To put up 41 points on the road against last year’s division winner is no joke. Does it
mean we are playoff bound? Does it indicate that the tides have turned? Does it mean I
was way off base in my 4-12 prediction? I don’t know.
I’m weary. In 2003, we crushed the Patriots (which incidentally for the one reader of this
column who doesn’t know, that was the last time we beat the Patriots). In 2008, the Bills
beat the Seahawks and started on a 5-1 record before only winning 2 of the last 10 games.
If celebrity deaths have taught us anything, bad things happen in threes. Gulp!
So while I was fairly impressed with the 60 minutes of domination, I am hesitant to
change my initial prediction of 4-12. I may very well decide to say that the Bills are
a legit team later down the road, but think of me like a rating agency. I’ll give you a
definitive rating of the Bills well after the season is over when everyone else actually
knows what they know. “hey look at this, Kevin Shenoy has determined the 15-1 Bills
are a playoff team.”
I don’t want to be like the 5th judge overseeing yet another drunken Lindsay Lohan trial
and make the judgement, “You seem to have rehabbed nicely from your prior 4 incidents,
I’m sure you are going to stay out of trouble from here on out. I think this Dolce &
Gabanna diamond-studded anklet tracker should prevent you from drinking rubbing
alcohol.” So I recommend watching a couple more games before we pass judgment,
namely the Patriots game.
Having said that, if subpoenaed, the records would show that I sent two texts at the time
of the opening kickoff fumble recovery that said, “Holy (expletive), Super Bowl is ours!”
What was most impressive is that former Bills teams might have been blessed with that
luck in the past, but they wouldn’t have been quite as decisive. They might not have gone
for the kill so early. Remember Jauron’s first game. They sacked Brady and picked up
his fumble and scored a touchdown, but then fizzled down the backstretch allowing the
Pats to do whatever they wanted. Maybe in years past, the Bills would have settled for
a field goal, and perhaps getting a field goal after taking 3 penalties that made it a very
hard field goal. Instead, Freddy looked like he was greased up and shot out a cannon as
he seemingly picked up yardage with ease. Fitz looked like he had some time and threw
accurately to a range of receivers.
The defense didn’t really have any amazing plays in the first half, but they were
dominant. I couldn’t tell you who looked great because everyone did their part. It was
telling that the series that Dareus was out was when the Chiefs scored. It didn’t seem
to matter that Merriman was kept in check. Everyone else was in on the tackles. This is
what a team needs. Everyone doing their part.
And finally, our fantastic special teams did not outshine the rest of the team. And this was
with Moorman routinely pounding 50+ yard kicks, Roscoe scooting down the sidelines,
and even Fancy I made a legitimate NFL style tackle and not the typical, “I want to make
this tackle, but I thought I saw a 1910 Penny on the field so I bent over to get it.” kicker
style tackle. I am hoping that Merriman shows Fancy I the “lights out” dance. To have a
kicker get up from a tackle and do the lights out dance would probably be an automatic
W for any team.
I really thought that the Chiefs were a bad team getting lucky last year. Any team that
played the first half 2010 Bills and needed 5 quarters to win weren’t very good. They
proved that on Sunday when they were in the hurry up and the punter came on the field
for 4th down.
It looks good so far, and I could certainly get used to more weeks like this. I hope they
give the home opener crowd something to shout about!
DVD Extras
- The broadcast – The CBS crew really took it to the Chiefs fans. How many years
have the Bills been terrible? I don’t recall any station doing the sad face montage to
Bills fans. I don’t recall the camera panning over fans faces from different sections
of the stadiums showing our misery. Though, I will say, I enjoyed that immensely
because it’s typically me that looks annoyed out of my skull. CBS did this several
times and it started early. But then they had the prolonged shot of the cars leaving the
parking lot en mass. That made the game even more satisfying, and I hold no ill will
to Chiefs fans. - Tweeting – I’ve joined the twitter universe (@kevinshenoy), though like an old man,
I don’t really get it. But I’ve started following a bunch of the Bills. I’m getting the
sense that if Scott Chandler is going to be playing like the new Metzlaars, he is going
to be getting a lot more followers than the current 113 he had when I signed up. - Chandler continued – I am depressed that the Bills don’t get to play the 49ers this
year. I would have loved to see Donte Whitner cover Chandler. - Kansas City play caller – Bill Muir, the guy calling the offensive plays for Kansas
City in the booth, looked like a man in over his head. I couldn’t tell if he was asleep
or on the verge of tears. Either way, it was satisfying - Peyton Out, Ryan In – Someone had to become the new Peyton Manning, and Ryan
Fitzpatrick claimed the thrown for at least one week. Since I feel like one game is
an adequate sample size, I have extrapolated his season ending stats for you. I see no
reason to believe this can’t happen. He will throw for 3,328 yards with 64 TD and 0
INTs at this rate. Again, totally doable. - Penalties – Bills looked more disciplined for the most part. The 3rd and 1 from the
one inch line and taking back to back penalties was classic Buffalo. In a close game
against a good team, that would have caused us all to have a mini-heart attack. And
for the record that second penalty seemed like BS. I thought I saw the snap with 1
second on the clock. - LOST Island – I like that after one of the biggest blowouts in Bills history coupled
with the fact we scored the 2nd most points other than Green Bay, last year’s Super
Bowl winner, the national press still had almost nothing to say about the game.
ESPN showed the Stevie Johnson touchdown and then moved to baseball highlight
There were more articles about Romo and his inability to not suck than a capable
game that surprised everyone. If you had to tell me the following headlines on
Saturday before the games, “Romo sucks yet again” or “Bills blow out Chiefs”, I would have found the second article more unbelievable and worthy of more press.