The Buffalo Bills are coming into the 2013 season with very high expectations after overhauling their team with a new head coach in Doug Marrone and after drafting EJ Manuel with their first round pick, the franchise is ready to have a new identity in the AFC East.
Last year the Bills were wildly inconsistent on offense as well as on defense and adding Marrone to the mix will only help straighten things out, as he turned around a bad college team in Syracuse. While the team decided to draft Manuel rather than Marrone's college quarterback in Ryan Nassib, the Bills have been thrilled with what he has shown in camp and it is clear that the starting quarterback job is his to lose and Kevin Kolb's to try and win. Kolb injured himself and with the way Manuel has been handing the offense, the team is ready to give him the keys.
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One of the things that became most clear last season with the Bills going 6-10 was that running back CJ Spiller is a budding superstar and a player that the team will rely on much more going forward. Spiller got his chances once Fred Jackson went down with an injury and now he will likely be the primary starter going forward, as he helped the team to rank sixth in the league in rushing yards per game with over 138 per contest. Last year Spiller showed off his skills by rushing for over 1,200 yards and he also has shown some nice flashes out of the backfield in the receiving game as well.
Manuel will need Spiller to be at his best again as he takes over for Ryan Fitzpatrick, who was cut this offseason after a couple of disappointing years and now he joins Marrone as the team puts in a new high powered offense. Having Steve Johnson healthy for the season will be a primary key after he made 79 catches for over 1,000 yards and if the defense can play better, there is no reason to think that the Bills can't make a run at one of the wild card spots in the AFC.
The defense was awful guarding against the run last season and ranked 31st with over 145 yards per game and if the team can limit that just a bit, the entire unit should be able to improve. The team ranked 10th in passing yards allowed per game and since the team is starting the season with a game at home against the Patriots, they will be able to test out very quickly if that has improved this offseason.
The Bills have loved what offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett is doing with Spiller in training camp and he comes to the team after working with Marrone at Syracuse. Last season spiller was impressive with 1,244 yards on 207 carries and his 6.0 yards per carry was the best in the league along with Adrian Peterson and now he is looking to build on that success in the running game with another solid season.
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"It's real simple: We're going to give him the ball until he throws up," Hackett told The Howard Simon Show on WGR 550 in Buffalo. "So he's either got to tap out or throw up on the field. Let's just put it that way."