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By Chuck Pollock
Pro Football Weekly
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Tom Donahoe read the stat sheet and didn't like what it told him.
In assessing last season's Bills -- their five-game improvement notwithstanding -- one reality jumped off the page for the team's president and general manager. His club was monolithic.
The offense, with quarterback Drew Bledsoe, running back Travis Henry and wide receivers Eric Moulds and Peerless Price, was one of the most potent in the league at the skill positions.
But the defense, while not dreadful, wasn't playoff caliber.
A pair of quality cornerbacks and an adequate tandem of safeties were undermined by a front seven that couldn't stop the run and was unable to generate a pass rush. That combination of a productive offense and pedestrian defense produced about what you'd expect, an 8-8 record and last place in the AFC East, a game behind the Jets, Patriots and Dolphins in the NFL's most balanced division.
Donahoe lamented: "We have to get more balanced. If you look at us on the stat sheet, we had a quarterback pass for (a team-record 4,359) yards and a running back run for (1,438) yards … yet we have to get more consistent. If we can play better defense we'll be a very productive team."
Buffalo's offense and defense weren't all that mismatched in yardage. The Bills' offense was 11th in yards gained while the defense was a respectable 15th in yardage surrendered.
However, Buffalo was 27th in points allowed and 29th against the run. But those weren't the indicting stats for critics of the Bills' 'D'. The most compelling number was 19 -- the total number of takeaways generated by Buffalo's defense. That's 13 fewer -- almost one a game -- than the average of the 12 teams that made the playoffs.
As a result, the Bills rarely had a short field courtesy of a turnover. In fact, 26 of their 43 offensive touchdowns were scored on drives of 73 yards or longer, while only five possessions started on the opponents' side of midfield.
Compounding that stat, only seven teams had fewer than the 31 sacks Buffalo recorded. Those numbers set Donahoe to work.
He started in mid-November, signing former Tampa Bay sackmeister Marcus Jones, then placing the defensive end on injured reserve to recuperate from the knee injury that made him expendable.
After the season ended, Donahoe continued to restructure the roster he inherited from the late John Butler by signing 14 more free agents, six on defense.
The prize was Cincinnati's Pro Bowl-quality outside linebacker Takeo Spikes, declared a transition player by the Bengals, who then declined to match the Bills' offer. Another outside 'backer, Houston's Jeff Posey, who had an impressive eight sacks for the expansion Texans, was also added. But outside linebacker -- last year's starters Keith Newman and Eddie Robinson weren't retained -- wasn't the Bills' only area of defensive weakness. In Donahoe's other major free agent signing, he added massive Sam Adams, a mercenary defensive tackle who has been to Super Bowls with Oakland and Baltimore in the past three seasons.
Adams figures to team with Pat Williams, a Pro Bowl alternate last season, to improve Buffalo's woeful performance against the run. Donahoe also signed former Green Bay defensive end Keith McKenzie, who hasn't been healthy for almost two full seasons. Thus, the Bills will bring 10 defensive linemen with pro experience to camp, plus second-round draft choice, defensive end Chris Kelsay, and four other rookies and free agents.
Kelsay was part of the draft-day stir created by Donahoe. When the Bills' pick came at the 23rd spot in the first round, it was assumed they would take Kelsay, the highest-rated defensive end remaining after eight defensive linemen were taken among the opening 18 selections.
Instead, Donahoe grabbed Miami (Fla.) running back Willis McGahee, a top-five talent whose value dropped after a devastating knee injury in the Fiesta Bowl. But, 24 picks later -- eight of those teams had already taken a defensive lineman -- Kelsay was there for Buffalo.
“ If you look at us on the stat sheet, we had a quarterback pass for (a team-record 4,359) yards and a running back run for (1,438) yards … yet we have to get more consistent. If we can play better defense we'll be a very productive team. ”
—GM Tom Donahoe
"We thought, based on what had happened, that he might still be available," Donahoe said.
The Bills then tabbed four more defenders in the draft -- two linebackers, a cornerback and a defensive tackle -- and rounded out their defensive shopping list by signing two more free agents, safety Izell Reese and cornerback Dainon Sidney, formerly of Denver and Tennessee, respectively.
"I think we're improved," Donahoe admitted cautiously, "but we still have to prove it on the field."
What's certain is that the Bills' are different.
Of the roster that he took over in January of 2001, a mere seven players remain: Moulds, Williams, guard Ruben Brown, cornerback Antoine Winfield, quarterback Alex Van Pelt, running back Sammy Morris and linebacker DaShon Polk. Meanwhile, player personnel isn't the only change in Buffalo's defense.
The Bills also added former Bengals' head coach Dick LeBeau to assist coordinator Jerry Gray.
The 65-year-old LeBeau is one of the league's most respected defensive minds and was an assistant in Pittsburgh when Donahoe was Steelers' general manager.
"We started adding his package in the mid-90s (at Houston)," said Bills' head coach Gregg Williams, formerly the Oilers' and Titans' defensive coordinator. "He's really affirmed that we were on the right page in what we were teaching, and he's been a real settling influence with the players and the staff. It's just having the confidence that he invented this stuff."
All the changes have Bills' fans excited.
After minicamp, Bledsoe, who probably tried to do too much to offset last season's defensive struggles, assessed, "We've got the ability to beat anybody in the league. The thing that's inspiring to me is to see the collective attitude that this team has right now … it's outstanding, probably the best I've ever been around."
Bledsoe, who went to two Super Bowls with the Patriots, added: "We have the ability and the players to be a playoff team … that's what we expect. Anything less than a good, solid playoff berth will be disappointing."
And the Bills' faithful are buying into it … literally. Buffalo is on track to sell its most season tickets since 1993, mostly because of the perceived improvement on defense.
As second-year strong safety Coy Wire enthused, "We have a defense that, to me, is going to wreak havoc on opposing offenses."
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