Buffalo Bills: Things We Know This Week

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”― Charles Dickens

I revere utilizing famous quotes. For these articles, I typically use football quotes. This particular time, the above Charles Dicken’s quote seems to summarize everything going on these days. That also goes for the events surrounding the Buffalo Bills. Some people view everything as the glass being half empty as others half-full. Unfortunately, I walked in on one of the most notable Glass Empty individuals on this side of the Hamlet of Ebenezer.

Negative Stanley was working the room at the chiropractor’s office Monday morning as he has so many times. He was in no way going to allow any of his disciples to extol the 5-2 start to this very unique Pandemic influenced season.

“Come on Man. How soon we forget about the dark winter of 2011. The Bills started out 5-2 and signed Ryan Fitzpatrick to a multi-year extension. They proceeded to lose the next six games and missed the playoffs.”

The Negative One continued: “How soon we forget about the chump, Dick Jauron. He coached the 2008 Bills to a 5-2 impressive start. They would only manage to win two more games down the stretch, landing at a 7-9 routine record which kept them out of post-season competition. Come on, man! After watching them implode against Nashville and K.C. and having to kick field goals to squeak by the lowly New Jersey Jets last Sunday was all I needed to see to begin my comparisons. Same old Bills.”

Listening to all of this coming out of Stanley’s mouth muffled under his MAGA face mask was not what I was in the mood to hear on a Monday morning. The Bills were coming off a win. An NFL win. A conference win. A division win. A sweeping of the Jets. Victory. Any Given Sunday.

“On any given Sunday you’re gonna win or you’re gonna lose. The point is – can you win or lose like a man?” –Tony D’Amato

I put Stanley in his place, reminding him that no one expected Buffalo to go 16-0, especially with the difficult schedule they face. Losing to the Titans and Chiefs is nothing to be ashamed of. The Bills are 5-2. Miami trails them at 3-3. The mighty Patriots are 2-4. The Jets are 0-7. These are not the 2011 or 2008 Bills. This team has been progressively built with a process to improve annually and be competitive for many years to come. I like where they are positioned right now. They have far too much talent to have an all-out collapse like those teams that Stanley preached about.

I assumed Stanley would attack the Bills defense this year or talk about how the running game is M.I A. I assumed he would attack Josh Allen’s performances not quite being at that Offensive Player of the Month status that he opened the season with. He did not. He must have realized I was not going to allow him to preach that the sky is falling. He moved on applying the pressure to his posse to get out and vote. I digress.

Things we know about the Buffalo Bills this week:

• Two sacks, an interception, a forced fumble, a pass defensed, and six tackles earned Jerry Hughes AFC Defensive Player of the week honors. Much deserved.
• The Bills activated Jon Feliciano from Injured Reserve. He started all 16 games last season and is a welcome addition to the roster this season.
• Wide receiver John Brown practiced Wednesday in Orchard Park.
• Micah Hyde did not practice and is listed as being in concussion protocol