Continuing the tradition from years' past, here's the first our weekly game matchup Q&A posts with the with the SB Nation Editors. This week is Buffalo Rumblings' Editor, Brian Galliford, to get everyone prepared on the latest with the Bills and what to expect from that organization.
I wanted to start with a season outlook. Vegas has the Bills at 7 wins, yet Football Outsiders projects 9.7 wins. What's your take and which Ryan Fitzpatrick are we going to see this year?
Galliford: Somewhere between seven and nine wins is pretty conservative, and conservative is most definitely justifiable for a team that hasn't made the playoffs since the turn of the century. They're capable of making the playoffs, but they're annually banged up and, as you allude to, the quarterback hasn't been consistent enough to predict anything better than a .500-ish record.
As for Fitzpatrick: you'll probably see the quarterback that was the Offensive Player of the Month last year, and you'll also probably see the quarterback that was absolute garbage for about a month. That's just who he is.
2.) The Redskins starting OLine is a mess with 3 starters out already....given your front 7, we're hoping RGIII doesn't get killed. Who are some players on the 2nd team D to look for?
The second-team defense is a veteran-laden group up front, with Shawne Merriman and Chris Kelsay at defensive end and Spencer Johnson and Dwan Edwards at defensive tackle. Time will tell how much they actually play on Thursday; they're all experienced players, don't necessarily need a ton of reps, and all can work in with the ones. Other than that, you're likely to see a few interesting young players including linebacker Nigel Bradham and safety Da'Norris Searcy.
3.) The Redskins have quality depth along their Dline and LB corps, who are some Bills you're expecting to play well and to keep an eye out for poor play?
The D-Line depth intrigues me, because the Bills have a lot of young and unproven offensive line talent that will apparently be tested. I'll be looking hard at three young tackles (Cordy Glenn, Chris Hairston and Zebrie Sanders) and four young interior linemen (Colin Brown, Mark Asper, Michael Jasper and Keith Williams). Those should be good matchups to monitor on both sides.
4.) Is there any chance Vince Young makes the team? I thought I remember reading he's had a bad camp so far.
He has had a pretty bad camp, yes, but so has his chief competitor for the backup job, Tyler Thigpen. Both are making strides of late. Thigpen knows the offense better, as he's been in it for a year, but Young is by far and away the better physical talent. I'd call Young the front-runner at this point; the Bills need a guy that can come in and fudge a win or two if Ryan Fitzpatrick gets hurt, and Young has made a career out of fudging wins.
5.) If you could steal one Redskins for you team who would it be and why?
RGIII is the obvious answer, but I don't like being obvious. Brian Orakpo would be another obvious answer; lining him up at right end across from Mario Williams is filthy on paper. But if I had to pick one player to have just for this season, my answer would be Fred Davis. The Bills need a second receiving threat, and they also happen to be looking for an H-Back type player that can line up at tight end, in the slot and in the backfield on occasion (they're trying out Dorin Dickerson in that role currently). Davis could be that second receiving threat while providing huge versatility to a Chan Gailey offense that's built around disguising plays with pre-snap motions and versatile personnel packages.
I like how he says they need a receiving threat while CJ Spiller wastes away on the bench. He averaged 5 yards a carry last year but only saw 107 carries. Ah well. If he sees a lot of time versus our second team Thursday night, that could be interesting.