What The Bills Should Focus On In 2010

Now that the Buffalo Bills season has come to an end, fans are looking to see what changes new GM has in store for this roster.  For the past decade the Buffalo Bills have been a team that was rebuilding.  Now, in 2010, the Buffalo Bills are in desperate need of a makeover.  The Bills have several issues, but which should take priority?  Let’s take a look and see where the Bills need the most help and changes to occur.

1.  Coaches – It would be easy to say that Buffalo needs a head coach, but that would be inaccurate.  Buffalo, holding true to their word, let go of the entire coaching staff following this disaster of a season.  Since Buffalo already has it’s GM in place, it is now important to find a coach who can fit into the Buddy Nix mold of what intangibles his desired head coach will have.  The Bills have already found it very difficult to attract top tier coaches and coordinators as Mike Shanahan accepted an offer to be the next coach of the Washington Redskins after having interviewed with Buffalo.  But, at least Shanahan accepted to interview, Jets coordinator Brian Schottenheimer has formally replied to the Bills that he doesn’t even have an interest to be the next head coach of the Bills and will not even try to interview.  Even though GM Buddy Nix has expressed a desire to have an experienced coach come in to lead this team, Schottenheimer was viewed by some as one of the top candidates to be the next coach of the Bills.  That was until they found out that he had no interest in becoming the next head coach. 

Buffalo fans are going to great lengths to let the Bills, Media, and one individual know how much they want him on the Bills sideline next season.  That man is Bill Cowher.  Cowher has been very adamant that he will not decide on his coaching future (if he will come back) until after the entire season is completed.  That has not stopped Bills fans from investing in billboards to express how much they want the coach to decide to come to Buffalo.  Although Bill Cowher would be a welcomed addition to any team as a head coach, it may not be the situation he envisioned himself jumping back into.  Cowher is in the top tier of coaches, and much like how Shanahan was after his interview, he is not showing a lot of desire to come out of the studio to become the next coach of the Buffalo Bills.

There are a few coaches with NFL experience available.  One of which has been widely speculated, but has also been confirmed as never been contacted, Brian Billick.  The rumor was to have him and Mike Tice coming in and attempting to salvage this Bills team.  Both have been successful in the NFL and would be a welcome addition to this team.  It is a bit surprising that Billick has not been contacted considering he did win a Super Bowl with the Ravens and very little offense, what more experience does one need.

As I have mentioned before, if not Billick, Buffalo may be relegated to hiring a coach that does not have head coaching experience.  As they have already allowed Perry Fewell interview with the Giants for their Defensive coordinator vacancy, it is obvious that they have no plans on bringing him back to coach the Bills despite allowing him to interview for the vacant job.  A few names that have been circulating are Leslie Frazier and Ron Rivera and Russ Grimm.  Although both have found success as coordinators, Frazier should be the front runner.  

Buffalo is at a crossroads with this decision.  On one hand they can hire coordinators who have built great defenses with quality players on them.  Meaning, they had the talent and just fine tuned a system, how well will they do without the vast amount of quality players and depth?  Not to take away their merits as they did produce very good defenses, but when talking about taking over as head coach on a team that lacked depth and talent at key positions, it will come down to their ability to teach and develop and scheme.  

In Russ Grimm’s case he was a finalist for the Arizona job before Ken Whisenhunt accepted it.  The offensive line has been the Achilles heal for this franchise for over a decade.  As far as coordinators or non coaches go, he would be my favorite if only for the fact that he can help this offensive line finally become successful which is a big big start.  Grimm has done a good job in Arizona and although does not have the most glamorous position should be interviewed and judged on what he has accomplished at his current role.  Grimm is my 1b choice for head coach of the Buffalo Bills.

On the other hand, my favorite candidate (who hasn’t even been interviewed), Brian Billick has the experience that GM Buddy Nix is looking for, but his ability to identify diamonds in the rough and develop players is suspect.  Although he did coach the Ravens to a Super Bowl, let’s not forget that it was also a team that won several weeks in  a row without actually scoring an offensive touchdown.  He has the experience to overcome problem areas on his roster (he won a Super Bowl with Trent Dilfer) and at this point that is a skill that Buffalo definitely can use.  But, even though the team did well, individually how well did he develop his players?  Billick was known as an offensive guy at that time, so the development of the defense was on the coordinator Marvin Lewis.  So how well did the offense develop?  Do the names Kyle Boller, Chris Redman, Travis Taylor mean anything?

The one thing that Buffalo needs to keep in mind is that although the head coach vacancy needs to be filled, it will come down to who that coach can hire as his assistants and coordinators that will measure how much of a success the hire will be.  

