Around the AFC East: Buffalo Bills

It's Friday, so it's time to go around the AFC East.

To kick things off today is Brian Galliford of Buffalo Rumblings:

Matty I: You said that you knew it was coming, and here it is.  What do you make of this Marshawn Lynch "potential hit and run" situation and how would the Bills cope with losing Lynch for any matter of games?  And how big of a distraction is this right now for Lynch and the entire Bills organization?

Brian G: It's difficult to discuss at this point because there's so little factual material surrounding the incident.  Lynch still hasn't spoken with Buffalo police, who continue to investigate the situation.  All I can say is this - the signs are pointing to Lynch being the driver, and if that turns out to be true, he could face up to a year in jail time (it's a misdemeanor crime).  The football deities know that I hope I'm wrong on that speculation.

All we get from team responses are the generic "no comment" and team media - so the reaction has generally been avoidance or support of Lynch.  I don't see how this can't be considered a distraction to the team, however - we're talking about Buffalo's best offensive player facing disciplinary action, after all.  They'll continue to handle it internally, but you better believe that this is on the minds of the coaches and front office.

We'd deal with a loss of Lynch just like we did last year - Fred Jackson would be the main ball-carrier, and either Dwayne Wright or rookie Xavier Omon would assume short yardage and goal line work.  It's clearly not ideal, but I don't think the running game would suffer greatly.  Offensive versatility, on the other hand, would suffer a major setback.

My Take: Sure, like all of you, I really hate the Buffalo Bills.  Despite that, though, I really hope this thing isn't as serious as it's sounding.  I don't want Lynch to miss any time.  First of all, he's a good, young player and the NFL can never have too many of those.  But more importantly, when the Dolphins beat the Bills in 2008, I don't want Bills fans to be able to use the excuse that their best offensive player wasn't playing in the game.

Alright, so I'm reaching a bit.  But if the Dolphins were to pull out a win against Buffalo in 2008, I'm sure you wouldn't want to hear all those Bills fans make excuses.

Thanks to Brian G for the time.  And be sure to head over to Buffalo Rumblings to see my response to his question.

Back with part 2 in a bit...