Rebuilding Bills face tough road ahead
Buffalo's shaky QB situation, iffy receiving corps will test Levy's patience
Duane Burleson / APBills quarterback JP Losman beat out Kelly Holcomb for the starting job this season.
BILLS SEASON PREVIEW
By Ron Borges
msnbc.com contributor
updated 7:50 p.m. ET Sept. 4, 2006
 | Ron Borges |
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When Bills owner Ralph Wilson hired Marv Levy as his new general manager following the dismissal of Tom Donahoe after five years of mediocrity, he proved he is an optimist. What else could one conclude after he installed an 80-year-old man to try and turn around a team that looked 80 years old last season while crawling to a 5-11 record and a 31-49 mark over the past five years?
The task facing Levy and new coach Dick Jauron remains Herculean despite a summer in which they commited to a quarterback from a crowded field of three unproven veterans, found a replacement of departed former Pro Bowl receiver Eric Moulds and reconstructed a defense that finished 29th in total yards allowed and 32nd in red zone defense a year ago into a Tampa cover-2 approach.
Whether their line can make enough of an improvement to alter an offense that finished 30th in red zone scoring, converting barely a third of its trips inside the 20-yard line into touchdowns, remains to be seen. But the Bills will try to control the ball with Willis McGahee's running, limited throwing by quarterback J.P. Losman and keep things close by virtue of an improved defense bolstered by the return of linebacker Takeo Spikes from a torn Achilles’ tendon and, by year's end, the addition of two rookie safeties who will hit you: No. 1 pick Donte Whitner and Ko Simpson.
The Bills still have problems in many areas, but coaching is not one of them with Jauron, who proved himself with an undermanned Chicago team he led to a 13-3 record. His first order of business was deciding if former No. 1 pick Losman, veteran journeyman Kelly Holcomb or untested free agent acquisition Craig Nall was the man. Losman, not surprisingly, got the nod, but he's 1-7 as a starter in the NFL and still is a question mark.
Holcomb is the definition of journeyman, although he looked like Johnny Unitas when compared to Losman last season, and his decision-making remains better than his younger competitor. But he's 33 and the other guy is former No. 1. Enough said. Nall has thrown 33 passes in four years watching Brett Favre in Green Bay. Now he'll get to watch Losman, who's no Favre.
Losman will be throwing to what appears to be a receiving corps of No. 2 (or worse) receivers who might be better suited to run Olympic sprint relays than beat NFL defenses. Peerless Price is back for a second stint in Buffalo after washing out in Atlanta and Dallas and is back at the spot he belongs: No. 2 receiver. That makes lightning fast Lee Evans No. 1. If Evans can attract the same kind of attention Moulds used to, Price could become a threat again, assuming Losman can find him. If Price doesn't produce, speedy Andre Davis could shoot ahead of him. No. 3 receiver Josh Reed is just that, no more. So, too, is speedy Roscoe Parrish. They all can all fly. What they haven't proven is that they can all get open consistently.
Jauron also needs to coordinate and reconstitute a line that allowed 43 sacks last season and didn't bring in many worthy reinforcements. Both tackles are back but not even miracle man line coach Jim McNally could do much with them last season. He'll try again.
Defense is Jauron's speciality, and he'll have his work cut out for him. The Bills finished 31st against the run last season, allowing an average of 137.8 yards rushing a game, then made no effort to retain massive defensive tackle Sam Adams to plug the middle. They replaced him with undersized Larry Tripplett, who struggled to stop the run on a far better defense in Indianapolis. New defensive coordinator Perry Fewell has never called a defensive play in the NFL, but maybe he's the right guy for this job because he's conservative and will insist the linemen hold their ground and protect a pretty good group of linebackers led by Spikes. Spikes' return should aid a defense that will need all the help it can get, but he's yet to show he's all the way back from a severe injury. He has to come through for the run defense to improve significantly, as it must.
Hot seat
J.P. Losman. Losman is beginning to look like a first-round bust. After being handed the job because ex-GM Tom Donahoe was afraid he couldn't win it on his own if Drew Bledsoe stayed around a year ago, Losman did the near impossible. He lost it twice last season to Holcomb. He won it again, but his decision-making remains suspect. Losman has to learn to take what's given him and stop trying to prove he wasn't a mistake when he was drafted three years ago.
Overheard
Offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild is a disciple of ex-Rams coach Mike Martz, but he knows this offense is not the greatest show on turf. If he tries to make it that, their chances of improvement will be under the turf in a hurry. He has shown he intends to use McGahee not only in the running game but as a slot receiver to try to get the ball into his best player's hands more often. McGahee is about 10 pounds lighter going into this season in an effort to get faster. He'll get more opportunities in the passing game and also to hit the edges of the defense while running, not just between the tackles. A year ago, McGahee ran for 1,247 hard yards, averaging 3.8 yards a rush. Fairchild will give him the opportunity to do more to try and minimize Losman's exposure.
Outlook
These Bills may challenge the optimism of Levy, who makes Norman Vincent Peale sound like a pessimist. A year ago kicker Rian Lindell accounted for 41.8 percent of the Bills total points. If that number doesn't go down, the Bills will.
Prediction
Fourth and counting.
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