After my last post about the importance of a 2nd receiving target for the Bills, there was a Rumbler who posed an interesting question: how would the Bills receiving stats look compared to other teams if you add Fred Jackson's numbers to the data?

I decided to check it out. I took the top 16 teams based on "receiving yards" from ESPN's stats and information page, and arranged them based on yards by top TE and RB. Check out the data below...

via pics.livejournal.com

The Bills top RB and TE combined for 831 yards. That was good enough for 13th (among the top 16 teams). Some of you might argue that Jackson was injured for half the season. If you were to add Spiller's 187 receiving yards from the final 6 games, the Bills would move up 2 spots to 11th. Still unable to crack the top 10.

What does the data show us? The Bills are very proficient at getting the ball to their RB. Jackson, even with the injury, was still the 3rd best receiving RB on this list.

The Bills are one of the worst teams at getting the ball to their TE. Only 2 TEs were statistically worse than Chandler last year.

Does it matter? I think so. If our receiving corps was amazing and able to take over a game, we wouldn't worry. But Stevie Johnson is probably not going to put up numbers like Larry Fitzgerald or Calvin Johnson, and our 2nd WR is nowhere to be found.

What should we do? As an armchair GM, I would suggest adding a game-changing TE. Spend a 2nd or 3rd round pick on a good TE (where Gronk and Graham were drafted respectively), and the position will be set for the next decade. Early round TEs seem to rarely bust. Early WRs seem to bust about half the time (think: James Hardy).

As an armchair Head Coach, I would game plan to use Chandler more effectively. The guy has good hands and will catch the ball if you put it there. Find the weakness in the opponent's defense. Not too many players can cover a 6'7" 260 lb. receiver. He's not the fastest guy (4.87 40 time at his combine according to nfldraftscout.com). But he's big and has good hands. He needs to be getting more targets.