1. The Bills will eclipse 400 points scored for the entire season.

They came close to that mark in 2004 scoring 395 points but they haven’t actually reached the 400 point plateau since 1998 when they had 400 exactly. Last season they scored 336 for the entire season which averaged out to an even 21 points per game. To reach 400 they will have to average 25 points per game. In my eyes they can easily accomplish this by scoring one touchdown per game in the red zone instead of settling for a Rian Lindell field goal.

Last season the Bills finished 7-9 and lost two games by a combined total of 6 points. If they were able to turn one red zone field goal into a red zone touchdown in each of those games, the Bills finish 9-7 and over .500 for the first time since 2004. This wouldn’t have resulted in a playoff berth last season, but it would be nice to finish above .500 once in a while and be in the discussion once the calendar rolls around to December. At the very least, if the Bills are scoring points and still losing, at least the games are more exciting to watch. The only thing worse than watching your team lose, is watching your team lose and scoring three points or less in the process.

The addition of wide receiver Terrell Owens should help improve the overall offense and specifically the red zone offense. Owens will help take the pressure off Lee Evans inside the 20 and will also be a very big target for some fade passes in the back of the end zone. The emergence of Fred Jackson last season as a legitimate NFL running back will be big for the Bills all season whether he is running the ball or catching it out of the backfield.

The Bills also plan on running the no-huddle offense more often this year. Whether it was because teams were relaxing or the no-huddle really worked for the Bills, it always seemed like late in the games when the offense ran it, they were far more successful than they were for the previous three quarters. If the no-huddle offense works as expected, scoring an extra four points a game should be no problem. When you consider that the Bills scored a total of six points in a two game stretch late last season and put a big fat zero on the scoreboard in week 16, it REALLY shouldn’t be a problem.

2. Despite missing the first three games due to suspension, Marshawn Lynch will set a career mark for rushing yards.

I’m sure at first glance; this prediction looks pretty risky (or stupid). However, I honestly feel that Lynch will have a career year rushing even after missing the first three games. In his first two seasons Lynch finished with 1115 and 1036 yards respectively. But when you consider that he has yet to play a full 16 games in his NFL career, it really isn’t that farfetched.

Much like my first prediction, the additions of Owens and the no-huddle offense should also help Lynch achieve this goal. In order for Lynch to have a career year in rushing yards, he simply has to have 1116 yards or more. Broken down over the maximum number of games, that is only 86 yards per game. Honestly, that should be no problem. And quite frankly, if he can’t average that many during his third season, the Bills have a problem on their hands.

The newly designed offensive line will have had five pre-season games and three regular season games to gel as a unit before Lynch even steps on the field when it counts. I see no reason why he shouldn’t hit the ground running and come out of the gates with some pretty big rushing numbers. He should also be fresh making his debut in week four which should provide an advantage as the season winds down as opposed to previous seasons where he appeared to lose some steam down the stretch. In those late season games at the Ralph when winds are swirling out of control, I’d rather have a healthy Marshawn Lynch pounding away at the defense rather than the first few weeks when Fred Jackson and Dominic Rhodes can easily fill in. Of course, I’d rather have him for all 16 games but apparently that is asking too much.

I’d also like to consider this final point. Lynch has been in Buffalo for two seasons and has had two fairly serious incidents which resulted in his three game suspension to start this season. Fans of the Bills and citizens of Buffalo obviously aren’t the biggest fans of Lynch right now. The way I see it, he is on his final chance with the organization and if he doesn’t produce this season, he may be wearing another uniform this time next year. Lynch has to prove himself to be a good citizen and also prove himself worthy on the field. He should be extra motivated to do this and it’s actually the biggest reason why I think it will be a career year for the Bills running back. I guess time will tell.

3. Aaron Schobel will finish with a double digit sack total for the first time since 2006 when he finished the season with 14.

There is no doubt that Aaron Schobel has been on the decline since the aforementioned career year in 2006. Last year was an all-time low for the Bills defensive end as he finished with only one sack all season. Although to be fair, he only appeared in five games. He did however appear in all 16 games the prior season and still only finished with 6.5 sacks.

Part of this decline can probably be attributed to the fact that Chris Kelsay sucks and teams can simply double up on Schobel every single time he is on the field. Well, Kelsay is still on the team and still does suck, but the Bills number one draft pick Aaron Maybin should help alleviate that issue. Maybin was a force last season for Penn State finishing nine of the 13 games with at least one sack. Consider the fact that Kelsay has 17 sacks in 78 games and well, it’s fairly obvious. I should point out that Kelsay has approximately 248 celebrations on plays someone else made in those 78 games though. Now to be fair, college is a different game and there will be an adjustment period for Maybin. He might also play a different position resulting in both Kelsay and Maybin being on the field at the same time, so I don’t want to act like Maybin is just going to take over for Kelsay to start the season because that most likely isn’t the case. Honestly, I just wanted to rip on Chris Kelsay a little bit because he is my Maxim Afinogenov of the Buffalo Bills and this gave me the perfect excuse to do such a thing.

But back to the prediction at hand. I honestly feel that Aaron Schobel will finish the season with at least 10 sacks (or more). He should be completely healthy which obviously wasn’t the case last season. I also see him being extremely motivated to prove himself to the Bills and the fans after being on the decline for the previous two seasons. Because he was only healthy for five games last season, he didn’t get to play the full season with Marcus Stroud, which should also help his production. Plus we have no idea whether he was even healthy for those five games or if he was limited all the way through. Either way, I’m expecting a bounce back year from Schobel or I’ll be looking for him to pack his bags next off-season. And yes, I’m being highly optimistic with this prediction.

