Logo of a college football team that plays in the Mid-American Conference, the University of Toledo Rockets. In existence since 1917, the program has been an independent in its’ early years and a member of various conferences, winning 14 conference titles and 10 bowl games. Rocket alumni who have gone on to pro careers include Bruce Gradkowski, Kareem Hunt, Emlen Tunnell, Chester Taylor, Mel Triplett, Lance Moore, Andy McCollum, John Greco, Brett Kern and Curtis Johnson.
2011 Score football card of recently retired NFL defensive lineman Kyle Williams, who enjoyed a 13 year career with the Buffalo Bills. Entering the league as an unheralded fifth round draft pick in 2006, the big DT carved out a solid career with the Bills, quickly earning a starting position and eventually becoming the conscience and the heart and soul of the Bills’ locker room. Williams, recently added to this year’s Pro Bowl roster, is now a six-time participant in the annual All Star game. He has been a shining light in what has been mostly a losing era in Buffalo football history.
This is part 2 of our four-part series dissecting the just-completed 2018 Buffalo Bills’ season. In this section, we’ll examine, position by position, the team’s offense, which was a major anchor on any chance of team success. Here’s our assessment:
From opening day until the season’s completion, the quarterback position underwent a complete overhaul in 2018. Not even counting the trading of Tyrod Taylor before the season, the QB room at season’s end looks nothing like it did at the beginning. A.J. McCarron, signed as a free agent to mentor rookie Josh Allen, failed in that role and also failed to win the starting job he was expected to, so the Bills cut bait on him and traded him to Oakland. Nate Peterman actually won the job in the preseason and the plan was to play him while Allen sat and learned. Peterman totally washed out, was waived and Allen took the reins sooner than expected. He had an up and down year but showed continued progress as the year went on and looks to be ready to take major strides in 2019. More importantly, GM Brandon Beane finally got the quarterback order right, bringing in seasoned veterans Derek Anderson and Matt Barkley in-season to mentor Allen. Both Anderson and Barkley have signed extensions to stay with the team, so, entering 2019, for the first time in years, the Bills’ QB situation appears to be stable.
The failure of the rushing attack was a major disappointment in 2018, resulting in the firing of running game coordinator/offensive line coach Juan Castillo. LeSean McCoy, really through no fault of his own, had the worst season of his pro career. Also, there was little effort to include McCoy in the passing attack, where he can be a dangerous weapon. Fullback Pat DiMarco is little used as a runner but his blocking ability is still valuable. The Bills insist McCoy is part of their plans for next season, and he can be a force to reckon with if the team can improve it’s offensive line play. The backups here are fairly dependable if not spectacular. Chris Ivory is a good short yardage power back, and Marcus Murphy can contribute, although he had injury issues this season. Keith Ford didn’t show much after being promoted from the practice squad for the last few games, and was even inactive for the finale. Taiwan Jones will return after finishing the year on injured reserve, but he’s almost strictly a special teamer. The Bills almost certainly, whether they keep McCoy or not, will look to upgrade the running back stable in the off-season.
Just like the quarterback position, the wide receiver spot changed dramatically as the season progressed. The Bills parted ways with Kelvin Benjamin, a big target with little appetite for fighting for contested balls or even catching easy ones. They also released Andre Holmes, an aging veteran whose main contribution was on special teams. They infused the receiving corps with some youth and speed by signing Isiah McKenzie from Denver’s practice squad and promoting undrafted free agent Robert Foster from their own practice squad. Both helped Allen put some life in the passing game, especially Foster, who emerged as a major deep threat. McKenzie made most of his noise on jet sweeps in the running attack but also had his moments as a receiver. His production waned a bit at the end of the season but he certainly earned a chance to battle for a 2019 roster spot. Zay Jones progressed nicely as the year went on, developing a good chemistry with Allen and showing he will be a big part of the team’s future plans. He does need to work on being a more consistent performer, so 2019 will be a big year for him. The rest of Buffalo’s receiving corps consists of 30 year old free agent to be Deonte Thompson, a stop-gap fringe player who won’t be back, late round draft pick Ray Ray McCloud, who wasn’t much of a factor, and a group of street free agent signees that includes Victor Bolden, Da’Marri Scott, Cam Phillips and Tanner McEvoy. Is there another hidden gem among this group? McEvoy stands out in that he has some past NFL experience, including on special teams, where these guys will have to earn their way onto the roster. The Bills also recently took a flyer on a player who is the top receiver in the Canadian Football League, signing D’haqille “Duke” Williams for next season. He had a troubled college career at Auburn but apparently cleaned up his act while playing up north for the Edmonton Eskimos. At tight end, the pickings are even more slim. Veteran Charles Clay has been a big disappointment, to the point that he was a healthy inactive at the end of the season. He is an almost certain candidate to follow in Benjamin’s footsteps and be released. The only other players at this position are developing projects – Jason Croom, who shows the most promise, Logan Thomas, a converted quarterback who flashed signs of progress at times but was a penalty liability on special teams, and practice squad members Kyle Carter and Keith Towbridge. This is another position that sorely needs an upgrade if Josh Allen is going to be able to continue on an upward trend in his development.
