24-year old WR Steve Johnson has really stepped up for the Buffalo Bills this year.  Johnson played in 16 games in his first two years with the Bills and he only caught 12 passes for 112 yards (9.3 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  He has topped those numbers in only five games this year for the Bills.  Johnson has caught 17 passes for 214 yards (12.6 avg) with 4 TD grabs so far this year as he is second in yards receiving (217 for Roscoe Parrish) for the Bills this year and he leads them in both receptions and TD grabs.  As long as Johnson keeps playing like he is right now the Bills would be foolish not to keep throwing the ball his way.

28-year old safety George Wilson came into this season having played in 31 games in the NFL making 64 tackles, defensing 4 passes, he had 1.5 sacks and 2 interceptions (1 returned for a TD).  But, this season Wilson got moved into the starting line-up because of injuries and responded big time for the Bills.  Wilson has played in 15 games for the Bills this season and he has made 98 tackles, 4 tackles for a loss, 2 sacks, 6 passes defensed, 1 forced fumbles and 4 interceptions.  Wilson has solidified himself as a starting player in the NFL after his outstanding 2009 season.

Fred Jackson is the main ball carrier on offense and he is returning kickoffs for the Bills too.  Jackson has played in all 14 games for the Bills this season and he has carried the ball 191 times for 811 yards (4.2 ypc) with 2 TD runs.  He also has caught 42 passes for 342 yards (8.1 avg) with 1 TD grab.  Jackson is a good special teams player too.  He has returned 36 kickoffs for 928 yards (25.8 avg) and 6 punts for 69 yards (11.5 avg).  He has now touched the ball 275 times for the Bills this season and he has 2,150 all-purpose yards (7.8 yards per touch) and 3 total TDs.  That breaks down to 153.6 all-purpose yards per game for Jackson as he has been the most consistent player on the offense this season for the Bills.

Linebacker Paul Poslusny’s season started late because of injury but he is making up for lost time.  He has played in 10 games for the Bills this season and he has made 92 tackles, 4 tackles for a loss, forced 3 fumbles, defensed 4 passes, has 1 sack and 4 interceptions.  Poslusny looks like he will be a building block for the Bills’ defense for the next few years as long as he can stay healthy.

27-year old QB Ryan Fitzpatrick looks like a new QB the last couple of weeks.  In his last two starts the Bills have scored 46 points.  He has completed 35 of 57 passes (61.4%) in those two starts for 543 yards with 2 TD passes and 3 INTs.  He has also carried the ball 8 times for 55 yards (6.9 ypc) with 1 TD run.  His overall numbers still don’t look too good as he isn’t a legit starting NFL QB.  But, if he can manage the game while protecting the football the Bills will have a shot to win with him.  He has played in 6 games overall this season for the Bills and he has completed 73 of 134 passes (54.5%) for 905 yards with 4 TD passes and 7 INTs (63.8 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 22 times for 85 yards (3.9 ypc) with 1 TD run this year.  Fitzpatrick is playing for his job next season which hopefully will be as the back-up QB of the Bills and not the starter.

With Trent Edwards under center he was mostly throwing short passes to the TEs and the RBs.  I don’t blame him really as he didn’t have much time to throw the ball as he has been sacked 19 times this year.  Ryan Fitzpatrick has a lot more mobility than Edwards does and that buys him the time to get the ball downfield to the WRs.  Lee Evans seems to have benefitted the most out of having Fitzpatrick under center.  He has now caught 21 passes for 302 yards (14.4 avg) with 3 TD grabs this season.  Evans leads the Bills in catches, receiving yards and receiving TDs this season.  Pretty soon though teams will likely start doubling him and leaving Terrell Owens in single coverage so we will see how well Evans adjusts to that.

23-year old rookie CB/S Jairus Byrd has been outstanding for the Bills so far this season.  With a rash of injuries to the secondary the Bills needed someone to step up and Byrd has been that guy.  He has played in 7 games for the Bills this season and he has 27 tackles, he has defensed 7 passes and he has 5 interceptions (91 return yards) so far this year.  Byrd was a second round pick this season by the Bills out of Oregon and he might not return to the bench even when the backs ahead of him get healthy.  This looks like an excellent pick for the Bills last April.

Fred Jackson is the leading rusher (415 yards) and he has caught the most passes (20) on the Bills this season.  He has a combined 592 yards rushing (415) and receiving (177) this season for an average of 98.7 yards per game.  But with Marshawn Lynch back from his suspension the Bills were looking for other ways to get Jackson the ball.  He has not supplanted Roscoe Parrish as both the kickoff and punt returner for the time being.  Parrish fumbled away his starting job.  While Jackson doesn’t have the homerun ability of Parrish on returns he is dependable at catching the football.   He has returned 5 kickoffs for 90 yards (18.0 avg) and 1 punt for 27 yards so far this season.  Jackson is turning himself into one of the best players on the Bills this season and the team is smart for finding new ways to get him the football.

Veteran linebacker Keith Ellison is leading the way for the Bills on defense with 27 tackles and 1 tackle for a loss.  The Bills are only allowing 65 yards rushing per game and Ellison is a big reason for that.  The bigger reason however is the fact that the opposition is throwing for 332.0 yards per game.  Still, Ellison has been a big plus for the Bills’ D this season.

When the Bills found out that Marshawn Lynch was suspended by the league they knew that they needed someone to step up.  That guy has been Fred Jackson.  Jackson has carried the ball 43 times for 220 yards (5.1 ypc) and he has also caught 11 passes for 108 yards (9.8 avg) with 1 TD grab.  The Bills will have to find enough room for both Lynch and Jackson to get their touches as Jackson has earned a bigger role on the offense.  This really helps the Bills who are already averaging 154.0 yards rushing per game this year.