The future of the Buffalo Bills

As most Buffalo sports fans like myself know, the Bills made a big splash in the free agent market. They have signed Mario Williams to a huge contract. This is great news. However, I can't help but complain about the fans that think the Bills are now playoff bound. Don't get me wrong, the Bills are starting to finally make moves that will produce wins. But 1 man will not completely change this team. Every Bills fan is now angry just reading that.

The Bills have a knack for getting fans excited. Honestly, it's probably the only reason the team is still in Buffalo. Every year, the Bills do something that makes fans stay loyal. Part of that has to do with geography. But the other part is the 1 or 2 moves that the front office makes to give everyone a glimmer of hope. These changes in the past usually revolve around a new quarterback or head coach. Remember when everyone thought Trent Edwards was going to be the savior of the team? That didn't last long. Heck, at one point, even J.P. Losman was considered an up-and-coming QB. To be fair, he did win a championship as a starting QB after he left Buffalo. Don't remember it? Well that's because he won a championship in the UFL with the Las Vegas Locomotives. Coaches have come and gone... Each one was considered to be the big move to get the Bills to the playoffs. Dick Jauron, Gregg Williams, Mike Mularkey. Those were the great coaches that would lead the team to victory. But they never did.

If it's not a QB or head coach, it's a big free agent signing. Terrell Owens was supposed to spark the Bills offense, which had been terrible in previous years. Did it get better? Well, slightly. But Owens didn't do much to help that.

And that brings us to Mario Williams. Admittedly, this is a different signing than TO. TO was an aging WR with character problems that no one wanted to deal with. Mario Williams is considered a stud defensive player who is still young enough to be in his prime. But he still won't lead this team to victory for a number of reasons. First, it's Mario himself. While I still feel like he'll give a great improvement to the pass rushing, who knows how good he is really going to be. He hasn't had a double-digit sack year since 2008... and the past 2 seasons he has had injury problems. The last injury-riddled pass rusher we got hasn't really done much (Shawne Merriman). That's a lot to doubt for a guy that was just given the biggest contract for a defensive player.

The second problem comes from the team itself. Yes, the pass rush was a major issue that needed to be addressed. But this team has been pretty terrible overall for a while. Other issues need to be seriously addressed before we start looking to the playoffs. Those problems include: no starting left tackle, the need for a WR to start opposite Stevie Johnson, and depth on the offensive line and the defensive backfield. You can also put TE and LB on there as secondary needs.

And beyond that, don't forget who's leading the team: Ryan Fitzpatrick. Personally, I'd give him another chance, too. I think he did enough last year to be granted that chance... But do we really think this guy can lead the Bills to the playoffs? I certainly hope so as a fan... But I wouldn't count on it.

On the plus side, this signing says a lot about the front office. Somehow, they managed to convince possible-zombie Ralph Wilson to cough up some money to get good players on the team. That's something I haven't seen Wilson do since well... ever. In the past, talented players on the roster came from 2 places... The draft (See: pretty much the entire roster during the Super Bowl years) or extremely lucky free agent pick-ups (See: Doug Flutie).

So no, I don't see the Bills making the playoffs this year. They will probably be in the hunt... But I'd expect an 8-8 finish. That's simply not good enough, but things are looking up. This is a good sign that the franchise is headed in the right direction. Can the Bills be in the playoffs in 2-3 years? Most definitely. And I can't wait. It has been WAY too long.

Scrap My Original Plan

So, originally I was going to make this a blog that I posted to on a regular basis. Seeing as I have already gone something like 9 months without posting, that idea is obviously completely out the window. That being said, I refuse to give up on this completely. I'm not sure what topics I am going to cover... Or how often I am going to post... But I have plenty to say when it comes to sports. Anyone who spends any time with me knows that. So stay tuned. There will be a post on the current status of the Bills following this post... And hopefully there will be more sports awesomeness to follow in the near future.