This is an area of the team that is in the most need of improvement of any position group, through positive progression of young players and the addition of better options through the draft or free agency. OL coach Juan Castillo was fired shortly after season’s end so the team clearly sees a need for not only better play on the line but better coaching/teaching also. Looking across the team’s line, there is need for improvement at every position. Left tackle Dion Dawkins, who had a solid rookie season in 2017, regressed this past season. The team has to decide whether he needs better coaching or if he needs to be moved over to right tackle and a better option found to man the left side. Rookie Wyatt Teller displaced Vlad Ducasse at left guard as the season wore on, and he showed enough promise there to be expected to hold down the job, especially if a better line coach is brought in to speed his development. Free agent Russell Bodine, signed to replace Eric Wood after a neck injury forced him to retire, wasn’t anything spectacular and ended up the year on IR. Backup Ryan Groy is a free agent, as are the other starters on the right side, guard John Miller and tackle Jordan Mills. We can easily see the team moving on from all 3 of them to try and upgrade the offensive line play and depth. The line play was so inconsistent in 2018 that the backups got plenty of opportunity to show what they had to offer at various times. Ducasse, for one, likely played his way off the roster. He was a healthy inactive late in the year, a clear signal the team is ready to move on from him. Jeremiah Sirles saw playing time at guard and tackle and also as an extra lineman on running downs. He is also a free agent, and it’ll be interesting to see if the coaches thought enough of the versatility he showed to bring him back. Conor McDermott has been a fringe player as a backup guard/tackle for a couple of seasons now, and will be in a major battle to hold his spot again in training camp. Ike Boettger fought his way into the lineup at the end of the season also, putting himself in position to earn a spot next year. There’s one lineman on the practice squad, Andrew Lauderdale, who also figures in the mix. There really is not one standout player among the offensive linemen on the roster, so the Bills will clearly be adding new faces to this group entering 2019.
Here is another logo of a team about to begin play in the new Alliance of American Football in the spring of 2019, the San Diego Fleet. The team will be coached by former NFL coach Mike Martz, and their roster includes players with NFL pedigrees like Bishop Sankey, Josh Johnson, Gavin Escobar and Ron Brooks. They also have the rights to linebacker A.J. Tarpley, who retired from the Buffalo Bills at age 23 citing concussion concerns and seems an unlikely candidate to actually play.
1963 Fleer football card of former pro football flankerback Irving “Bo” Roberson, who was a star receiver in the old American Football League in the early 1960s. After winning a silver medal at the 1960 Olympics in the long jump, he joined the San Diego Chargers for a year before moving on to the Oakland Raiders, where he had his most success, from 1962 until 1964. He was traded in-season in 1965 to Buffalo after injuries decimated the Bills’ receiving corps, and became a major contributor to the team winning the AFL championship that year. Roberson had a successful life after football, earning a Ph.D. and working as a psychologist with the Los Angeles Unified School District. He is the only person with an Ivy League degree (Cornell), a Ph.D., an Olympic medal and a career in pro football.
The 2018 Buffalo Bills’ season ended recently with an expected result. After deciding to jettison quarterback Tyrod Taylor last year in order to draft their franchise QB, the Bills took a step back while hoping to take 2 steps forward next season, now that a year of taking the lumps that go with playing a rookie signal caller is over. This is part 1 of our annual four part series reviewing the Bills’ season, starting with the management and coaching. GM Brandon Beane was aggressive in the draft, using draft capital obtained in trades to wheel and deal and pick up 2 important future pieces for the franchise – quarterback Josh Allen and linebacker Tremaine Edmunds. Beane also grabbed a couple of other useful players in Harrison Phillips and Taron Johnson, with the jury still out on the later round choices. In free agency, Beane hoped to repeat the success he had in 2017, signing a player coming off a major injury in Jordan Poyer, who became a solid defensive contributor. The 2018 model, edge rusher Trent Murphy, didn’t deliver the same result as he fought off injuries all year. The team got mixed results from the likes of Rafael Bush, Russell Bodine, Star Lotulelei and Ryan Lewis. The decision to bring in AJ McCarron as a “bridge” quarterback was a mistake, although Beane managed to fix the error by dealing McCarron for a draft pick. The GM has a huge task ahead of him to replenish the roster this off-season as the expectations will rise considerably next year.
