Wide-right

I've been a Buffalo Bills fan since the early 1990's. Back when I played high school football my buddies and I used to love watching Jim Kelly execute his K-Gun offense to perfection opening up the game like it's never been open lighting up tired defenses en route to some magnificent performances. Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas, Andre Reed, James Lofton, and of course, Bruce Smith were the players I enjoyed watching and emulating on the field. I even played with the Bills on the SEGA when we played Madden.

My buddy David, who I ended up coaching high school ball with just a few years ago, was an extreme fan. His room was covered with Bills gear from pennants to jerseys and cards and caps. When Buffalo went up against the Giants in Super Bowl 25 it was a wide-right field goal by Scott Norwood that cost them the first of 4 consecutive Super Bowl losses. Yes, it still hurts to think about it. Both Dave and I went through mini-depressions during those February's that followed those losses. I'm tellin you, I grew some thick skin from being a Bills fan then.

So when the year began as well as it did with some big wins over non-division teams there was a lot of talk that hasn't been heard in Buffalo for a few years. Edwards was looking confident at QB and the team's defense looked pretty strong. And then a big hit put the starting QB out for a couple of games and some sure wins on a fairly easier than average schedule turned into 4 losses in a row including the last one against the Cleveland Browns.

The return of Edwards brought about some confidence though the Monday Night Football game against the Browns brought about a last minute field goal for the win that just had Super Bowl 25 written all over it. Last second shot to win the game. Just over 45 yards. Even the MNF announcers referred to it, and by the look of crowd pans prior to the kick, the whole stadium was thinking it like it was yesterday Norwood kicked it wide-right.

The snap, the hold, the kick. Wide-right.

A big win a week later. And then a disappointing loss this past weekend. The big stat from this past loss to San Francisco wasn't just the zero touchdowns, but the 1/3 kicking by Lindell who seems to be off his game since that Monday night. Though he's hit a large number of consecutive extra points, he's been cold lately even missing a field goal that would've been shorter than an extra point, hooking it twice off the left upright.

Maybe I'm just venting. Maybe I'm hoping putting this out there will change things and the Bills will make a run starting with a big statement in TO against the Jets this weekend. I'll be crossing my fingers hoping for a blowout...keep the kicking game out of it for now. At least the game will be indoors.