2010 Buffalo Bills: Another Non Playoff appearance

The controversy in Buffalo for the past few years has been who should be quarterback? And should the coach be fired? This year is no different; the choice at quarterback will be between Trent Edwards and Ryan Fitzpatrick. The Bills lack depth on offence and on defence. The inevitable departure of their biggest offensive threat in Terrell Owens, had led to a void in receiving. New Head Coach Chan Gailey might have the Bills playing a different type of style this year. The Bills of 2009 and the past ten years for that matter have been notorious for hitting the wall and not getting back up. Last season, T.O. barely saw the ball and the Bills were a run-first team. With Gailey heading the sidelines, the Bills might rack up some offensive numbers. Trent Edwards and Fitzpatrick are two quality quarterbacks but when you are up against the likes of Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Vince Young or Donovan McNabb each week, its’ hard to compete.

The Buffalo Bills looked like a team that could dominate the Detroit Lions this Pre-season, that’s not saying much except that they will probably not be the worst team in the league this year. Their offence looked well oiled in a 35-20 win over the Cincinnati Bengals, their last pre-season game. The 2010 line-up will include Demetrius Bell on the offensive line, Speedster Roscoe Parrish on special teams and offense and RB Marshawn Lynch, one of the least heralded running backs in the league. Playing in a small market its’ hard to get exposure unless you are winning. The Bills have not won since the days of Doug Flutie. Whoever holds up at quarterback will have James Hardy, Steve Johnson and the 6 foot 5 David Nelson to launch the ball towards. The three might turn out to be quality receivers, but not one of them is close to the offensive threat that Terrell Owens brought to the team.

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The 2010 Bills will face 9 opponents who have a good to great chance of making the playoffs this season. The other 7 games are against the likes of the Detroit Lions, division rival Miami Dolphins (x2), the Jacksonville Jags, Cleveland Browns, Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs. The Bills also have a game in lovely Toronto, Canada against the Chicago Bears. If the Bills can compete in these 7 or 8 games then they might have an outside chance of being in the playoff hunt. They might smell the playoffs but they will not taste it. Divisional rivals New England and The New York Jets play the Bills two times each and most likely dominate the Bills. On paper the Bills have a team that is not that much better than last year’s team that had a record of 6-10, however with T.O. signing with the Bengals, the Bills have one less humongous ego to deal with and with Coach Gailey, the Bills might keep some casual NFL fans awake during Bills broadcasts. Needless to say, this is going to be a challenging season for the Bills, if they can avoid the basement of the AFC East division, then the Buffalo Bills of 2010 should consider it a good season.

By Ranhvir Samra
ProFootball-fans.com Buffalo Bills Correspondent