Anyone Else Having Trouble Dealing with this Success?

[Matt_In_NH]

30 years ago the bills had played in 0 Super Bowls. There have been a lot of good years sooner than 30 years ago including last season to a degree.   The other thing to point out is while I share your optimism....what success have we had exactly?  4-0 start?   That happened in  2008.   We have been “fooled” a couple times.  I am not being Sully.  Just pointing out we have a ways to go before we can really claim success.   Let’s win the division and win in the playoffs.  Enjoy the ride but we have yet to beat our nemesis.  

[longtimebillsfan]

2 hours ago, Dragoon said:

Yes. I’m waiting for God to smite us. It’s going to happen any game now. 

I have been a Bills & Yankees fan all of my life.  It has been a good offset.  When the Bills are struggling,  the Yankees are most always competitive.

 

I remember in the late 70's at Rich stadium in the early fall when the Yankees were in the word series.  When the Yankees score would be announced that they were in the lead, a collective roar in the crowd would erupt.  

 

Bills/Yankees fans are many in number.

[IDBillzFan]

2 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

I wasn't thinking "something Billsy would happen."   That much I'm beyond.  Like other people have said, I now expect that Josh will do something.  Third and 22?  We've got a shot.  So I'm personally confident.  But when I hear someone else say the Bills are good, all I can say is "yeah, well, we'll see."  

 

I need to see them beat KC, or the Packers.  And I need to see them beat the Pats.  

 

One thing I've told my son over the years is that the four stupidest words that can ever come out of someone's piehole are "I told you so." They're condescending and meant to demean you while self-inflating the douchenozzle using the words.

 

What you're experiencing -- what most of us older fans are experiencing right now --  comes from years of getting bludgeoned by the ever-present sad sack "I told you so" douchenozzles who somewhere, at some point, played the easiest bet in football: that someone would fail. In this case, they always predict that the Bills will find a way to eff up their current successes so they could get that oh-so-easy victory to remind you your team sucks.

 

Those dudes are a dime a dozen. They're the reason people like Jerry Sullivan and Tim Graham still have jobs.

 

This team is different than most any we've seen since Polian was at the helm. It's being built right. Yes, there will be some mistakes and losses, but this team is not built to disappoint like teams in the past and in time the "I told you so's" will move on to some other sad-sack activity. Like watching the NBA.

 

 

[John from Riverside]

We are entering a good era for the bills......for all of us that have been supporting the team through the bad years.......feels good

[Sherlock Holmes]

2 hours ago, CLTbills said:

I was wearing my Josh Allen jersey at the mall on Sunday afternoon before the game (4:25 starts are weird....) and some random dude wearing a Panthers shirt said "hell yeah man, I love your jersey!" Another, as I was walking through the doors of the mall, wearing a Carolina Panthers mask, yelled out at me, "4-0 baby!!"

 

I feel like Ricky Bobby. I don't know what to do with my hands. Haha.

I know exactly what to do...🤡

[coloradobillsfan]

37 minutes ago, MAJBobby said:

It is so Ironic that a year they show they are legit is a year that fans cannot get into the building

 

I thought this thread was going to be about our success during the pandemic.  Every game I've watched so far has been alone.  I still cheer loud and proud, which my neighbors can surely attest to, but not with my fellow Bills backers or friends due to covid.  I set up a zoom call during the Rams game thinking that with the game being on national TV we could all enjoy it at the same time.  Nope the broadcasts were always ahead or behind for someone, making it an unenjoyable experience that we had to abandon.  I'll take Bills success any way we can get it, but for sure this year is surreal and different and in some ways a little uncomfortable.  

[Rebel101]

2 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

I have to say I find myself not knowing how to deal with success.  

 

I can't remember what it was like 30 years ago when the Bills last were a good team.  I don't remember how I felt or I behaved.  

 

I've spent 30 years wanting the Bills to be good again, and the early indications are that it is happening.  They could collapse, of course, but I believe McDermott knows what he's doing, and he's building a serious winner.  But as the national media begin to notice the Bills, I don't know if I want or like the attention.  

