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For me, a Buffalo Bills fan, analysis, power rankings, and the general opinion of the sports media never mattered. They never gave us enough credit or attention, and I loved it. Marshall Faulk on the NFL Network called for us to go 7-9 again this year..

Bye Week Gives The Bills (And Me) Time To Think If They're For Real

by Justin Mayne (Contributor)

3

476 reads

Editorial

October 12, 2008

NFL, AFC East, Buffalo Bills, Editorial

For me, a Buffalo Bills fan, analysis, power rankings, and the general opinion of the sports media never mattered.

They never gave us enough credit or attention, and I loved it.

Marshall Faulk on the NFL Network called for us to go 7-9 again this year. As a fan, someone who had paid attention to the moves and changes we made, I knew better.

However, during our 4-0 run this year, I got sucked in to listening what these guys had to say because they were actually praising my team for once.

I heard people calling Dick Jauron to be Coach of the Year and even Trent Edwards to be MVP. That should never had happened.

I was watching the games, two close games against two terrible teams, I should have known better. I was blinded by praise. I should have known the team was primed for a collapse like the one that happened against the Arizona Cardinals, but I didn't. That loss was devastating for me. What it did, though, was pull me and the Bills out of the clouds and back to reality. A reality filled with being ignored or underestimated by the press. That is where we succeed—we feed on it.

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We live for times like the first week of this year. The media calls for us to lose to a bad Seattle Seahawks team that was badly banged up, but we know better.

We know that Marcus Stroud is going to be a huge impact run-stopping tackle. We know that Angelo Crowell, Paul Posluszny, and Kawika Mitchell are one of the very best all around line backing corps in the league.

We know that Marshawn Lynch, Freddy Jackson, Josh Reed, Lee Evans, and Roscoe Parrish are primed to throw a hugely diverse number of looks to every place on the field.  I know that Trent Edwards is a promising young field general with poise and maturity. And we were right—it was a great feeling.

The same thing happened when they played the Jaguars, and then the media Bills bandwagon began. It's been downhill ever since. But not this week—the bandwagon has evaporated and what remains is a prime atmosphere for us to beat the ailing San Diego Chargers. We go on to face our division, and can only hope that the press has learned its lesson and leaves us the hell alone. 

A young team on the rise is going to have to learn to deal with attention, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Let's just take it week by quietly ignored and hated-upon week.

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comments (3) write a comment »

  1. Hey im a bills fan too i really like your writing

  2. What will let you know if the Bills are for real is within their next three games. All very talented if not DANGEROUS TEAMS.

    Between the finaly looking like themselves Chargers and the Favre lead Jets are the Dolphins who have been running a college type of offense that has many D cordinators scratching their heads.

    If the Bills can be 6-2 when those games are played out I think we def have a shot at being a real deal team.

    1. It's funny how my outlook of our schedule has been flipped on it's head since the season started. I had definitely counted the Pats games, the Jacksonville game and the Chargers as probable losses, with the Jets and fins (cards too) as wins basically.

      Now the tough games are coming from our division, but not the Patriots, and teams like Arizona (I don't feel so bad about that one now they've beaten the Cowboys). I still don't know about the Chargers, they looked pretty darn good yesterday. I guess we'll see.

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About the Author Justin Mayne (contributor)

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