It’s been a few weeks since I’ve written anything for our site. The truth is I needed a short break from the Buffalo sports scene. My reasons were two-fold: 1. With the Sabres entering the all-star break and the Bills offseason in its infant stages, there really wasn’t much to say that time. And 2., I found the current state of our teams to be exceedingly depressing. Whether it was the Bills second half season collapse or the Sabres dropping to dead last in the conference as “hockey heaven” and the Pegula hype took a major hit, all was highly unpleasant in the Western New York pro sports landscape.
But I’m an optimist at heart. So in an effort to look at the bright side of things, I’ve decided to list 5 areas to be positive about with the Bills. Alex did a nice job in a similar vein with the Sabres early last week. So consider this a companion piece to his article.
Before starting, one interesting point. I had no trouble coming up with 5 items for the team, and probably could have come up with more. I was somewhat surprised by this. Maybe Buddy Nix is making more progress than we give him credit for? I think next season is a big benchmark – more tangible evidence in the win column really does need to take place.
Well, enough of an intro. What are the 5 reasons not to drive your car off the Skyway about the Bills?
1. Fitz’s Early Season Play/Injury Revelation
Much has been made of Ryan Fitzpatrick’s second half collapse after signing the 59 million dollar, 6 year extension, but let’s not forget how well he played the first part of the season. Prior to signing for the big bucks, he was 134/202 for a completion percentage of 66%, 1,477 yards, 12 TD’s and 6 INT’s. His passer rating was 95.4 and the team was 4-2. In game 7 vs. the Redskins, he had another good week with 21-27 for 77.8%, 262 yards, 2 TD’s and 1 INT and a 116.4 QB rating as the team won 23-0. This was also the game that he was crushed by LB London Fletcher and suffered 2 cracked ribs.
Would you take these numbers over a full season and be okay with Fitz as our franchise QB? Of course you would. The recent comments by David Nelson confirming the injury certainly explains a lot of his accuracy issues in the November-December games. Even if you refuse to accept the injury as an excuse for his bad play, you can’t ignore that for almost half a season (and a good chunk of games the prior year), Fitz was solid. You don’t play that well and then forget how to do it again. Age isn’t an issue as he’s only thirty years old and hasn’t taken much of a beating in his short career as a starter. He may not be Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers and will never be a long ball passer, but #14 is a more than capable QB, arguably the best we’ve had since Kelly, with all due respect to Doug Flutie and Drew Bledsoe.
One side note: I do love that Nelson is the one who revealed the injury to the press and that Fitz won’t comment on it, nor make excuses for his play. He’s a tough QB and surely didn’t want to blame the poor results on any ailment. The Sabres brass might want to follow his lead in that regard.
2. Beating the Patriots
No matter how rough those last two months of the season were, no one can take away from the joy we felt in finally defeating the evil Pats. Joe wrote a great post in our year-end review series that you should check out if you haven’t yet, and much of what he says there captures my feelings on the day. To add to it, though, my mind automatically reverts back to the image of Bill Belichick squirming on the sidelines with no timeouts as we ran down the clock to kick the winning field goal. The fact that we were 3-0 at that point, alone in 1st place in the AFC East, only added to the exuberant excitement. But within itself as a stand alone, the victory simply made all of Western New York and Bills Nation/Bills Mafia happy for a day. It was the best victory for the charging Buffalo in several seasons. We intercepted Tom Brady 4 times for God’s sake! What a wonderful Sunday.
The Pats may have beaten us to finish off the season, with 49 unanswered points no less, but it was big for this group of players to experience winning vs. the juggernaut that is New England that first time. Hopefully it gives them the confidence that it can be done again and the giant isn’t quite as scary is it seemed before.
3. The Play of the Offensive Line
Remember the big topic during the preseason? There was a general panic among the fan base that our offensive line was going to be just god awful. Chad Rinehart was struggling at right tackle and Andy Levitre was practicing with the second unit shortly into camp. With the Bills recent history of less than stellar play at the position, this unit looked like the worst to come along yet, believe it or not.
Well, let’s remember not to put much stock into pre-September developments going forward, okay? For the season, the Bills allowed 23 sacks, best in the league. Rinehart was fine, Levitre had an excellent season, and Eric Wood was playing at a Pro Bowl level before suffering another season-ending injury. I still wouldn’t mind adding a stud LT to the group, but Demetrius Bell and rookie Chris Hairston both did serviceable jobs protecting Fitz’s blind side. In looking for bright spots, this is a big one for us to latch onto. We may finally have a good offensive line? Sing praises, Bills fans.
4. The Play of Marcell Dareus and the Rest of the 2011 Draft Class
Marcell Dareus wasn’t the Rookie of the Year. He wasn’t a Pro Bowler. He had his ups and downs. But dear God, he played! An every down player no less. He had 5.5 sacks to go along with 43 tackles and showed glimpses of being a future star on this young defense. His speed for a big man is remarkable.
And he wasn’t alone in this draft class.
Halfway through the season, LB Kelvin Sheppard (3rd round) became a starter in the middle of the defense and had 70 tackles. 2nd round pick CB Aaron Williams had 32 tackles, a fumble recovery, and an INT while at times looking much better than one of our starters at the position (McKelvin).
Other draftees who played roles were 4th round S Da’Norris Searcy (34 tackles, 1 INT) and the aforementioned Hairston on the OL. Even lower round picks Johnny White (5th round, reserve RB) and CB Justin Rogers (7th round, 16 tackles and a 28.7 average on kick returns) contributed.
This kind of utilization of draft picks is a nice change. In past years, it took a slew of injuries or a highly specialized role to get the kids on the field (see Troup, McKelvin, Maybin). Not only did the players have a more regular spot in the lineup, but they contributed with a decent impact as well. Hopefully Buddy Nix can build on this draft with another successful one upcoming in April. And that the 2011 class can take another step in their development next season.
5. The Running Backs
Another “controversy” during the preseason were comments made by Fred Jackson expressing his concern about playing time after C.J. Spiller started one of the practice games. This proved to be another non-event due to both of these individuals’ performances.
Early in the year, Freddy received the lion’s share of carries/touches and was playing like a league MVP candidate before he suffered his season ending leg injury in week 10. In this partial campaign, he had 934 yards rushing and 6 TD’s, to go along with 39 receptions for 442 yards. That’s 1,376 all-purpose yards in just over half a season. The only thing worth debating regarding Freddy at that point was whether the Bills should have started talks on extending his contract. Losing him to injury was a significant blow to the team.
Then C.J. got his chance. And finally after a season and a half of fans and media second guessing taking him as a #1 pick, Spiller showed why Nix and co. were so smitten with his talents. He ended the season with 561 yards and 4 TD’s. During a two week period in games 14 and 15 vs Miami and Denver, he amassed over 200 yards on the ground. Helped by being utilized as a WR early in the year, he also had 39 catches for 268 yards and 2 TD’s.
Clearly RB is a strength position for the Bills. As fans we criticize the Bills for drafting RB’s constantly when they don’t need to, but having a 1-2 punch like this can’t be a bad thing. The challenge is to get both of them enough touches, but Chan Gailey is someone with a clever offensive mind for devising the correct plans to do so.
So not all is doom and gloom at 1 Bills Drive. I know we have a seemingly disinterested owner and an extended streak of futility with no playoffs, but there is some promising things going on there as well. Call me a sucker, but I prefer to choose hope.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
