Bills’ pass offense needs better players and/or play

By Anthony Bialy  |   Wednesday, January 14, 2009  |  Comments( 82 )

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The wise-guy answer is that the Buffalo Bills only need to improve in three areas next season, namely offense, defense and special teams, but this team did look good at certain times when the light hit it just right in 2008. Still, there’s no dressing up a playoff miss, and one overwhelming factor kept this franchise from once again even breaking even. The biggest issue was a passing game that functioned like a nautical item, namely an anchor. Other clouds may loom over Buffalo, but getting the aerial game on track is its top chore if there is any hope of limiting the postseason drought to a decade.

The troubles started about a quarter of the way back: Trent Edwards was as reliable as a dice roll. Even when he wasn’t hurt, the Bills still weren’t sure Edwards was going to show up for games. While he frequently displayed the calm competence that’s made him this team’s presumed future starter, he also looked at times like he wasn’t expecting there to be defenders on the field.

Specifically, his three touchdowns against eight interceptions during the squad’s four-game losing stretch combined to be enough to basically end the season. His play starting in the first Miami game and ending on a Monday night against the Cleveland Browns is the chief reason why the Bills’ playoff participation is limited to playing that fantasy football challenge at NFL.com featured in the commercial with the astoundingly grating Daniel Powter song.

Edwards must stay both consistent and consistently healthy unless he’d like to slide to the point where he’ll be remembered as the passer with Rob Johnson’s durability and J.P. Losman’s reliability. That assessment might be harsh, but anything to motivate him at this crucial juncture can’t be bad.

Not helping is the fact that Lee Evans is the only catching menace. It becomes less of a trend and more of a never-changing fact every season: The numbers make Evans look like a Wookiee among Ewoks. Josh Reed’s 597 yards, the second-most ground for a wideout, were a paltry 58 percent of Evans’ 1,017. That’s almost as bad as the fact that the four non-Evans wideouts who caught passes this season only combined for exactly three feet more than the team’s top option: Reed, Roscoe Parrish, Steve Johnson and James Hardy went for 1,018 yards, total.

Evans was literally 1 yard away from getting half of the receivers’ gains this season, and it’s once again time for at least one of his teammates to reduce his percentage of burden. The question is whether the answer is already around: Is there a wideout on the roster who will ever be worthy of being addressed with Evans as a duo? When Hardy returns from knee surgery six to nine months from now, is he going to start being helpful? And meanwhile, can the quarterback play better about two-thirds of the time?

While the team’s other aspects were generally somewhere between blah and promising in '08, the throwing offense was the one area that kept the Bills from sailing forward. It comes down to talent, namely whether their struggles were thanks to those involved not doing enough or whether they’re just not collectively good enough to succeed. The Bills either have to enhance their roster or hope the roster’s members enhance themselves, and the one certain thing is that Evans playing well and Edwards sometimes playing well isn’t enough.
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