bisonbrigade Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 On offense the two key players are Ryan Fitzpatrick and CJ Spiller. All we need expect from Fitz is the same playing level from last year. If he can put up 20+ TDs and keep his INT's down to 16 and under that would be fine. Now CJ the team needs him to play like a #1 draft pick. 1500 total yards and 8 to 10 td's is what is expected. Show the fans that you are a big time player. I believe he can. On Defense the two key players are Dareus and Merriman. Dareus needs to be a monster from day one and be a dominant force at the line of scrimage. THe sacks are the cherry on top, but he needs to push the other team around and not be pushed. As For "Lights out" Merriman, first off he needs to play period. After that 7 to 10 sacks would take this club to another level. If all four produce, which I know is asking alot, this team can compete for a Wildcard spot in the playoffs. IF! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewEra Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 On offense the two key players are Ryan Fitzpatrick and CJ Spiller. All we need expect from Fitz is the same playing level from last year. If he can put up 20+ TDs and keep his INT's down to 16 and under that would be fine. Now CJ the team needs him to play like a #1 draft pick. 1500 total yards and 8 to 10 td's is what is expected. Show the fans that you are a big time player. I believe he can. On Defense the two key players are Dareus and Merriman. Dareus needs to be a monster from day one and be a dominant force at the line of scrimage. THe sacks are the cherry on top, but he needs to push the other team around and not be pushed. As For "Lights out" Merriman, first off he needs to play period. After that 7 to 10 sacks would take this club to another level. If all four produce, which I know is asking alot, this team can compete for a Wildcard spot in the playoffs. IF! Looking at our schedule, I can't see this team competing for a wildcard. I love our draft, but we're still a year away from contending for the playoffs, even if Merriman gets 20 sacks. I hate to sound pessimistic, but I think I'm a realist. We're headed in the right direction, but I can't see us competing with the jets, pats, ravens, steelers over the course of an entire season. I hope I'm wrong, but the playoffs are at least a year away, even with our defensive upgrades. If we can sign zach miller and Tyson Clabo, I may be wrong. That's a big if. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewildrabbit Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 On offense the two key players are Ryan Fitzpatrick and CJ Spiller. All we need expect from Fitz is the same playing level from last year. If he can put up 20+ TDs and keep his INT's down to 16 and under that would be fine. Now CJ the team needs him to play like a #1 draft pick. 1500 total yards and 8 to 10 td's is what is expected. Show the fans that you are a big time player. I believe he can. On Defense the two key players are Dareus and Merriman. Dareus needs to be a monster from day one and be a dominant force at the line of scrimage. THe sacks are the cherry on top, but he needs to push the other team around and not be pushed. As For "Lights out" Merriman, first off he needs to play period. After that 7 to 10 sacks would take this club to another level. If all four produce, which I know is asking alot, this team can compete for a Wildcard spot in the playoffs. IF! Not with the current O line as it is, Fitz played very well and was very lucky to escape the rush so many times last season, and if you look back at the last two years he has been knocked out for a game each year. The Bills need to find a RT worth a damn, a TE that can block and be a deep threat, and more depth on that line. Spiller needs to learn how to block, find holes and run his routes so he can even make the field. The defense needs to stop the run It remains to be seen if any of the players drafted this year actually make an impact, besides Darius Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jumbalaya Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 On offense the two key players are Ryan Fitzpatrick and CJ Spiller. All we need expect from Fitz is the same playing level from last year. If he can put up 20+ TDs and keep his INT's down to 16 and under that would be fine. Now CJ the team needs him to play like a #1 draft pick. 1500 total yards and 8 to 10 td's is what is expected. Show the fans that you are a big time player. I believe he can. On Defense the two key players are Dareus and Merriman. Dareus needs to be a monster from day one and be a dominant force at the line of scrimage. THe sacks are the cherry on top, but he needs to push the other team around and not be pushed. As For "Lights out" Merriman, first off he needs to play period. After that 7 to 10 sacks would take this club to another level. If all four produce, which I know is asking alot, this team can compete for a Wildcard spot in the playoffs. IF! 4-12 or 5-11 IF we get lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8-8 Forever? Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Looking at our schedule, I can't see this team competing for a wildcard. I love our draft, but we're still a year away from contending for the playoffs, even if Merriman gets 20 sacks. I hate to sound pessimistic, but I think I'm a realist. We're headed in the right direction, but I can't see us competing with the jets, pats, ravens, steelers over the course of an entire season. I hope I'm wrong, but the playoffs are at least a year away, even with our defensive upgrades. If we can sign zach miller and Tyson Clabo, I may be wrong. That's a big if. I see 10 losses in our game schedule , minimum. We will be relatively quiet in FA like always. They know they only have a few of the pieces right now, will probably take another beating from better teams in AFC West and NFC East (plus being swept by Pats and Jets again) in 2011 and go from there. they will get there, just takes good drafting, good coaching, and time (with a few lucky personnel moves along the way). Just like they did it in the late 80's. The "way you do it" really hasn't changed much. It took 3 years for the Kelly teams to really come together and they had all kinds of personnel moves break 100% their way (like Kelly being available in the best QB draft class in history and guys like Andre Reed turning out to be HOFers)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eball Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 