The 2006 New Look Bills

[patmoran2006]

Expect maybe a couple of more low-key free agents, but is the lineup of what you're pretty much looking at in 2006.


Evans Royal Gandy Reyes Fowler Villarial Peters Price
Davis Everette Preston Reed
Losman
Holcomb
Nall
Willis Shelton
A-Train
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Schobel Triplett T.Anderson Kelsay
McCargo Denney

Spikes Fletch Crowell
Posey

McGee Nate
Youboty King/Greer

Whitner Vincent
Baker/Bowens Simpson
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What do you think? What kind of record to you think we're staring at?

[RedEyE]

I see us still having a problem stopping the run on D, but they'll be better at it then last year...hopefully. I pray that Spikes returns healthy and ready to go, otherwise the Bills are going to find themselves playing catch up all season long.

Offense: look for the Bills to be pounding the ball. McGahee will be asked to stamp out yards and drag the game clock with him. The passing game will be mostly a quick release program utilizing the speed we have at WR, and the long ball will mostly come from play action passes.

[DraftBoy]

It will be another 6-10 type season, definetly alot of growing pains on D, but I expect to see us gel near the end of the year.

[Thurmal]

I see us still having a problem stopping the run on D, but they'll be better at it then last year...hopefully. I pray that Spikes returns healthy and ready to go, otherwise the Bills are going to find themselves playing catch up all season long.


Yeah. I really hope that McCargo develops quickly, b/c the thought of Tim Anderson at starting DT makes me literally wretch.

[Bill Brasky]

this team has 4-12 written all over it :ill:

I hope I'm wrong.

[BuffaloBillsStampede]

I am not expecting the playoffs at all, but I am excited to see all this young talent we got grow together and become one unit. I can see us anywhere from 4-12 to 8-8. Depends how many bounces go our way and that kind of thing. Next year in the draft or free agency we need another DT because Tim Anderson is not the answer. Is Grady Jackson still out there and if so do you think we could use him?

[Mr. Cynical]

this team has 4-12 written all over it :ill:

I hope I'm wrong.

yep

[jamze132]

Why don't we just tank the season so we can get Brady Quinn #1 next year?


j/k


I see 7-9 with some gellin' towards the end. Should put us at or about #15 in next years draft order.

[DaBillzAhDaShiznit]

this team has 4-12 written all over it :ill:

I hope I'm wrong.

So we will luck into 4 wins? Honestly I don't see how we'll win 4 games based on skill. The teams on our schedule are too good.

[Bill Brasky]

So we will luck into 4 wins? Honestly I don't see how we'll win 4 games based on skill. The teams on our schedule are too good.

I was being generous

[Jan Reimers]

I am willing to give up one season to allow JP - and some of the other young players - to develop, which we should have done last year. But I still see 7 or 8 wins, and then a playoff year in 2007.

[ZacGriffi~82]

Don't underestimate Kyle Williams impact.

[Billsrock4life]

I'm saying 8-8 at best

[don137]

I do not think Marv was building for the playoffs this year. It appears he is thinking past this year with the draft.
Unless something drastic happens Vincent and Clements is definitely gone after this year and they now have very serviceable replacments. We have a very good young secondary for years to come.
Starters at DT is set for a few years but not sure if Anderson is good depth or not.
Kelsey is adequate at DE. This will be Fletcher's last year with the Bills IMO.
The OL is a work in progress. No one knows how Fowler will do at center. No one is comepletely sold on Gandy as the long term answer at LT. Reyes only signed a 2 year contract and Villirial does not have much gas left in the tank. Hopefully Preston can really develop this year and can take over for Villairal next year. If Reyes does good maybe they will extend the contract at the end of the year.
I am not sure if the Bills are even an 8-8 team at this point but I like the fact that I see the foundation is there on defense. On offense is still very questionable with the QB spot and the OL. No one knows until they play that Losman/Nall can do a good job at QB and if the OL is better than last year and will get better.

[dannyek71]

this team has 4-12 written all over it :ill:

I hope I'm wrong.


I see 4-12. But the worst part is, is that we wont be able to look forward to good draft picks while we are doing back because we will just waste the picks on reaches like we did this year.

[THATHURMANATOR]

I see 4-12. But the worst part is, is that we wont be able to look forward to good draft picks while we are doing back because we will just waste the picks on reaches like we did this year.
Good point man! I think we should probably just cut all our picks this year because they are such wastes....

[dannyek71]

Good point man! I think we should probably just cut all our picks this year because they are such wastes....

They are not real bad players, but our 2 1st rounders were reaches at best.

