The team is starting off slow. They seem to pull it together late, and even through their recent success, they still face the ever looming gloom and doom that is their playoff record as of late. Pre-season, the coach may have been considered in the hot seat. A solid yet skeptical draft has paid little dividend in the first few games, but is seeming to show more in the recently added Wide Receiver and Corner. The division is starting to look pretty formidable, and there is always the powerhouse from last year to contend with. The team has all the tools: A strong defense, pretty good special teams, but a young QB and RB, yet still, the fans just don't see it turning in to anything.

The Buffalo Bills? No. The 2007 New York Giants, but it sure makes you think.

Who still smells the bitter aroma that was the Wide Right? Brett Hull's skate slid calmly in to the crease, and yet he is the first to carry Lord Stanley's Cup over his head that night. The Music City Miracle, or as Western New Yorkers like to call it, the Home-Run Throw-Forward, crushed the morale and hopes of what was seemingly a start up, Super Bowl ready team. OJ Simpson, Willis McGahee, these names seem to linger longer in Buffalo due to their obsession with failure... but what about the good? Why can't we remember Pat LaFontaine? Jack Kemp? Because we're Western New Yorkers, and the sky is eternally falling.

The Bills started off 4-0 for the first time in 16 years, and yet still, rather than see how long we could keep the streak alive, this question seemed to sit in the half empty glass: "When will they lose their first game?" That loss came yesterday, to the strong, veteran Arizona Cardinals. I myself even found myself saying "here we go again," but there are many factors that need to be taken in to review for yesterday's game.

Offense:
This team is Trent Edwards' team. Behind a shoddy line, he's shown the calm and nerves of a grizzled veteran. He's the reason that they started 4-0. He's picked apart 3 great defenses, and came together against a poor Rams defense to pull out a 31-17 win. We knew he was the starting quarterback, and knew that he was the future quarterback. Enter JP Losman. There are still those who believe that JP should be the starter. His numbers prove otherwise. You can't blame him for the pass rush, but you can blame him for not making the correct reads, holding on to the ball too long, and not being consistent. The mobility in him that should be an asset usually turns in to a liability. Marshawn Lynch, when paired with JP, faces a very tough time, due to the stacked lines against him, and ever-ready and present run blitzes he faced yesterday. To say that Fred Jackson hasn't been a cornerstone of this team this year would be non-sensical. He has proven his worth on ST, in the running game, and the passing game. Yesterday was a poor indication of what this run game is capable of, but should've been a strong indication of what the passing game is capable of. Cue the offensive line. By offensive, I don't mean the team trying to score, I mean it's offensive to call them a starting line. It appears that Jason Peter's offseason workout, consisting of shuffle drills (heading side to side down the buffet at Cici's all you can eat Pizza), Sit ups, (getting up to grab another beer) and cycling (switching between McDonalds, Burger King, and Wendy's) has led to a mediocre left tackle. Melvin Fowler has shown he's capable of being a solid backup, while Langston Walker and Derrick Dockerey have been mere ghosts on the field. They've played fairly well, but when it came to crunch time (easy there Jason, not Crunch bars) yesterday, they seemed to implode. I believe that Lee Evans, Josh Reed, James Hardy, and Robert Royal can get it done in the receiving game, but they'll need Trent back.

Defense:
This was just ugly yesterday. During the first half, people I spoke with asked if Marcus Stroud was playing. The team that had started off being #1 in the NFL on stopping teams on 3rd down gave up an unbelievable 8 conversions to start the game. Kurt Warner had almost all day to throw, which was in essence just great play calling by the Cardinals. When we blitzed, he'd take a three step drop and hit someone on a slant. When we dropped in to coverage, he would take his time and find the open man. It seemed as though they were playing ball-control early on in the game. Slant pass, Slant pass, hand off to Tim Hightower, TD. It couldn't have been scripted any better. The secondary is in dire need of Ko Simpson and Terrance McGee, although Jabari Greer pulled his weight yesterday. Missed backfield tackles, 0 sacks, and 0 turnovers will cost any team the game. This group needs to turn it around fast if they want to prove anything against the San Diego Chargers in two weeks.

Officiating:
Journalists usually shouldn't comment on officiating as to not seem biased. Yesterday, though, witnessed some of the worst officiating I have ever seen. The Tennessee Titans should be a no-contest 4-1 right now, but apparently if you graze the QB's arm as he's throwing, that's roughing the passer. In the Steelers game, apparently if you stand up to give the ball to the ref after getting your clock rung, yet face the wrong way, turn back to the ref, smile and walk away, that's a 15 yard unsportsmanlike conduct. In the Bills game yesterday, I never realized that D-linemen could line up so many times in the neautral zone, and that illegal formations are, well, legal, or that the ground can cause a fumble.

You can make all the arguements you want. When we won, the other teams were banged up, the other teams were rusty, they were missing key players, they didn't play their A-game, the Bills should lose because it takes them 60 minutes of football to win a game. Well, the fact of the matter is, we were that team a year ago. All that having our backups in proved was that we have a team that is ready for anything should a player go down. We lost our #1 QB, our #1 Corner, our starting Free Safety, our most experienced LB is on IR, and I still don't consider our "Pro Bowl" tackle anywhere near where he needs to be, yet when those pieces are in place, we seem to be a force to be reckoned with. Those pieces weren't there yesterday.

There are no excuses, but why should a team that is 4-1 heading in to their bye week need excuses? One loss doesn't dictate a 4-12 season, no matter the margin. The Bills have a very strong team, they have a long road ahead to the playoffs, but they would have to go 5-6 to finish off the year in order to miss the playoffs (projected). a 7-4 record to finish out means playoffs. With a bye week coming up, followed by a home game against the struggling San Diego Chargers, a game at the surprising Miami Dolphins, and followed by the upstart New York Jets, this team may have it's hands full, but will be ready. A bye is a bye, and Trent, Terrance, Ko, and maybe even Roscoe, will be ready for the games.

Am I comparing us to the Super Bowl Giants? Yes, but is Buffalo the same team as them? Not at all.

Call this journalist an optimist, call me full of it, but the Wide Right is gone, the two 7-9 past seasons are behind us. The 4-1 Buffalo Bills are right here, right now.

Billieve.