For the 17th consecutive season, Buffalo Bills fans are heading into the New Year with their dreams of seeing their team finally make the playoffs crushed.
For anyone hoping the season-ending press conference might provide some hope for the future, you can forget about that: Doug Whaley’s 40-minute presser on Monday was one of the more embarrassing displays you’ll ever see. Among other things, Whaley – the general manager of the team – said flat out that he (a) had no input on former head coach Rex Ryan’s hiring or firing, (b) hadn’t actually thought about the firing, and (c) would be in charge of finding Buffalo’s new head coach despite his apparent lack of inclusion in the team’s decision-making process.
One of Whaley’s common refrains on Monday was that, at 7-9, the Bills “were close” to playoff contention. For all his rambling and question-dodging, that statement isn’t entirely untrue.
Outside of the meaningless finale and a 16-point loss to the Tom Brady-led Patriots, none of the Bills losses came by more than two scores. In fact, Buffalo went just 2-6 in games decided by eight points or less this year, a statistic that has been proven to even out over time.
For all the dysfunction associated with the offense in 2016, the Bills have been solidly above-average offensively the last two seasons, despite significant injury issues to stars LeSean McCoy and Sammy Watkins.
The offensive line has been quietly solid. They had the chance to set a single-season record for fewest turnovers heading into the finale. And they have gotten at least league-average quarterback play from Tyrod Taylor.
You also figure that the defense, so unpredictably porous under Ryan, has to improve at least a little bit.
But for anyone ready to gear up for a playoff run in 2017, you may want to pump the brakes. Despite what Whaley might have you believe, the Bills are not a playoff team, nor are they built to be a contender in the near future. What they do in the coming weeks could make that painfully obvious.
If there’s one thing that Monday’s press conference made evident, it is that there is a stunning lack of accountability on the part of both the GM and the owners, Terry and Kim Pegula. For as bad as Whaley came off, he wasn’t done many favors by his superiors. The Pegulas have been alarmingly quiet throughout the 2016 campaign; aside from a generic press release related to Ryan’s firing, there has been almost no word from the team’s owners regarding the direction of the team.
The quarterback position is obviously a huge concern, and it appears as though there are no easy answers. Taylor’s situation is an uncommonly difficult one for the Bills to sort through.
On the one hand, it is clear through two full seasons that Taylor is not worth the $30 million guaranteed that has been the topic of so much discussion.
But on the other hand, is there truly a better immediate solution? The season finale showed that EJ Manuel’s time as a Bill is over, and it’s also clear that Cardale Jones is nowhere close to being ready as a starter.
The free agent crop of quarterbacks isn’t exactly promising; outside of a healthy Tony Romo or Kirk Cousins (neither of whom is likely to sign with the Bills), I wouldn’t take any potential free agent over what Taylor provides.
The goal for every team is to find a Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers, but as this season has shown, you don’t need an MVP signal-caller to make the playoffs (hello Texans, Dolphins, and Chiefs).
The Bills haven’t done themselves any favors with how they’ve handled the Taylor situation, as it is extremely unlikely that he would be willing to restructure his current contract after being unceremoniously benched.
What’s more, this year’s crop of draft-eligible quarterbacks is looking to be a decidedly below-average group, so the Bills will likely be hoping to find someone in the mold of Derek Carr, Andy Dalton, or Russell Wilson, a second or third-round pick who falls in the draft only to prove themselves as a legitimate (possibly elite) NFL quarterback.
The Bills will have the 10th overall pick in the 2017 Draft; their improved position was likely the only solace fans derived from the calamity that was the season finale.
Unfortunately, recent draft history has shown that number 10 hasn’t been lucky for most teams. Here are the past ten number 10 overall draft picks: Amobi Okoye, Jerod Mayo, Michael Crabtree, Tyson Alualu, Blaine Gabbert, Stephon Gilmore, Chance Warmack, Eric Ebron, Todd Gurley, Eli Apple. Not exactly a Murderer’s Row.
In addition, the Bills’ brass has not shown the ability to identify top-level talent in the draft in recent years. In their past five drafts, the Bills have selected only seven players (Gilmore, Cordy Glenn, Robert Woods, Sammy Watkins, Preston Brown, Ronald Darby, John Miller) who have developed into consistent starters.
All of this is to say that there is an incredible amount of pressure on Whaley (or whoever’s in charge) to select the right head coach and quarterback for the Bills.
But until Buffalo’s front office and management show themselves to be more accountable to their fans, it’s hard to have much faith that the current group are the ones to end the most painful drought in professional sports.
