The 2015 season is officially underway for our Buffalo Bills, and Sunday’s victory over the Indianapolis Colts capped off one of the most exciting opening weeks I can recall as a fan in a long time. After countless days of camp fodder, preseason takes, and quarterback debates, the real deal was finally in the not so distant future. With every Rex Ryan quotable that came out of his press conferences leading up to game day, my excitement grew, with the peak moment coming early Sunday morning as Albert Breer tweeted out that Rex had a simple message for the team Saturday Night: “Why not us? Why not now? We’re built to beat the (bleep) out of people. Let’s go do it.” And they did. The box score isn’t going to tell you everything that you need to know about Buffalo’s dismantling of the Colts. Aside from the statistics of the game itself, it’s important to note that the Bills defense held Andrew Luck to one of the worst performances of his career. On top of that, according to Pro Football Focus, Luck was the least accurate passer in the entire league week 1.
The Bills defense did their job and then some, even if it doesn’t show in hard numbers to the average fan. While it’s true that the defense only brought Luck to the turf twice on Sunday, that has more to do with Luck’s intelligence and pocket presence than a lack of pressure by the Bills. In fact, Buffalo was getting pressure all day long, forcing penalties by the Indianapolis front while simultaneously making Luck get rid of the ball as quickly as possible. Despite the fact that he was able to do so on 47 of his 49 drop backs, the Bills still forced him into a few big mistakes, and when it was all said and done, the Buffalo defense was just too much for Luck and the Colts to handle. The Bills now find themselves a participant in the league’s marquee matchup of week 2 with the “hated” Patriots coming to town.
To say that Bills fans are excited for this opportunity would be an understatement (and an injustice), but the fans aren’t the only ones full of anticipation. Rex Ryan has been waiting for this moment since the Pegula’s hired him, and he’s made no secret about the fact that this is the team he wants to beat the most. Rex has had this game circled on his calendar since he signed up for this job, and his candid nature is starting to rub off on his players as the Rex Effect is now in full swing across the board. Aaron Williams and Marcell Dareus have both made it known that they just don’t like this team, and why should they? The Patriots have done nothing but bully the Bills for the last decade plus, and they’ve done so with emphasis. At times, it’s been flat out embarrassing, but history doesn’t seem to be shaking anyone’s confidence at One Bills Drive. To them, this is a new season, and they’ve adopted the mentality where the past is irrelevant; all that matters is right now. To some, Rex’s confidence and attitude may not be aspects of his persona that should be held in high regard, but I would respectfully disagree. I love this new found attitude that exists within this organization. Rex embodies the “us-against-them” attitude that we desperately needed, and he’s the perfect compliment to our insecurities that surface when the franchise is ridiculed.
That’s why his attitude going into this game is perfect, because we all hate the Patriots, and we finally have someone in the forefront who isn’t afraid to admit that he does too. It’s not just the scandals that make us hate them though. The reasons for our feelings go beyond that. This team of theirs has owned us for years, and they’ve done so with an attitude and demeanor that is so smug it makes you want to punch them in the mouth. They’ve poked our quarterback’s eyes at the bottom of a pile. They’ve gone for it on 4th down with a 30-plus point lead, only to score a meaningless touchdown, adding insult to injury. They once scored 100 straight touchdowns in the second half of a game leading their star quarterback to tell the crowd at the Ralph to “shut up bitches!.” They’ve lorded over us, and they’ve laughed at us through it all. But none of that matters now. Everything that has happened prior to this week is gone, and we now have someone in charge who knows how to scheme for the Brady (as much as anyone can). You could argue that Rex has never had the tools that he has here in Buffalo, at least not all at one time. The pieces are in place to do something that nobody in the country is giving the Bills a chance to do: Win a meaningful game against New England. A win Sunday would be enormous. It would mean more than the week 3 victory over the Patriots a few years back to start the year 3-0, and it’s because we have a much better team now than we did then. Starting 2-0 would do wonders for this team before they head out into the wilderness, especially with the 2 wins being against perennial playoff teams (and AFC opponents).
After this week, the Bills will spent 4 of the next 5 Sundays on the road, one of them being in London, so they won’t get many more chances to use the crowd to their advantage before the bye week arrives. They have to seize this moment to shock the world. And if they do, we have to act like we’ve been here before, because we have. There have been hot starts in September with some of the previous teams during the big drought, but every time we find ourselves in this position, we boast a little too much only to come crashing back down to earth. With that being said though, if the Bills win this week, I think you are allowed to enjoy it a little longer than the rest, and you should, because it means more to us than anyone will ever realize. This isn’t just a Bills-Patriots game. This Sunday could be everything.
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