Bills year in review so far

So the beginning of the season showed a lot of promise. The Bills started off 3-0 and were playing very well. Week one they destroyed the Kansas City Chiefs. Week two they made an amazing comeback against the Oakland Raiders. And how can you forget when they came back on the New England Patriots. Yes the beginning of the season was awesome, but they have lost six straight games. They have had some close losses and some blowouts. When the Bills were winning, every media outlet was talking about them. They were leading the AFC East and were in the top ten for a while in ESPN's Power Rankings. However, now if you here about the Bills, it is when they are facing a tough opponent and the media barely mentions him. Sometimes they will mention Fred Jackson and the impact he had, but that is about it. Other things you will here is complaints about quarterback Ryan Fitzpatricks play ever since he has signed his nice long extension. The injury plague definitely got the best of the Bills roster and it has been nothing but a downfall since. Hopefully, next season the Bills will stay healthy. They may be a few pieces away from making a run to the playoffs as the beginning of the year showed lots of hope. As for now, go Bills!!!

Stevie Johnson.....was that really necessary?

Buffalo Bills wide receiver Stevie Johnson has been known for being a character and a solid receiver in the NFL. However, just recently he has crossed the line. After catching a touchdown pass during the Bills Jets game in the 2nd quarter, he celebrated and took it a little too far. Making fun of Jets wide receiver Plaxico Burress for shooting himself is one thing, but pretending your a jet thats crashing down can be very offensive for many people. ESPN's Merril Hoge thought this celebration was disrespectful and believe me he is not the only one. And to make matters worse, Stevie drops a key pass that may have won them that crucial matchup versus the Jets. This loss erased any playoff hopes the Bills had and it seems like the fans will be disappointed again this year.

Unfortunately for Stevie, this isn't the first time he has dropped a pass at a key moment. If Stevie keeps performing like this his stock will go down. He seems to not be able to show up in clutch situations and it will hurt your team in the long run. He is set to be a free agent this offseason unless he resigns with the Bills but if he keeps acting like this then some teams might want to stay away. Stevie's antics the past two seasons have really stirred up a lot of buzz in the media. Maybe someday Stevie will grow up.

Fred Jackson and other injuries

Unfortunately Bills running back Fred Jackson is out for the season with a broken fibula in his right leg. This is a huge blow to the Bills offense since he is having a career year. He was well on his to a Pro Bowl bid and was in the conversation for Most Valuable Player. Not only did the Buffalo News say he was in the MVP race, ESPN believed he was a candidate as well. Jackson was followed a lot by the media until his injury. He has been on a long incredible journey to make it where he is today and some proof is this feature which was done earlier this season. He has been making huge plays all year including this one. And this one. The last play helped the Bills defeat the Patriots earlier this year. Losing Jackson has hurt the Bills a lot and their offense has been struggling now that he is done for the year. He was definitely the Bills offensive MVP.

Another key loss to the offensive side was losing Bills starting center Eric Wood after hurting his knee. This is a huge loss because this forces the Bills to shift around their offensive lineman and have them play different positions than they are used too.

Key losses on the defensive side include linebacker Shawne Merriman and Defensive lineman Kyle Williams.Ever since Kyle Williams was put on the injured reserved, the defemse has not been able to stop the run that well and force turnovers. It is a huge loss because the Bills made a lot of big plays this season off of turnovers. Maybe next year the Bills can stay healthy. Lets just hope!!!

Fitz's Contract

Ryan Fitzpatrick signed a new contract with the Buffalo Bills that will keep him here for another 6 years. However, ever since he has singed that contract he has been struggling. The Bills have only won one game and as of today have dropped six straight games after starting the season off 5-2. This losing skid is due to injury problems and very poor play by Fitzpatrick. Since Fitz has signed, he has thrown eight touchdowns and ten interceptions. This is not the way you win football games and the Bills playoffs hopes are slim to none now. Maybe now they are just playing for a better draft pick and it will be another disappointing season for Bills fans. However, the fast start to the season gives Bills fans hope that if they can stay healthy they will be competitive. Just like any other season, Bills fans get high hopes and get their hearts broken. This twelve year wait for the playoffs has been dreadful and hopefully with a few more players the Bills will be back into the playoffs.

Shut Out in Toronto

The Bills pulled out a big win on Sunday, beating the Washington Redskins 23-0. This was the first time that Redskins coach, Mike Shanahan, his first shutout against him in the NFL. This is a very shocking stat since Shanahan has been a coach for 24 seasons in the NFL. Who would have thought that a coach wouldnt have a shutout against them in 24 seasons? I certainly didn't. This was also the Bills first shutout since the 2006 season against the Miami Dolphins. This was also the first time the Bills won at the Rogers Center in Toronto. The Bills have a five year deal to play one regular season game in Toronto that runs through 2012. The Bills played a very strong game and recorded 9 sacks. In the previous six games this season, the Bills only had 4 sacks. Ryan Fitzpatrick threw 2 touchdown passes to tight end Scott Chandler and had a very solid game after signing his new contract during the bye week. The Bills are now 5-2 and are back to first place in the AFC East after the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the New England Patriots this Sunday. There has been some buzz about the Bills during this week. However, the Bills are up to 7th in ESPN's Power Rankings. But Patriots are still in front of the Bills even though the Bills are in first place in the AFC East and the Patriots are second. The Bills did beat the Pats earlier this season too. The New Orleans Saints are also ahead of the Bills even though the Saints have one more loss than the Bills. I guess it is hard for the media to accept that the Bills are better than teams they have beat or have a better record than. The Bills get no respect. I guess they will just have to win the Super Bowl sometime soon to get some respect from anyone else other than Chris Berman. As for next week, the Bills have a very big game against their divisional rival the New York Jets. Go Bills!!

