The Bills’ offense is making like a politician, promising change. And it’s needed, too, seeing as how the offense has sputtered so badly in recent seasons. The club ranked 25th in the league in yards last season, gaining 305.1 per game in the debut campaign of coordinator Turk Schonert. While Schonert is back calling the shots, the manner in which his unit will operate will be anything but static.

Schematically, it appears as though the no-huddle will serve a prominent role after the club all but ripped those pages out of the playbook in 2008. “We were disappointed in how little we’ve used it,” coach Dick Jauron admitted. “The huddle is not complicated, and so we said we’ll focus our attention on not huddling. … We think it’s a valuable weapon and obviously everybody in the league uses it.”

Jauron’s acknowledgment of his team lagging behind the competition in the no-huddle capacity isn’t the only offensive area in which the Bills are taking steps toward modernizing. The manner in which they’re deploying their tight end is also in flux. Although TEs Derek Schouman and Derek Fine will occupy traditional TE responsibilities on the line of scrimmage, the club has plans of quick-twitching rookie Shawn Nelson becoming a mismatch for defenders out wide. At 6-5 and 240 pounds, Nelson has thus far practiced predominately with the wide receivers, a strong indication that Buffalo sees more value in his occupying a niche role than being in competition for the starting TE job, at least as a rookie.

Change is also in the cards in the backfield, where the two-RB set growing in popularity throughout the league is being implemented. In fairness, the Bills tinkered with formations featuring both Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson in the second half of last season, yet the scope of their double-threat was limited. Word out of Orchard Park is that more expansive duties for the two-headed look are in the cards, although they will have to be put on hold while Lynch serves his three-game personal-conduct suspension. The idea of having Jackson take reps in the slot is testament to how highly they think of his receiving ability, considering how stacked they are at wide receiver with the addition of Terrell Owens and the maturation of second-year man Steve Johnson.