One Fan's View: Whoa Baby!

by Kevin Shenoy

In the words of Rick Jeanneret, “Woah, Baby!” Two 4-1 Buffalo teams going into Sunday, and the Bills came up huge with a statement game. The team actually made several statements.

1. “I can bounce back from a Concussion.” - Trent Edwards
2. “I couldn’t have had a bigger 4th quarter if I delivered a baby in the stands during the game.” – Kawika Mitchell
3. “I’ll be asking the county to pay for generators on Monday” – Ralph Wilson
4. “You can cut the Fullback if you want.” – Fred Jackson

This was a truly strange game. The power going out obviously was odd. For the Wall Street Journal article saying the Bills fans are somehow less classy than Eagles fans, try this little experiment. Cut the power at the Linc. Let’s see how the two areas compare. At the Ralph, everyone remained cordial and patient. At the Linc, there would be bodies everywhere and blood on the walls. Families would be fleeing like refugees to the cars. The crazy Philadelphia fan base which counts for approximately 90% of their fans would be banging war drums. So Wall Street Journal, why don’t you go back to writing stories on, say, the economy? Thanks.

With the power outage, I was concerned of course on who was going to get the advantage with this new wrinkle. As a Bills fan, I thought, “of course, best season in a while and now the power is going to aid the Chargers.” I had no real reason to believe that outside my general pessimism. But neither team really seemed to be effected. Both executed their game plans. Both put points on the board.

Of course, the Bills were called on a delay of game during their opening drive when there were no operational play clocks. This nullified what looked to be a very promising drive. It made it a 3rd and 14 instead of 3rd and 8. That third down play was 2 yards short of a first down. Or in other words, it would have been good for a first down. We settled for 3 instead of 6. I thought for sure the fix was in, but the Chargers then got a delay of game call to even things out.

The Chargers first drive was effortless. They walked down the field fairly easily. It was maddening. It seemed like the day was going to be a Bills FG day and a Chargers TD day. Also on that first TD drive by the Chargers, I realized why I dislike Philip Rivers. The guy gave it to the Bills side lines after scoring a touchdown in the opening quarter. He’s a taunter with a weak arm (more on that below). It just makes you hope that the Bills defense will break him at some point in the game.

Furthermore, since he wears his heart on his sleeves, you know that he can be rattled from the fans. Not just the sideline fans who he seemingly always gets into it with, but also with a good stadium-wide heckling. I was kind of stunned there was no “RIVERS!” chants they way hockey taunts form against the opposing goalie.

Overall, I was really surprised that the team played well on defense. LT was a non factor. Gates was open the whole game, but only got a couple balls, and the receivers were allowed to run that slant all day, but it didn’t really total a lot of yards. Maybe the defense still has issues.

Norv Turner still remains the most underwhelming coach in the league. How many times have we seen this guy get stacked with talent only to blow it? The Chargers are arguably one of the most talented teams with some of the most playoff experience. Yet, he couldn’t get the ball moving against a ravaged Bills secondary. Classic Turner. Why this guy gets head coaching job after head coaching job baffles me.


DVD Extras

* Fred Jackson as a Blocker What a block on the Lynch Touchdown. He decked Jammer. I haven’t seen our FB’s block anyone as effectively as Jackson got Jammer.

* Fred Jackson as Thurman There was one nice play out of the backfield where Jackson turned his back to the defenders and kept running, ala Thurman style. We’ve been so busy comparing him to Kenneth Davis, that we’ve totally missed the fact that he’s Thurman. At least run style wise. Lynch is the starter and worth a first round pick, but Jackson has that squirmin’ Thurman style that makes him equally as lovable.

* The Schouman Screwgie That bootleg play came out early in the game. Nicely played, Turk. The Bills are now 3 for 3 running that play this season. If only Schouman didn’t run like a wild animal in the suburbs. His foot went out of bounds and he kept running like that cow that somehow ends up in the burbs and 12 cops are trying to coral it back in the SPCA truck. Somehow it smacked of the big kid on the playground who never gets the ball thrown to. And the one time you throw it to him he’s out to hurt everyone else.

* Royal Screwgie Talking about the Tight Ends, big day for Robert Royal. He made catches, and he didn’t fumble. Everytime he caught it, he really seemed to be saying, “I’m good too. We don’t need Tony G.” One game won’t erase all the bad ones, but it helps if you are turning the corner. Robert Royal with JP throwing him the ball, biggest wildcard TE in the league. Robert Royal with Trent throwing him the ball, fairly serviceable.

* Kaleida box The good people at Kalieda Health, let us in their box in the second half. The Bills promptly gave up a touchdown, and we had to hightail it back to our seats to reverse the bad luck. “Dear football gods, please let us enjoy the comforts of a box just once and let the Bills win. Thank you.” Those boxes are pretty nice.

* Power by Reliant No joke, when the power came back in the second quarter, the ribbon board showed the first ad, “Proud to be the Power of the Bills. Reliant Energy.” No punchline needed I suppose.