I think it's impossible to accurately predict a W-L record at this point when you consider the Bills will feature a defense with probably 5 or 6 new starters, and the addition of a very good coach (Wanny). On offense, who knows what we're going to see out of Fitz & Co.? Progression or regression? Gailey's track record would have me leaning on the positive side of things. The Bills are a virtual unknown right now. It's as ridiculous to predict a 10-win season as it is to predict another 4-12 finish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewEra Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 I think it's impossible to accurately predict a W-L record at this point when you consider the Bills will feature a defense with probably 5 or 6 new starters, and the addition of a very good coach (Wanny). On offense, who knows what we're going to see out of Fitz & Co.? Progression or regression? Gailey's track record would have me leaning on the positive side of things. The Bills are a virtual unknown right now. It's as ridiculous to predict a 10-win season as it is to predict another 4-12 finish. It's not rediculous to predict a 10 loss season next year. Is there a "chance" we don't lose 10 games? Sure. But I'd bet a lot of money we lose at least 10. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Senator Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 19 and 0 baby!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miyagi-Do Karate Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 On offense the two key players are Ryan Fitzpatrick and CJ Spiller. All we need expect from Fitz is the same playing level from last year. If he can put up 20+ TDs and keep his INT's down to 16 and under that would be fine. Now CJ the team needs him to play like a #1 draft pick. 1500 total yards and 8 to 10 td's is what is expected. Show the fans that you are a big time player. I believe he can. On Defense the two key players are Dareus and Merriman. Dareus needs to be a monster from day one and be a dominant force at the line of scrimage. THe sacks are the cherry on top, but he needs to push the other team around and not be pushed. As For "Lights out" Merriman, first off he needs to play period. After that 7 to 10 sacks would take this club to another level. If all four produce, which I know is asking alot, this team can compete for a Wildcard spot in the playoffs. IF! I agree that these four guys are going to be key, although maybe Spiller to a lesser extent. I think another key is our o-line, which Buddy seemed pretty content with. If guys like Wang, Wrotto, Ubrik, and that other dude we picked up at RT stay healthy and improve, we could be pretty solid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodeMonkey Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 19 and 0 baby!!!! I was waiting for you to chime in man! I think that anyone whose main focus is the record or about making the playoffs this season is setting themselves up for a big disappointment. Look for signs of improvement from previous Bills (particularly Spiller and Fitz at least for me) and to see how many of the new guys see the field and can contribute. I expect a season much like last, with Gailey and Nix evaluating people again for much of the season to see if players like Fitz and Spiller and others are long term guys or not. To expect a 4-12 team to turn it around and make the playoffs just with the addition of primarily one or two good defensive linemen is unrealistic, at least to me. People need to keep reminding themselves this is a long rebuilding process and this really is the first year (last year was all but wasted in my opinion). Remember that and temper your expectations accordingly is my recommendation. and don't get swept up in the emotion of a draft that didn't suck for a change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockinon Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 19 and 0 baby!!!! I was reading through these posts and was thinking "where is the Senator when you need him". Scrolled down one more time and there you were. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roccitybillsfan Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 I was waiting for you to chime in man! I think that anyone whose main focus is the record or about making the playoffs this season is setting themselves up for a big disappointment. Look for signs of improvement from previous Bills (particularly Spiller and Fitz at least for me) and to see how many of the new guys see the field and can contribute. I expect a season much like last, with Gailey and Nix evaluating people again for much of the season to see if players like Fitz and Spiller and others are long term guys or not. To expect a 4-12 team to turn it around and make the playoffs just with the addition of primarily one or two good defensive linemen is unrealistic, at least to me. People need to keep reminding themselves this is a long rebuilding process and this really is the first year (last year was all but wasted in my opinion). Remember that and temper your expectations accordingly is my recommendation. and don't get swept up in the emotion of a draft that didn't suck for a change. Good assessment. I agree with what you said 100%. I'm just looking for improvement this year. Let guys get used to playing with each other and hopefully stay healthy. That injury bug has been killing us year after year. I'm actually curious to see the development of our receiving corp this year as well. We saw Stevie Johnson come on and some flashes from David Nelson as well. Let's see if Easley can show us something coming off of his injury. I remember it being a few years before we got to see what a beast Eric Moulds was. Just saying...... I think i'd actually be impressed with an 8-8 record this year, with us showing improvement on both sides of the ball. Of course, I am hoping for an even better record and a spot in the playoffs, but like CodeMonkey said, my expectations are tempered. POW!