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PFT PRESEASON POWER RANKINGS: NUMBER 32
Like many football publications, we've compiled a list of preseason power rankings. Unlike most of the others who rank the teams from No. 1 through No. 32, we've decided to milk this thing like a cow with three udders.
We'll identify one team per day for the next 32, and we'll be doing more than just naming names. We're also taking a look at each team's offseason developments and any key personnel issues that they'll face in 2006. Then, we'll grade each of the skill position players, the defense generally, and the kicker for fantasy purposes, in anticipation of a more comprehensive fantasy preview that will come in August.
Without further adieu, here's number 32.
The Buffalo Bills.
It would have been almost impossible a year ago to envision the Bills as the bottom of the barrel. They were one of the darlings of the 2005 preseason, with folks like Chris Mortensen, Len Pasquarelli, and Merril Hoge picking the Bills to make it to the postseason. Coming off of a 9-7 season in 2004, which featured an 8-2 finish and a playoff berth that evaporated during a home loss on the final day of the season at home against the Steelers (who already had home-field advantage locked up), Buffalo fit the bill of a hot team that might very well carry its late-season success into the next year.
Didn't happen.
After limping (again) to a slow start, the Bills weren't able to turn it around. A season-ending injury to linebacker Takeo Spikes in late September didn't help.
Though they fought their way to 4-5 with seven to play, losing six of their final games, dropping the team to a disappointing 5-11. Along the way, the team's failure to commit to a starting quarterback didn't help, with then-coach Mike Mularkey benching quarterback J.P. Losman in early October and then later giving up on Kelly Holcomb.
But the real fun began after the season. G.M. Tom Donahoe got his long-deserved pink slip, only to be replaced the next day by Marv Levy, an 80-something ex-coach who'd never run a front office. Then it was buh-bye to Mularkey, who awkwardly left the team after Levy (who last coached the team in 1997) returned.
Next, Levy temporarily mused about serving as the head coach before owner Ralph Wilson advised Levy that it wasn't gonna happen. Before too long, Levy hired Dick Jauron, who (in our view) was the most likely of the candidates to take Levy's suggestions about how to do the job that Levy really wanted.
Enter Dick Jauron, failed former coach of the Bears who didn't merit serious consideration to succeed Steve Mariucci in Detroit, even though Jauron had coached the Lions on an interim basis after Mooch was fired in late November.
Things only got worse for the Bills as the offseason unfolded, with defensive tackle Sam Adams, safety Lawyer Milloy, and tight end Mark Campbell getting the boot in the days before an extension to the CBA would have made it easier to keep them. Next up, receiver Eric Moulds forcing his way out of town via a trade.
The only positive addition by subtraction? The team finally flushed the commode on offensive tackle Mike Williams, a top-five pick by Donahoe who never turned into much of anything for the Bills.
http://www.profootballtalk.com/rumormill.htm
Like many football publications, we've compiled a list of preseason power rankings. Unlike most of the others who rank the teams from No. 1 through No. 32, we've decided to milk this thing like a cow with three udders.
We'll identify one team per day for the next 32, and we'll be doing more than just naming names. We're also taking a look at each team's offseason developments and any key personnel issues that they'll face in 2006. Then, we'll grade each of the skill position players, the defense generally, and the kicker for fantasy purposes, in anticipation of a more comprehensive fantasy preview that will come in August.
Without further adieu, here's number 32.
The Buffalo Bills.
It would have been almost impossible a year ago to envision the Bills as the bottom of the barrel. They were one of the darlings of the 2005 preseason, with folks like Chris Mortensen, Len Pasquarelli, and Merril Hoge picking the Bills to make it to the postseason. Coming off of a 9-7 season in 2004, which featured an 8-2 finish and a playoff berth that evaporated during a home loss on the final day of the season at home against the Steelers (who already had home-field advantage locked up), Buffalo fit the bill of a hot team that might very well carry its late-season success into the next year.
Didn't happen.
After limping (again) to a slow start, the Bills weren't able to turn it around. A season-ending injury to linebacker Takeo Spikes in late September didn't help.
Though they fought their way to 4-5 with seven to play, losing six of their final games, dropping the team to a disappointing 5-11. Along the way, the team's failure to commit to a starting quarterback didn't help, with then-coach Mike Mularkey benching quarterback J.P. Losman in early October and then later giving up on Kelly Holcomb.
But the real fun began after the season. G.M. Tom Donahoe got his long-deserved pink slip, only to be replaced the next day by Marv Levy, an 80-something ex-coach who'd never run a front office. Then it was buh-bye to Mularkey, who awkwardly left the team after Levy (who last coached the team in 1997) returned.
Next, Levy temporarily mused about serving as the head coach before owner Ralph Wilson advised Levy that it wasn't gonna happen. Before too long, Levy hired Dick Jauron, who (in our view) was the most likely of the candidates to take Levy's suggestions about how to do the job that Levy really wanted.
Enter Dick Jauron, failed former coach of the Bears who didn't merit serious consideration to succeed Steve Mariucci in Detroit, even though Jauron had coached the Lions on an interim basis after Mooch was fired in late November.
Things only got worse for the Bills as the offseason unfolded, with defensive tackle Sam Adams, safety Lawyer Milloy, and tight end Mark Campbell getting the boot in the days before an extension to the CBA would have made it easier to keep them. Next up, receiver Eric Moulds forcing his way out of town via a trade.
The only positive addition by subtraction? The team finally flushed the commode on offensive tackle Mike Williams, a top-five pick by Donahoe who never turned into much of anything for the Bills.
http://www.profootballtalk.com/rumormill.htm
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