One Fan’s View: Finger Hovering Above Panic Button
I’ll shoulder a good amount of the blame on this one. At the start of the second half, to scoff at the a football gods, I said to my good friend, Kabir, “These guys are the best team in the NFL, there is just no way they don’t win.” Prior to that statement, Kabir was going to be the scapegoat if we lost. It was our first game that we watched together since maybe 2002. He understood what he was walking into.
I knew what I was doing. But I just felt like this team was different. It felt like this team didn’t need to observe meaningless superstitious fluff. Where we stood, what we said, what we wore, it was all non-sense. FINALLY. So I experimentally said what I said, and paid a gigantic price for it. Not only do I have Kabir dancing around me in glee-ish exuberance that he isn’t the curse, but I have a team I don’t know much about any more.
I am not scared of a 3-13 season playing out now. Though if they get blown out against the Eagles there will be tears. This is a problem they Bills have created by losing. If they beat the Eagles, I’m still scared of epic collapse. Afterall the Bills did bounce back after the Arizona loss to beat the Chargers. They still went on to tank the 2008 season.
I am not hitting the panic button, but I have in lifted the plastic little box above the panic button.
“Why aren’t you more nervous, Kevin?” Well, we took control of that game after a slow start, and then let the foot off their throats. We went into the red zone and kicked a field goal, something this team hasn’t done yet this year. If we scored a touchdown there and went up 24-13, the game was over. But we settled into our old ways of taking a FG and then didn’t tackle anyone. It hurt that we watched a referee show us that we all collectively know nothing about football since Stevie Johnson apparently dropped that pass. A lot of it felt like bad mistakes, and not explotation of ourselves.
We had some great luck in the first 3 weeks, it must be offset in some way. I am trusting that Chan is not Jauron. I trust that he saw what went wrong and will have fixes. He will not continue to do the same thing over and over again and tell us to be patient.
DVD Extras
Stevie Johnson Drop – Remember when Stevie Johnson drops were obvious? I am still stunned that the refs over turned what was obviously a catch. Sure the Bills played sloppily enough to not deserve the call, but that was truly disgusting. I have no words. The part the refs say was inconclusive was the part that didn’t matter. Johnson catches the ball, tucks into his arms, puts his knees down and is touched by Clements. The play is over. Everything else is b-roll footage. Johnson rolls and you can’t tell if the ball moves or not, but it simply doesn’t matter. Johnson was down., and the play is over. The NFL doesn’t care about the level of reffing in their league. If they did, Jeff Triplett wouldn’t still be a HEAD referee. This is a guy who couldn’t even understand the heads/tails part of a coin toss. He threw a flag at the eye of a player. Finally, there is a league trying to compete with the NHL on world’s worst refs.
Appropriate time to jump and thrust –Last week, we asked if there was ever a time to jump onto someone’s shoulders and thrust into their ear. Moorman, the proper time to jump on someone’s shoulders (namely the back judge who blew the call) and thrust mildly was after that call.
Tuck Rule –Has any team won when watching the tuck rule enforced against them? I’m happy the NFL spends a ton of time on changing kick off rules, but could they spend the 32 seconds it would take to delete the tuck rule from the rule book? The fact that this has been called like 4 times, all since 2001, and I still don’t know what the purpose of the rule is means it’s a crap rule. I’m also not an uninformed football fan. No one understands it. To re-enact the tuck rule calling discussion at the bar, I submit:
Kevin: I guess they’ll call the tuck rule on that.
Kabir: What exactly is the tuck rule again?
Kevin: (blank stare)
Someone else: no seriously what is the tuck rule and why does it exist?
Kevin: it was created to allow the NFL to make champions out of the Patriots in a time of need following the terrorist attacks. To keep up the façade that the win was legit, the rule stays in the books.
Someone else: So who killed JFK?
Kevin: He works at my company and no one knows what his job is. Isn’t that suspicious to you?
*parts or all of this conversation are fictional with the exception of the first 3 lines.
McKelvin –This guy truly is a bust. Hidden behind a number of other busts, it has taken awhile to come to terms about his bust-iness. He is routinely 2 yards behind receivers who are running long routes. He doesn’t turn around when he’s beaten. He looks like he doesn’t even belong. He looks like a younger brother playing with his older brother’s friends. His level of play is screaming JD Williams. Do you remember JD Williams at the end of his career in Buffalo? I can’t believe this comes down to drafting more CBs. I hate drafting CBs. Not to offend, but – Doesn’t it sting a little more to lose to a red-headed rookie? I don’t know why. It just does.
Chicken wings are healthy –My friend, G.A., read my article last week and wrote the following: “Capsiacin which is an extract of peppers found in hot sauce raises metabolism. Thus Buffalo wings raise metabolism.” Eat in peace, people. EAT IN PEACE! Thanks G.A!
Mood of your life change? –Prior to the Bills regular season start, we had Europe in tatters, markets melting, “Whitney” debuting. All awful stuff. Then the Bills win, and rescue packages are discussed, 401k’s are rising, “Modern Family” returning. A healthy Buffalo is a healthy world. Personally, I had the best week of my life after the Pats win, and we barely squeaked that one out. When I woke up Monday morning after this Bengals game, google news headline was “Greek gloom rocks markets.” There was an email sent to me at work that said layoffs at our company were inevitable, and ozone hole is expanding unexpectedly. I think I’ve covered enough reasons on why we need the Bills to go 15-1. Here is the cheapest stimulus plan. $5BN to a new stadium in Buffalo and subsized tickets to current season ticket holders for the next 20 years. Trust me, everything else falls in place. Jobs, markets, tv show programming, EVERYTHING!
Economics –Anyone know of a company that generates $9BN a year and uses temp workers to be responsible for the governance of the rules of the company? You do now. It’s the NFL. A company that insists on using part time workers as refs so that catches can be called drops, tuck rules can screw a team every 5 years, and general confusion on every play from holding to pass interference. It’s not just the Buffalo game. The Victor Cruz fumble/nonfumble was maddening.
Losing to the Bengals –is like losing on pocket aces. You never saw it coming. You knew it was possible, but how could your hand not hold up? The flop comes out and it’s a 2, 6 and 10. You want to scream out, this is over! Then a 4 comes up, nothing is suited and then the River. Another 2. “hmmm, technically, there are 2 two’s. What is the chance some guy was going to sit there and play with another 2 with nothing interesting on the board?” Then it comes out, the guy across from you played his Jack and 2 and just won. This was what it felt like watching the Bengals white running back plow through Bills defenders in the last seconds to get into field goal range.
Still feeling it though –I’ve learned nothing from sticking it in the football god’s faces. Bills are going on a 9 game winning streak. I can sense your hate. I’m fine with that. When we get to the Tennessee game and Ralph is flipping off Bud Adams, come talk to me.
Facemasks –Do players decide which facemasks they wear on their helmet? You see the guys with a million grids down to the old school kicker single bar facemask. Who makes that choice? Could Moorman ask for the Dareus multi grid facemask? Could Dareus squeeze into an old school kicker single bar facemask? I’m curious.
Buffalo Bills Uniform department –try blue pants with the road uni’s. It will result in 3 extra road wins a season. I’m guaranteeing that. Yes, on top of the 9 wins. If the Bills don’t make the playoffs, amongst all the obvious heartbreak that could be ahead, I’m also pointing back to the all white situation. It’s awful.
Kevin Shenoy can be reached at onefansview@gmail.com. @KevinShenoy is the twitter handle. Discuss this topic in the Fan Forum…
