The Bills season so far - in perspective

[Dr. Lecter]

Like most of us, I am pretty happy that the Bills are 4-2 after the first 6 games of the season, especially after the horrid start. At the pace they are on they will finally look like a real NFL team and break the "drought"

But I am also well aware that the 4 wins, while looking great when looked at from a far distance, a closer look is needed to put it all in perspective.

1. They beat an Arizona team that might very well have hit the wall and has a QB who looks like his play is dropping. At that time Arizona was playing quite poorly and followed up with a home loss to the Rams.

2. They beat New England in New England. Sounds great, right? New England threw 3 passes in the first half and was playing a rookie QB who was placed on IR the next day with a torn thumb ligament. Belicheck's arrogance was a killer. Picking up a scrub veteran for a week or two would have given them a chance. The Pats even basically gave up in the 4th quarter.

3. They beat a blah Rams team with Case Keenum at QB. Again, not a very good team and a team whose coach killed them with poor decisions in the 4th quarter (in particular, the FG attempt and fake punt)

4. They beat the second worst team in the NFL with the worst running defense in the league.

Certainly there is a lot to like. And they can only play and beat the teams that they are opposing and they have done that. The running game is great and McCoy is the rare RB that is worth extra money. The defense is playing at a very high level, albeit against not that great of competition. The pass defense and red defense are also quite strong.

But there are problems too. Tyrod Taylor has not been all that great this year. He makes plays with his legs and the occasional pass downfield (his greatest attribute might be that he will still look downfield when he leaves the pocket). But he floats the ball and is not always accurate. In some ways, he reminds me of Flutie here. Not very good QB play that relies on a very strong defense and makes an big play here and there.

So let's be happy and enjoy what they have done. But let's also take a step back and realize they still need to beat a good team in a difficult circumstance. Prove it to us fans and beat NE here or win in Seattle (I'll also accept both). But they are not a top ten NFL team right now. They still need to show that they are not like most teams in the NFL, that are destined to win between 7 and 9 games, unless they get good or bad breaks.
Maybe at the end of the year they will be that team that should have been in that group and got a break when they avoided Brady and got an "extra" win to go 10-6. I would be fine with that.

But for now, I'll enjoy then but also not get too excited.

At least for two weeks - win these next two and I'll feel some real confidence.

[SpikedLemonade]

The voice of reason....and of cats the world over.

[Night Train]

Always leave a ton of wiggle room for the Bills to eventually suck. Then we can all return to the norm.

Winning is uncomfortable.

[OpIv37]

Miami feels like a trap game. It's a game that we should win, but it's the last "easy" game before a brutal 3 game stretch and it's on the road against a div opponent.

[OpIv37]

Always leave a ton of wiggle room for the Bills to eventually suck. Then we can all return to the norm.

Winning is uncomfortable.

Yes, winning is uncomfortable.

2002- 5-3 start, 8-8 finish
2003- 2-0 start, 6-10 finish
2005- Started 0-2, got to 3-3, finished 5-11
2006- Started 2-2, 5-11 finish
2008- Started 4-0, got to 5-1, finished 7-9
2011- Started 3-0, got to 4-1, finished 6-10
2013- Started 2-2, finished 6-10
2014- Started 2-2, finished with a winning record of 9-7 but still didn't make the playoffs.
2015- Started 3-2, finished 8-8
(oh, and the years I omitted weren't omitted because they were good. They were omitted because they were dumpster fires from week 1).

We've had good starts before but got the same results in the long run.

[Crisis]

Miami feels like a trap game. It's a game that we should win, but it's the last "easy" game before a brutal 3 game stretch and it's on the road against a div opponent.

We don't have trap games. We're not good enough to overlook anyone.

[Thurmal]

The four teams they beat were definitely not juggernauts, but the fact that they won the games by scores of 15, 16, 11 and 29 should make you feel good.

[Mr. Miyagi]

I agree with everything Lecter just said. Beating up on a bunch of crap team feels good, but it's easy to get over-confident just to get stomped by Brady and Seattle coming up. I'm enjoying it but keeping short of being too enthusiastic. I'll celebrate if we beat Brady in 2 weeks, then we're for real.

[justasportsfan]

Mario will get to TT and knock him out of the ballgame

[Joe Fo Sho]

The last time we started 4-0, in 2008, those 4 teams we beat drafted 2nd, 4th, 7th and 8th the next year. We only beat the Jaguars by 4 and the Raiders by 1 that year. We're not completely in unfamiliar territory, although The 49ers are probably the only team we beat in this stretch that will pick top 10. It's tough to gauge the NE game because of their QB situation, but be we beat them very soundly and without almost blowing it like we usually do.

