I don't think so. Whitner and Simpson worked very well together as rookie safetys in '06. Simpson hurt his leg the first game of '07, and most reports say he won't be 100% until this June. George Wilson, the converted WR, was ahead of Leonhard in the depth chart and played respectably, until he got hurt for the season as well. Leonhard was thrown in there, and you're right, he did a good job. He is very smart, and that made up for his lack of experience. But that's not enough to beat out Simpson, (Whitner's favorite) or even George Wilson(Jauron's boy from his Chicago days).

PATRIOTSFANINPA said:

I think the Bills will definately have an overall better defense than the Patriots in 2008

We have castoff Jason Webster and erratic Ellis Hobbs at corner
and 4 other guys in thier low to mid and upper 30s at safety and linebacker,Its hard not to think otherwise we will not be as good as previous years.

The difference in the division depends on Brady and Co. otherwise the Bills have a very legit chance to end the Pats 5 year division win streak.

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Trust me, Jason Webster won't even make your team. In Bills training camp, he constantly got burned by scrubs, and always looked confused while it was happening. Not a BB kinda guy.

A division title would be a dream come true! But unless the Pats have the worst collapse/superbowl hangover in pro sports history, you guys have the lock on the division for the next 2 years.

DropKick Flutie said:

You can count on the fact that the Bills will be a threat next year.

Edwards is a question mark. He did well for a rookie, but the jury is still out IMO. There is no questioning his arm strength, as someone said earlier. He has just as strong an arm as Brady, but with a quicker release.

Getting rid of OC Steve Fairchild will only help this offense. The hybrid H-Back/TE experiment failed, and the new OC Turk Shoenert has axed that and installed a real FB, which will help out Lynch and Jackson tremendously.

We fixed the D with free agency, and the draft will finish the job by fixing the offense(#2 WR, secondary depth). Edwards aside, it's hard to find any weaknesses on the Bills in 2008.

If we can stay healthy, there is no way the Patriots sweep the Bills again this year.

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Saying their defense is "fixed" is a bit too definitive a statement, imo. They took steps to fix it, but that's a long way off from "fixed".

As for the idea that there are no weaknesses besides Edwards, I'd list all receivers not named "Evans", TE, starting safety, and 2nd corner as definite weak points, along with question marks over Stroud, Poz and Ko Simpson (how will they play post serious injury), and Johnson (how will he stand up to extra snaps).

Right direction, but way premature to suggest anything is fixed.

PATRIOTSFANINPA said:

I think the Bills will definately have an overall better defense than the Patriots in 2008

We have castoff Jason Webster and erratic Ellis Hobbs at corner
and 4 other guys in thier low to mid and upper 30s at safety and linebacker,Its hard not to think otherwise we will not be as good as previous years.

The difference in the division depends on Brady and Co. otherwise the Bills have a very legit chance to end the Pats 5 year division win streak.

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This is taking it a little too far.

It took a bad defensive game in Week 17 to knock the Pats from 1st to 5th in defensive scoring. Adding Meriweather into the starting lineup, having AD with a year under his belt, adding Capers mind into the mix, and whatever else we add via draft is going to far, far outweigh the loss of Asante & Colvin. So, our defense will be improved next season, I have no doubt about that.

Lampshade said:

Saying their defense is "fixed" is a bit too definitive a statement, imo. They took steps to fix it, but that's a long way off from "fixed".

As for the idea that there are no weaknesses besides Edwards, I'd list all receivers not named "Evans", TE, starting safety, and 2nd corner as definite weak points, along with question marks over Stroud, Poz and Ko Simpson (how will they play post serious injury), and Johnson (how will he stand up to extra snaps).

Right direction, but way premature to suggest anything is fixed.

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They are going to draft with the first 2 picks, WR and CB. Sweed/Kelly and best available CB..... or Cromartie and Hardy. Either way, another good draft and I think it's fixed.

BradyManny2344 said:

This is taking it a little too far.

It took a bad defensive game in Week 17 to knock the Pats from 1st to 5th in defensive scoring. Adding Meriweather into the starting lineup, having AD with a year under his belt, adding Capers mind into the mix, and whatever else we add via draft is going to far, far outweigh the loss of Asante & Colvin. So, our defense will be improved next season, I have no doubt about that.

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If our defense is to be improved then it was in previous years this team either has to be fortunate enough to get a blue chip rookie or do a last minute trade or two to get an all pro ILB or Corner, otherwise how do you expect this defense to be better than in 2007 or earlier?