2.  LEFT TACKLE –  After trading away franchise tackle Jason Peters, Buffalo decided it was time for the Demetrius Bell era to begin … and then it ended.  Although I was never big on Jason Peters I do believe Buffalo needed to find a way to at least maintain respectability at this position.  Buffalo has two choices that make sense and one that we all hope they don’t go with.  The obvious mistake would be if Buffalo does nothing and chooses to stick with the Tackles they have on their roster.  This would be a mistake in enormous proportions as nothing on this roster would suggest that they have even a competent LT.  

The other two option are to either seek a veteran LT through trade or free agency, or to acquire one through the draft.  Although Buffalo holds a very high pick, they already have a very youthful offensive line and adding yet another “young pup” to the line may be counter productive at this point.  Buffalo should exhaust every resource in order to find a veteran LT who can provide this line the one thing it did not have this season; leadership.  Marcus Stroud brought leadership and legitimacy when he came over from the Jaguars, the offensive line needs the same kind of life injected into it.

The problem will be how to acquire a veteran (and good) LT without giving away their first round draft pick.  By now many are already aware that I am a big Fred Jackson fan.  I do believe that he has a higher upside than Lynch and although Lynch is a great compliment to Jackson, Buffalo has the luxury of possessing a former first round draft pick that still has value at the trading blocks.  Blockbuster trades are not common place in football but Buffalo should exhaust all avenues to try and make such a deal happen.  Marshawn is an expensive complimentary back that can easily be replaced in free agency or in the middle rounds of the draft.  But a Left Tackle is much harder to find, and as Buffalo is finding out, even harder to replace.

3.  Outside Linebacker -  Although the popular thought here would be franchise Quarterback, or any quarterback for that matter, the NFL has shown us that a team can improve and win without stellar QB play.  Teams need two general things to go there way though, good offensive line work and great defensive play.  The Buffalo Bills received stellar play from their secondary, although I still believe Terrance McGee is a much better nickelback than he is a starting CB.  But where the defense got slaughtered was against the run.  Buffalo also had the misfortune of having only one game in which all three of their starting linebackers started at the same time.  But, injuries aside, Buffalo has consistently neglected the one side of their linebacker corps and has plugged in what should have been backups in the starting role.  Keith Ellison has not been extraordinary by any means and Buffalo should upgrade on his services this off season.  Buffalo cannot expect to well allowing as many rushing yards as they did this past season.  Buffalo does need to stay healthy at this position as well, but adding a solid outside linebacker couldn’t hurt either.

This void can easily be filled via the draft or free agency.  It is hard to fill this internally as most of Buffalo’s personnel is either to small, or too inexperienced to fill the gap.  Although Buffalo plays a system that likes to rush to the ball, the new coach may bring in some different ideas in order to help Buffalo improve their run support.  Aaron Maybin was thought to be a candidate before the season as the Bills had toyed with the idea of converting him into a linebacker.  But with Maybin missing so much camp, and showing very little this year, it is hard for Buffalo to take that thought seriously anymore.

4. Quarterback -  It has become painfully obvious to most people in Buffalo that Trent Edwards was not the answer.  Although he possessed several intangibles that would make a successful QB, he did not possess the one that matters the most at crunch time; arm strength.  Edwards had difficulty making several throws.  It also appeared Edwards had difficulty making quick decisions, but that may be due to him no longer trusting his receivers because he no longer trusted his arm strength.  Ryan Fitzpatrick did neither a good nor a bad job filling in for Edwards, the most you could say about Fitzpatrick is that he did his job.  Fitzpatrick is not an every-down, every rep starting NFL QB.  Buffalo does not need to focus so much on the Quarterback of the future as they have been very bad judges in this department (see Todd Collins, Rob Johnson, Drew Bledsoe, J.P. Losman, and now Trent Edwards).  Buffalo needs to focus on the QB for the next two to three years.  

Buffalo will be taking a hit at the receiver position if they are unable to lure back Terrell Owens, but they do still have options for any QB coming in.  Nelson should be a target that gets more utilized in 2010 as he showed flashes this year as well as tremendous upside.  Evans is still around as is Jackson out of the backfield.  Buffalo Should be able to fill this void through free agency or trade with a mid round draft choice.  What Buffalo should stay away from is the temptation of drafting a QB, there are far too many holes on this roster to fill to waste one on a QB that they wont be able to develop.

Tags: Bill Cowher, Brian Billick, Buddy Nix, Buffalo Bills, Fred Jackson, Lee Evans, Leslie Frazier, Marshawn Lynch, Mike Shanahan, Mike Tice, Perry Fewell, Ron Rivera, Russ Grimm, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Trent Edwards