I'm also not going to say that we need to beat NE to think we're a playoff team. That's crazy. They're the best team in the NFL, they beat everybody, even playoff/superbowl contenders.

Fun fact though, the Bills have had a 4 game winning streak in 7 of the last 8 election years. We should have seen this coming.

[ParanoidAndroid]

The Dolphins found their running game against the Steelers. They have one of the better O-lines in football on paper but it started to look like they put it to action. We better be ready for a good team that's been underachieving.

[Buffalogic]

We always match up well with the dolphins. They can't pass and we can stop the run. People forget how bad the steelers defense actually is. If their offense isn't scoring they lose and mostly by a lot.

[Skooby]

So we beat a 5-1 team & crush the weaker teams by 29 points, yet we are not good ?? We are usually on the other side of the aisle and the timing of the game works against us, like with injuries or returning players.

Every team deals with injuries and I'd like to add that our ~best offensive offensive player (Sammy) & ~ best Defensive player Dareus were out as well. No one cried or poo poo'd for us because we overcame, the mark of a good team. I might add Shaq but I'm not sure if he'd had done better if healthy.

[Mace]

I can appreciate the perspective and feel about the same in terms of just enjoying the week to week warily.

The thing is though too, we've always embraced, "you are what your record is" when it wasn't good even if they played well. So now we really are 4-2.

The Rams beat Seattle at home, with Case Keenum at QB. NE was 3-0 without Brady but with Belichick and we beat them at Gillette Stadium. Arizona just dismantled the Jets pretty handily, Arians is no fool, we won on the West Coast ! Any one of the games after Arizona qualified as letdown games, each one getting more so.

Past Bills teams would have had issues in any of those games. This team beat who it was supposed to. A huge positive, when you consider past teams learned how to lose, this one is learning how to win, it feeds itself. Big positive step there, teams gain confidence. Doesn't mean we knock off the elite, but does mean we take care of lesser business so far.

Taylor is still working as intended, 28-30 attempts, 17-20 completions, td's few turnovers, mobile, elusive. Defense is working as intended in tandem with offense working as intended.

They're not going to run the table or go to the Super Bowl this year. But they're actually giving us enough positive to carryover through a couple losses against better teams and make a wild card look possible. Sure, there might be a complete collapse but for once this is a season where you see, actually witness tangible progress instead of dreaming of it.

I think it's enough to let me be comfortable bearing with them even if they lose to NE and Seattle, a while longer than usual. I mean if they lose to contenders, just means they're not a contender yet, doesn't necessarily mean they haven't moved up in the pack and gotten closer.

[OpIv37]

So we beat a 5-1 team & crush the weaker teams by 29 points, yet we are not good ?? We are usually on the other side of the aisle and the timing of the game works against us, like with injuries or returning players.

Every team deals with injuries and I'd like to add that our ~best offensive offensive player (Sammy) & ~ best Defensive player Dareus were out as well. No one cried or poo poo'd for us because we overcame, the mark of a good team. I might add Shaq but I'm not sure if he'd had done better if healthy.

We lost to one average team and one bad team. We beat one good team that was on a third string QB, 2 average teams, and one bad team.

We can only play the teams on the schedule, and we've done well against them, but the point of this thread is that we don't really know where we are. This team hasn't been completely tested yet.

[Mace]

We lost to one average team and one bad team. We beat one good team that was on a third string QB, 2 average teams, and one bad team.

We can only play the teams on the schedule, and we've done well against them, but the point of this thread is that we don't really know where we are. This team hasn't been completely tested yet.

I honestly think Lecter's point was just enjoy it while you can but don't get too excited yet.

They could get tested and fall apart, but it won't steal 4 weeks of happy from me.

[Dr. Lecter]

And it shouldn't. I am enjoying it all right now.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves

At least you read what I wrote unlike at least one other.....

[Skooby]

We lost to one average team and one bad team. We beat one good team that was on a third string QB, 2 average teams, and one bad team.

We can only play the teams on the schedule, and we've done well against them, but the point of this thread is that we don't really know where we are. This team hasn't been completely tested yet.

It's the NFL, every week is a challenge.

[OpIv37]

It's the NFL, every week is a challenge.

Ok. Hypothetical example: the NFL wants to realign the divisions and comes up with two proposals. The first puts us in a div with NE, Pittsburgh and Indy. The second puts us in a div with Cleveland, NYJ, and Jax.

Which one do you take?

Not all challenges are equal.

[sukie]

So say we beat the Fins this week... somehow beat the Pats next week. If that happens is there a new way that we could watch them implode? We have all witnessed every way imaginable. All that is left is the as of yet... unimaginable.