Here is the news of note for the Bills on May 21st.
1 - Offense expanding?With the majority of the offensive personnel intact from last year entering 2016, there is an expectation that offensive coordinator Greg Roman will be able to expand upon the foundation he laid with his players last season. Starting QB Tyrod Taylor, in an appearance on the John Murphy Show this week believes there's a good chance of that happening.
"Of course we can definitely grow because guys know the playbook having a year under their belt," Taylor said. "Coach is going to expect more out of us and we expect to do more. We know there's going to be more information given to us and coach doesn't have to shy away from anything because most of us have been in the offense for a year."
Buffalo was a run-first attack last season as they led the league in rushing offense as well as yards per carry. On the flip side they were 31st in pass attempts per game at just a shade over 27 despite leading the NFL in points scored outside the red zone (194). So does that mean that the Bills will be throwing a lot more in 2016? Probably not.
"I wouldn't say that we need to open up more," said Taylor. "I think in this league you have to have a fine balance between running and throwing. We definitely have the running back and offensive line to do that as far as the running game goes. I think you work to find that balance and then execute to the best of your ability."
2 - ESPN's Bell weighs in on Lawson, Watkins injuriesESPN injury analyst Stephania Bell, a licensed physical therapist and certified strength and conditioning specialist, had an interesting outlook on the recoveries of Shaq Lawson and Sammy Watkins from surgical procedures.
For Lawson, Bell told the John Murphy Show that recovery from the shoulder procedure that the pass rusher underwent earlier this week has very promising results.
"As unfortunate as this is the good side is there is a very high success rate with these types of surgeries," Bell said. "There's a recent study that said that 90 percent of football players return to play after this type of procedure. So the chances of him coming back and playing very well are very, very good. The key is really allowing it to fully heal and getting him strong enough to play and integrating him into the defense in the way that he needs to be brought along as a rookie."
Bell also addressed Watkins foot surgery three weeks ago, saying the broken bone in his foot that required surgery is common for receivers due to the high impact nature of the position. She also said after seeing Dez Bryant and Julian Edelman rushed back to the field last season from the same injury and both needing a second surgery as a result, that the Bills will likely take a very conservative approach so as not to have Watkins travel a similar path.
"Twelve weeks from now is the start of training camp so I'd be surprised if Sammy Watkins is doing a lot in camp," said Bell. "I think they're going to be cautious with him. I think the goal will be the start of the season and that's reasonable if everything goes well. But I wouldn't be surprised if he's pretty limited up until that point for the reasons I mentioned.
"Obviously the hope with Sammy Watkins is you've given him the maximum amount of time before the season is underway you've helped at least promote the healing in the hope that you're not going to have a secondary problem to deal with during the season or after the season."
