Before I start, I have to ask, “Jay Feely needs to be wearing receiver gloves?” I found that the third most amusing thing in the game. The second, of course, was watching Feely’s high to low occur in 1 minute and 9 seconds. Called into action, he asked to kick a 61 yarder to keep the Cardinals in the game. The dimunitive kicker blasted a kick that could have cleared the FG posts if put back an extra 10 yards. The guy came flying across the field to be loved by the real football players. They realized the awesomeness of the kicker. For 1:09, that is. Then at the end of the game after a happless Bills offense handed the ball back and an equally pathetic defense lets them gain 28 yards after a ST penalty, Feely missed a 38 yard FG. And people didn’t want to look at him. You could see in his face that he was bummed that he couldn’t hold on to his “the Man” status for more than 1 minute an 9 seconds. I felt for him, but I also loved it. The life of a kicker. So much drama, tension and funniness tucked into such a small guy.
Of course, the most amusing thing in the game was watching a gadget player throw his first pass of the season with 5 minutes to go after our running game was averaging 5 yards a rush. It was very curious to see the wildcat go long in a situation where they were so successful simply running the ball. On one hand, I liked that it was a lights out kind of move. However, the team has a fragile psyche. They needed to just grind it out. And to be frank, it’s something they don’t do well as a whole. The Bills offense has scored on drives with big plays. But they haven’t been able to grind the clock and just methodically gain yards. And one play prior to the wildcat debacle, they were actually doing just that.
Then Chan called in the long ball with a guy who hasn’t thrown long all season and last time he did it was early last season. And surprise, surprise, it’s picked off and a team that was left for dead is now alive.
I know I’m supposed to be happy that they won, are tied for 1st (though technically not since they lost 2 of 2 AFC East matchups by a scored of 100-56), play a weak Titans team, and then have the bye. Yet it just feels hopeless. I know the Bills themselves are quite relieved. But it doesn’t feel like they are in the thick of things. It actually feels like they are making strides to miss on another QB that they sorely need.
DVD Extras
Kolb – I feel for this man. When he left the field and was walking down the tunnel, he looked like a child who just pooped his pants. His trainers were just like, “don’t worry about it, we’ll clean you up in the locker room. You just have to get there.” This guy has been mercilessly hit endlessly for the last 2-3 years. And this year it’s been unusually brutal. When the Bills line is the line that knocks you out of a game as a QB, you know it’s a bad situation. Hopefully he recovers. I honestly think he’s getting into scary concussion level.
Last Arizona game – Last Arizona game, i travelled to be there. It was one of the worst games I’ve ever seen. Trent Edwards was essentially knocked out of football, and to top it off, I had to watch the game with the biggest douchbag on the planet. This win, while not ideal, cleaned that taste out of my mouth from that terrible event.
The texts – So I had like a four-way text message situation going on from the start of the Brad Smith wildcat debaclel until the conclusion of the game. These are paraphrased and in order.
Wildcat debacle. Texts received. “That’s the season.” “I hate this team” “what was that?”
The 61 yard field goal nailed with room to spare. “Classic Buffalo.” “season over” “really?’
The missed field goal to win “Oh my god. We are in this.” “reverses everything. Team of destiny” “We got this.”
the punt deep in the Cardinals zone. “game over” “destiny cancelled” “playing not to lose, hate it.”
INT by Byrd “Destiny back on!” “we won!’ “I hate this team”
I don’t say this to mock my friends because i was actively responding with the same doom and gloom. I also am trying to court a new Bills fan into this manical mess. She was less than impressed with the utter doom and ebullient excitement shown in essentially 20 minutes. But my grandmother, mamama as she was known, had a saying for this. “This is the way.” It’s so fitting for Bills fans. “How can you really like this team if you hated them so passionately and love them equally so all in the span of 15 minutes?” “This is the way.” End of story.
Vikram Pandit resigns I do have to make mention of the Citi CEO resigning simply because it reads very much like a Bills story currently playing out. Vikram is Fitz. Fitz is Vikram. Vikram never was much of decent QB for Citi. He was really just a guy who was supposed to keep the seat warm for someone else once all the other terrible parts were fixed. Sound familar? Back when Trent Edwards got released, I think the Bills realized just how bad a team they had. And Fitz was good enough to handle some of it. But I think Nix and Gailey knew that Fitz wasn’t going to be the man, but he’d need to be their stop gap. This is essentially what the Board thought of Vikram. Essentially, as much as I have no belief in the 2012 Bills, I do think the offense has talent and I think if the defense wasn’t playing all game with no hope from their offense, they’ll get better. Wanny needs to get his act together too, but at this point, the Bills are ready to replace their Vikram.
Hasslebeck – So he’s starting this sunday for a hapless Titans team. What do you think? Classic Bills effort where a waning former superstar comes out and has one last legendary game before completely washing up? I mean, the game is essentially a give-me for the Bills. We all expect a win now. The Jets and Pats play meaning we’ll be in a tie with one or two teams at the end of Sunday. With some of us feeling like the season has been saved due to the squeek out win and the players talking the talk like things will be different, this is the Emmit Smith runs for 1000 yards as a Cardinal game. Prediction: Bills lose 24-10.
Kevin Shenoy can be reached at onefansview@gmail.com and at @kevinshenoy on twitter.
