The Bills bye week has ended and it is back to work for the crew over at One Bills Drive. Players used the week off to get healthy and relax while coaches were stuck with the task of reevaluating the season and trying to find out what they can do to get this team back on track. The good news for them is that they are technically not that far off track, at least when you look at the standings. When you ask Bills fans where the Bills stand right now things may seem a little more bleak. The Bills defense is historically bad and the offense does not come through in the clutch. Nevertheless the Bills record is 3-4 and in a AFC Conference that is in decline things are actually not as bad as they might seem. There is still a lot of time to make a run, especially with their favorable (maybe not as favorable as we used to think but still) schedule with nine games remaining.
The true measuring stick will be the next two weeks when they play they play two of the top teams in the AFC back to back in Houston and New England. If they could win at least one of these games they will be in a good position to make the playoffs. If they cannot win either game, which seems likely at this point, they would have to win at least five of their last seven to have a shot at the post season. With the NFC currently owning the AFC in head-to-head matchups it is reasonable to think that a team at 9-7 or even 8-8 could make the team as a wild card. After the next two games their opponents records will be a combined 23-29 and the league quarterback rankings by QBR goes 27, 29, 26, 19t, 19t, 27, 30. This team is not that good but they could end up being in the playoff hunt by default.
The Bills are expected to have starting offensive linemen Kraig Urbik and Cordy Glenn back from injury this week. Also cornerback Ron Brooks could be seeing the field soon after now being eligible to return to the team after starting the season on IR. The secondary could use some help but Brooks has missed some crucial playing time for a rookie and will probably need a few weeks to catch up. Another player that is recovering from injury is Mario Williams. He texted a trainer and his D-line coach early in the bye week to notify them that he would be getting a second opinion and later surgery on a wrist injury that has been bugging him all season. He is expected to be ready to go for this week against his former team. Mario has expressed his excitement in the way his wrist feels post operation and it a reasonable conclusion that we should see a difference on the field. Not only not having to tolerate pain but having a renewed confidence in his wrist should bolster his bull rush pass rush approach.
Much has been made by fans about a necessary change to the coaching staff. The bye week was the time to make these changes and none came. Both Gailey and Wannstedt need to pull their games together if they want to be employed by the Bills come next season. Gailey's play calling in crucial situations has been suspect at best. That does not mean that he needs to be conservative by any measure but plays like third down wildcat deep bombs need to be gone. Wannstedt on the other hand just needs to have his defense go out and have a few good showings. Easier said than done but he has the personnel and he has the right opponents to do this against coming a few weeks down the line.
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