Niagara Gazette

‘“They are a new team,” she added, noting that this year’s Bills are off to a good start at 3-0. “They’ve got to learn to play better as a team. Sometimes I feel like (quarterback Josh) Allen is the whole team and they’d be better off if he brought the whole team together.”’

‘They had played shabbily with the lead against the Giants in Week 2. For the second straight week, they showed their age, looking like an immature team that wasn’t used to playing with a big lead, one that felt it could put things on cruise control against an inferior opponent.’

‘For the first time in many years, the Bills appear to have a legitimate NFL passing game, one that can rise up in difficult circumstances and win games that seem lost — as well as games they’re expected to win.’

‘Look, it’s only one football game. Years of harsh circumstance have taught us not to overreact, one way or the other. But Sunday’s remarkable, season-opening 17-16 win at the Jets is the kind you point back to, one that can help forge a young team’s winning culture.’

‘But some preseasons are more meaningful than others. This one feels different. The Bills have the sense of a team whose time has finally come, one that has a good chance to be one of the five NFL teams, on average, that improve by four games from one season to the next.’

‘Morse had three concussions, core muscle surgery and a lingering foot sprain that kept him out of games in KC. He played only seven games in 2017 and missed five games last season. He didn’t play the Chiefs’ two playoff games in his rookie year with a concussion.’

‘Twenty years later, the Bills appear to be on the rise again. We’ll never see a collection of talent like the Super Bowl team, which came together before free agency. But it has similar elements — a young franchise quarterback in Josh Allen, solid free agent acquisitions, a top defense with rising young stars in Tremaine Edmunds, Tre’Davious White, Matt Milano and a talented rookie lineman in Ed Oliver.’

‘There will be a temptation to rationalize Allen’s performance if he falters in Year Two. But how high should expectations be set for the Bills’ gifted young quarterback? The evidence suggests that if he’s going to succeed, the bar this season should be set high.’

‘One can only hope that this is a sign of Lawson ‘showing’ his maturation process and not him ‘telling’ us that he is going through that. One can only hope that this is the emphasis he can bring off the field, so he can bring that added focus once he gets back onto the field this season.’

‘But in the sports world, it’s almost like we can tune out all of those things and come together as one. So once the Bills honor Pancho one final time during the home opener against the Cincinnati Bengals (Sept. 22, so you can mark the calendars), I hope we can come together as a community once again and honor a man that embodied just what the Buffalo spirit is all about.’

‘With the amount of capital that was used rather than traded away, several “steals” throughout the process and even adding undrafted free agents that could contribute, Buffalo has put itself in position to compete for playoff contention in 2019. Even considering 2017’s playoff season, this looks like it may be the Bills’ best chance to win the AFC East since the turn of the century.’

‘McCoy is the one face that no longer fits on a roster that has been almost completely reshaped under Beane. He’s over the hill. He’s an inconsistent, self-serving leader who got benched for a play for the season finale a year ago. He’s also in the final year of his contract (at $6 million) and has a couple of off-field civil suits pending.’

‘Listen, before you go crazy reading this, just keep this in mind. For Buffalo to get its hands on Williams, it will most likely have to trade up to go and get him. That would be totally fine, in my opinion — personally, I feel that Williams is the best player in the draft.’