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PITTSFORD, N.Y. -- Despite owning the AFC's longest active playoff drought -- eight long years and counting -- the Buffalo Bills have some legitimate buzz surrounding them this preseason.
I'm not the only NFL pundit tabbing Buffalo as the surprise team in the AFC, but the most important thing I discovered at Bills training camp is Dick Jauron's young team isn't afraid of the big talk.
In the NFL, it's seldom wise to believe the hype. But it can be useful for a team to once in awhile acknowledge the raised bar of expectation, if only to ensure its reach extends beyond its grasp. That's the direction Buffalo leans these days, where ticket sales are way up, a playoff guarantee has been issued, and the selling of fresh hope starts with a quarterback entering his first full season as a starter. The Bills believe their time is now.
"The increased expectations, they're definitely worth something as a player,'' veteran Bills receiver Lee Evans told me the other day. "The buzz is real, and amongst our team we feel pretty confident. We feel like even though we have a young team, we have guys who have been out there and played, and gotten a lot of experience. We've got guys looking to take a step up from where we've been. We have the opportunity now. We just have to go make something out of it.''
