History seems to always have a funny way of repeating itself.
Buffalo Bills Head Coach Rex Ryan seems to find himself in a situation all too similar to the one he had for some time in his tenure with the New York Jets, specifically between the years of 2009 to 2011.
Both football teams from the great state of New York in their respective times had:
A strong defense (check 2010 Jets’ defense stats if you don’t believe me)
A defensive minded HC (Both: Rex Ryan)
A strong running game (Bills: LeSean McCoy and Fred Jackson. Jets: LaDainian Tomlinson and Shonn Greene)
And… questions at the quarterback position.
As noted in my previous article on the state of the Bills, Buffalo is a team that is very strong in many areas: pass rushing, a sneaky good secondary, a newly improved excellent run game, along with a receiving core that is young, but undoubtedly talented.
However, aside from a need to stop the run on defense, Buffalo’s number one issue in most people’s minds is the need for a signal caller.
Buffalo currently has three quarterbacks on their roster: EJ Manuel, Matt Cassel and Jeff Tuel.
Manuel drafted 18th overall back in 2013, had fallen out of sorts in Buffalo’s expectations. Tuel was signed after the past draft as an undrafted free agent, and Cassel was recently acquired by the Bills from the Minnesota Vikings, in exchange for a currently undisclosed late round draft pick.
However, as we saw with the 2009 and 2010 Jets, Rex Ryan’s system doesn’t need an Aaron Rodgers or a Peyton Manning style quarterback. Ryan doesn’t need his quarterback to be the hero, he instead needs the quarterback to simply put the team in a winning position and allow the defense and run game to be the winning factor.
Look back at those 2009-2011 Jets teams, quarterbacked by now Philadelphia Eagle Mark Sanchez. In 2010, Sanchez averaged around 200 yards per game and threw 17 touchdowns to 13 interceptions.
This is by no means of the definition a great quarterback performance, but the Jets still made it all the way to the conference championship for the second year in a row in 2010. Why is this? It is because Ryan had two strong running backs in LT and Greene, and a shutout defense, that ranked sixth in points allowed and third in yards allowed per game in 2010.
The question, in this writer’s mind, is whether Cassel, Manuel, or even Tuel, can act in that Mark Sanchez role, and allow the Bills defense and run game to win the game for the franchise.
What do you think? Do the Bills need to acquire another quarterback via either draft or free agency? Can they address their quarterback needs within the organization? Is there a more glaring issue the Bills should address first?
Let me know on Twitter @gavroydavis and tell me what you think.
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