Just in Atlanta

Change is exciting. Bills No. 1 in the AFC East. Lions No. 1 in the NFL. I.E. more eyeballs. I.E. more ad dollars. No one, other than NE fans, want to see NE in the Superbowl every year. And how does New England staying ahead of Buffalo equate to power? Thought you were at least going to blame the Smoking Man.

There has to be a purpose for corruption. Like money. Or power. What is the purpose of purposely miscalling a game against Buffalo and Cinci? So Cinci can win? C'mon guys. We didn't play all that great. We got some bad calls, one really bad. And I still don't understand this tuck rule. There is no massive conspiracy.

We should have won, even though we were outplayed. This team will learn from its mistakes. I firmly believe it.

Patience. As the Most Interesting Man in the World would say.

I know I'm a relative newbie, but I wanted to shake some things up with the weekly haiku. Thought a Fitz theme would be kosher. And, given that George Lucas is releasing Star Wars on Blu Ray, I thought the geeks amongst us could have a little fun, too, with a Bills-Star Wars theme (I wanted to do it last week for the matchup with Bill Belicheat, aka the Emperor, but was too late.) You know the drill. 5-7-5. Off we go. Follicle prowess. Amish beard verse ginger hair. No contest, bitches. and... Bills Jedi magic. Cinci will be Alderaan. Revenge of the Fitz.

5530 is funny. Looks like Brady is angrily throwing a ball at a Bill's unsuspecting head. Great pictures. What kind of camera / lens are you using?

Statistically, one of the tops. But we all have to be aware that Gailey's innovative offensive scheme has Fitz getting rid of the ball quicker than average to a boatload of receivers up the middle, some of whom are used as blockers. That leads to fewer sacks (only 1). Our spread offense opens holes for the running game, instead of a traditional offense doing the opposite. In addition, Fitz has above average mobility when he does get pressure and can't get rid of the ball in two seconds. Nonetheless, kudos to this line.

The Bills, post Kelly-Levy, have made it hard for us to be fans. Since then, we've only had 1 1/2 exciting years under Flutie, sans a playoff game, and two under Bledsoe. Every other year, this team has been dreadful. Tod Collins. Rob Johnson. JP Losman. Trent Edwards. Williams. Mularky. Juaron. Ugh. Welcome back.

Well said. My point, still...we have our guy. Let's stop thinking about who the next, and better guy, could be. Enjoy him. Pay him. Keep him around. Continuity is what makes winners.

I never said that about Edwards. Back then, I didn't understand how defenses weren't figuring him out...and they eventually did. Fitz is no Edwards. Fitz' beard is no Edwards. Case settled. I respect your desire for a larger sample. But I think he's played better than any QB in recent memory over the past 16 samples. When will that magic point be? The Bengals? The Jets? The Pats again? (don't think we're going to beat them twice) I really do wonder when his watershed moment will be that moves the undecided crowd.

I hate to be sarcastic on my own post, which I really wanted to get honest feedback on, and still do, but the people who want to wait and see, to me, will never be happy until Jesus Christ flies out of Fitz' beard. What more do you want to see? Seriously, fellas? The dude is the first good QB we've had since Bledsoe and the first winner since Flutie. Last year was his FIRST year starting and he did damn good. He's doing more than damn good this year. How much longer do you want to wait?

Custer lost at Little Bighorn. The Beatles put out Yellow Submarine. Someone actually greenlit Little Fockers. If you don't see that this team is for real, as opposed to our screen-happy, Dick Jauron-led 4-0 team four years ago, and the 2009 AFC West Broncos, I can't add very much other than that. Enjoy the now. We are good. We will continue being good. We will win a lot of games. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGpQ4O0poB0

An article I just read said it was a "regional" cover. Didn't know magazines had zoned publications. If so, we won't even get it in the South. Definitely want to frame it.

Agreed on the Tampa Bay selection.

With all the recent buzz on this board about wanting Fitz to groom a rookie QB next year, I'd like to know what fans really think about his long-term future. Count this fan solidly in the long-term franchise QB corner.

