Month: September 2010

Jerry Sullivan of the Buffalo News, today:

We ought to be talking about Chan Gailey’s first win as the Bills’ head coach today. God knows what took him so long, but he figured out that Ryan Fitzpatrick gave his team a better chance to win than Trent Edwards. He was right.

Jerry Sullivan, five days ago:

But this move, pulling the rug out two weeks into the regular season, smacks of desperation. It makes Gailey look weak and wishy-washy, and leads me to wonder if he’s even remotely as sharp an offensive mind as we’ve been led to believe.

Sullivan is an odd case. When the Bills play poorly, he is negative to a relentless degree, and when he is on the radio shows the next day after a loss, he is often bitter and/or downright angry. After last week’s loss, he was so furious on the radio show the next morning (I listen to it on my way to work) that I almost felt Sullivan’s spittle coming through my speakers. This from a guy who constantly claims to be the dispassionate voice, the objective observer of Buffalo sports with no personal stake in the matter as a fan. He loves to talk about what “you fans” accept and what “you fans” do wrong in supporting these teams, but really — would someone who isn’t a fan get as angry as Sullivan does?

And it often leads him to contradictory positions. Through much of the offseason, Sullivan insisted over and over again that the Bills, as a franchise, need to “bottom out”. This means finally just becoming so bad as to lose enough games to end up picking in the top three of the draft, so they could conceivably grab a really good quarterback. (Although frankly, had they picked first this year, I’d have wanted them to take Suh, the defensive stud who went to Detroit.) “They need to bottom out! They need to be really bad before they can move forward! They need to bottom out! They need to suck before they can be good again!”

And yet, after last week’s game against the Packers, in which the Bills played as poorly as I’ve ever seen a Bills team play, Sullivan was on the radio the next morning, spouting his “I’m not a fan” rage over the airwaves. When one of the show’s co-hosts pointed out that Sullivan wanted them to “bottom out” and that they were doing exactly what he wanted them to do, Sully’s response was one of the lamest I’ve ever heard: “I want them to bottom out with the right people.”

And now, here he is: “Benching Trent Edwards is a horrible move that reeks of desperation! But it’s also the exact right decision!”

Yeah, I want to be a sportswriter. Because you never have to be consistent.

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Well, that was pretty much a predictable result for the Bills venturing onto the field against a team they’ve beaten once in the last twenty times (or something like that…I’m not digging too far into the history here). In fact, that’s pretty much the way it’s gone for the Bills each year versus New England: they play them fairly tough the first time they see them, and then get steamrolled the second time. Luckily, the Bills don’t see the Pats again until very late in the year. Second to last game, if I recall correctly.

But on a “big picture” kind of note, this was the kind of game I was hoping to see more of from the Bills this year. I figured they’d lose. A lot. Because they’re lacking in talent in a lot of areas. So I was hoping to at least see some impressive losses, losses in which we see flashes of good play from youngsters on the team; I wanted to see some hint that the team at least has some potential play-making talent to serve as the basis for a real rebuilding project, as opposed to the perennial “We think we can win with the guys we got” thinking that’s dominated the organization for most of this decade. And today, we saw a bit of that. Really good play from the secondary. Some real explosiveness from CJ Spiller. Blocking from the young offensive line (well, Cornell Green excepted, who is old and crappy) that wasn’t cover-your-eyes awful. Plays from young receivers. And, in general, a sense from the team that no matter what happens, they’re not going to just roll over and play dead. That’s exactly what they showed today, so even though they lost, I can’t be too upset about it. If the majority of their losses this year look like today’s, then I’ll go into the offseason thinking, maybe, they’ve finally got something of a foundation to work with.

But yes, it’s still a loss, so chalk up another pie in the face for Bills fans!

But on the bright side, at least this one was like getting hit with your favorite kind of pie. At least the flavor of the Bills’ latest splat upon the football field isn’t objectionable. (The first two games? Those were pies made of shaving cream. Ugh!)

A couple of random notes:

:: For all their losing to the Pats, the Bills have sacked Tom Brady more than any other team. That’s probably because now-retired Aaron Schobel sacked Brady more times than anybody else.

:: Steve Johnson seems to have taken his demotion from #2 receiver to #3 receiver pretty well, because he actually made some plays today.

:: Ryan Fitzpatrick’s first interception was awful, but on the second, it looked like the intended receiver (can’t remember who, will have to watch a highlight) wasn’t watching for the ball. If he had been, he could have made a play on it, or at least broken up the pick. It looked like the pick happened before the receiver even realized the ball was on its way.

:: Gilette Stadium really looks like a great place to watch a football game, doesn’t it? Even setting aside the enormous phallic symbol that stands just beyond one the open end zone. What’s that supposed to be, anyway?

:: For all the tongue-bathing the announcers gave Tom Brady, the Pats don’t look especially impressive to me, particularly on defense. They could have some headaches in store for them down the road.

:: Great moments in sportscasting: When Danny Woodhead scored a rushing TD, the color guy said, “Danny Woodhead — there’s a name you don’t hear about scoring much for the Patriots!” That’s because until a week ago, Danny Woodhead wasn’t even on the Patriots. This is like saying “Wow, Troy Aikman hasn’t thrown a touchdown for the NY Giants in forever!” Better announcers, please.

:: Great Scott, the Bills are bad at linebacker. What a train wreck they are at that position. I almost think that’s the most important thing they need to address next offseason (after drafting a quarterback, that is).

Next week, the Bills come home to host the Jets, another team they always seem to play tough and tight, no matter which team is supposed to be good and which is supposed to stink. Game on!

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