I have gone through some major changes in 2012. I got a new job, I got divorced, I watched my team sign the most expensive free agent in the history of the game, I won a championship in beer league hockey, I brought sexy back (I brought awkward back too), I ate chipotle 6 days straight. Bottom line, big things happened, and I kind of just assumed big things were going to happen for the Bills in 2012.
Yes, 2012, the time for the end of the world. What better time than now to have the Bills undefeated as we all die together with every Bills fan saying “Son of a…” in the waning moments of life on earth. It all made too much sense.
So in some ways, I had put all my hopes and dreams into this season. Ralph doesn’t seem like he’s doing so well. Sure we’ve cursed his name in the past,but the guy went out and got us a defense. He’s ailing. Let’s give him a championship this year. “I mean we have a pass rush now…on paper.” And “Fitz was good until the rib injury.” and “Fitz’s new coach has his accuracy up on the left side of the field.” and “Holy Crap Vince Young?” and “Shawn Merriman is now 100%”.
I’m not mocking these statements. I said them all. I also knew it all came down to that Jets game. The Jets are a team with a terrible QB. Their fans were ready to revolt. They wanted to cheer on Tebow. All theBills had to do was execute.
Fitz got that message and he executed the fans’ hopes with three standard issue Bills QB bullets called interceptions.
I like Fitz. I thought he had the ability to aspire to be the next Brad Johnson/Trent Dilfer. I know, lofty goals indeed. But I thought he could do it. But that game closed the chapter on my belief in Fitz. Hand it to the Jets the killed 2 of our last 3 QBs. Remember the old JP Losman, “i’ll fumble for no reason whatsoever here with the lead with less than two minutes and a sure victory?” Yep. I do. The Jets killed that QB in the waning moments of the game. They killed this one in the first 5. Can’t wait til our next project QB fails at halftime in Metlife Stadium.
I don’t think the Bills are going 0-16, but you do see the issue, right? The Bills could still get into the playoffs, but with this mindset they have, they’ll just beat up on other weak teams. And we’ll get to the playoffs. And we’ll have forgotten this game. We will be besides ourselves in January jumping up and down, and when they play a better team than themselves, they’ll get blown out of the water. This has been part of the plan the last 12 years.
I fear for the rest of this season. The only way to save it is for the team to have taken that half as personally as I took it and channel it into some batman-like rage. Personally, I don’t see it happening.
DVD Extras
– Who thought we’d pay for the wrong $100MM free agent? – I know, it was one game. But Mario Williams was non-existant. Is Luigi Williams available? Had we pushed as hard for Peyton, we could have at least had a mildly exciting game to watch.
– bright spots – The Best DB’s the Bills have are their WRs. I saw the Bills receiving corp make some incredible pass break ups. Perhaps they can teach our DB’s how to be in the general zip code of the people they are covering.
– Stephan Gilmore – For all the hype we heard during the preseason (No one is throwing it his way, he’s the next revis) the guy was turned inside out time and time again. And Aaron Williams looked like JD Williams. Another illustrious early Bills draft of a DB who didn’t do anything remotely interesting in his career here.
– The drafts still suck – I realize we really gave Jauron a hard time for the number of first round busts we had with him, but Buddy isn’t fairing much better. The whole Tank Carder cut drove me crazy. His 2010 draft class is cut or ineffective. The only guy who’s any good is the guy they only gave the ball to 14 times while he piled up 169 yards. The 2011 class was kind of hard to blow when you are the third worst team. However, no one is really stepping up there either. Dareus is good, but he hasn’t shown 3rd pick good yet. And this 2012 class has people getting cut before the season even started. Has Simon Cowell ever cut a contestant before the music even started? Here is a piece of advice Bills GM current or future. Just pick a QB every year until you have your Manning/Brady. If anyone is even remotely average, keep picking a fourth to seventh rounder each year in the draft. EVentually you’ll find someone. And every 3 years, take a QB in the first round. You aren’t getting any of the other picks right either. So you might as well just get the most important position on the field right with plenty of options.
– Not to be too dark – But being a Bills fan is getting down right impossible. I sat there and thought about a Nazi solder in WWII. I thought of him sitting in the damp, cold bunker as the Allies moved in. I’m guessing 99% of the soldiers knew the gig was up. But I’m sure there was one guy that was like, “How can you give up now? It was an off day for the Fuhrer. He has a rib injury! We can bounce back. It’s just one battle!” And I can see all the other soldiers just sitting there like, “who is this guy? Give it up already. Let’s just hope the allies have spam for us.” So there you have it. Being a Bills fan is equal to being a soldier for the Third Reich.
– Speaking of Reich- If you were like me, at halftime you gave the old, “the bills have been down this path before. Let’s not forget our 1993 greatest comeback of all time game.” When Cromartie intercepted the pass for the touchdown, i said, “just like Reich’s first pass of the 3rd quarter.” Then I punched myself because that team was awesome. This team somehow is making Dick Jauron look like a God send.
– To suck or to not suck – When you think of the Parity in the league over the last 12 years, you kind of have to take some pride in your Buffalo Bills. If they just did nothing but play the same hand over and over again with the same coaching staff and drafting simply from the draft guidebook that you could buy at wegmans for 5 bucks, the law of averages suggests you’d make the playoffs once…maybe even twice. But the Bills have chosen to suck making dubious calls at strange moments (not that there is a great time for a dubious call, but you get where I am going). Just like when people used to ridicule our 4 superbowl run with, “but you lost.” You would say, “but no one will do it again.” and history proves you right. Now, I say, “hold your head up and take pride that your Buffalo Bills have done something no other team will ever do. They will not get to the playoffs for 13 straight years in a time when 31 other teams have made the playoffs.” Take that, parity.
– Replacement refs – they were as bad as advertised. I like how neither team ever had more than 3 seconds to get a play off and that the game went an extra half hour longer than any other game. Solid game.
– Ladies Tennis – Did you watch the Ladies Finals of the US Open. I watched both those ladies and thought, “i’d take either of them to be the QB of the Buffalo Bills of week 2 simply on the fact they know what winning consistently feels like.” Serena more of a LB, but the last time we had a QB with the brain of LB, we were going to superbowls. Amirite?
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Kevinshenoy can be reached at onefansview@gmail.com and followed at @kevinshenoy on twitter.