4. The Bills will finish .500 or better within the AFC East this season

After finishing with a shameful 0-6 record in the division last season, the Bills will finish 3-3 or better. The AFC East is not an easy division by any means when you consider the fact that New England finished 11-5 and missed the playoffs last season. Oh yeah, that Tom Brady fellow is back behind center this season. However, I’m still confident that the Bills can score at least three division wins this season. In fact, before last season the Bills didn’t finish below .500 in the division since the 2005 season and I like those odds.

Unlike last season when the Bills had to wait until Week 8 to face a division opponent, they will have faced all three division teams by Week 6 this season. They open the season on Monday night in Foxboro, which if it wasn’t for the fact that they are playing the Patriots, I’d be optimistic that their division record would get an early 1-0 jump. There is that optimistic side of me that says it’s opening night, Brady’s first meaningful game in a full calendar year, and the debut of T.O. and the new look offense so you never know what can happen. There is also that realistic side of me that says the Bills haven’t won a Sunday or Monday night game since 2001, the Bills are 2-16 against the Patriots since 2000, and Dick Jauron is still the coach so we can chalk up an early 0-1 record.

I feel compelled to mention that the Bills opened in Foxboro in 2006 and lost a close one 19-17. This was with J.P. Losman putting huge numbers like 164 yards passing and no touchdowns, while Willis McGahee led Buffalo with 70 yards rushing. The Bills also failed on a fourth down conversion late in the game while in obvious field goal range and had an interception return for a touchdown called back on a bogus penalty, so things could’ve easily swung Buffalo’s way in that game. Then again, this was the Patriots pre-Randy Moss and Wes Welker, so that should also be considered. Either way, I think the point of this paragraph was that just about anything can happen on opening day (including a 31-0 win over the Patriots).

The Dolphins are going to be a good team again, but they won’t be catching teams off-guard with the Wildcat offense, and I also think teams will be a little more prepared for them. I suspect they took everybody in the league by surprise last season coming off their dreadful 1-15 campaign in the prior season. I’m not trying to take away from their very good season, I’m just simply saying that most teams didn’t know what to expect with a new coaching staff and new QB running things. Now everybody has had a full off-season and will be better prepared for what the Dolphins will bring to the table. If the Dolphins use former West Virginia QB Pat White correctly, that surprise factor could still exist this season though. The Bills could’ve easily split with the Dolphins last season. The game down in Miami was fairly close and leaning towards Buffalo well into the second half before the Bills fell apart and dropped the game by nine.

The Jets improved this off-season by ridding themselves of Brett Favre’s corpse at QB. Not to say a rookie QB is going to be an immediate improvement, but I view the release of Favre as addition by subtraction. Sorry, he isn’t the same QB that won a Super Bowl and League MVP. Regardless, the Jets will most likely start Mark Sanchez at QB and like most rookie quarterbacks, I expect there to be a learning curve and some early season struggles. I also don’t think the Jets are all they are cracked up to be and I think a season sweep isn’t out of the question by any means. In fact, I’m calling for it right now!

So basically, if they can sweep through the Jets, split the Fins, and try not to embarrass themselves against New England, 3-3 is an attainable goal and should be reached this season for the Bills.

5. The tight end position will once again become relevant for the Buffalo Bills.

For my final prediction, I see bigger and better things for the tight end position. More specifically, I see big things for fourth round pick Shawn Nelson. This is a fairly large leap of faith in terms of my prediction, but I think Nelson is going to be a huge steal for the Bills and will contribute substantially this season for the offense.

Before Chris Kelsay was the Afinogenov of the Bills, Robert Royal held the crown and did an admirable job of it. But like several other players, he has moved on and the Bills immediately improved upon his departure. I could’ve made this prediction right after his release, but I still wasn’t sure. However, I am very confident in Shawn Nelson. When doing a little pre-draft homework, Nelson was one of the players I had targeted for Buffalo long before the actual draft was to take place. When his name was still available in the fourth round, I watched anxiously as the other teams continued to pass on him and it was Buffalo’s turn. Unlike several times before, the Bills actually wasted no time in picking Nelson and addressing their needs. I was so proud. It was like watching your son or daughter ride their bike without training wheels for the first time.

Nelson strikes me as more of an offensive tight end than the traditional blocking tight ends that Buffalo has lined up with in previous seasons. Trent Edwards excelled at the dump off game last season, although most of the passes were directed at Lynch and Jackson. Now that he has an offensive threat at tight end, I expect many more of those short, effective passes to go Nelson’s way.

And this all leads back to the no-huddle offense, which the Bills are expected to run quite a bit this upcoming season. In years past, when a team runs the no-huddle offense a large amount of the time, the tight end is a huge part of that team. Just look at years past when the Bills successfully ran the no-huddle or even more recently when the Colts have run it. The production of those teams and the tight end position cannot be argued.

I’m setting the bar for Nelson at 40 receptions this season. At first glance it might not seem like a lot, but a Bills tight end hasn’t finished with 40 or more receptions in a season since Jay Riemersma accomplished the feat in 2001 with 53 receptions. Of course this entire prediction could go out the window if Nelson suffers an injury before the season even starts (knock on wood) or if he doesn’t come around like expected.

This is probably my most risky prediction of the five, but I feel good about it along with all the others. We’ll go ahead and re-visit this after the regular season wraps up and see how I did (although I’m sure I’ll be constantly reminded throughout the season).

What are your thoughts? Feel free to leave a comment below or shoot an e-mail my way. If it’s good enough I’ll good ahead and post it along with my response.