15 Bold Predictions: No. 4: Buffalo Bills’ drought ends

By Ryan Disdier | Jul 15, 2015

The Buffalo Bills haven’t made the playoffs since 1999.

Just to put that into perspective, that span has featured three presidents (Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama), the invention of Twitter, LeBron James get drafted, switch teams and then come back and the retirements of Ray Lewis, Jerry Rice, Emmitt Smith, Deion Sanders and Champ Bailey.

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That’s a whole lot of things that have happened since the last time the Bills played in the postseason.

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On the heels of their first winning season since 2004, the Buffalo Bills seem primed to end the longest-active playoff drought in the NFL, and it starts with the new head guy in town.

After two ‘all right’ seasons under Doug Marrone — who left town for Jacksonville –, the Bills went out and acquired former head coach of the rival New York Jets, Rex Ryan.

You can take the head coach out of the big city, but you apparently can’t take the big-city attitude out of the head coach.

“I think we’ll be in it this year,” Ryan said, according to Darryl Slater of NJ.com. “Nah, I’m not going to say it’s a guarantee. But I guarantee you one thing: Teams aren’t going to want to play us. I can tell you that much.”

The once frowned upon bombast of Ryan is exactly what the Bills need. Rex has the experience and the savvy to help lead this team to the playoffs.

“It’s a bit eerie how similar this Bills team is to the Jets teams Ryan led to AFC Championships.”

The Rex Ryan Era started with a bang, as Buffalo made arguably the biggest move of the offseason. With C.J. Spiller not expected to return, the Bills traded third-year linebacker Kiko Alonso straight-up to the Philadelphia Eagles for LeSean McCoy, a Pro Bowl and All-Pro running back.

With McCoy, the Bills have a reliable, versatile, dynamic running back who can carry the load. Despite some belief that he’s no longer a top-tier back, McCoy is coming off of the second-most rushing yards of his career.

The versatile and stoic leader Fred Jackson is still on the team, too. So even if McCoy needs a breather, the Bills will have someone to handle to rock.

Adding Shady wasn’t the only move the Bills made in the offseason, though. Return ace and speedster Percy Harvin was signed, and he’s a player whom Ryan got to coach for a brief period of time in New York.

Tight end Charles Clay was signed from the rival Dolphins (notice a trend here?), and he’ll be the pass-catching tight end Buffalo has lacked since, well, a very long time.

Clay and Harvin join a pass-catching group that also features the young duo of Sammy Watkins and Robert Woods.

Watkins battled injuries early on, but he was still able to put together a more-than-respectable rookie campaign. The player whom Buffalo traded up to acquire has rare speed and catching ability, and he made a bevy of big plays as a rookie.

Woods is a talented receiver in his own right, and he might have a chance to become a breakout star in 2015.

However, the less-than-desirable quarterback situation consisting of Matt Cassel, Tyrod Taylor and EJ Manuel isn’t tops in the league.

It wouldn’t surprise me if any of those quarterbacks end up starting week 1, but it’s important to remember this team went 9-7 last year with Kyle Orton under center. So while while Cassel, Taylor and Manuel aren’t exactly gangbusters, are they that much worse than Orton.

Plus, don’t forget an ‘okay-at-best’ quarterback situation isn’t foreign to Rex Ryan.

If you recall, the Jets teams that went to the playoffs featured a strong run game, a sub par quarterback and a stellar, absolutely dominant defense.

And that’s what will likely propel the Bills into the postseason for the first time in this millennium.

The Bills featured the fourth-ranked defense last year, and there’s no reason to think the defensive unit will be trending downward.

Against the Bills in 2014, this is what the combined stats of Peyton Manning and reigning MVP Aaron Rodgers look like: 55.3 completion percentage, 178.5 passing yards, four interceptions, zero touchdowns and a quarterback rating of 45.6.

Other than the game against Buffalo, Rodgers only threw three picks all season.

A big reason for the defense’ success is the fearsome pass rush. The team wisely retained speed rusher Jerry Hughes, and he’ll return to a defense line with an almost surplus of talent.

Hughes, Mario Williams, Kyle Williams and Marcell Dareus make up the group, and it’s a group that can be argued as the best defensive line in the entire NFL.

Every one of those players is Pro-Bowl caliber in their own right, and being able to generate pressure only rushing four lineman is a luxury not many teams have.

In the secondary, the tandem of Corey Graham and Stephon Gilmore is one of the league’s most underrated, and I expect Gilmore to take a big step in 2015. Ryan will likely use the 6’1″ corner on an island frequently.

Last year, Gilmore followed the number one most of the time, and usually held his own.

Despite losing Kiko Alonso (remember, Alonso, although spectacular in his rookie year, missed all of last season), the defense should be as good, if not better than they were last year.

Teams will not want to play the Bills and their stellar defense down the stretch. All the talent is there, and with Rex Ryan now the head man in town, this unit has a chance to be recognized as one of the NFL’s best.

It’s a bit eerie how similar this Bills team is to the Jets teams Ryan led to AFC Championships.

With a team that seems primed to make noise in January, the Bills faithful will be louder than ever, and that’s saying something. This fan base has stuck around through everything. All the ups and downs, all the misfortune.

Well, Bills Mafia, you finally have something to cheer for.

Next: Bold Prediction No.3: San Francisco 49ers plummet

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