We've been here before, surely, but the past informs our present and while it may be foolish to think too seriously about how this feels different than other teams and other hot starts to a season, here we are on a September Monday with a palpable sense that a change is gonna come. Indeed, it already has.
It is more than fair to say that I have, at pretty frequent intervals over the past twenty years or so, hated Ralph Wilson in a way that is both rational and insane; rational because he was a very rich man who got rich off of our devotion to a game and never delivered a championship he so frequently promised, and insane because - for better or worse - he gave me something to ease my transition into a Buffalonian when my family moved west from Western Massachusetts when I was six. Hating him was always a Sisyphean task; inevitably, when the team played a good stretch of ball, my wallet would come out and a jersey or a sweatshirt would be purchased, I would buy into the franchise again, and my hate would be shown for what it really was: flimsy. A weighty frustration with the dissonance between the callous business of professional sport and a region barely able to support any business at all, yet always tempered by an unceasing willingness to be moved to heaving emotion by a football team and what that team achieves by way of abundant fellowship.
That Ralph, by virtue of capitalism and the economic forces of an increasingly powerful league, had the power and the apparent motive to take our team away from us was an ever-present reality that many of us resented; that he never did, and moreover seems to have assured that no one ever will, is a now-present reality that seems far too good to be true. I always hated the man for, in my opinion, failing to appreciate that Bills fans had invested deeply into the franchise with their wallets and their tax dollars and their inexplicable, loving commitment; for failing to demonstrate that he understood his constituency deserved much more than the looming possibility of losing the team. And even if that's still right; even if there are scenarios wherein Ralph could have done more to spare an adoring fan base more than a decade of worry; even if these last several months have been a constant series of panic attacks that might have ultimately been avoidable - he still set the table for a complete and unassailable victory. With the past of this team set in stone, the present entirely enjoyable and the future suddenly looking bright, not to mention actually existing, that victory is massive. For a fan base that primarily thrives not on wins, but on community and shared experience, Ralph's last victory is everything.
Wins are nice, though. They are really fucking nice.
I don't know how anyone really thought that the Dolphins had a prayer in flying out of Buffalo with a victory, but those people did exist last week and they are deserving of our derision. It was a long shot before the season started (see, e.g., Lewis, Thad Based God, 2013), it was still a long shot a week ago (Bills win in Chicago > Dolphins win vs Pats, it's science), and it became a near impossibility as soon as the news of the sale to the Pegulas was announced and the region was lifted into a place of unspeakable giddiness. Hell, when a Dolphins linebacker is saying the Bills are built to beat Miami (a thing I believe to be bullshit; the Bills are built to be AWESOME, duh, and beating Miami is a nice thing that comes along with that), maybe the world shouldn't have shit like this being said out loud...
THINGS I LIKED:
1. Our Cobra Kai Defense. I deserve no credit for this analogy, though I will use it here because it's awesome and because I haven't felt this smitten with a defense in a while. Yes, last year was a lot of fun, what with Kiko being ridiculous and always high on drugs and tackling everyone before heading to the sideline to get even more high on more drugs, and Pettine getting the unit back into a dominant frame of mind after some pretty lean years, but they were still weak against the run and this year these motherfuckers are putting on some hurt. I fucking love it. Sure, no one likes seeing injuries, but incidentally the only thing I like seeing less than injuries is seeing completely healthy guys on the other side of the ball beating the Buffalo Bills. That happens a ton, as you may have noticed, so I'm decidedly in "whateverthefuckittakes" mode. Leave the belly-aching over the violence to fan bases that have seen a championship parade ... we're desperate and there's no sense denying it. The NFL can worry about headshots and illegal hits and putting deterrents in place; Brandon Spikes can keep worrying about swinging his boomstick.
2. CJ Spiller making Doug Marrone look smart as fuck. One of the biggest issues I had with preseason this year, as I wrote last week, was the failure of fellow fans to just chill the fuck out and wait for the season to actually start before freaking out. A highlight of this kind of blind pessimistic rage was when CJ was slated as the primary kick returner. So much worry about his health, as if he's not risking injury every time he steps on the field as it is, and so little patience, as if only bad things could happen with such a personnel decision. There's no such thing as the Losing Disease so stop acting like you have it. Thankfully, as much pessimism as we have, Marrone et al. seem to be brimming with confidence when it comes to managing the top talent on the roster. Best playmaker on the team? Put him back returning kicks. It seems so obvious now, even though Goodwin is a quality returner as well, that I'm almost angry at Marrone for not doing this last year. We talk a big game about wanting coaches to be risky, so there we have it. And it worked.
CJ's 200 all-purpose yards were outstanding in every way, and his commitment to downhill running and trusting his line was fantastic. Really, the entire running game - as it was against the Bears - was consistently productive. The offensive line played fantastic, allowing no sacks or tackles for a loss against a team that sacked Brady four times last weekend. For a unit that had a few dozen open questions before the season and gave up a lot of sacks during the preseason, this is all a very welcome relief.
3. Sammy "The Glen" Watkins. We saw a lot of what we have been told about this kid. He is fast as fuck, has excellent hands, and can make guys miss with his agility and instincts on routes and after the catch. After a slow start in Week 1, Sammy came out hard and it was abundantly clear that the Dolphins just didn't have an answer. EJ deserves a lot of credit in terms of getting the ball to his best receiver, but it's pretty apparent that this tandem has a lot of work still to do in terms of chemistry and precision. That said, eight catches on eleven targets - especially when you're the primary target - is insane. Two of those three misses would have been touchdowns, so if these two can work it out they will be torching DBs regularly.
THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE SO MUCH:
1. Um.... I ....
Florida is a terrible state with terrible people and terrible fans (bar some Bills Backers, though I'm sure many of them are awful, too), and the only way it could get worse for Miami would be for Jacksonville to be better than them on a consistent basis. Any win against Miami brings me nothing but ear-to-ear smiles. I have no gripes aside from the fact that the Bills only get to play them twice this season since, obviously, Miami won't be getting to the playoffs. If you're complaining about anything today, including how loud the Ralph was yesterday, how the Bills left too many points on the field or how you wish the Bills drafted Geno Smith (A REAL THING CALLED INTO WGR THIS MORNING), you are an asshole. Take a week off from breathing.