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2007 NFL Preview: Buffalo Bills

By Dave Golokhov

Looking At 2006 In The Rear View Mirror

While the Giants and Jets are the Beyonce Knowles and Kelly Rowland for New Yorkers, the Buffalo Bills are that other, less relevant, third member of Destiny's Child to the Empire State.

With the emergence of the Jets as an unforeseen playoff team and the Giants continuous soap opera involving Eli Manning's growth and Tiki Barber's final season, the Bills two-game improvement in the win column went largely unnoticed.

In fact, after an offseason where their owner was derided during labor meetings and their general manager was mocked for passing on Matt Leinart in the draft and signing Peerless Price, the Bills were more than an afterthought; they were considered a joke.

But the Bills finished 5-4 in their final nine games and demonstrated significant progress during the first year of the Marv Levy/Dick Jauron regime.

As is par for the course in the NFL, when J.P. Losman struggled to acclimate himself to the NFL game during his first two seasons, everybody ripped him. But as he finally turned the corner last season, the audience was not around to applaud. On draft day in 2004, we were told that Losman, a Tulane product, was raw, but few critics wanted to give him time before making long-term assessments.

Losman enjoyed a breakout campaign in 2006, improving in virtually every category, including his much maligned completion percentage (grew from 49.6% in 2005 to 62.5% in 2006).

Losman wasn't the only one that did some developing as last season was for rebuilding and the Bills threw may of their youngsters into the fire.

Donte Whitner and Ko Simpson pushed aside veterans like Troy Vincent early on, while linebackers like Angelo Crowell and Keith Ellison earned valuable time, particularly when Takeo Spikes exited the lineup with injuries.

On the front lines, the Bills defensive lines went from pesky to near dominant in 2006 led by one of the best kept secrets in defensive end, Aaron Schobel. But Schobel finally had some protection from the other end position as Ryan Denney and Chris Kelsay set personal highs with 6 and 5.5 sacks, respectively. With the mid-season acquisition of Anthony Hargrove, the Bills quietly boasted one of the most effective defensive end rotations.

The Bills made defensive tackle a priority last offseason by signing Larry Tripplett and drafting John McCargo and Kyle Williams. Larry Tripplett was a steady tackle while Williams proved be a solid role player. McCargo's season was lost because of a foot injury.

Looking back at the 2006 draft, the Bills may have pulled one of their best classes to date. Whitner (first round) and Simpson (fourth round) started as rookies and so did Ellison (sixth round) by the end of the season. Williams (fifth round) is a cog in the defensive line rotation, while cornerback Ashton Youboty (third round) is batting for a starting spot this season. All have contributed and appear to have reasonable upside.

Switching back to the offense, while Losman emerged as a legit starter, he didn't receive a lot of help around him, save Lee Evans, who is on the fast track to becoming a Pro Bowler.

The offensive line was in-and-out, but mostly out. They had very little push in the running game, which eventually set up too many third-and-distance situations. The lone bright spots were Jason Peters, who is also on pace for many trips to Hawaii, and Melvin Fowler, who secured the center position.

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