This is our year! I know people always laugh at the Buffalo Bills fans because every year they say that this is the year that they will make the playoffs. However, I am immensely confident that I can state that the Bills will make the playoffs this year. The Bills have acquired some new powerhouse players to the offense to make up for the lackadaisical offensive effort last year. The new head coach, Rex Ryan, is the man to credit. Ryan is a very confident man, as could be seen in his introductory news conference when he said, “We’re going to build a bully, and we’ll see if you want to play the Buffalo Bills for 60 minutes, because we’re going to bring it.”
Throughout the offseason, the Bills were all over the news, especially for their trade with the Philadelphia Eagles. This trade consisted of the Bills sending their up-and-coming middle linebacker, Kiko Alonso, for star running back, LeSean McCoy. This trade stunned a lot of fans, many of whom believed the Bills got an amazing deal. Up to this point LeSean McCoy has had a minor hamstring injury that has caused him discomfort over the beginning of the season. Due to this injury, he has not had many big, crowd-raising plays; however, he has converted many key third third downs that have helped the team to victory.
Another huge difference between the 2015 team and last year’s team is the quarterback position. Last year the Bills started EJ Manuel, who did not meet the criteria of an NFL quarterback. As a result, Kyle Orton took over. It was Orton’s last year in the league and he never really had the role of ‘starter’. Orton proved himself to be better than Manuel; however, he still was not the right man for the Bills high tempo offense. This year the Bills picked up two new players, Tyrod Taylor and Matt Cassel. Cassel was just recently traded to the Cowboys, due to the injury of starter Tony Romo. Tyrod Taylor was named Bills starting quarterback a little before the first game of the season and it has been a great decision thus far. Taylor is the first Bills quarterback to throw 7+ touchdowns and have a completion percentage of over 70 through the first three week since Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly.
In addition to the key additions of Taylor and McCoy, the Bills are also returning one of the more ferocious defenses in the NFL. This includes a dominant defensive line consisting of Mario Williams (first overall pick in the 2006 draft and 4x pro-bowler), Kyle Williams (4x pro-bowler) and Marcel Dareus (third overall pick in the 2011 draft and a 2x pro-bowler). The Bills defensive line is not to be messed with. The Bills are also returning wide receiver Sammy Watkins, who has been playing quality football. He has recorded 1,081 yards and seven touchdowns in 19 games. The Bills are looking superior, and seem to be on the right path to play in the playoffs. This would break the streak and be the first time they have been in the playoffs since the 20th century.