* Trent Edwards 25 of 30 with 261 yards. All yards picked up without garbage time and without the aid of one big play. I’m not willing to christen him our savior, but I would like to bequeath some sense of nobility on the guy. From here on out he shall be known as King Edwards the first.

* Philip Rivers – Big guy, small arm Aside from his annoying crybaby/taunting style of play, Rivers is a huge guy with a really weak arm. Not so much from this game, but in the Patriots game, when he throws long, he takes forever to get it all loaded and out of his hand. And it seemingly is always a bit short. His long ball is neither accurate nor very long. [*]Philip Rivers – if he was a WR Just to finish the thought about his sideline antics and TD celebrations, I feel like if he was a WR, people would talk about him as much as TO or other “me first” WR. But because he’s a quarterback, he gets the “he’s out there enjoying the game”. That’s a really annoying double standard.

* Kawika Mitchell Every time I hear his name, I think Fozzy Bear from the Muppets. Waka-Waka-Waka. And I was just about as happy with him after the fourth quarter.

* Mark offers no retort Mark was outraged that I would call him the main issue hampering this team. Futhermore, he threatened to watch this week’s game live. Then we got into a shouting match of who was a better fan. After the heated moments of the debate we discussed this hypothetical situation. “Would you rather the Bills go to the Super Bowl and lose or have a losing season?” I said “losing season.” What was supposed to be a cordial debate once again unraveled into “you’re the worst fan” conversation. My argument is that I know how to defend myself against the multitudes of Bills-haters out there when the team sucks. To be the first team to lose 5 Super Bowls, I don’t know how I’d deal. Healthcare issues are often the main driver of personal bankruptcy. I know for a fact that I’d be institutionalized and treated with every drug that has ever been advertised if they lose another Super Bowl. Another bad season, eh, I know what that’s all about. Mark’s viewpoint is that you take the wins and the joy up until the loss. I’ll open this up to you and perhaps create a topic in the fanzone about this.

* Jumping the Gun I know I’m not the only person to get ahead of myself, but I’m thinking this is how the post-season plays out for the Bills. Jacksonville comes to Buffalo after our bye week. We beat them with a long field goal in the waning seconds of the game. That makes up for Jimbo’s last game in the NFL. Then we either go to or have the Titans come to us. We watch Vince Young rise above the local Tennessee hate and seemingly win the game while losing his shoe on the final drive. Vince Young is playing because Bud Adams tells Jeff Fisher to start him even though a wily vet got them this far. Tennessee fans quickly scream with joy that they were wrong; Vince is amazing. And then we run the craziest special teams you ever see. Something that makes every Tennessee fan groan, “blah, and we like country music too!” The play looks nothing like the Homerun Throwforward. It is so unique that Canton officials come down to the field to get Bobby April’s bronze bust measurements exactly right. It involves Mckelvin, McGee and Roscoe and 12 laterals 2 of which are blatantly forward passes but Ed Hochuli misses it. Then to the Superbowl for a rematch between the Giants and the Bills in the exact same city that Superbowl 1 (or 25 depending on how you count Super Bowls) occurred. Mmmm, yes, I’ve been waiting for this my whole life. You probably want me to say, “Lindell kicks it from 47 yards out on the right hash mark and splits the uprights.” No. Not at all. In fact, I can’t root for this because a. I don’t really want Lindell to prove me wrong by nailing the most crucial kick in Bills history and b. I want the Shout song played throughout the game driving the Giants fans nuts much like the “Hail to the Redskins” song was played in Super Bowl 2 (or 26, depending on how you count Super Bowls). That’s how it’s done in a perfect world. The funniest thing about this is that you are probably reading this and your only complaint with everything that I wrote above is that we were either a 1 or 2 seed in the AFC. That’s the only item you find completely unrealistic.

* Phillies Tracker Ok, now I’m worried. Stupid Phillies. I can’t believe they are in the World Series. Back in college my friend Andy, a Boston fan, and Vogz, a Philadelphia fan, and I were all in the same boat together of miserable fandom. Then Andy left us with the Super Bowl. Then another Super Bowl, then a World Series, and another Super Bowl, and another World Series, then an almost perfect season and then a basketball championship (obviously worth nothing, but worth mentioning). I can’t even relate to Andy on sports anymore. He’s totally satisfied and I’m even more neurotic than ever before. Andy has become my Marcia Brady; and I’m Jan. I’ve made peace with that. However, I’ve watched Vogz stand by his Eagles through the 4 consecutive NFC championship losses (even betting him 100 pushups for 2 of those games which was thoroughly enjoyable to watch because Vogz’ magic number on pushups is about 3), the Super Bowl loss, a couple agonizing Phillies seasons, a couple Sabres over Flyers situations, and a couple close calls with the 76ers. I really can’t lose Vogz to the World of Champions. Please god, let me get to the World of Champions before Vogz. And I would take no satisfaction if the Phillies won and then either/both the Bills and Sabres won later this year. The Bills/Sabres would be doing this after the Phillies. It’d feel like finishing a race dead last and having your friends waiting for you with the “hey awesome time in the mile. Way to finish under 20 minutes. We’re real proud of you. Granted I finished with a respectable 6 minute mile and Andy ran it 2 minutes without his shoes on, but we’re proud of you nonetheless.” You’d kick their butt for saying that but you’re too busy wheezing.

