Buffalo Bills: What we know this week
I’m taking Rex Ryan at his word — giving him the benefit of the doubt — when he proclaimed that our beloved Buffalo Bills had won the offseason and that he would challenge any team who said otherwise. He proceeded to rodomontade about coaching changes that he made; shuffling some, adding others and lastly getting rid of those he felt were not up for the task.
He exultingly mentioned players added through both the draft and free agency, undrafted additions, current players that they were able to get signed to new deals securing their services, younger players growth and of course many players in the same system on both sides of the ball for the second season.
If I did lack confidence in our head coaches sanguine disposition which, I’d doubt Rex Ryan and his offseason adjustments. However, I am buying right into his optimistic persuasiveness as if he gave motivational dynamic speech. That being said, if I did happen to doubt him one tiny bit about the Buffalo Bills winning the off season, well, we will never really know.
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Things we know about the Buffalo Bills this week
Losing talent on defense such as Nigel Bradham, Leodis Mckelvin, and Mario Williams, these players were told to us as being expendable thanks to this year’s draft picks and free agent signings. Time will tell if that is the fact or if last year’s poor defense made everyone’s value drop.
Karlos Williams showed up extremely out of shape to OTA’s — which all of us would have soon forgotten had he pranced into the end zone for the first time during week one — and now has been dealt another blow following the league’s decision to hand down a four game suspension because he violated the substance abuse policy. He will now be spending the first four weeks of the season writing on a chalkboard 100 times with Tom Brady and Bart Simpson what he will and will not do moving forward.
Sammy Watkins had his foot operated on in April which is expected to cause him to miss the first couple of weeks of training camp. That gives me visions of Tyrod Taylor and Sammy Watkins doing their best impersonations of Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison, Jim Kelly and Andre Reed, Joe Montana and Jerry Rice even?
The display of chemistry Taylor and Watkins displayed did not transpire until the second half of last season for numerous reasons. The Buffalo Bills will be in need of those two very talented teammates to start clicking on all cylinders beginning week one if they intend to make the jump to a playoff team.
Now we need to hope that somehow they can pick up where they left off last year. However, with Watkins missing some of camp, who knows when he will be up to that dominate level of play he exhibited last season.
READ MORE: Mike Gillislee becomes Bills most important player
On the wide receiver topic again… If Sammy is not ready to go, we all know Robert Woods is making a statement to be the definitive number two guy. After that, it is anyone’s guess.
The Buffalo Bills quickly smothered a poorly sourced rumor from ESPN that Shaq Lawson would miss the entire season 2016 NFL season. The Bills still have no specific timeframe when the first round pick will be healthy enough to return to playing ball, but this season is still the plan.
Depth at the running back position, has quickly gone away for the Buffalo Bills. Local radio show hosts were even suggesting a possible trade involving LeSean McCoy due to the quantity and quality of running backs associated with this organization and throughout the NFL.
Just as McCoy gets cleared legally and by the league of any discipline for his bar brawl incident in Philadelphia, the Bills suffer another blow at the position the team needed to dominate to repeat as the league’s best rushing attack. Buffalo’s fifth round draft pick Jonathan Williams now faces discipline after being arrested in Arkansas on a misdemeanor of driving while intoxicated. Reggie Bush and several other available running backs names have been thrown around by team sources as well as the local media.
READ MORE: Buffalo lacks in the leadership category
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