Week 7: Vikings (2-4) @ Bills (3-3)

[ProfessaPackMan]

Like I said, ya'll are a funny bunch. Well, some of you are.

Hopefully areobee knows where I'm coming from, if he's "informed" enough on this subject.

[SPTO]

I think all Bills fans have a chip on their shoulder (myself included) because of the many reasons Muggins alluded to. I've seen first hand on this site a couple times when it looked like the Bills were doing good things and almost EVERYONE on this board said that we shouldn't be excited about our team. I don't really see that kind of thing happening with other fanbases on here except for Cowboys fans.

I dunno, I think the losing and disappointment that has been a part of Bills football for years have just made us all very insular and self defensive. If this team starts to do well again a lot of that will wash away but as it stands now we're going to be a bit prickly when it comes to our team. I know i've been on record here complaining about the national media "coverage" of the team and I did point out how a fantasy football guy basically scoffed at Sammy Watkins before he had his breakout game earlier this year. Again, all this is pretty much self defensive posturing on my part and other Bills fans.

[wwharton]

Fans of most teams around here don't seem to be chomping at the bit to feel superior. There was one guy singing the Bengals praises before they earned it, but he proved right (and probably is still singing I told you so's... good for him, he deserves it). I don't think anybody is hating the Bills (or the Cowboys btw). In fact, I think we'd all like to join you in the journey of them returning to greatness, if not relevance. But they aren't there yet... so, after a win, speaking of "playing down to competition" doesn't really fit the situation. Just like calling the Cowboys the best team in the league after they beat the Seahawks feels premature as well.

But to be fair, I'm not sure I've read/heard anything besides that one comment this year that would make me raise an eyebrow. At the same time, I don't think I've heard anyone snap back at anything but that comment either. So calling out you Bills fans seems a bit much too.

[Kaiser Wilhelm]

Not every team in the NFL is equal. The Bills are from from being relevant. THe Bills are an 8-8 team whom will have their final record hang on their ability to win the games their supposed to and sneak a few from the guys we aren't. The past years, going back to the Trent Edwards 4-0 start. The Bills lose the games we are supposed to win, against the teams we are supposedly better than.

This years Vikings team is not good. They aren't the Jags or Raiders, but without AP they are a good bet for a top ten pick in the draft. The Bills are like I said above, an 8-8 team looking for those few extra wins to get into the playoffs. Not that we'll crash the party there, but just to get that 6th seed. This is the type of game the Bills should have won comfortably. Not a blowout, but we should have controlled the game. Instead the team played very poorly overall (albeit the defense did only allow 16 points) and we barely eeked out a W.

If the NFL were graded on a 1-10 scale, the Bills are a 5, and the Vikings are a 3. The Bills played like a 3 on Sunday. Just really sloppy football. It isn't so much us against the world as it is me trying to describe the way this team plays so inconsistently week to week.

[slickdtc]

Well put. None of us Bills fans think we're the greatest thing since sliced bread. How could we? We've been losers for the better part of 2 decades. But we're never the worst team in the league (a big reason why we can't grab that franchise QB). We are better then a handful of teams every year during our playoff drought. That drought is a misconception that we've been terrible the whole time when really we've been just a tick under average (8-8) pretty much every year during this streak. We get **** on a lot as Bills fans because we're synonymous with losing as of late and even when we were the best AFC team, we managed to lose in heartbreaking fashion, then do it three more times. This is the FIRST thing people talk about when the Bills are brought up. Losing those Super Bowls.

I don't think there's anything wrong with saying we played down to the Vikings. Their offense is all new names. They're rebuilding there. We SHOULD beat them. But we had to do it by an XP on a last second TD. As close as you can get. No one on here is beating their chest over this win... in fact, for as exciting as it ended, we're all pretty disappointed with how the other 59 minutes went.

We are an excitable bunch for sure. But I think we're pretty realistic. The Bills always leave a glimmer of hope to hold on to. Especially this year in the AFC without a dominant team outside of the Broncos. We're pretty much where we're supposed to be, and that's right in the middle of the pack of teams chasing down a wild card spot.

So we're making our way towards relevancy, but everyone is still clinging to our loser identity and it gets tiresome. We do have a chip on our shoulder and we are quick to defend ourselves. So maybe there is an everyone's against us mentality. It always seems like the odds are against us even when things seem to be going okay. I don't think that makes us a bad fan base or an annoying fan base. Personally, I think it's the other way around. We've endured so much losing and mediocrity, but we continue to cheer on the Bills every week even when we know it's futile. Buffalo has one of the most passionate fan bases in the league: think Cleveland. The Browns are Cleveland, and it's the same deal with Buffalo and probably more so.

[wwharton]

** Responding to both of you, just didn't want to add all of that text in the post**

First, I think you guys are fine as I said before. The only comment that raised an eyebrow for me was the "playing down to competition" thing and even that didn't jar me too much... I was just explaining why others were reacting to it.

With that said, I don't see anyone in here mentioning the superbowl loses or saying the Bills are awful. That is definitely on you guys and maybe other areas where you discuss your team.

Now, onto the playing down/vikings stink comments... Kaiser, your description is pretty spot on, however it seems to lack perspective of the NFL in general. Teams are generally so close that the difference between "good" and "average" is the level of consistency. The difference between a 3 team and a 5 team is exactly what we saw imo. The thought that they should have blown them out is what's off. This isn't college, there is professional talent on both teams, and neither are dominant enough that a blow out should be "expected" against anyone.

With all of that said, I completely get not being all that happy about the win. I would've just focused on how the Bills played and not point to the opponent at all. But again, the comment didn't really get to me that much. I didn't start replying until it seemed like people were saying everyone is against the Bills, saying they're awful, etc. I don't think anybody was reacting from that angle.

[Candyman5]

Without Adrian our offense is just a shadow. I hope Rudolph helps a bit with that when he comes back.

I'm pretty positive based on what I saw Adrian running ability prevented defense of lines being to aggressive. Now with him out you see dlines pushing hard and showing how the vikings line are.

*sigh* I miss you adrian....

Also btw bill fans, the vikings defense are much better than the stats show. If there's one thing that we got its a pretty decent defense. Most of the stats are inflated due to offensive turnovers.