* Jetblue Tracker There was almost an ugly incident with Jetblue on the flight back to Buffalo. However, the good people at Jetblue put me on the next flight at no charge since I fly them so regularly. I missed my flight due to MTA construction that was neither advertised nor particularly detoured effectively. At first, Jetblue didn’t think it made sense to waive my $100 rebooking fee. Then they looked at the fact that I fly almost every other week with them and often times more. “Why did I miss the flight?” Well, this little governmental “service” called the MTA (which stands for “Movement Totally Accidental”), decided to not send the E train to Jamaica station as advertised for the last 20 or so years. Furthermore, the MTA decided not to say anything until I was in the middle of Queens. For those of you from Buffalo, getting dumped off in the middle of Queens on the way to JFK is like being dropped off on the 90 with no car in Batavia as you try to get to Rochester. The MTA arranged for a bus to take us to the Airtrain station. But the bus moved like Pete Metzalaars on a go route. Jetblue was kind enough to help me out, the MTA on the other hand gave me the proverbial finger. Thank you Jetblue for helping me out. Also, props to Jetblue for having the Redzone tracker channel on the flight. This is the first time I flew home during the 4pm games. Maybe they’ve always had this, but the flight back to NYC felt like 6 minutes with this channel.

* Congrats to Lindy Congrats to Lindy Ruff on getting his 400th win. I watched with Michael, my Rangers friend. We were thinking of going to the game, but last time I went to MSG, Mark and I were put up on the Jumbotron. We were boo’d because I pulled a 9 year old rangers fan into the shot and pretended to beat on him. The Ranger crowd didn’t like that. Mark, the Kaleta-like antagonizer that he his, then ripped the kid’s Rangers hat off his head and threw it 5 rows in front of us. The crowd was whipped up into a frenzy as though we were wearing “I love Obama” shirts at a Palin gathering. If not for the jumbotron operator stamping us out with a Rangers logo, I don’t think we get out of there alive. Anyways, I’m now scarred deeply from going to any Rangers games with my Sabres jersey on. For the record Lindy got his 400th victory wearing a black suit, yellowish shirt and matching tie. I believe that he has gotten 93% of his victories wearing that outfit. For a man making some serious coin over the last 10 years, it wouldn’t kill him to hit a Men’s Wearhouse.

* Things to keep an eye on Even though this was a huge game there were a couple things that drove me mad. One, the Bills still let the Chargers go 7 of 11 on 3rd down conversions. This is a worse percentage than the Cardinals game. We need help on this. Two, the Bills kicked field goals when they could have applied the knockdown punch with TD at the end of the half and at the end of the game. Luckily we won the turnover battle. If we didn’t we’d have paid dearly for leaving points on the field and letting the opposition convert nearly all their 3rd downs.

* Fancy I His missed FG actually makes me more angry at the coaches than at Fancy I, if you can imagine. My issue is that it was a 52 yard field goal on 4th and 3. So that means the spot of the kick was on the 42 yardline. Eight yards in front of the 42 is the 34, aka the line of scrimmage. Now when you miss the 52 yard kick (Lindell has made a 48 yarder as his long this year), the opponents get the ball at the spot of the kick. In this case the Chargers got it at the 42 yardline. Had the Bills simply tried running it for no gain or even took a sack, they would have been in better shape than missing the kick.

* Favres game I watched the Jets Raiders game. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen Eric Mangini say anything on the sidelines. Whenever the camera cuts to him, he is always lost in thought, unable to process what he’s watching. Are we sure he talks? Also QB/WR double standard. Favre makes a block on an end-round at the tail end of the game. The announcers go crazy about how he loves the game. Hines Ward knocks a LB out with a clean hit and he gets fined a medium sized Hyundai.

* Favres affected by their 2 point conversion vs the Cardinals Personally, I wanted the Favres to lose to the Bengals, but apparently they got their just payment in Oakland. Never rub it in.

* Good Karma Not that I would expect a Dick Jauron team to pile on the points at the end, but good karma to the Bills. Hopefully that keeps us in the running to beat the ever two faced Dolphin team. Hopefully we face the bad dolphins. Maybe we should play JP since he plays well against them for some reason.

* Magic Number 20 So far, whenever the Bills score 20 or more, they tend to win. I think at the beginning of the season, we’d all agree that if the Bills could put up 20 points a game, their chances of winning would be much higher since the defense had improved so much. Now with injuries on the defensive side of the ball, we have to hope that we score 20, just to keep up.

You can reach Kevin Shenoy at binaural02@hotmail.com. I may not be able to answer each email, but I love the feedback.