Bufalo Bills Passing Game : 2008

Needless to say over the last few years when talking about the Buffalo Bills passing attack the primary reaction has been, Ugh.

I would like to take a journey into the Buffalo Bills 2008 passing attack and the trip may surprise you a bit.

First let us look at the QB situation. Last year the Bills developed the dreaded disease known as QB controversy. This disease is a terrible blight on any team it strikes. When starting QBs constantly get switched it undermines the passing attack severely, actually it undermines the whole O severely. First off, it undermines the QBs confidence, which is never a good idea. This disease doesn't just effect game performance it filters into practice and all the players catch it to some degree. Players in the huddle realize that the QB can get the hook at any time. The QB is a human being and has an ego and responds to the stimulus he receives from coaches , players and fans. It doesn't take much imagination to realize that you should be trying to stroke a QBs ego if you want him to perform well. Let's face it, all QBs that reach NFL levels have almost all the physical tools needed. The best way to increase an NFL QBs performance is too stoke his psyche, inspire his soul and sense of self. This cultivates the leadership and confidence in the QB which can then spread inspiration and confidence among his teammates in the huddle. Then and only then can your QB have the capability to be all he can be. If you start a QB controversy by switching QBs back and forth all you have done is put both at a disadvantage. I could go on and on about this as I consider this one of the most important aspects of football today. But it is time to get back to the Bills QB situation. about time Did you hear something?

The Bills QB situation has been pretty miserable for awhile. The last year the QB controversy started and passing production really tanked. I mean really tanked, lets' look quickly at some stats.
completions attempts yards TDs Int Fumbles
Edwards 151 269 1630 7 8 0
Losman 111 179 1204 4 6 2
Now you can combine those stats if you really want to punish yourself. Let's just say that the hybrid Edwards/Losman would have a hard time getting drafted as a backup QB in a 16 team league this year. It would probably be better to take a flyer on a #7 WR then to use the 2 picks required for this production. What can you infer out of these stats? Tough call as the samples are small which makes the data less conclusive. Edwards had a better TD to INT ratio than Losman. Edwards didn't fumble all year which is amazing considering the Bills QBs were under the gun a lot. Losman had 2 fumbles, combine those two thoughts you might be able to infer that Edwards has a better pocket presence.

J.P. Losman started the year at QB but was replaced by Trent Edwards in Game 3. Then Trent Edwards started 4 more games but lost his job after game 8. Losman started game 9 as the new starter. Losman remained the starter thru game 12. Starting with game 13 something important happened. The Bills locked on Trent Edwards as their QB for the remainder of the season. Now Edwards didn't light the world on fire to say the least. He still struggled as should be expected but there was a glimmer of hope. The Bills put up and extraordinary effort against the eventual Super Bowl champs. They took the Giants to the brink of an upset but the Giants pulled it out and used the game to spark an amazing Super Bowl run. The Bills were demoralized a bit and quietly sunk into the sunset. But as you look at those last games the Defense finished out very strong. This will be a team that can do well this year with a "caretaker" level of performance at QB. Although if you watched the Bills attack and playcalling this was a team that was dedicated to throwing the ball and wants to have a superior passing attack. The results last year were not good, obviously. But it wasn't from a conservative approach to passing that they failed it was a lack of execution. The Bills want to be a good passing team and may surprise you this year. Brady, Manning, Romo then Edwards, hardly, but what I say may be a bit of a surprise. Let me go on at this point to talk about the WRs an see if we can put together a glimpse of what The Bills passing attack may look like in 2008.

Let's go back a bit in order to analyze the Bills WRs. At one point we had Eric Moulds as the number one WR and he did a great job for the Bills over the years but he was a one man show. Moulds was also showing signs of age and his contract was getting big as he was going into the back years of a back loaded contract. But then one year it happened, Lee Evans burst upon the scene. Evans developed into a very good number two WR. Having Evans as a legitimate threat also bouyed Moulds numbers keeping him more effective even though he had been showing signs of decline. Also at this time Josh Reed showed signs of development. His stats weren't the greatest but he showed that he could break open and haul in a big gainer in his limited use as a third WR.

So the Bills decided that they had enough depth of WR talent that they could get rid of the high priced Eric Moulds and let his performance decline on another teams payroll. It turned out to be a smart move as Moulds moved on but didn't really have much impact elsewhere. So up the ladder goes Evans and Reed but unfortunately it came at a time of coaching upheaval and the QB controversy mentioned above. Not the greatest environment.

Lee Evans became the most over-hyped WR sleeper of recent memory. Everyone drafted him as the next nearly top tier WR and he hasn't lived up to that hype in fantasy circles. But that will be good as this year he probably will probably produce at nearly that level and may be a little better draft day bargain. So lets look a little more objectively at Evans. If you look at the numbers he had been a good, solid number one WR, just not to our expectations. When a over-hyped player doesn't live up to our expectations we start to dump on him because he wasn't as good as our cleverness. Remember that the QB controversy didn't even produce the equivalent of one decent QB when combined. Josh Reed literally fell off the map when he became the number two WR. This affected Evans a lot as Reed couldn't even draw enough attention to help Evans out. Enter Buffalo Draft pick, WR James Hardy. A great pick, large, quick good hands and already projected to be the starter at number two WR for the Bills this year. This puts Hardy in a great position to impact this WR corp. It is great that he comes in as second fiddle as coming in as a rookie with number one WR expectations is a lot of pressure. He is just the right combo of speed and size to become a major distraction on the opposite side of Evans. James Hardy is one of the best WR prospects in this draft and he also possibly ended up in the best situation.

So let's start to put this passing attack together. No more QB contoversy with Trent Edwards as QB. Lee Evans with Mr Hardy as an ample distraction on the other side adding a greater opportunity to get open and improved QB play to boot. James Hardy as a great number two target. Will he be a world beater his first year out, probably not, but he should put up solid number two numbers and for dynasty drafters he should be a high rookie draft target. Improvement at QB, Evans and Hardy as a one-two punch, what about Josh Reed who fell off the map? Reed goes back to the place he did his best. He becomes that sneaky guy that grabs the long ball now and then out of the slot. Becoming a nice number three punch when he was a swing and a miss as the number two WR.