...The only thing Fitz will be grooming next season is his beard, after winning Buffalo its first Super Bowl victory.

As I just said in another post, "We have a guy just entering his prime, who has proven he can win, who just started his first full year three weeks ago, and we want to spend a 1st round pick on another QB so our new QB, who, mind you, has been a starter for a whopping 16 games, so he can start grooming...another new QB? That's like saying Kelly should have been grooming a QB in 1988." Glad some fans know what a winner, and a winning team, looks like. For winner, see Fitz. For winning teams, see most teams that don't change QBs every two years.

Likewise to you. This board in particular is usually full of extremely intelligent insight. I can't for the life of me understand why anyone in their right mind would want Fitz' last year to be next season...unless the improbable happened and we got Luck. Maybe we're all so used to our comedy of quarterback carousels the past decade-plus that we think we're supposed to change 'em every two years. That's not the way good teams act. Kelly was here 10 years--after several in the UFL. Think GB, Pitt, NE, Indi, Atl, SD, Balt, Dallas, NY, and others with proven QBs would act this way? Enjoy the here and now, fellas. In the here and now, we have a winner at QB. I don't see that changing next season or the following one for that matter.

Can't believe so many people are saying a QB. Mindboggling! We have a guy just entering his prime, who has proven he can win, who just started his first full year three weeks ago, and we want to spend a 1st round pick on another QB so our new QB, who, mind you, has been a starter for a whopping 16 games, so he can start grooming...another new QB? That's like saying Kelly should have been grooming a QB in 1988. CB or OT.

Our offense under Dick would not have been in that situation in the first place. But I can't imagine any coach opting for a TD try against an offense as powerful as the Pats with that little time and being only two yards from the promised land. This team was boring under him, and played uninspired. You could see the level of intensity increase when Fewell, and then Chan, headed the ship. Chan's offense is exciting to watch. Spreads. Stacks. Receivers running all over the place. Finesse running. Bombs. Slants. Wildcat. Competence. Playing to our strengths. Gutsy, but smart, throws. Imaginative play calling. And instilling a winning culture that's palpable. Dick's offense was screens and checkdowns, one almost incapable of big-time rallies, one that loses to the Browns 9-6. Chan has turned a bunch of ragtags into an elite scoring juggernaut capable of beating any team in the NFL.

I was in the Evans camp, yes. But who had Trent OVERrated? He had like four or five good games his entire stint in Buffalo. I was shocked this team started him last year, and I remember others being, too. Even when he had this team 4-0, I remember thinking "He's not exciting, and I can't believe defenses haven't figured out how to stop his screen passes, but I'll take it."

Yes, my thoughts exactly.

Turning Point 1: When Dicky J, the worst coach this team has had in my football watching life, was fired in Week 11 of the 2009 season, and Fewell took over. You could see the players playing differently under him right away....more inspired. Turning Point 2: Hiring Chan. I wish we kept Fewell as DC, but it is what it is. Turning Point 3: Edwards gets cut after Game 2. Don't know who made the decision to start him or why, but jettisoning Edwards was huge. They were instantly better--inspiring--when Fitz took over. Turning Point 4: All those OT losses to good teams in 2010. Turning Point 5: Eradicating the stench of the awful last decade with new unis that don't look like Arena League unis. Turning Point 6: Carryover from the same offense last year and plugs to our weakest hole: Defensive front 7 in the offseason. Turning Point 7: Beating the Pats.

Wouldn't really call it burnout. But I've been so starved for media attention on this team, I've been consuming every story I could due the attention we've been getting these past two weeks. I'm now at the point, OK, I can't read anything more on how Fitz graduated from Harvard. I will be waiting for the next story on how the Bills are 4-0, though. I'll read/watch as many as I can on that. If you call someone stupid, at least know how to spell. Go Bills.

One of the worst calls I've seen in recent memory. However, if you recall, the next play we got an INT.