Buffalo Bills: Wild Card Weekend one year later
The Buffalo Bills played on Wild Card Weekend a year ago. But there may be more hope surrounding the team now than there was then.
Oh the difference a year makes.
The Buffalo Bills squared off with the Jacksonville Jaguars a year ago in the first round of the postseason. Fast forward to today and both teams are set to pick in the top 10 of the 2019 NFL Draft.
Ending the long playoff drought was a magical moment for the Bills. But the game itself was painful to watch.
The Bills only managed three points against the Jaguars and it became clear the team wasn’t going to commit to Tyrod Taylor at quarterback.
That led to some concern heading into the offseason. Brandon Beane had made it clear things may get rough as his rebuilding process continued in 2018.
Fans didn’t know who the next quarterback would be and there were question marks all over the field. Things are a bit different now and there should be plenty of optimism even after a 6-10 season.
The first year of the rebuild is in the past and the team landed two starters in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft. The defense is still filled with talented players and the focus can be paid to improving the rest of the offense outside of quarterback.
The team also has a ton of cap space and is out of the bad money situation that was there when Doug Whaley left and Beane took over. This means some money can be spent on top free agents and the Bills don’t have to solely rely on improving through the draft.
So while the Bills are not playing this weekend, there is plenty of hope going into next season. 6-10 is ugly but the Bills were a few inches away from a seventh win in Miami and if Josh Allen never got hurt, the team could have easily had an eighth win.
All this came in a year filled with several painful blowouts and some truly horrific play by both Nathan Peterman and Derek Anderson.
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Cleaning up the simple mistakes will make the Bills a legitimate playoff contender in 2019. That is a much better position than the team was in right after last year’s loss in Jacksonville.