The only answer to this question is:
Who cares?
I have not been this excited to watch Bills football week after week since...ever, and whether or not a 4-0 start is legitimate or not because of the quality of their opponents is not even on my mind.
The last time the Bills were in the playoffs was the '99 season, so, technically, they haven't played a playoff game in the new millennium, but it was in January 2000 when Doug Flutie was still the backup QB.
Since then, there has only been a string of mediocrity, going from Rob Johnson, Drew Bledsoe, Alex Van Pelt, and J.P. Losman, and too many losing seasons to count. Every season would start anew, and I would have high hopes for my Bills, considering there was always a team that came out of nowhere to win the division, and each year, I was left to watch another teams fans enjoy a playoff game.
Even in the last five years, I did not even bother to dream about winning the division, since the Patriots pretty much had that locked up since 2003, but a wild card was never out of the question. And then the same old Bills would come back, losing to the teams they should have beaten, giving away losses like they were candies on Halloween, and playing all-around uninspiring football.
The only other time since 1999 that the Bills were even in contention on Week 17 was in 2004, when they had to win out from Week 12 on just to make the wild card.
They won from Week 12 to Week 16 and had the Pittsburgh Steelers...who had top spot locked up...who were playing their backups in the second half...at home...and they gave up the win. TO TOMMY FREEKING MADDOX.
The last time it was this exciting to be a Bills fan at the start of the season was in 2003 when they beat (read: embarrassed) New England at home Week One, 31-0. In case you forgot, which you probably did because why would you care about a mediocre team, the Bills finished 6-10 that year.
The fact that it has recently looked like the Bills were just waiting for the other foot to drop, and snatching defeat away from victory, has made me think back to the other times it was this exciting to watch Bills football. But for some reason they have come together and provided hope and optimism to a fanbase that has long been void of those things.
Yeah, they're 4-0, and yeah, they haven't beat the best of teams, but people are finally talking about the Bills again, each week I feel as though the team is in the game right until the end, and watching Bills football is something I cannot wait to do from Monday to Saturday for the first time since 1999.
It just reminds me how much I love football.
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