Bills evaluating roster for 2019
The Buffalo Bills have officially been eliminated from the playoffs, though in reality, they’ve been out of the postseason mix since the midway point of the season when it was clear they were going nowhere with a rookie quarterback and a moribund offense.
Nothing has changed in head coach Sean McDermott’s world, though. He knew going all the way back to training camp that this was going to be a step-back year for the Bills after they ended their playoff drought in 2017. He understood the salary-cap constraints he and general manager Brandon Beane were faced with, and how that was going to impact the way they could build the 2018 roster.
So, with three games left, McDermott remains on the course he has been on, using all of these games, particularly the ones in December, to evaluate his roster in terms of projecting who the Bills will move forward with in 2019.
“I’m really looking at the quality of our play and how we develop,” McDermott said when asked what his priorities are as the Bills get ready to host the Lions at New Era Field. “Certainly, want to win games, don’t get me wrong. We’re trying to sustain success over the course of time. That’s what we want to do; that’s how you win a world championship. In order to get there, though, there’s evaluating our roster, knowing who we like, who can help us moving forward and who may not have taken advantage of the opportunity, quite frankly.”
McDermott admitted this is not where he wanted to be, but again, there were too many obstacles for the Bills to clear if they hoped to contend for a playoff berth, and he was prepared for the inevitability of being an also-ran.
“We’ve eliminated ourselves from the playoffs, but there’s a bigger purpose,” he said. “The bigger purpose is how we develop into that team that we’re trying to become, which is that caliber of team, that standard. Like I mentioned before, it’s the quality of our play. That’s really what I’m looking for from each and every individual, from us as coaches, from the units, offensive, defensive, and special teams is our quality of play that will lead to sustained success over the course of time and eventually, the ultimate goal.”
The Bills have made strides on offense under rookie quarterback Josh Allen, and playing the Lions will give him another test as he’ll be facing a defense that ranks 12th in yards allowed and is fourth in sacks per pass attempt.
With the running game struggling so much, at least running plays that don’t include Allen’s mad dashes from the pocket, Allen has had to shoulder more of a burden in the passing game, and that’s probably not a bad thing. He is learning under fire, and he’s certainly doing so in adverse conditions with an offensive line that is one of the weakest in the NFL. The lessons he’s learning now should prove beneficial for the future.
“I would say probably in the last couple of weeks, really, when he came off of the injury and the way that he worked through the injury,” McDermott said when he was asked when he felt Allen began to take charge of the offense and become its leader. “Really, you become the leader by earning the respect of your teammates. He was willing to do that early on; he didn’t try to jump out in front when he hadn’t earned it.
“Overall, we’ve got a young offense and that’s been well documented, probably because of that but also because of the way Josh has developed. I think if you polled the players, most would say that Josh, certainly LeSean (McCoy) does good things as well, but Josh, because of the quarterback position, has become the leader.”
SERIES HISTORY: 11th regular-season meeting. Bills lead series, 5-4-1. Buffalo has won four of the last five games including a 17-14 decision at Ford Field in 2014 in the one season that Kyle Orton was the Bills’ quarterback. The first time the Lions played at New Era Field, then Rich Stadium, in 1991, they won a meaningless season finale, but that broke a 17-game home winning streak by Buffalo.
