For some reason the Bills were playing 22-year old rookie DT Marcell Dareus at DE when the season began.  But at 6’3″, 340 pounds, he wasn’t helping much in the form of outside containment.  Then DT Kyle Williams got injured and the Bills decided to shift Dareus to his natural position and he has played well ever since.  Dareus has played in 13 games for the Bills so far this year and he has 35 tackles, 4.5 sacks, 3 tackles for a loss, 1 fumble recovery and 2 passes defensed.  Dareus is going to be one of the core young players in a rebuilt Bills’ D.

25-year old, 6’5″, 215 pound WR David Nelson is stepping up for the Buffalo Bills.  He has taken over for the departed Lee Evans (traded to Baltimore) in a trade before the 2011 season began.  Nelson has played in 12 games for the Bills so far this year and he has caught 48 passes for 514 yards (10.7 avg) with 5 TD grabs.  The Bills need Nelson to finish this season strongly.  Nelson has now played in 27 games in his first two years with the Bills and he has caught 79 passes for 867 yards (11.0 avg) with 8 TD grabs.

26-year old Scott Chandler played in 4 games as a rookie for the Bills in 2010 and he caught 1 pass for 8 yards.  He was thrust into the starting lineup this year and he has swum instead of sunk so far this year.  Chandler has played in 12 games for the Bills so far this year and he has caught 35 passes for 360 yards (10.3 avg) with 6 TD grabs.  Bills’ QBs have completed an utterly amazing 35 of 41 passes (85.4%) thrown in Chandler’s direction.  With that in mind, the Bills should expand Chandler’s role in the offense.

25-year old safety Jairus Byrd started off with a bang as a rookie with 9 interceptions.  Last year he was a little off, but he’s back in a good groove this year.  Byrd has played in 12 games for the Bills so far this year and he has 82 tackles, 6 passes defensed, 2 interceptions, 1 sack, 3 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery and 3 tackles for a loss.  Byrd has now played in 42 games in his first three years for the Bills and he has 216 tackles, 19 passes defensed, 12 interceptions (one return for a TD), 2 sacks, 4 tackles for a loss, 6 forced fumbles and 3 fumble recoveries.  The Bills need him to keep up the good work.

30-year old LB Nick Barnett has been pretty solid for the Bills this year.  He was signed to replace Paul Poslusny (Jaguars) in the middle of the Bills’ D this year and he has been pretty good.  Barnett has played in 9 games for the Bills so far this year and he has 71 tackles, 1 sack, 4 tackles for a loss, 1 forced fumble, 3 passes defensed and 2 interceptions (one returned for a TD).  Barnett has now played in 116 games in his first 9 years in the NFL and he has 858 tackles, 16.5 sacks, 45 tackles for a loss, 3 forced fumbles, 7 fumble recoveries, 40 passes defensed and 11 interceptions (2 returned for TDs).  Nick Barnett continues to be one of the more underrated linebackers in the NFL.

59-year old head coach Chan Gailey is in his second year in charge and he has the Bills in the playoff hunt at 5-3.  Gailey has done this by amping up the offense for the Bills as they are averaging 368.5 yards per game on offense.  The defense is still a work in progress as they are giving up 381.1 yards per game.  The Bills are now 9-15 (37.5%) in Gailey’s first two years on the job, and he seems to have things going briskly into the right direction.

The Buffalo Bills have signed 28-year old Ryan Fitzpatrick to a six year contract extension worth $59 million bucks, with $24 million bucks guaranteed.  Fitzpatrick has played in 6 games (all starts) for the Bills so far this year and he has completed 134 of 202 passes (66.3%) for 1,477 yards with 12 TD passes and 6 INTs (95.3 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 17 times for 40 yards (2.4 ypc) so far in 2011.  Fitzpatrick has now played in 29 games (27 starts) for the Bills in his first three years with the team and he has completed 516 of 870 passes (59.3%) for 5,899 yards with 44 TD passes and 31 INTs (81.8 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 88 times for 450 yards (5.1 ypc) with 1 TD run so far with the Bills.  The Bills are 12-15 (44.4%) in games started by Fitzpatrick.  This is a big risk for the Bills as Fitzpatrick was a pretty poor QB before arriving in Buffalo.

The Bills’ WRs have been very effective so far this year and they need them to keep up the good work.  Steve Johnson is still Ryan Fitzpatrick’s go-to man.  He has caught 33 passes for 382 yards (11.6 avg) with 4 TD grabs so far this year.  Look for his average yards to start to spike as Fitzpatrick is going to likely start going down the field more in the passing game the rest of this year.  David Nelson has also been outstanding as he has caught 27 passes for 319 yards (11.8 avg) with 2 TD grabs so far this year.  He has really been a nice asset for the Bills as he is playing the best ball of his career right now.  Donald Jones is a little banged up right now.  He has caught 16 passes for 174 yards (10.9 avg) with 1 TD grab so far this year.  Naaman Roosevelt is now the #3 WR until Jones is ready to get back into action.  He has caught 7 passes for 129 yards (18.4 avg) with 1 TD grab as he has the speed to get down the field.  The Bills are in good shape at WR right now.

The Buffalo Bills are running really well so far this year.  30-year old RB Fred Jackson is leading the way for the Bills so far this year on the ground with 601 yards rushing on 106 carries (5.7 ypc) with 6 TD runs.  He has also caught 24 passes for 279 yards (11.6 avg) so far this year.  Jackson will be the main man in the running game for the Bills unless he gets hurt this year.  C.J. Spiller is next in line at RB for the Bills.  He has played in all six games for the Bills so far this year and he has carried the ball 15 times for 107 yards (7.1 ypc) with 1 TD run.  Spiller has also caught 11 passes for 55 yards (5.0 avg) so far in 2011.  Brad Smith has pitched in for the Bills in their version of the Wildcat Formation.  He has played in all six games for the Bills in 2011 and he has carried the ball 15 times for 70 yards (4.7 ypc) with 1 TD run.  He has also caught 2 passes for 25 yards (12.5 avg) this year.  The Bills are averaging 141.0 yards rushing per game so far this year and 5.2 yards per carry.

28-year old QB Ryan Fitzpatrick came out of nowhere in 2010 as he was very effective for the Bills.  Still, a lot of people had to think that Fitzpatrick’s play last year was a mirage.  But, he is proving all of the skeptics wrong so far in 2011.  Fitzpatrick has played in 5 games for the Bills so far this year and he has completed 113 of 172 passes (65.7%) for 1,233 yards with 10 TD passes and 4 INTs (96.4 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 14 times for 32 yards (2.3 ypc) so far this year.  It’s starting to look like Fitzpatrick is a late bloomer.