Are you telling me this defense with an aging Bruschi and Harrison and absolutely no depth outside of the front 3 is going to be even better?,Right now if anything happens to Hobbs,Sanders,Thomas or Vrabel for any length of time then this team will be in trouble.

So you are banking on a rookie or two to make up for the loss of Samuel and Colvin? - Good luck!

True that Capers is a good coach but not a miracle worker,This defense IMO is in a partial rebuilding stage no matter how your homer brain looks at it.

I just hope its good enough to take the East this year then worry about the playoffs later on.

Merriweather is a stab in the dark as to what type of player he is going to be,No one knows if he is going to suck or not - Including YOU

PATRIOTSFANINPA said:

If our defense is to be improved then it was in previous years this team either has to be fortunate enough to get a blue chip rookie or do a last minute trade or two to get an all pro ILB or Corner, otherwise how do you expect this defense to be better than in 2007 or earlier?

Are you telling me this defense with an aging Bruschi and Harrison and absolutely no depth outside of the front 3 is going to be even better?,Right now if anything happens to Hobbs,Sanders,Thomas or Vrabel for any length of time then this team will be in trouble.

So you are banking on a rookie or two to make up for the loss of Samuel and Colvin? - Good luck!

True that Capers is a good coach but not a miracle worker,This defense IMO is in a partial rebuilding stage no matter how your homer brain looks at it.

I just hope its good enough to take the East this year then worry about the playoffs later on.

Merriweather is a stab in the dark as to what type of player he is going to be,No one knows if he is going to suck or not - Including YOU

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Good enough to take the East??? This team was 3 dropped picks from having the greatest single season in the history of sports. Now they aren't going to win their division? My goodness, let's get some perspective.

The team wouldn't have cut Colvin if they felt retaining him was best for the team. Samuel is mildly overrated and will not be that missed, particularly with an improved pass rush, which they can get a number of ways, including AD rushing from ILB and drafting a beast like Gholston or Groves as a pass rush specialist on the oustide.

And Meriweather played well down the stretch. I expect that to continue next season.

BradyManny2344 said:

Good enough to take the East??? This team was 3 dropped picks from having the greatest single season in the history of sports. Now they aren't going to win their division? My goodness, let's get some perspective.

The team wouldn't have cut Colvin if they felt retaining him was best for the team. Samuel is mildly overrated and will not be that missed, particularly with an improved pass rush, which they can get a number of ways, including AD rushing from ILB and drafting a beast like Gholston or Groves as a pass rush specialist on the oustide.

And Meriweather played well down the stretch. I expect that to continue next season.

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I hope you are right but I am a bit worried on the defensive side of the ball

What happened in 2007 is irelevant - this is NOT the same 18-1 team and players have come and gone,Last years record means NOTHING now,BB and any Patriots player would tell you this.

Losing Colvin hurt the team down the stretch as games were much closer as soon as he went on IR because the team had virtually no pass rush from the outside once he went down - now he is gone

Asante was overated but still the cornerstone of the DBs on this team and the biggest threat to INTs - Now he is gone

Our linebackers scare no one right now and are all over 30 and our best LB in Adalius was quiet in several key games last year,He needs to be involved much more with more on his shoulders in year 2 in NE - It is a RARE thing in the NFL when 30 year + players are as good or better than in previous years,for most guys in mid 30s they usually slow down a bit and thier play diminishes slowly till finally retiring its just the way it is.

While the team has been able to overcome losses to key players in the past 7 years for some reason I think this is a major job to get the defense back to where it was and IMO the only way is to hope to get an absolute stud at LB and Corner or make a blockbuster trade soon.

It will take BB and Capers thier absolute best to get it done this time and maybe make the toughest decisions on the final squad in August then they have had ever in thier respective careers.

Is my feelings about this team in panic mode yet? - no because I have seen this team win with scrub players before,but it seems the NFL is more talented every year so yes,I am very concerned of what this defense is going to be and will probably feel this way till kickoff in September - but on the brighter side I think the offense will be better than most,not as good as last year but better than most..

PonyExpress said:

My statement was that he was "a winning Qb", and to this point he is. His record is 5-4 as an NFL starter. The record of his college team couldn't be more irrelevant. But you'll have to convince youself of that.

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Wow, he is 5-4. Lets send him to Canton.