 

On one of the games last night, one of the announcers said something like "Don't leave Buffalo out of the conversation.  Buffalo is for real."   Something.  I heard it and realized it was the first time I'd heard a genuinely positive comment about the Bills, a full-fledged statement that the Bills are among the best, since the early 90s.   It sounded so unusual, and I realized that I didn't know how to react to it.   A few years ago, I was thrilled just to hear an announcer say the Bills could be trouble for some teams.  But this was different.  This was a statement to the effect that the Bills could beat anybody.  I didn't know how to take it.  

 

Then I pick up my local paper, which covers the Jets, Giants and Pats, and there's an AP article about how there's an offensive explosion going on in the NFL, and the accompanying photo is an action shot of Josh Allen.   In the article, Jon Gruden says this:  "You watch Buffalo's offense, they can do a lot.  The quarterback can complete passes left-handed.  The guy's a beast standing back there.  They got a pretty good attack."

 

I find myself hoping friends won't ask me about the Bills, because I don't know what to say.  One thing I do say is, "I told you this was happening."   But then I quickly add, "they aren't good enough yet."  It's like I don't know how to deal with the success.  It was much easier when no one had any expectations for the Bills; losses weren't disappointing then.   But now if they lose, people will want to know what happened, or people will say, "see, same old Bills."  It all feels so strange. 

 

This is going to take some getting used to.  

Nah bro I definitely understand. My girl tells me she hates watching games because I’m so negative and I just say B word if you knew what they’ve put me through you’d be waiting for the ball to drop too. But I am coming along slowly. This team is not the same old Bills. I do believe Josh Allen strives to be great. I believe McDermott is a great coach. But I still am waiting every game for the same old bills to pop back up. And it doesn’t help that every 3rd quarter they give me a heart attack. But Allen seems like a completely knew person and he’s always been pretty clutch. So I feel your pain I think a lot of us do. and I’m from Atlantic City, NJ so it’s all Eagles fans pretty much. And I don’t want to be the Eagles who win one and fall apart. But I think Josh Allen will only continue to grow unlike Wentz. But I hate even thinking we are good or people expecting us to be good too lol. I haven’t worn a Bills Jersey all year. Every time I wore one of my Bills jerseys in the past 5 years we lost. So everyone should just thank me for the success lol. 

[wjag]

4 minutes ago, coloradobillsfan said:

 

I thought this thread was going to be about our success during the pandemic.  Every game I've watched so far has been alone.  I still cheer loud and proud, which my neighbors can surely attest to, but not with my fellow Bills backers or friends due to covid.  I set up a zoom call during the Rams game thinking that with the game being on national TV we could all enjoy it at the same time.  Nope the broadcasts were always ahead or behind for someone, making it an unenjoyable experience that we had to abandon.  I'll take Bills success any way we can get it, but for sure this year is surreal and different and in some ways a little uncomfortable.  

 

I hear this.  My son is at college and his viewing options tend to be 30 seconds behind mine.  I have to count to 30 before I text him.  Takes a lot of the insta-joy out of the moments. 

[Rebel101]

2 minutes ago, wjag said:

 

I hear this.  My son is at college and his viewing options tend to be 30 seconds behind mine.  I have to count to 30 before I text him.  Takes a lot of the insta-joy out of the moments. 

Lol that’s funny. 

[RobbRiddick]

I sort of feel like Al Bundy in the episode of Married with Children where he has a good day at work and doesn't hit a single light on his drive home. He's convinced the Bundy curse will come back with a vengeance and ends up building a bunker to hide in.

 

  

[Haslett_Stomp]

1 hour ago, BuffaloMatt said:

I took  it for granted in the 90s. Now I am trying to enjoy it. However, it's hard to shake  the PTSD of the past few decades. 

 

^ this.  I am enjoying this season to the fullest.

 

My dad and I decided on a whim to attend the playoff game against the Jaguars in 1996 (that signaled the end of the Kelly-era Bills) because it didn't sell out.  We went to Rich Stadium without tickets and got decent seats via the ticket office.  We didn't even have to wait in line to buy tickets.  We, like many Bills fans, became complacent toward the end of that era as we always expected the Bills to win.

