The Buffalo Bills… where do I begin? Well it looks like they kicked off the 2010 season with a fiesta. The problem is they were partying like it was 2009. I had such high hopes because it was opening day, because they were at home and because there hasn’t been any Bills football since about 9 months ago. It’s hard not to be excited. The problem is that I know that this year’s team is among the worst in the league.
The Bills changed coaches, general manager and some players as well but when you need about 20 good players to walk through that door, it’s not going to happen overnight. They signed a few low cost free agents, drafted a handful of promising young guys but if you weren’t sure a lot more work was needed to resuscitate this franchise, today’s home opener against a mediocre Miami Dolphins team was all the proof we needed.
The Bills had countless chances to win this game. Their defense showed up and along with the loud, raucous crowd made things tough on Miami’s offense holding them time and time again, especially in the 2nd half when the sellout crowd was begging for some offense from the Bills. If I’m not mistaken the Bills went 3 and out at least 4 times in that pivotal 2nd half.
It really looked like a Bills home game from last year, 2008, 2007 and so on. The defense plays well and keeps us in it and if the offense can do ANYTHING, the win is there for the taking. In this case the offense did absolutely nothing and we lost a close one that didn’t feel as close as it ended up. I for one felt incredibly lucky all game, thinking I can’t believe we are this close to tying the game despite playing as badly as we did.
The worst part of all was that this team reverted back to its’ same boring, tired ways. It was the kind of game where, if it weren’t for the opening day juices and natural curiosity for what the team would look like this season, many fans could have fallen asleep. When C.J. Spiller was drafted and some people questioned the move because of the Bills other more pressing needs, owner Ralph Wilson said they drafted Spiller because he’s an explosive, exciting player and that’s what the team and the fans needed; some excitement. Well guess what? It’s going to take more than Spiller. He is undoubtedly a very fun player to watch but when your offensive line is suspect, your quarterback is completely afraid to throw downfield and the only thing the defense is worried about is the running game, it’s going to be very difficult to run the ball. They tried to get it to Spiller, especially early on but the whole gameplan was flawed.
It all comes down to one player; Bills quarterback Trent Edwards. Yes, he looked great during the preseason against the vanilla defenses and other team’s backups but in the regular season he regresses. He goes back to being Trentative. He’s petrified of throwing the ball down field and sometimes he’s scared to throw the ball altogether. You CANNOT win consistently in the NFL with a scared quarterback. This is a game of chances and risks and he won’t take any. It doesn’t matter if he has the smarts and the physical tools, if he doesn’t have the guts to be a winner, none of that other stuff matters.
It’s really unfortunate because the fans in attendance were amped up. I was amped up! The defense and many of the players gave a tremendous effort and to see him back there not willing to try to win this game for them, for us, is a damn shame. As you can tell I’m sick of Trent the quarterback. I’m done with him and I was really hoping that after last season we’d never have to watch him again. Unfortunately it looks like we’ll be stuck with him for one more year, but on the bright side this team isn’t ready to contend for the playoffs yet. He’s basically keeping us from being a middle of the pack team. Truth is there are still many holes on both lines, linebacker, tight end, receiver and of course quarterback. If you really want to get optimistic about losing, just think if we finish among the worst 2 or 3 teams in the league this year we’ll have an excellent chance at college quarterback Jake Locker in the 2011 draft. They say he’s better than any of the quarterback prospects who came out of college the past few years. He will certainly go first or second in the draft and if we finish with the worst record in the league, we’ll get the first pick.
In conclusion I say if you are going to lose, lose well. Go down with a fight. I can take the losing that’s going to be coming most of the time this season if the team is exciting and I feel like we are leaving it all on the field. What I can’t take is when most of the guys are giving it all they can and their supposed leader on the field is being a coward. I don’t think it’s fair. Next week is a trip to a very good Green Bay team and a big time ass whooping if they play the same game. I’m hoping this week’s game will serve as a wake up despite not having any reason based on the past to expect it to be. I’m hoping for an exciting game next week and not just from the Packers. That’s all us Bills fans have these days; hope.
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