Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Dustin James Preview's The 2014-15 NFL Season: Buffalo Bills

Buffalo Bills

Head Coach: Doug Marrone (6-10 all-time in Buffalo)

Last Year's Results: 6-10, no playoffs

Projected Starters:

(My Player Rankings Guide:
E - Elite Starter: Franchise changing player at his position
HQ - High Quality Starter: One of the best in the game at his position
GS - Good Starter: If this guy's on your team, he's likely starting and you should be perfectly fine with it
AS - Average Starter: This guy is OK, but if possible, I'd be looking for an upgrade
BAS - Below Average Starer: This guy should not be starting, but he will because he's the best option
??? - Not enough information regarding this guy and the jury is still out on him
R - Rookie: Pretty self-explanatory
PS - Poor Starter: This guy shouldn't be starting for your football team. NO EXCUSES!)

OFFENSE:
QB: EJ Manuel (PS)
RB: C.J. Spiller (HQ)
RB: Fred Jackson (GS)
WR: Sammy Watkins (R)
WR: Robert Woods (AS)
TE: Scott Chandler (BAS)
C: Eric Wood (AS)
RG: Kraig Urbik (AS)
LG: Chris Williams (PS)
RT: Cyrus Kouandjio (R)
LT: Cordy Glenn (GS)

DEFENSE:
DE: Manny Lawson (AS)
DE: Mario Williams (GS)
DT: Marcell Dareus (HQ)
DT: Kyle Williams (E)
WLB: Nigel Bradham (AS)
MLB: Brandon Spikes (GS)
SLB: Keith Rivers (PS)
CB: Stephon Gilmore (AS)
CB: Leodis McKelvin (AS)
SS: Da'Norris Searcy (AS)
FS: Aaron Williams (AS)

SPECIAL TEAMS:
K: Dan Carpenter
P: Brian Moorman

Schedule:
vs. @ Chicago
vs. Miami
vs. San Diego
vs. @ Houston
vs. @ Detroit
vs. New England
vs. Minnesota
vs. @ New York Jets
BYE WEEK
vs. Kansas City
vs. @ Miami
vs. New York Jets
vs. Cleveland
vs. @ Denver
vs. Green Bay
vs. @ Oakland
vs. @ New England

Predicted Results: 6-10 (2-4 in division)

Team Analysis: Stop me if you've heard this one before. "Quarterback play is the most important thing in the NFL." If that statement rings true (and it does....), than the Buffalo Bills are royally screwed. The Bills actually have a decent little team on paper, but the most important position in the NFL is the quarterback position and the Bills have arguably the worst starting QB in the NFL. Now, I know I could be laying it on a little thick on ol' EJ Manuel, but the guy has done absolutely nothing that shows me he has what it takes to be a competent starter in the NFL. The Bills have some legit play-makers on their offense. Their WR corps looks like they were plucked right out of the Oregon Ducks line-up as they may be the speediest group in the NFL. Led by my favorite player in the 2014 draft (Sammy Watkins), the Bills WR's are damn sexy on paper. If they had someone like Aaron Rodgers throwing them the ball, I would be all over these guys in fantasy football. Unfortunately, Manuel is behind center and therefore it wouldn't shock me to see guys like Watkins have little impact in the fantasy world this year. The Bills will be another team likely paying close attention to the quarterbacks in college football this year and could push one Florida State guy out in favor of another one.

As far as their defense is concerned, the Bills are actually pretty good on that side of the ball. The loss of LB Kiko Alonso really hurts their linebacker group, but they are pretty stacked on the defensive line, which could help cushion the loss of a player like Alonso. Another reason I'm not too high on the Bills is that I'm not totally sold on Doug Marrone as an NFL head coach yet. I'm interested to see what he's able to do this year, but he's got pretty much all of his chips in the "EJ Manuel" basket and something tells me that basket could end up tipping over and starting on fire this year. It wouldn't shock me to see Marrone as the head coach of a college football team this time next year.

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