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atlbillsfan1975 Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 (edited) While I agrre totally on your two defensive players, on offense i got to go with the two tackles and Fitz. More so Bell at LT then the RT. I want to see what Fitz does if it is December and the Bills are 8-5. How does he take that next step, when the pressure is really on? he showed last year why he has been a back up. Has the ability to look really good and other times leave you saying 'why did he make that throw'? I hope for all our sakes the Bills are 8-5 in December, and we are able to watch intresting, relevant football from the team we love! Edited May 4, 2011 by atlbillsfan1975 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockinon Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 (edited) We have one hell of a lot of young talent on the offensive line. I may be a bit optimistic, but it is my opinion that these young men will get it together this year. Our o-line struggled last year but they were pretty bad at run blocking and had some issues with injuries. I'm expecting a focus on getting the run game going this year and taking some pressure off of Fitz. The defense so aggressively added to in the draft and bringing in Wannstedt was brilliant. I think there is a very good chance that our record from last year is flipped. I am also very much looking forward to seeing what Fitz can do with the starting job right out of the gate. There are a lot of things to be optimistic about. And as far as I am concerned, there ain't nothing wrong with that. It gets real old listening to the doom and gloomers around here. To me they just sound like a bunch of pontificating, love to here themselves talk, white noise. I can't wait for this lockout crap to end so we begin the transition. People who talk this way just don't seem to get how powerful Billieving is. This is our team and if you want to see them get better then do something about it and get behind them. Edited May 4, 2011 by Rockinon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JinWPB Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 If we can keep our wanted free agents, if we sign one or two quality FA's..... If DW can help turn around the D, maybe get them to .500 ...... If we aren't hit by the injury bug.... If the O can repeat 2010 production..... Then, I don't see why the playoffs are not within reach. I mean doesn't that have to be our goal this year. A Team or fanbase can't go into a season already admitting defeat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. WEO Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 I think it's impossible to accurately predict a W-L record at this point when you consider the Bills will feature a defense with probably 5 or 6 new starters, and the addition of a very good coach (Wanny). On offense, who knows what we're going to see out of Fitz & Co.? Progression or regression? Gailey's track record would have me leaning on the positive side of things. The Bills are a virtual unknown right now. It's as ridiculous to predict a 10-win season as it is to predict another 4-12 finish. Everything above was said by many here last year. Most (including me) said there was no way this team would lose more games than DJ had the season before. With the same information, several in the media predicted no more than 4 wins---and everyone howled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offsides#76FredSmerlas Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 (edited) It's not rediculous to predict a 10 loss season next year. Is there a "chance" we don't lose 10 games? Sure. But I'd bet a lot of money we lose at least 10. I'd like to get in on that bet. I don't believe this Gailey led team will lose 10. I think we'll win anywhere from 7 to 9 games. Let me know if you'd like to throw some money down for real... Edited May 4, 2011 by offsides#76FredSmerlas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbosrrgood Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 lol, I like the optimisim, too bad I can't share it. I think will Fitz will be ok, but that probably won't be enough. I really hope Spiller shows something more, but Jackson has already proven he is the starter, and that he should be. Highly unlikely spiller will get anywhere near those numbers. I think the key to the Bills season is all on the defensive side of the ball, if they play better the offense will have more chances and less pressure. I agree that Dareus and Merriman have to be the studs they should be in order for this defense to become solid. Actually the whole defense is really in flux. We don't know who will play the other LB positions, Kelsey and Merriman likely, but who on the inside, will we even have Poz (overrated, and only useful in a 4-3). Whitner and Florence (our best defensive player last year) are gone. That leaves Mcgee (can he ever stay on the field?) and McKelvin/Williams/Corner competing for the other spot (yikes). Byrd/Wilson/Scott/Searcy at safety (we're ok here). We still don't have an answer 3-4 NT, they already said Dareus will be a DE. As much as we all like KW, he is too small to anchor against the run, and should play the other end spot and/or situational pass rushing. Troupe showed nothing last year, can he improve? I know we all have hope for the mysterious giant Jasper we picked in the 7th round, but does his size translate to success on the field? That could actually be the most import factor of all, since it's our biggest weakness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eball Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Everything above was said by many here last year. Most (including me) said there was no way this team would lose more games than DJ had the season before. With the same information, several in the media predicted no more than 4 wins---and everyone howled. Understood. My only point is that predicting ANY W-L record is a foolish exercise -- particularly with a team undergoing so many changes. Last year a lot of us conveniently chose to ignore the lack of talent that was obvious to others. It's fair to say the talent gap has shrunk, even if it's only "potential" at this point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodeMonkey Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 If we can keep our wanted free agents, if we sign one or two quality FA's..... If DW can help turn around the D, maybe get them to .500 ...... If we aren't hit by the injury bug.... If the O can repeat 2010 production..... Then, I don't see why the playoffs are not within reach. I mean doesn't that have to be our goal this year. A Team or fanbase can't go into a season already admitting defeat. So your thought process is that 8-8, "if" as you say that could be achieved, could give them a good shot at a wildcard in the AFC East? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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