[BigGabes23]

I'm Thinking 7-9. I alsi think we need to sign Clements and Mcgahee, or we are just spinning our wheels....

[LifetimeBillsFan]

Don't underestimate Kyle Williams impact.

I agree.

I think you have a 4 man rotation at DT with Tripplett, Anderson, McCargo, Williams. Maybe one other guy will stick or they will pick up a 5th DT as an extra back up. I'm not sure who's left out there in free agency.

I think they will use this year to see what they have and sort out what they need on offense. They'll look to see what they need to get, who's going to be available in free agency and what positions they need to fill in the draft.

The defense will be raw, but should start to come together around mid-season. They'll still probably need to tweak it some, so it may finish the season being fairly good, but it may take another year for it to get close to being as good as it will need to be.

Special teams will continue to be very good, but there will be some new faces replacing some old stalwarts so they may have a few ups-and-downs, but overall they should be close to being the same high quality.

There's no telling what the offense is going to look like, especially since no one really knows exactly what kind of offense they're actually going to be running in terms of pass/run balance, etc. Regardless of what type of offense it is, everything depends on what happens with the QBs and offensive line because they are relying very heavily on young guys continuing to improve and stepping their game up. Some will, some won't and right now it's hard to say who will fall into which category. The offensive line should be better than it was, but the question is how much? It probably won't be more than average, but that will be an improvement--it's an area that still needs work. The biggest unknown--and the thing that will determine everything on this side of the ball--is what they will get out of the QB position. Losman probably won't play worse than he did last year, but how much will he improve? There's no telling how Nall will play. And, Holcomb is Holcomb--if he end up being the starter, the passing game won't be any better than it was last season. Willis can be expected to play much harder and better for the new coaching staff, especially if they give him a chance to carry the ball more than 12 times a game and the offensive line opens a few holes for him. It will be hard for them to be much worse than they were last season, so they probably will be at least a little better, but it's hard to expect much from the offense until we can actually see them play.

One thing that I expect will be a plus is that I don't expect this team to quit on the coaches or GM. They may get beat, they may get beat bad, they may get discouraged, but I don't think this team will quit like the bunch last year did. And, that will be an improvement.

Right now, without seeing the offense, this team could end up going anywhere from 4-12 to 7-9--I doubt they get to .500 because there are still too many question marks and you have to expect that some of them will not work out well. I will probably end up picking them to be 6-10, but I think they will be a better 6-10 team than last year's squad--a 6-10 team that is maturing and starting to come into its own, not a bickering 6-10 team full of over-the-hill, overpaid veterans who are living on their reputations and think that they are better than they really are.

I think that this team will be more interesting to watch than last year's team was, especially at the end. They are going to do some goofy things that are going to have the fans shaking their heads--some really good things and some really bone-head stupid things that only young, inexperienced players can do. But, I'll say this, there are going to probably be some games where they get beat so bad that fans won't be able to watch any more or will watch them like watching a train wreck or a car accident.... If that does happen, just keep in mind that that's something that most young teams have to go through to become good teams.

[BigZ]

I think we'll go anywhere from 7-9 to 9-7.

I think it'll take the first 3 or 4 games for both lines to jell unless we play our first team an awful lot during the preseason games.

For the QB position, one of this weekend's articles said to expect a lot playing time in preseason for whoever looks best in camp. They are going to have to settle into one by the last preseason game.

I will differ with many and say that Whitner will step right in and play as well as Milloy did right from the start - and give us better passing coverage as he learns.

I admit that I was shocked by our first pick - but Neil's article is a pretty good justification of why we went that way.

My feeling is that this draft will turn out fine for us - two years down the road when we've got 4 starters out of it.

[HAMMER]

New systems and playbooks for both O and D. An O-line that has never played together, a QB that has seen 6 starts. It could be a rough year but I can live with that as long as I see them progress nicely. 5-11

[Meathead]

who the hell knows

every season teams come out of absolutely nowhere to be contenders. look at da bears last year, carolina, ne, seattle, blah blah blah

too many new things makes it look like a sub-500 season but then again the team has some really good talent at key positions. teams with less proven starters have made the playoffs the last five years thats for sure

who the heck knows

[TigerJ]

New coaching staff, large turnover in player personnel, new offensive and defensive systems. This season has "rebuilding" written all over it. I think Levy and company have made some pretty bold moves. They are putting their stamp on the team, but everthing will have to fall perfectly into place and the coaching will have to be brilliant all the way through the staff for Buffalo not to have a worse record than last year. I hope I'm wrong.