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Pivot.

12/2/2013

5 Comments

 
The Barrister


I don’t know if this is going to be my last Bills post of the season. Last night, full of such familiar rage after such a familiar loss, I couldn't imagine concocting any more takes on a team that has so thoroughly shat on my heart now that the rest of the games matter only in some vague developmental-yet-still-really-meaningless-because-fuck-it-all-they-are-still-objectively terrible way.  Having just finished this post, I'm still not sure. 

This is a team I like – a LOT – but a team that is also 4-8; perhaps unfairly and cruelly, but indeed unavoidably bad.

Is the growth we see real in the sense that this team will, someday, be good? Or is it growth that merely makes this team watchable again; that makes the Bills a team to actively cheer for in a way that I haven’t since, fuck, I can’t even remember anymore?

Some things about yesterday were good and a lot of it was fun, but it was objectively fucking bad. The Falcons, not a good team by any measure, beat the Bills in a way that was super predictable, at least in a sick, beaten to death by a decade plus of suck, mentality.  Yet for the first time, we’re in the midst of a season that has, through weekly signs of immense promise, convinced us to believe quite the opposite: to believe that EJ can do anything; that the defense can stop anybody; that, in a game like yesterday’s, this team can pull out a win despite themselves.

That’s why yesterday hurt as deeply as it did – because some of us, at least speaking for myself here, chose to buy in to what Marrone and Manuel and Hackett and Pettine and Kiko and Mario and all these motherfuckers were selling us. We bought in because they bought in and in doing so brought us Carolina and Baltimore and Kansas City and Cincinnati and New York – good Christ, New York – and a season full of games that made us question whether we might finally see the destruction of a decade-plus paradigm of Buffalo Bills football.

It was easy to think it had changed because it was so clear that they believed it did – not just through the words that mimicked those thrown our way by Chan and Fitz and Jauron and whoever else has asked for our faith and given us so little in return, but through the product they were giving us every game. A product that itself inspired us to push our demons aside and let this team affect us again.

It was easy to think it had changed until they gave us something that really suggested that, nope, it hadn’t.

Two plays. 

Picture
Two plays, each containing such a high concentration of that hope we’ve suddenly been willing to let thrive. 

Picture
Two plays, each reminding us, as they ended, of why it’s been so easy to expect so little from the Buffalo Bills.

A sports season, after all, is little else than the management of optimism – every team and their fan base starts with some, perhaps getting more at some points during the campaign, and then, as soon as the limits of mathematics and time come to pass, they have none, only to be renewed thereafter for events distant, rather than for a game next week.  Hope for next year assuages the bitterness of a season ended in anything but true success. 

For Bills’ fans, finding hope for the next season has, more often than not, been a huge chore. We put it off as long as we can since the next season will inevitably seem, and ultimately be, as doomed as the last.  Coming to terms with the inevitability of failure has been both routine and, burdened by the fatigue of manufacturing optimism for a team that has been fucking terrible, consistently difficult.  Putting a time gap between the team’s failure and our choice to dream for success again becomes a mark of distinction among fans.  Those who cheerily state “there’s always next year!” immediately after the Bills finish a season without playoffs are thought of as simpletons since, obviously, they just don’t get it. They don’t understand that a rational person needs some space before jumping headfirst back into the irrationality of continuing to support the Buffalo Bills.

Then, what of this year?  As always, we’re left with games left to play and we’re left to decide what, if anything, we can glean from those games.  As it is every year, the rest of these games matter fuck all in determining the objective quality of the 2013 Buffalo Bills. That team blows. The verdict is in, and the squad is a terrible 4-8. 

But next year?

As good as it feels to engage in that familiar task of hating a team that has yet again failed in utterly heartbreaking fashion, we all know it feels different.  This whole season, despite the familiarity of the losses doubling the wins, has felt and been different.  The team has genuine talent and poise under center, the running game remains a gem, our rookie WRs and middle linebacker have been stellar, and the defense is suddenly a powerful force.  So, despite the poor record and the bitterness I still feel over yesterday’s wasted opportunities, the pivot to looking forward to next year isn't as arduous a task.  Watching these last four games isn't devoid of meaning if it means we get to see these guys play and keep getting better.  This team is bad… but it looks pretty clear that they’re on their way to being something else. 

Maybe that’s all this season ever was – the manufacturing of hope, despite present losses, for a next year that for once doesn't look so predictably fucking bleak; for a Bills team that actually wins rather than just fools you into believing they might.

I’m still all in. Go Bills.

5 Comments
Jay Phillippi
12/2/2013 01:28:56 am

It DOES feel different and it should. We have a pretty good defense, there's talent at a lot of other positions and the Bills were in position to win this game. The two throws in question were solid throws, right where they needed to be. This was the failure of two specific players as compared to years gone by when we just sucked at the team level. The kind of play shown on both those plays (and both players have histories of doing just this, dropping the big play) shows that we're still a couple players short. The talent on this team was let down by mid-level players who still occupy high level positions. If we take the next step and get better quality players in these and a few other positions this team can be a lot of fun to watch for years to come.
Yes, I just made the case that we need someone better than Stevie. He makes big numbers in low leverage situations and fails too often in high leverage ones.

