Most Bills fans are just hoping for the playoffs. The Super Bowl seems like a distant dream but here are 5 ways the Bills are similar to the Seahawks Super Bowl Championship Team from Super Bowl 48.
Reason One: “Player Friendly” Head Coaches
Many Buffalo Bills fan jump on Rex Ryan because they say he’s a players coach. He always backs his guys and has a great relationship with them. People believe that this means he is not a disciplinarian and it leads to his teams being over-penalized due to this lack of discipline. Rex would dispute that point. As reported by the YES Network in 2010 he said:
"“The environment that we have, I think, works. This is who we are. We’re maybe not traditional, the way you see other teams, but don’t make that mistake in thinking that we’re less disciplined than another team or anything else. It’s just the opposite.”"
The fact of the matter is Rex Ryan believes that people should be themselves and so he’s not going to act the way other people want him to. He makes no apologies for that and it rubs people the wrong way including myself at times.
Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll is also considered a likable coach who is known as being “player friendly”. Carroll doesn’t get knocked around as much by the media because he doesn’t say as many boisterous statements as Rex but both coaches have overly positive outlooks. To prove my point take this quote by Carroll reported by the Seattle Times from 2010.
"“I live my life thinking something good is just about to happen to me. I don’t think things are going to go bad. My focus goes to how things could look and turn good.”"
Can’t you see Rex Ryan saying the exact same thing? You don’t need to be “misre-Bill Belichick” to win a championship and Pete Carroll proved that in early 2014 when the Seahawks won Super Bowl XLVIII.
Reason Two: Elite Running Backs
When the Seahawks won the Super Bowl, they were led by a very familiar face to Bills fans in Marshawn Lynch. Beastmode led the playoffs with 288 yards rushing and was a key player in Seattle’s offense all year.
When the Seahawks lost the Super Bowl the next year to the New England Patriots on an interception by Malcolm Butler, many believe the reason was that they didn’t give Lynch the rock from the one-yard line at the end of the game.
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That season the Seahawks offense went through the running game first and Russell Wilson only needed to be efficient with the ball when passing. That should sound familiar to Bills fans because that’s all they ask of Tyrod Taylor.
The 2016 Bills have an equally talented running back to Marshawn Lynch on their roster this year in LeSean McCoy. Shady runs in a different style than Lynch but both have had very impressive careers.
During their time in the NFL, McCoy averages more yards per carry, has more receiving yards and is the more explosive player with more rushes for over 20 and 40 yards than Lynch.
It’s a pretty close comparison but I’d give McCoy the edge overall while taking Lynch if I needed to hammer out a few yards on one play. You know like in a Super Bowl where you needed just one yard to win a game.
McCoy needs to be the focal point of the Bills offense just like Lynch was for the Seahawks in 2013. He’s currently battling a hamstring issue but at one point before that this season he was the second leading rusher in the league.
In the 2013 season when Seattle went on to win it all, Russell Wilson threw for just over 3,300 yards while Lynch ran the ball for 1,257 yards. Those numbers would have been easily achievable for Buffalo if McCoy and Watkins were able to stay healthy this season.
Reason Three: Small, Mobile Quarterbacks
The Bills and the Seahawks both have smaller quarterbacks that are mobile making it hard for teams to scheme against them. Russell Wilson is 5’11” and has just one season in his career that he threw for over 4,000 yards. He crossed that threshold by a measly 24 yards in that year. Wilson averages over 600 yards rushing per year if you don’t include this season when he has been battling multiple injuries.
He led the Seahawks to back to back Super Bowl appearances proving that you don’t need a 6’5″ Peyton Manning or a 6’4″ Tom Brady as a true pocket passing quarterback to be successful. Wilson is very much the next generation of quarterback and the Bills should study the way he has been successful and try to replicate some of it with Taylor.
Despite how successful Russell Wilson has been, in many ways Tyrod Taylor can be better. Taylor is taller than Wilson by two inches and is a better runner. The problems he has throwing over the middle have to do with the Bills not rolling the pocket as effectively as Seattle does for Wilson. When the Bills do roll the pocket to accommodate Taylor he gets better sight lines up the field and completes passes he can’t make from inside the pocket.
Taylor hasn’t really improved this season but considering the injuries to Sammy Watkins, LeSean McCoy, Charles Clay, Robert Woods, Marquise Goodwin and Brandon Tate, it’s really not fair to blame him. The biggest criticism I have of him is there are a few throws Taylor has made which has led his receivers to take big hits due to inaccuracy but outside of that, it’s hard for him to improve from last season without his top playmakers.
Reason Four: Stingy Defenses
When Seattle won the Super Bowl they had the top defense in the league that regular season. They were number one in total yards allowed, passing yards per game, points per game and interceptions. They were truly the most dominant defense in the league and were feared by their opponents.
While the Bills defense this year isn’t nearly as dominate they are tops in the league or near the top in a number of categories. Last season the Bills were second to last in the league with 21 sacks. This year they have already exceeded that total and currently are tied for first in the NFL with 26 sacks along with the Denver Broncos.
They are third in the league in turnover differential and have the individual sack leader and tackle leader in the NFL with Lorenzo Alexander and Zach Brown respectively.
The Bills 2016 defense is nowhere near the 2013 Seattle Seahawks defense in productivity but they are a very good defense and Buffalo’s strategy is the same as the Seahawks was that year. That philosophy is to win the turnover battle, establish the run and pass effectively when needed while playing good defense and not giving up the big play.
That’s the one area this year Buffalo has failed on as they have played good for a majority of games but also seem to get burned on a big play or two each week. If they can eliminate that, they are well on their way to replicating the same style of play the Seahawks succeeded with.
Reason 5: Great Secondaries
The Seattle Seahawks secondary refers to themselves as the “Legion of Boom”. The original four members Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor, Earl Thomas and Brandon Browner were all late round picks. They are all hard-hitting players who are good in coverage and love to run their mouths. Basically, they are Rex Ryan’s dream secondary.
In 2013, they led the league with 28 interceptions and Richard Sherman was the NFL leader with eight himself. Three of the members of that team remain on the Seahawks roster today but Browner is no longer with the team and instead, DeShawn Shead has become the fourth member of the unit.
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The Bills also have a strong secondary although, with Aaron Williams heading to Injured Reserve, they have become weak at safety. At cornerback, the Bills are weaker this season than they were expected to be due to the falloff in Stephon Gilmore’s play.
Last year, however, Ronald Darby was ranked fourth in the league by Pro Football Focus and Gilmore was ranked the 9th best corner giving the Bills two of the top 10 cornerbacks in the league according to the website.
Gilmore must find a way to re-establish himself as one of the best cornerbacks in the league if he wants to get paid this offseason and if the Bills want to once again feature one of the best secondaries in the NFL.
Next: Buffalo Bills Fans in 2016: Optimists vs. Pessimists
As you can see, the Bills roster is built a lot like the Seahawks roster was when they won Super Bowl 48. While it’s a reason for some hope it means very little. You can build your roster in many different ways to be successful but ultimately what it comes down to is execution on the field. That is what makes a Super Bowl Champion and that’s the area that the Bills need to work on if they want to mimic Seattle’s success.