The Bills haven’t made the playoffs in the 21st Century. But General Manager Doug Whaley expects this to be the year.
Whaley told the Bills’ website that he believes the pieces are in place for the Bills to turn things around and consistently compete for championships.
“We haven’t been in the playoffs in a long time and we owe it to the fans, our late Hall of Fame owner and everybody in this business to show that we’re not the Bills anymore,” Whaley said. “We want to be a playoff team. We’re planning to be a playoff team and that’s our goal.”
If the Bills aren’t in the playoffs this year, there’s a good chance that the next owner of the team will fire Whaley after the season. Whaley recognizes that reality, but he doesn’t think that makes this year any more urgent than any other year.
“I don’t understand why everybody keeps saying it’s a win-now situation. It’s always a win-now. That’s what sports are for,” Whaley said.
In Whaley’s view, the roster he has assembled is good enough to get the Bills out of their current rut of three straight 6-10 seasons.
“That’s why we’ve built this roster and the moves we made in the off season were with the eye of making the playoffs,” Whaley said. “We feel that we have a roster that we are building with some cornerstone pieces that we believe can consistently compete for playoffs and championships.”
Whaley had better be right. His job depends on it.