Reply
The Barrister
12/2/2013 01:52:58 am

This comment is amazing, Jay. We're discussing how great it is on twitter as we speak. Really well put. I think the team is getting there, and given the improvements this season and good drafting last year, I think there's reason to believe high level players will come. Stevie is great, but he's too often put in a place where he is bound to fail.

And thanks for reading. Means a lot.

Reply
Monsieur Shorts link
12/2/2013 03:48:02 am

"The talent on this team was let down by mid-level players who still occupy high level positions."

Spot on.

I will say that I'm still struggling with what the problem is (or if it is both these things): Stevie sucks in pressure situations or that Stevie is really the only option in pressure situations, therefore creating the perception that he fails more often because he's gone to so much. Yes, that fumble play was what we generally consider a high stakes one. But so were the "boring" ones where he extended early drives. How many of us slid toward the edge of their seat in the 1st quarter as EJ went under center and said, "this would be a huge 3rd down conversion". He made the catch, and you sat back and gave a fist pump. I guess what I am trying to say is that none of the catches he makes are devoid of some level of pressure, and he by and large succeeds in those "boring" moments that often end up resulting in points down the line versus a punt.

So is his failure in big moments (maybe we should be calling them dramatic?) a product of his own inability to rise to the occasion, or is the he just the only guy on the roster with a modicum, however limited, of "go-to guy" in his blood? Being the go-to guy on 3rd down played a big role in getting them to a 14-0 lead. I mean, Jesus we've seen Chandler botch it. We've seen Graham run the wrong fucking route in the end zone. We've even seen Fred fumble the ball on the goal line against NE in a game they ended up losing by 6 points. There's a lot of clutch to be desired on the team. I guess what I'm saying is I don't run him out on a rail for any of his "clutch" transgressions, any more than I would want to send Byrd packing because yet again here was a big game where he didn't have a "clutch" INT.

I guess what I'm saying is keep the guy, but lets get some others around him pronto. He's shown us plenty that he just can't do it on his own.



Reply
Spiller High Life
12/2/2013 04:42:41 am

Couldn't agree more. Stevie will get you that 3rd & 6 catch more often than not, and there is value in that, even if it comes in the first or second quarter. We need other options around him--maybe Woods and/or Goodwin is that guy, and we will see next year. But running Stevie out of town will not do the team any good other than to scapegoat someone undeserving.

Chandler is another story get rid of that guy pronto

Reply
Jose Padin
12/3/2013 03:22:18 am

Personally I have gone through the 5 stages of Grief in my relationship with this pitiful franchise over the last 14 years.

1. Denial - The Music City FORWARD LATERAL

2. Anger - Fire Jauron/(insert name of coach here)!!!!

3. Bargaining - I used to buy a new Jersey every year. In 2009 I said I would not by a stitch of Bills merchandise until they finish with a winning record. (I'm stuck with a Thurman Thomas jersey since the rest of the players have all washed out)

4. Depression - I considered switching and becoming a Houston Texans fan (Logic - As an expansion team I wouldn't be missing out on too much of the previous history. However I realized Houston was located in Texas and was forced back to the Bills).

5. Acceptance - The Buffalo Bills are the Washington Generals of the NFL. The role of the Buffalo Bills is to try real hard and provide the comedy foil when they fail. This has been proven by a preponderance of evidence. Including, not one, but TWO - "Wooooops! You can have the ball" moments in critical times on Sunday.
Finding new and interesting ways to lose is what the Buffalo Bills do the best. If you can stand back and appreciate how difficult it is to play as many close games and make as many individual, self-inflicted mistakes as the Bills have made it is quite amazing.

Here are 9 examples if you need proof:

1. 9/14/2009 - New England Patriots - For no apparent reason Leodis McKelvin returns a kick 2 yards deep in the endzone. The team was up by five points and only need to run clock. Leodis Proceeds to fumble the kickoff return, putting the Patriots in position for the game winning TD pass.
2. 10/24/2010 - Baltimore Ravens - In OT Shaun Nelson receives a pass close to FG range. Is gang tackled and push backwards, ~5 seconds after his forward progression is stopped, the ball is ripped lose. Ravens kick game winning FG.
3. 11/28/2010 - Pittsburgh Steelers - Stevie Johnson drops wide open pass in OT with no one near him.
4. 10/14/2012 - Arizona Cardinals - Did everything in their power to lose to the Cards in OT but somehow still won. (This is akin to the one win that the Washington Generals have. )
5. 10/21/2013- Tennessee Titans - George Wilson drops game ending Interception in 4th QTR when the ball hits him right in the numbers.
6. 11/11/2012 - New England Patriots - TJ Graham hangs a ralph when he was supposed to hang a Louie. Result is game ending INT.
7. 12/9/2012 - St. Louis Rams - George Wilson drops game ending Interception in 4th QTR when the ball hits him right in the numbers.
8. 11/11/2013 - Kansas City Chiefs - An Undrafted Rookie Free Agent QB throws a 100 yard pick 6. The pass was to an area where there were three Kansas City Chief Defenders.
9. 12/1/2013 - Atlanta Falcons - Not One but two fumbles in FG range one in the last seconds of the game that would allow the Bills to win the game. The second in OT.

There are many more examples.

I'm all out of hope for next year. I only expect close games and amazing screw ups in 2014 and beyond.

(Whistling sweet Georgia Brown)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyeKAkMwCpw

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