Key Necessities for the Bills Next Season

Key Necessities for the Bills Next Season

Jan 7, 2013; Orchard Park, NY, USA; Buffalo Bills general manager Buddy Nix (right) with new Bills head coach Doug Marrone (center) and president Russ Brandon at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports

When you look at the Bills last season there wasn’t many positives. Problems from all phases of the game cost the Bills victories and yet again increased their league leading postseason drought to 13 seasons. Most of the problems this team has are known by many fans but I have three that very well could help this team the most going into next year.

First is taking a look at the defensive line and run defense. The Bills ranked 31st overall in run defense giving up just over 145 yards a game. Teams knew they could run all over this team and did with ease. Although this team ranked a little better with the pass it has to get cleaned up. With the likes of Mario Williams, Kyle Williams, Marcell Dareus and Mark Anderson (I know was injured) there stats should have been better. Hopefully with the new defensive coordinator Mike Pettine in town this will turn around and this defensive front will wreak havoc on quarterbacks this year.

The next thing that will help this team is staying healthy. Injures will hurt every team but when the guys getting hurt are the heart and soul of your team there is no replacement. Players this team lost and/or played with injuries that limited them were: Mario Williams, Mark Anderson, C J Spiller, Fred Jackson, Scott Chandler, Stevie Johnson and Cordy Glenn to give you an idea. These things are never thought about until it happens but when these types of players go down on your team a lot of changes must be done because of it.

Lastly and most importantly this team needs better consistent play from the quarterback position. With Fitzpatrick playing the last three seasons a change was definitely needed and the fans will be getting one this year. Ryan put up decent numbers while being the starter for this team but it was the other factors that limited him from being that guy we needed. Not being able to throw the long ball, erratic throws that resulted in picks and just falling apart at the end of games when his number was being called to help his team win games. Hopefully this team will have better play this year from of their current QB’s Tarvaris Jackson, new acquired Kevin Kolb or the guy they end up drafting. That is expected to be within the first 3 rounds.

These three factors I believe will help this team the most but this team still has more. Hopefully this new coaching staff can get a good start this year and continue to build. What else do you think could help this team? Do you agree? Disagree? Comments always appreciated