Speaking of expectations, coach Sean McDermott has to produce a winning club on the field in 2019. “Trusting the process” will only fly for a certain time with ownership and the fan base and the young coach, who I believe is the right person for the job, must produce wins next year. As Bill Parcells used to say, you are what your record says you are. In two complete seasons, McDermott’s mark is 15-18, including the playoff loss in Jacksonville last year. That lumps him in with other head coaching mediocrities the Bills have cycled through over the years. Also, there are 2 other glaring weaknesses in the coach’s resume so far. One is his record against the AFC East measuring stick, Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots. McDermott’s Bills are 0-4 and produced only 1 garbage time touchdown, in the late-season encounter this year, in the 4 meetings. The other is the team’s penchant to suffer blowout losses. Although there were a lot of tough circumstances to explain some of the beatdowns, like the quarterback carousel and injury issues, McDermott has to start winning regularly next year now that he has his young QB in place. His record may line up with the other coaching failures we’ve had here in Buffalo, but I do believe McDermott has firm control of his locker room and has fostered a solid team-first attitude among the players. He and Beane appear to be on the same page with a good plan, but that must translate to wins in 2019.
Logo of a football team set to play in the new Alliance of American Football, the San Antonio Commanders. The new team’s general manager is former Dallas Cowboy Darryl Johnston, and they will be coached by Mike Riley, a successful college coach. Some players they have procured for the inaugural 2019 spring season are Logan Woodside, Aaron Green, Cyril Richardson and Demarcus Ayers.
1960 Fleer football card of former pro football quarterback Tommy O’Connell, who had a brief pro career with 3 different teams. He played one season for the Chicago Bears in 1953, returned to join the Cleveland Browns for the 1956 and ’57 seasons, retired to become head coach at Drake University in ’59, then was lured back to play for the Buffalo Bills in the old AFL in 1960 and ’61. His best season was in ’57 when he replaced Otto Graham in Cleveland, led the Browns to the Eastern Division title and was named to the Pro Bowl. O’Connell, who died in 2014, was the father of former hockey player and general manager Mike O’Connell.
On this, the final week of the National Football League’s regular season, two old rivals who date back to 1960 and the arrival of the American Football League square off – the New York Jets and New England Patriots. Our final Throwback Thursday post goes back to a divisional round playoff game these 2 franchises played on January 16, 2011. It was one of the few postseason setbacks the mighty Patriot dynasty suffered in the last 20 years, as the Jets and their bombastic coach, Rex Ryan, pulled off a 28-21 upset right in the Pats’ backyard at Gillette Stadium, where they’ve been practically unbeatable over the years. It was the game of a lifetime for Jet quarterback Mark Sanchez, at the time a bright, young prospect who was expected to become the team’s savior, the next Joe Namath. He threw for 3 touchdowns – to Ladanian Tomlinson, who was closing in on the end of his Hall of Fame career, to Braylon Edwards, another rising star at the time, and to Santonio Holmes, who would go on to have a memorable Super Bowl moment later in his career with Pittsburgh.
The real story of the game was Ryan’s Jet defense, which shut down the New England ground game and forced Pats’ QB Tom Brady to pass. Although that never turns out to be a negative result for the Patriots, on this day Brady, arguably the greatest signal caller of all time, couldn’t match Sanchez when it counted. New York sacked him 5 times and intercepted him once. Ryan, who had a habit of tweaking his nose at New England coach Bill Belichick, the dreaded evil genius in the hoodie, with lines like “I respect him but I’m not gonna kiss his Super Bowl rings”, was the surprise winner on this day. The Jets couldn’t sustain the success, however. They lost the AFC Championship game to Pittsburgh 24-19 the following week. Also, Sanchez regressed to the point where his Jet career ended with an embarrassing “butt fumble” play in later years, Tomlinson retired and both Holmes and Edwards became divas who were run out of New York for their attitudes, although Holmes, as previously noted, revived his career later on with the Steelers.
Tom Brady wasn’t the GOAT in the AFC Championship game for the 2010 season
(photo from NFL Memes)
Logo of a college football team that plays in the Mid-America Conference, the Ohio University Bobcats. The school’s program started in 1894 and claimed a small college national championship in 1960. Notable Bobcat alumni who have had careers in pro football include Vince Costello, Dave Zastudil, Chet Adams, Landon Cohen and current players Mike Mitchell and T.J. Carrie.