Every year, one team seems to jump out from the pack to get named the winner of the offseason.
That label doesn’t have a great history of leading to success during the regular season, something that Bills General Manager Buddy Nix seems to realize. Signing Mario Williams and drafting Stephen Gilmore were two of the biggest moves that got the Bills a lot of votes for having the best offseason, but Nix said Tuesday that the team hasn’t accomplished anything yet.
“We’ve done some things right, but it’s time for us to close it out and win some games,” Nix said, via the team’s Twitter account as the Bills began gathering for training camp. “We have to step up. It’s time.”
Nix is right. All of the offseason maneuvering won’t amount to anything more than noise if the Bills don’t show some serious improvement over last year’s 6-10 record. The Bills believe that they have changed the culture around the team for the better, but they have definitely changed the expectations.
That’s led to optimism, but falling short of them will almost certainly lead to pessimism about the ability of the current coaches, players and executives to reach the goal of a long-awaited return to the playoffs.