After the Bills dismantled the limping Seahawks, people around here were drinking some mighty strange Kool-Aid.
What I heard around town this week was "playoffs this" or "division title that," especially after Pats quarterback Tom Brady went out for the season. It was Kool-Aid laced with a healthy dose of optimism, and perhaps something a bit stronger.
But I wasn't going to sip that strange brew just yet. Like everyone else, I've seen Buffalo let down the populace on more than one occasion, particularly in the past two years. They'd play a strong game or two, and throw in a surprising run of wins, only to lay an egg in a game they absolutely had to have.
The Cleveland game last year was a prime example. Neck and neck with the Browns for a playoff spot, the teams endured blizzard-like conditions in a late-season matchup. The Bills didn't show up, getting shut out on the road, and putting up little more than a whimper on offense. Their playoff hopes essentially dashed, the Bills were on the outside looking in.
So I remained unconvinced that this year's team is anything special. Show me an impressive win. On the road, against a playoff contender, against a team you have to beat. Gut out a close one, deal with some adversity, make the plays to pull ahead and put the game out of reach.
This past Sunday, it was check, check, check and check. Buffalo survived the withering Florida heat -- and an equally withering Jaguars running attack -- to pull out a 20-16 win.
What was most impressive to me was the way they did it. The Bills came out in the first half and dominated the Jags, marching down the field while taking huge chunks of time off the clock. All they had to show for their offensive dominance was a 10-3 halftime lead. They failed to knock out a good team, and left the door open for a Jacksonville comeback.
The Jags kicked that door open, dominating the third quarter of play. They held the ball for all but two minutes of the quarter, hitting the wilting Buffalo defense with a bruising running game. The Jags trampled Buffalo defenders to tie the game, then added a field goal after a successful onside kick.
Buffalo started to move the ball on the next series, before running out of gas near midfield. It looked like it was more of the "same old Bills" as they punted away, and Jacksonville started another long scoring drive that ended in a field goal.
So here we go again: a Bills team down on the road, with the ball, and time ticking down in the fourth quarter. We've seen this before, haven't we, friends? Let's break it down: a run that goes nowhere, a pass up the sideline that sails wide, followed by a QB sack and a punt. Game over. That Kool-Aid looks pretty ridiculous now, doesn't it? But that's not what happened, and it's part of what makes me think this might actually be a different team. The offense rallied, and got back to the dink-and-dunk attack that was so successful in the first half. Trent Edwards, who had all day to throw, picked apart a respectable Jags defense, finding wide-open targets and moving the chains.
Then the Bills unwrapped a new weapon at the most opportune time. They drafted 6-foot-5 receiver James Hardy as a red-zone receiver, someone who could go up and get the jump balls. Using common sense that has eluded previous offensive coordinators, Turk Schonert called a play suited to the abilities of his players. Hardy caught an Edwards rainmaker near the back pylon, putting the Bills up with only four minutes to play.
No worries, though. Four minutes was still plenty of time to go into prevent mode, while Jacksonville ate large chunks of yardage and worked into field goal range. Time to play it conservative, fritter the game away on the leg of an opposing kicker.
Again, maybe this is a different team. Instead of lying back, Buffalo cranked up the heat, coming after the quarterback instead. The result: a punt that Roscoe Parrish almost broke for a game-clinching TD. Buffalo ran down the clock, kicked a field goal and kept its boot squarely on the Jags' collective necks to eke out the win. If these aren't the same old Bills, the reason why starts with the offense. Since the Super Bowl dynasty ended, Buffalo's offense has been one shade or another of predictable. It was at the point where the great play-by-play man Van Miller was guessing the plays before they ran them -- and was getting them right.
Schonert has the offense humming this year, moving players around and showing multiple looks to defenses. He's creating favorable matchups.
They're even running plays that were long ago banished from Bills playbooks -- nutty, zany plays such as screens and draw plays. Yes, these staples of NFL offenses everywhere have finally returned to Buffalo. And the craziest thing of all is, they're actually working.
The offense is actually being placed in a position to succeed, another rarity in these parts. Buffalo is running a mix of short plays on first and second down to create makable third-down conversions. In the Jacksonville game, the Bills had eight instances where they needed six yards or less to convert. This opened up their play-calling options, and the Jags had to cover more of the field. The Bills took advantage of this, converting 55 percent of the time on third down.
Edwards also has to get a large chunk of the credit for the offensive turnaround. The second-year quarterback is growing into a team leader, and he's letting his play do most of the talking. He's decisive in the pocket, uses all his weapons and isn't afraid to check down to keep the ball moving. It's a refreshing departure from the J.P. Losman error (or era), where he locked onto a receiver, and if he wasn't open, took the sack.
Edwards continues to grow in confidence, in part because the coaches are showing so much confidence in him. Letting a quarterback change plays at the line of scrimmage? Another nutty concept making its way back to Buffalo.
The strangest idea of all making its way back to town is the one of a winning football team that can endure some adversity and still expect to come out on top. We haven't seen that since the Jim Kelly days, when winning the AFC East was a given and Super Bowl aspirations were the norm.
Are we back to that point yet? Definitely not, but they are probably a playoff contender and maybe even a division title contender. Their offense is becoming more capable of working with a defense that keeps them in games, with special teams that can swing the momentum at any time.
You know, maybe that Kool-Aid isn't so strange after all.
Jim Cwierley is a contributing writer for the Niagara Falls Reporter. E-mail him at jim.cwierley@gmail.com.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | Sept. 16 2008 |