On Monday's podcast, we thoroughly agitated a handful of NFL fan bases by announcing which teams already have no shot at making the Super Bowl this season.
The Buffalo Bills were cited largely because of legitimate questions under center, where EJ Manuel is under pressure to make significant strides from what we witnessed during his rookie campaign.
The quarterback position is a fair concern, but I view the Bills as a sneaky playoff contender because of a remaining roster stuffed with talent.
With an impressive cast of difference-makers up front, Buffalo's defense is coming off a season that saw the team notch a franchise-record 57 sacks. With Mario Williams, Marcell Dareus and Kiko Alonso in the fold, this sneaky front seven is among the best in the conference.
On offense, one of the NFL's deepest backfields is complemented by a cast of wide receivers with enough talent to put Mike Williams' roster spot in danger. Rookie Sammy Watkins looms as a No. 1 option on the perimeter -- a legitimate deep threat whom NFL Media's Bucky Brooks believes could see at least six to eight touches per game.
"Our goal is to go fast, run a lot of plays, and go as quickly as possible," Watkins told Eric Edholm of Yahoo! Sports on Monday. "We're going to throw the ball. But I can get it in other ways, and we're going to run it well, too. We've been working a lot on third downs in OTAs. We know we have to convert those in order to be a great team and a complete (offense). We know we can do it. It all there for us."
The Bills didn't earn much love on the podcast because history tells us that quarterback questions in June typically lead to heartache come September. Manuel's game was half-baked last season, but I want to see him operate at full health -- with the full playbook -- before crossing the Bills off my list.
Humans of western New York: Have hope!
In the latest edition of the "Around The League Podcast," the heroes discuss which teams "realistically" have no shot at winning the Super Bowl this season.