The Bills’ plans to make running back C.J. Spiller the centerpiece of their offense never really took hold in 2013.
Spiller hurt his ankle early in the season and then tried to play through the injury for several weeks when it was clear that his ability was diminished by the bad wheel. Fred Jackson made the most of the opportunity and Spiller only wound up playing even half the time on offense in the first two weeks of the season.
Spiller saw more time the last two weeks of the season, though, and coach Doug Marrone said he saw Spiller adjust his game to fit the scheme Buffalo’s running on offense. Spiller agreed about making adjustments, but said this week that he thought the injury was the biggest hinderance to success this season. That’s left him feeling confident that he’ll get another chance to show what he can do as the feature back in Buffalo.
“I don’t have any concerns or any doubts what my role will be,” Spiller said, via the team’s website. “I think we just had an obstacle in the road when I got injured in Week 4. It kind of hindered some of the things that we were able to do with me. When you keep coming in and out of games, it’s hard to really get a guy going like that.”
Despite the issues, Spiller ran for 927 yards on 201 carries so there’s every reason to think that he’s capable of filling the role that Buffalo carved out for him last season. Jackson will be back, but Spiller should be given every opportunity to be the lead man again next season.