2014 Season
Season Preview and Goals
Roster Strength: 44
Cohesion Ratings: 63-79-67-65
Affinity Index: 27
Last Year's Results: 8-8
Predicted Results: 7-9
Keys to Success: Don't really care about this year, just keep playing together, develop some cohesion, and don't get anyone killed
So, we open with a solid 23-10 win, Brady is crisp, and Spiller posts a 100-yard game. Nice to see. Brady's 3 for 36 rushing is a nice add, too. 18 of 33 targets went at the starting WR, which is basically what I want to see, also. One game, but it's what I want to see.
At 3-1, we are back to earth a bit – Brady's ratio is a modest 6/6, Spiller is just over 250 yards, and our turnover ratio is an ugly -5. This doesn't really look much like a winning team to me, I'm not going to cash in my winnings quite yet on that future bet.
The entire division is 4-4 at the halfway point. Best news we have is that Cassidy, the offensive centerpiece if I get my way, is now up over 10 yards per target for the year. If this guy can become a serious workhorse feature-receiver, this team can go as far as he can take us.
Again, I am not hung up on the record this year, so 5-7 doesn't irk me, I thought this was a losing team right now. The good start was weird, but we are back on earth now for certain. Defense still is lacking, and we still turn the ball over too much.
Brady misses the last 3 weeks with an injury, but it doesn't look too serious. We win one late game, but end up fairly well up the track.
Code:
2014 Summary for Buffalo Bills
Year 2014
Record 6-10
Winning Pct. .375
All-Time 34-46
Winning Pct. .425
Playoffs 0-0
Playoff Visits 0
Bowl Wins 0
Head Coach Morris Weeks
Record 6-10
Winning Pct. .375
Off. Coord. I. Gulbrandsen
Def. Coord. W. Warnock
Buffalo Bills Team Rank
Rushes per Game 26.6 15
Rushing Yards 125.4 8
Yards Per Carry 4.71 4
Pass Attempts 35.1 19
Completions 18.3 30 (T)
Completion Pct. 52.1 32
Passing Yards 257.9 8
Yards Per Attempt 7.34 8
Yards Per Catch 14.09 1
Total Yardage Gained 367.9 7
3rd Down Conversions 38.9 16
Points Per Game 20.9 15 (T)
Pass Rush Pct. 19.9 15
Pass Defense Pct. 48.1 18
Turnovers 31 26 (T)
Turnover Margin -5 27
Opponents Team Rank
Rushes per Game 31.4 31
Rushing Yards 153.1 31
Yards Per Carry 4.87 30
Pass Attempts 33.3 6
Completions 20.1 4 (T)
Completion Pct. 60.5 13
Passing Yards 223.6 8
Yards Per Attempt 6.73 16
Yards Per Catch 11.11 24
Total Yardage Gained 368.9 30
3rd Down Conversions 42.9 30
Points Per Game 23.9 26 (T)
Pass Rush Pct. 21.0 25
Pass Defense Pct. 66.9 31
Turnovers 26 11 (T)
Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 23 NED 10
2 21 at GBY 17
3 17 CLE 23
4 23 MIA 13
5 14 at DEN 24
6 23 at OAK 13
8 24 SDO 30
9 13 at NYJ 20
10 20 KCY 23
11 14 at NED 25
12 28 DET 45
13 16 at JAX 3
14 35 at MIN 38
15 30 at MIA 51
16 20 CHI 10
17 13 NYJ 37
Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int Rate
12 V. Brady QB 426 221 3083 7.24 16 13 75.2
4 B. Brohm QB 131 69 1021 7.79 9 3 91.8
**Team --- 562 293 4127 7.34 25 16 79.1
$$Opp --- 532 322 3578 6.73 27 14 86.5
Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD Fum
21 C. Spiller RB 232 1269 5.47 6 3
20 S. Blades RB 89 311 3.49 3 8
12 V. Brady QB 59 282 4.78 2 11
**Team --- 426 2006 4.71 11 30
$$Opp --- 503 2449 4.87 12 21
Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc Y/Tar Drop TD
84 M. Cassidy WR 153 78 1447 18.55 9.46 12 5
88 M. Manningham WR 90 47 710 15.11 7.89 8 7
89 S. Nelson TE 77 44 449 10.20 5.83 7 2
21 C. Spiller RB 57 37 299 8.08 5.25 1 4
10 O. Burrows WR 60 27 331 12.26 5.52 5 0
85 C. Lecuona WR 55 24 438 18.25 7.96 6 1
Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn PDPct
31 J. Byrd S 108 38 0.0 0 2 14 82.6
59 F. Preston OLB 63 18 0.0 0 0 4 72.9
41 C. Wiggins S 53 11 0.0 0 3 1 79.1
29 D. Kirk S 51 18 0.0 0 1 3 73.3
57 D. Batten ILB 45 11 0.0 3 0 0 76.3
52 G. Boles ILB 45 13 2.5 5 2 0 83.2
33 J. Neufeldt CB 43 16 0.0 0 3 6 81.3
74 R. Edwards DE 42 10 5.5 26 0 1 81.9
73 A. Hargrove DT 39 15 4.0 14 0 0 79.9
90 H. Hughes DE 34 12 6.5 14 0 0 81.5
96 K. Wimbley OLB 33 5 0.0 0 0 1 65.6
49 R. Perez S 32 6 0.0 0 0 3 76.8
48 D. Borders CB 31 11 0.0 0 1 8 79.2
92 Q. Black OLB 28 12 0.0 1 1 2 75.9
30 R. Prior CB 28 8 0.0 0 0 4 78.3
94 E. Randall DT 26 17 0.0 3 0 1 82.5
58 A. Maybin DE 25 11 1.5 12 0 0 80.4
39 G. Prior CB 23 4 0.0 0 0 1 63.5
So, basically we show some signs of life in the rushing game – though this may be substantially due to being behind a lot. But we finally post a serious year for Spiller – horrifyingly enough, his first 1,000 yard season for us. Happy with Cassidy settling in as the major target in the passing game – I would be pleased if we can push his targets up and beyond 10 per game, even. A perfect passing gameplan for us is probably 12 targets to Cassidy, 5 each to Manningham and Nelson, and then another 10 scattered across the team.
On defense, it's hard to like most of the individual players but be disappointed in the whole performance. That's where I am, basically. Byrd seems great, and my front three seem solid, and I mostly am pleased with the red bars on the LB and DB group overall. But boy, do we need to see better numbers – especially against the pass.
With our remaining 11 AP, I want to commit to a few players to avoid open free agency:
2 – Sign current player to his requested renegotiation (CB Donnie Borders)
CB Borders is not a star,but is solid and his requested reneg goes out 4 years and will remain under the 5% limit. Can't ask for a lot more.
4 – Sign current player to unrestricted renegotiation (RB CJ Spiller)
Spiller wants a ton of money, and I think winnowing him down to being below the 5% threshold makes sense as an expense of AP here. He will remain expensive, but now that we are finally harnessing him better, we might as well stick with him. His 5yr, $41.7m deal ought to skirt just below the 5% level.
Now, the twist here is that most of my expiring contracts are guys who are in year 3 – who will be RFA next year. Locking some of them up long term is not usually a strong option here, but I think it makes sense to avoid the logjam on a couple guys I know I am going to want for more than just year 4. So, two more:
2 – Sign current player to his requested renegotiation (LB Frankie Preston)
2 – Sign current player to his requested renegotiation (C Rondell Gust)
So, we burn 1 AP at the end. SO it goes.
Atlanta wins the title, and we have two all-pros in 1st teamer S Jairus Byrd, and 2nd teamer WR Maurice Cassidy. Onward!