The more I stewed on the loss to the Giants, the more I was concerned that the Bills were in for some serious trouble. Had we won, we would have kept up with the Patriots; we would have stayed two games ahead of the Jets. And every time I said, “the Bills don’t have a good defense,” “They don’t have the depth to deal with the injuries,” “This thing is unraveling with 2 losses in 3 games,” “Hello, 2008!”, I would see the Redskins on the calendar.
Then I felt a lot better. Then I saw @ Toronto. Then I felt sick. The Bills had never won in Toronto in the regular season. Then the Redskins announced that John Beck was their QB. Then I knew the Bills would be 5-2.
This game was huge because if the Bills lost, I think half the bandwagon would have cleared. I think even the team would start to doubt itself. Instead they got their swagger back, and now the Jets game doesn’t look like such a pain in the butt. It looks quite winnable to be honest. 6-2? With two games to play vs Miami and a home game for Denver and the Titans? Um, 10-6 at the very least? Yeah, I’ll take that. I’ll take that even if it means we miss the playoffs. This season is fun.
That being said, this was perhaps the most boring 23-0 beating I’ve seen. I’m not really complaining, but I was hoping that there were going to be two quick scores at some point where we felt like a real thrashing was on. Quick “shout song” appearances make the fan base giddy. Aside from getting to laugh at Thigpen getting hit in the head with a pass, it was pretty mundane stuff.
In some ways I didn’t even care to watch the Bills offense. It was just more enjoyable to see John Beck summon his Dolphins vs Bills 2007 game performance. In that game I think he literally handed the ball off to a Bill to run it for a touchdown. I think he was chased out of Orchard Park with a QB rating of 3.1. And that was to a bad Bills team.
And like that 2007 game, I just felt bad for him. He played the way I would have had someone snapped the ball to me in an NFL game. He was terrified. He looked more interested in just surviving than winning. And for a Bills team that routinely gives up 450 yards a game, this was a refreshing change of pace.
It could be quite foretelling. The Bills made quick work of a bad team with a terrible quarterback. Mark Sanchez and the Jets haven’t exactly been killing it lately. They’ve survived the past two games by taking what teams were giving them. The dolphins handed them a win despite going on 7 straight 3 and outs. The Chargers are still in their first half lull of not putting people out of their misery. They handed that game back to the Jets. If the Bills play like they did and add a higher level of execution on the offensive side of the Ball, we might have a very exciting 30+ point win.
DVD Extras
– Fred and Fitz playing time– Not that I want to complain too much after a big win, but is it really necessary to be playing the two most important parts of the team when you are up 23-0 in the fourth quarter against a team that can not move the ball? Somewhere at the 12 minute mark I was just praying for the game to end. Luckily there weren’t any injuries, but it seems like we were tempting the football gods to do us in.
– John Beck – The Redskins looked like they would have been better off with John Steinbeck as their QB. I could tell that he wasn’t a threat when he tried scrambling without the ball in the first half. That was just classic Beck. The last time I saw a quarterback scramble and drop the ball for no reason whatsoever was Losman. And he seemed to have such a stellar career for the Bills. There was one point where the Redskins offensive coordinator was sitting with Beck on his left and Grossman on his right. It was like both QB’s were Lenny from “Of Mice and Men”.
– Halloween – When I arrived at Kelly’s at 2:30 in hopes of getting a seat (which I did not get) I saw Miami, Arizona, and St Louis were winning. Then I realized it was Halloween week. I was convinced that this was the week where all the games were going to have wacky outcomes. I was disturbed of the implications it had for the actual Bills game. But once Miami lost and Arizona choked, I realized we still had a chance.
– Time for Thanks –I give thanks to the Broncos for trading up and picking Tebow. Had they not, perhaps he’d be yet another terrible QB who wore a Bills jersey and made Fitzpatrick expendable. I also give thanks that Mike Shanahan and his douchebaggery were lured to Dan Synder’s “house of Douchbaggery”. I was never interested in Mike Shanahan. Even as bad as Jauron was, I thought Shanahan came off as a self serving jerk who never took the blame for any of the problems and always touted the Super Bowl wins as his own genius. Dan Synder and Shanahan seem like such a great fit together and are writing winning story together (tentatively known as “the Legend of Douchebagger Vance”). I can’t wait until they both tell their fan base that this terrible season is not their doing and that trading every pick for the next 3 years to get Andrew Luck is the best option. They seem to always trade picks but always have more picks to trade. I have no idea how they do that.
– Chandler’s jump into the crowd – On chandler’s second touchdown, he decided to do the lambeau leap (I refuse to act like it was developed in buffalo and call it whatever people are trying to name it) into the first row of empty seats in Toronto. When it’s done properly at a sold out game, it’s a nice visual effect of seeing the fans super excited with the player who caused the excitement. When done at a game where the tarps are still covering some of the best seats in the house, it’s odd to see your tight end essentially grab a seat and sit down in the crowd.
– AT&T and Maybin – I truly hate AT&T. I love the iPhone. I wish cell phone contracts were like NFL contracts. You can just walk away whenever you want. You just call AT&T into your office. “hey, when we signed you, you were the exclusive provider of iPhones. This just isn’t working. We’ll deal with the cap hit, but give us the playbook.” Naturally, AT&T would say, “We are the fastest network. No one can keep up.” Then you respond, “But you never connect? Anytime I try to rely on you, I’m left deeply disappointed.” And this all sounds very much like the conversation the Bills had with Maybin. Fast but unreliable.
– DirecTV Ultimate Displaced Fan contest– my friend, Jeff M., has once again asked me to help promote the “ultimatedisplacedfan.com” sweepstakes. He has offered to send me plenty of free swag my way in return for promoting it. Or perhaps he hasn’t, and I’m just trying to guilt him into it. Hey, you make your own luck, right? Anyway, you go to the site, make your case as super fan in video or writing, and then they send you to the Super Bowl should you win. “How can you promote stuff in this article, Kevin? I read this for the article, not some corporate hype!” Ok, fair enough, just register and win, then send the tickets my way to show both you hate corporate giveaways and that you like me. I’m just trying to put more Bills fans in seats at the Super Bowl. Especially in a year when we could go! Also, last year’s winner was a “die hard Ravens fan”. I didn’t know such a thing existed. Plus Ravens at Super Bowls typically results in dead men. Do your country the service of winning these tickets! Jeff, did I do a good job?
– Sean of the Dead – speaking of super fans, Sean, a high school pal of ours showed up at Kelly’s. He specifically said, “I want in on this article, Shenoy.” Who am I to deny someone their desire? Sean, you have made the cut…for now. The rest of us are expecting a higher level of Bills fandom from you. We got Mandy pushing 70/30 Bills/Giants, Erik and I as fully committed to the team, and you are kind of just lollygagging there claiming, “I never got into them because I wasn’t from Buffalo.” You simply don’t go to school in Buffalo during the greatest Super Bowl run of all time and not develop an affinity for the team. Impossible. We are all pulling for you to show up at the next game with actual bears gear on. In the words of a Cosby Show episode, “chall-ange!”
Kevin Shenoy can be reached at onefansview@gmail.com. @KevinShenoy is the twitter handle.