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...The Bills had just lost their 1st 3 games of the season and heading into a bye week. They looked terrible and it felt like there was absolutely no hope. I remeber saying to my son... "Looks like the Bills are gonna suck bad this year".
But they came back after the bye week and won the next 5 in a row, 10 of their last 13, and made the playoffs. They did lose a heartbreaker in the 1st round... But that's not the point. The point is that the team grew together and became a force.
This season, I think we all knew deep down that this year's team would need to gel, and would hopefully improve as the year progressed. There are no less than 6 new starters (including 2 rookies). We have a new D coordinator. And we switched from a 3-4 to a 4-3.
But still... Even knowing this... I was hoping to steal that early win vs the Jets. So it hurts a bit... And some of the circumstances (Mario Williams whining, the staches vanilla D, the Fitz-hat-trick) has raised some doubt in my mind that they can pull together in time to make the playoffs.
But then I start to remember 1998... I start to think how much better Gilmore will be from one week to the next... I begin to anticipate more complex defenses born of the maturing abilities of individuals functioning as 1 machine... Of Spiller establishing himself as a top 5 RB and relieving Fitz from feeling like he has to force throws... and I have hope for 2012!
The talent is there. If we expect the Bills players to have the guts to overcome, we as fans can not simply curl up into the fetal position and hope to be put out of our misery.
But they came back after the bye week and won the next 5 in a row, 10 of their last 13, and made the playoffs. They did lose a heartbreaker in the 1st round... But that's not the point. The point is that the team grew together and became a force.
This season, I think we all knew deep down that this year's team would need to gel, and would hopefully improve as the year progressed. There are no less than 6 new starters (including 2 rookies). We have a new D coordinator. And we switched from a 3-4 to a 4-3.
But still... Even knowing this... I was hoping to steal that early win vs the Jets. So it hurts a bit... And some of the circumstances (Mario Williams whining, the staches vanilla D, the Fitz-hat-trick) has raised some doubt in my mind that they can pull together in time to make the playoffs.
But then I start to remember 1998... I start to think how much better Gilmore will be from one week to the next... I begin to anticipate more complex defenses born of the maturing abilities of individuals functioning as 1 machine... Of Spiller establishing himself as a top 5 RB and relieving Fitz from feeling like he has to force throws... and I have hope for 2012!
The talent is there. If we expect the Bills players to have the guts to overcome, we as fans can not simply curl up into the fetal position and hope to be put out of our misery.
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