2010 Bills Season in Review

Part II

-Coast

The defensive unit gets an F, simple as that. This is without a doubt the worst defense I have ever seen from this franchise since I can remember watching Bills games. They were horrible against the run. They were horrible against the pass. They were horrible in taking away the football. They were just horrible. Let's break it down, position by position.

Secondary - D

What happened to this vaunted Bills secondary from 2009? This unit was an atrocity. Jairus "Ball Hawk?" Byrd had 1 interception in 2010 and it came in garbage time of week 17. He had 9 a year ago. The starting cornerbacks had 5 interceptions...3 for Florence and 2 for McKelvin. The injury prone McGee was MIA all year. It will be interesting to see if we bring him back. Donte Whitner was abysmal as usual. The Bills got shredded by tight ends week in and week out. On the year, the Bills allowed 10 passing touchdowns to tight ends. QBs on the season threw 28 touchdown passes against the Bills and only had 11 interceptions. Through 8 games, it was 17 TDs and 1 interception, so the Bills did improve in the 2nd half, I will give them that. Is this the entire fault of the secondary? Absolutely not, but it was very apparent in 2010 that the Bills success in taking the football away in 2009 was based on the system, not the talent on board in the secondary.

Defensive Line - D

How can you give a defensive line that contributed to allowing 170 yards per game on the ground a grade higher than average? Kyle Williams was the Bills lone pro bowl representative. Everyone would talk all season about how good Kyle Williams is. I haven't decided yet if he is actual good or just looks good compared to the players he is playing with. The defensive ends, Dwan Edwards, Marcus Stroud and Spencer Johnson, combined for 6 sacks. Stroud is done as a Bill as far as I am concerned. I am not giving up on Dwan, but if he was actually good, the Ravens would have kept him, they know a thing or two about defense. Spencer Johnson is a backup and nothing more. The Bills need to make it a priority to get a solid starting defensive lineman in the draft...preferably with the 3rd overall pick. No one on this line will ever draw a double team. This is part of the reason why our linebackers are so non existent, opponents have offensive lineman getting to the 2nd level to block our linebackers (not to mention the lack of talent the linebackers have...but we will get to that later).

Linebackers - F

Have you ever in your life seen a worse group of linebackers? Let's face reality here...Poz is a mediocrity. How often does this guy make impact plays? Name 3 "big" plays this guy made during 2010. To hear comments about us wanting to build our defense around him makes me sick. Despite how average he was, he was our best linebacker this season...which says a lot. For some reason, we actually gave Chris Kelsay a contract extension. Everyone knows my feelings about Chris Kelsay. He is a horrible football player, I mean the guy is just bad. He is a "pass rushing" outside linebacker? He had 3.5 sacks bringing his total career sack total to 26 in 8 seasons or 3.25 sacks per year. $5 million. Makes me sick. The Bills started the season with cast offs like Torbor and Andra Davis starting at the position. Due to injury, they were then forced to use Akin Ayodele as a starting inside linebacker. The guy was unemployed in September. Arthur Moats showed some promise...or did he just get a lucky hit on Brett Favre?
Antonio Coleman also filled in. Moats was drafted in round 6, Coleman wasn't drafted at all. These guys are far from the future of the position for this team. Do the Bills have a single starting caliber linebacker on their roster? Probably not, but I would still like Poz to get resigned...he is at least serviceable. Besides him, please give me 3 new starters. The Bills did ink Shawne Merriman. Call me pessimistic, but I still don't see this guy playing a down for the Bills...let alone playing a down in his 2006 form. The Bills need to address this need in the first round if they don't go DT or in the 2nd round at the latest. I would go DT and LB the first 3 rounds in the upcoming draft.

As a whole, I give the defense a solid F. They allowed 170 yards per game on the ground, worst in the entire league by far. The Bills ranked 5th worst in points per game allowed at 26.6. They took the ball away only 22 times...tied for 6th worst in the league. Their turnover differential was -17...worst in the league. The Bills had 11 interceptions, better than only 3 times in the NFL. No matter how you look at this defense, they were atrocious. Somehow George Edwards is still employed...don't ask me how but he is. The defense I guess improved the 2nd half of the season, but when you have the worst defense in league history through 8 games, it can't get worse. The stache Dave Wannstedt joins the Bills' staff. I wouldn't be surprised if he supplants George Edwards sooner than later.