Week 6

The Buffalo Bills entered the bye week after losing to the New York Giants in a close game. Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick threw two interceptions including one in the fourth quarter to set up the game winning field goal drive for the Giants. The Bills were down 24-17 heading into the fourth quarter until Ryan Fitzpatrick passed to Stevie Johnson for a touchdown to tie it up. They lost 27-24 after the Giants drove down the field and kicked a field goal with 1:32 left in the fourth quarter. The Bills got the ball back and tried to make another remarkable comeback, but they ended up turning the ball over on downs. The Bills now head into the bye week with a 4-2 record with the hopes of improving the pass rush and other defensive problems. The Bills only led once this game and it was in the first half.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/boxscore?gid=20111016019

The Bills still got a lot of attention on the shows Sportscenter and NFL Live, but there wasn't any articles about the Bills other than the recap of the game.

Bills Hang On to be 4-1

The Bills defeated the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday 31-24 thanks to their defense for forcing 5 turnovers. The Bills intercepted Mike Vick 4 times and forced a fumble. However, the Eagles had a second half surge to get within a touchdown of the Bills until Vick threw his fourth interception of the day late in the fourth quarter which helped sealed the deal. This win puts the Bills to 4-1 and is the second time the Bills have started out 4-1 in the past decade. The Bills are still getting a lot of love from the media right now. ESPN had Bills safety George Wilson on Jim Rome is Burning for a five minute segment. ESPN analysts have been talking about the Bills run game on Sportscenter and the Bills defense. The Bills are off to a fast start and hopefully they can keep forcing turnovers and putting points on the board. Next week the Bills face the Giants in the Meadowlands.

Miserable Sunday

The Bills finally lost to the Cincinnati Bengals this week. It was tough to watch, but the Bills didn't deserve to win. There may have been a challenge that shouldve have been overturned when Bills wide receiver, Stevie Johnson, clearly caught a pass for a first down, but the refs said he dropped it. Bills coach Chan Gailey challenged the play, but the refs didn't have enough evidence to rule it a catch. This play may have changed the game, but it is not the reason why they lost. The offense couldn't do anything and they were shut down the whole game. Bills only had one offensive touchdown and two field goals. The defense could have played better and made some stops, but the Bengals offense got some momentum and figured the Bills out. The Bengals came back from a 17-3 deficit at halftime and ended up kicking a game winning field goal as time expired. Since the Bills have lost, they have been barely talked about on ESPN. In fact, I haven't heard the Bills mentioned at all today on ESPN. Maybe next week will be better. Go Bills!!!!!

Beating New England

The Bills finally beat the New England Patriots and shocked almost everyone. I was very shocked and this proved that the Bills are for real. New England has been a team that has only missed the playoffs twice since the Tom Brady era started. The Bills have only beat Tom Brady and the Patriots twice since then. It was an exciting game that went all the way down to the wire. The Bills took advantage of four different interceptions that Brady threw. One was returned for a touchdown by Bills cornerback Drayton Florence and this proved to be the turning point of the game. This touchdown gave the Bills the lead for the first time all day and made the score 31-24. Shortly after, Brady drove the Patriots down to tie the game up again. The Bills got the ball back and drove down the field. Bills kicker Rian Lindell kicked a game winning field goal while time expired. This win is huge not only for the Bills, but for all of Buffalo as well. Fans have been waiting to see the Bills beat the Patriots for the longest time and now that dream has finally come true. This win also made the Bills a very hot topic this week. Everyone was talking about the Bills. ESPN talked about them everyday and there were many articles on different sports websites. One article on Yahoo! Sports was just about Bills fans and why they shouldn't move. If the Bills keep winning then will keep getting love from the media.

ESPN Love

The Buffalo Bills are off to their best start since the 2008 NFL season where they started the year with a 4-0 record, but later went on to finish the season 6-10. However, the Bills seem to show more promise this year and have plenty of young talent on the team. The game tomorrow is going to be the Bills biggest test so far this year. They play the New England Patriots who they haven't beat in 13 games and who are a tougher opponent than the Kansas City Chiefs and the Oakland Raiders. This is the first time in a while that the media has been giving the Bills credit, especially ESPN. Chris Berman may be the only diehard Bills fan on ESPN. Other than that ESPN has been known for bashing the Bills and never covering their games unless they have a good start like this. But this week has been different. The Bills have been all over ESPN and have been talked about on Sportscenter Several times this week. The media has tagged this game as the biggest game the Bills have had in a very long time. Many fans are looking forward to this game and I can't wait either. Go Bills! As for the media, we will see if the Bills will remain a hot topic.