 

I have been going to the same establishment to watch the Bills games for the past 8 years or so and people there are genuinely happy to see the Bills doing well.  There is always someone who mentions the 4 Super Bowls at some point during the season and I always shrug it off and say "this is the year!"  Last Sunday it was the resident obnoxious Raiders fan.  By the end of the game he was giving props to Allen and the rest of the offense.  Enjoy the ride!

Edited October 6, 2020 by Haslett_Stomp

[Jay_Fixit]

No.

 

I just karate chop any fans that try to jump on the bandwagon.

 

No room. 

[Figster]

For many years when things started going wrong for the Bills in a game it had a domino effect that more often then not ended in a loss. I've always had pride in how hard the Bills would fight to the bitter end. I suppose you could say the never give up and never say die attitude was the culture the Buffalo Bills have built for themselves over the last 2 decades. Then along comes McD and the process. As noble as Buffalo's culture was McD wanted more. So McD started the process.

 

I think changing of a culture starts at the top and works its way from the inside out. For us to believe the coaches and players had to believe 1st. Long lasting culture change is a hard nut to crack in my humble opinion. Still, Its happening now, as I finish this post.

 

Do you Billieve!!!

[ExiledInIllinois]

Nope.

 

How many people here are not from the Bills home turf and became fans during the SB years?

[wjag]

There were two links posted somewhere in here this week from the Jets and Dolphins board.  I took the time to read both.  Other fan bases are seeing what we are seeing.  2020 is turning into the greatest reclamation of an image I have ever seen.   From the talking heads to the fan bases, everyone is acknowledging that Josh and the Buffalo Bills are the real deal.  Romo, Cowherd, Simms, Florio, GMFB, King, etc., are all rolling with the Bills.  It's nice to see.  I had season tickets from 90-94 (I lived in NJ at the time and drove in for every home game).  By 91, we had lost the PTSD of the 0-for-the 70s against Miami.  I was in the stands each time the goal posts were pulled down (Knox beating Miami and then again beating the NYJ for the AFCE).  We went into every home game believing the Bills were the team to beat.  That feeling is coming back and the folks who watch football all acknowledge this team is well constructed from the top (front office) to the bottom (kicking tee retriever) and has reasonable depth and character.  Let's just enjoy the ride.  Start to lose that PTSD of last 20 years and roll forward in the belief that there is a genuine emerging superbowl threat in Orchard Park.  It might now be this year, but it is now closer than it has been since the Music City Miracle.

[Billsfan1972]

Yes hard to really comprehend and as I posted elsewhere 

 

 

The thing is after the past # of years & since McD was made HC, I have been derided because as a Bills fan we have been subjected to what at best was mediocrity (longest playoff drought prior to 2017) and for the most part very boring football, where the Offense in the last 20 years was never in the top 8 (one year at 9), seldom in the top half of the league & many years in the bottom 5.  

 

McD's 3 years has been 28, 30 & 23.  Yep I appreciate defense, but I watch games for 31-27 games not 17-13.   Those who liked the 2019 Sb (NE vs. LA) all the power to you, but just not fun.

 

This year is fun, and hope it contiinues.   

[BUFFALOKIE]

Nope.

[K-9]

The only trouble I’m having with it is wondering if/when the Bills themselves will have trouble with it. Learning to win is a real thing as the weight of higher expectations starts to creep in.

[BBills88]

Nope no trouble, its long over due.

 

Im going to have a problem with D××k Ridders who are going to pretend they are Bills fans.

Edited October 6, 2020 by BBills88

[Kwai San]

3 hours ago, RochesterLifer said:

In the Super Bowl years, penalties on our offense used to make me happy because it gave Kelly and Thurm the chance to rack up more yards. I was that confident and relaxed.

 

I am not currently there yet. In fact, these first four weeks have had me a nervous, shaking, sweaty wreck. Without my bourbon, I wouldn't survive. Seriously, I do believe in Josh, the team and especially McDermott. I think McDermott is special.

 

Awesome times! 

 

Bourbon is good.  Bills are better!!!