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Have i mentioned that i really love Coy Wire?
He's stepping up and playing the role of motivator....i love it:
Joyful Bills Ready to Leap Into the Fire
During the week after the Dallas loss, when the Bills were at rock bottom, Coy Wire got up in a meeting and told his teammates to heed some advice from his favorite book. When adversity strikes, be joyful, Wire said. It will make you that much stronger in the end.
“It’s from the Bible,” Wire told me last week. “James 1. Adversity helps your perseverance to grow. A heart of steel burns in the hottest coals. It gives us a chance to be burned and harden, and to come together and be solid.”
The Bills stepped over the hot coals and kept on moving. No team in the league has suffered so much adversity, so many devastating injuries, but they persevered. They beat the Ravens and they haven’t lost since. It hasn’t been against the stiffest opposition, but after all they’ve been through, they’re not apologizing.
As the good book suggested, the Bills remained joyful through adversity. There’s an innocence about this team, a sense that many players are mainly grateful for the chance to prove themselves in the NFL. Say what you will about Marv Levy. There’s a lot of character and intelligence in that locker room.
Tonight, however, they’re walking into a fire the likes of which they’ve never seen. The unbeaten Patriots are in Buffalo for a national network TV game. No team in NFL history has ever been hotter for a nine-week stretch. Now, well-rested from a bye week, the Pats attempt to become the 10th team since 1970 to start a season 10-0.
The Bills are 5-4, on a four-game winning streak. Still, they’re a 15øpoint underdog. So if they pull it off, it could be the biggest upset in franchise history. Seasoned Bills watchers tell me no regular-season game could approach the opening win over Miami in 1980, which snapped a decade of futility.
But for pure dramatics, a win tonight on national TV could top them all. For a few days, at least, they would be the story of the league, at a time when Buffalo’s long-term viability as an NFL franchise is being questioned. Maybe a win would convince some dubious Toronto business types that the franchise is worthy of investment.
With that in mind, I tried to convince myself the Bills could win tonight. I couldn’t get there. The Pats are a merciless bunch these days, driven by history and the notion that their achievements were tainted by the video scandal. And the talent gap is simply too large.
“It’s from the Bible,” Wire told me last week. “James 1. Adversity helps your perseverance to grow. A heart of steel burns in the hottest coals. It gives us a chance to be burned and harden, and to come together and be solid.”
The Bills stepped over the hot coals and kept on moving. No team in the league has suffered so much adversity, so many devastating injuries, but they persevered. They beat the Ravens and they haven’t lost since. It hasn’t been against the stiffest opposition, but after all they’ve been through, they’re not apologizing.
As the good book suggested, the Bills remained joyful through adversity. There’s an innocence about this team, a sense that many players are mainly grateful for the chance to prove themselves in the NFL. Say what you will about Marv Levy. There’s a lot of character and intelligence in that locker room.
Tonight, however, they’re walking into a fire the likes of which they’ve never seen. The unbeaten Patriots are in Buffalo for a national network TV game. No team in NFL history has ever been hotter for a nine-week stretch. Now, well-rested from a bye week, the Pats attempt to become the 10th team since 1970 to start a season 10-0.
The Bills are 5-4, on a four-game winning streak. Still, they’re a 15øpoint underdog. So if they pull it off, it could be the biggest upset in franchise history. Seasoned Bills watchers tell me no regular-season game could approach the opening win over Miami in 1980, which snapped a decade of futility.
But for pure dramatics, a win tonight on national TV could top them all. For a few days, at least, they would be the story of the league, at a time when Buffalo’s long-term viability as an NFL franchise is being questioned. Maybe a win would convince some dubious Toronto business types that the franchise is worthy of investment.
With that in mind, I tried to convince myself the Bills could win tonight. I couldn’t get there. The Pats are a merciless bunch these days, driven by history and the notion that their achievements were tainted by the video scandal. And the talent gap is simply too large.
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