Bills Season Recap

The Bills lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars in a game that probably set back football fifty years. It was a positive season in that they finally ended the playoff drought despite many glaring holes but in the end those holes reared their ugly head in a very winnable game and cost them a very easy playoff win and a rematch with the Patriots.
 
First we start with the positives of the year. Sean McDermott fixed a defense that was destroyed by Rex Ryan and it turned into a pretty respectable unit by the end. They were very solid in pass defense and have a very solid corner in 1st round pick Tre White who should win Defensive Rookie of the Year but probably won’t.  They did a solid job in generating pressure even if the sack numbers don’t show it and for most of the year the run defense was solid, despite the terrible trade of Marcel Dareus.  The special teams was improved due to the arrival of Haus Money and we didn’t have to see Dan Carpenter miss half his PATs. Also Sean McDermott has been a surprise coaching wise. He runs a very tight ship which is a welcome relief after the Rex Ryan disaster and the team seems to love playing for him which is a big reason how the drought ended in the first place.
 
Now on to the negatives of the year. The biggest one has to be how anemic the offense was. The prior two years the offense was top ten in the NFL and with only some slight changes the offense became one of the worst. The change to a zone blocking scheme was a bad call considering the personnel was built for a power blocking scheme. The playcalling also was questionable at times as lot of times it put the offense in difficult positions.  Also some very strange coaching decisions were made this year. Whenever the Bills had the lead McDermott would get very conservative and play not to lose which is why we would always score so few points in the second half of games and why some games were closer than they should be or winnable games became losses. There was also the decision to use Mike Tolbert as the number 2 back when in reality he had no business on the roster and that waste of a roster spot cost the Bills numerous times this year whenever Shady McCoy got a breather. Also to wrap it all up there was the dumbest decision to bench Tyrod Taylor for 6th round pick Nathan Peterman because the defense forgot how to stop the run. Then Peterman had the worst half in NFL history and was lucky that loss didn’t cost the Bills the playoffs (thank you Andy Dalton for being clutch).
 
Now what the Bills biggest need this offseason has to be QB. All this season Tyrod Taylor has been a pretty solid game manager with the limited talent on offense and while he hasn’t won any games, he never lost any games. This offseason the focus would have been building an elite defense and with Tyrod being sort of like pre-2017 Alex Smith, that would be good enough to get the Bills into the playoffs and maybe make some noise. However after the Jaguars game, I have changed my opinion on Tyrod. He just isn’t good enough to elevate the Bills, he limits the offense too much and misses too many plays that are there to be made.  He is a serviceable QB however that is all he will be, he will never be good enough to win in the playoffs in this current offense and Rick Dennison isn’t getting fired. The Bills need a QB who can win games and the priority this offseason/draft is to go get that QB.  The Bills have a plethora of picks to use as ammo to go get that QB and that should be their priority as long as it doesn’t involve trading up for Sam Darnold.  The Bills defense is solid and could really only use a LB and the offensive line is pretty much set unless they trade Cordy Glenn or want to get future replacements for Richie Incognito and Eric Wood. The skill positions are the only place we could use another receiver but even that isn’t as much of a need as the QB where the offense has become very predictable because defenses know Tyrod will not make certain throws. The Bills need a franchise QB and that has the be the priority this offseason, whether that be a trade for a QB or drafting someone like Mason Rudolph or Baker Mayfield, the Bills need a QB who can do more than run, and they need it now before they start having to do a full rebuild of the offensive line and replace McCoy.