2007 Buffalo Bills Preview

2007 Buffalo Bills preview from MadduxSports.com. Get NFL spread picks from the best NFL handicapping team against the NFL lines all season long.

In the Wild East, Someone Just Might Get Lynched
By Adam Barone

Though the lowly Bills are still pretty lowly, they have some intriguing talent on their roster. Suggesting that Buffalo will be anything other than mediocre in the 2007 NFL season would probably be ridiculous, however if a few things fall their way they could be on the rise.

A team losing its probable best player, such as Buffalo's loss of Willis McGahee, would normally be devastating for an NFL team, but the Bills seem to have found a way to make it work in their favor. They drafted Marshawn Lynch out of Cal with the 12th overall pick in April's draft, thinking he is an even better all around back than McGahee. He's a great receiver out of the backfield, so he won't need to be taken out in third down situations.

The team also picked Dwayne Wright out of Fresno State, a powerful short yardage runner who should be a nice compliment to Lynch. Between these two and veteran Anthony Thomas, the ground game in Buffalo will likely be more than solidified in the very near future.
After struggling earlier in his career, J.P. Losman seemed to get it together in 2006. He completed 62.5% of his passes for over 3000 yards and had a respectable TD/INT ratio of 19/14.

Losman's favorite target, Lee Evans, had 82 receptions for 1292 yards and 8 TD's in ‘06, with a pair of 83 yard catches as his long. Evans, entering his fourth season out of Wisconsin, appears to be developing into one of the NFL's elite receivers. He has blazing speed, is a good route runner and has great hands; very similar to division rival, Chris Chambers, another former Badger receiver.
Veteran Peerless Price may be aging and is likely on the downside of his career. He'll contribute some, but will likely see less time, making way for a pair of youngsters.

Josh Reed has been around long enough that if he's going to live up to the potential that saw him set records at LSU, now is the time. Though he did miss three games in 2006, Reed caught just 34 passes. The good news is that he averaged 12.1 yards per grab with a long of 52, proving that he does have big play capability. If he can find a way to get open against NFL defenders, his best fit would be as a possession receiver, #2 across from Evans.

The other young receiver, Roscoe Parrish, caught just 23 passes last season, averaging 13.9 per. He also has big play speed and could eventually become a solid slot receiver, possibly this coming season.

On defense the Bills lost stud middle linebacker London Fletcher-Baker as a free agent, but replaced him with a monster in the draft. Coming out of Linebacker U, Penn State tackling machine Paul Posluszny is bigger, faster and stronger than Baker and has a competitive drive that could make a midget successful in the NFL. With a decent line in front of him, Posluszny should make a big impact in the AFC East.

Though the Bills were led in interceptions by departed middle linebacker London Flether-Baker with 4, their pass defense still proved adequate. The weakness was the rush defense, where they gave up 140.9 yards per contest. Posluszny is a fantastic tackler and run stopper, but unless the Bills do something to improve their interior defensive line, he‘ll be nothing but a fantastic blocker-taker-upper.

2007 Buffalo Bills Predictions

The Bills have very little chance of competing with New England for the division title with the evil Bill Belichick obviously angry and plotting for world domination. They could though, be undervalued in a division where they're capable of beating out the Jets and Dolphins and winning a wild card berth.

Odds makers and sports books could short the Bills as a small market team who will likely draw lower levels of interest from sports gambling gurus, so watch for them getting big points against teams who may have weaknesses in their vertical pass defense.

If you enjoyed reading our Buffalo Bills preview read up on the rest of NFL AFC East division like the Dolphins, Patriots, and Jets team breakdowns from Maddux Sports.

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