This is my first fan post in a long time.  I am going to shed some optimism as I am generally a pessimistic Bills fan.  If they keep Edwards on the bench I have a little faith the season is salvagable.  Yes...I said salvagable meaning playoffs.  I even surprised myself as I wrote that.  Fitz got substantially better in Cinci as he grew into his starting role at the end of last season.  I believe he finished 3-0-1.  The D should get better, with Poz and Whitner getting more and more into game shape.  The D is fairly good already.  Maybin will learn he can't lineup in the other teams backfield and the coaching staff will eventually figure out they need to play Harris.  The special teams won't be as bad...why...because they just can't fumble that many more times (or have unlucky crap like the ball hitting Reed's leg happen).  If I am not mistaken I believe special teams has lost 4 fumbles on the season, all at critical times...McKelvin Week 1, Parrish v. the Saints, Parrish v. the Browns and whatever that was yesterday.  The D-line is playing solid, and so is the secondary.  Yes, yesterday we shut down only Mark Sanchez and the week before it was only Derrick Anderson but this D put the clamps on Brees too, and shut down Brady until the final quarter.  And really, give Fitz a week to prepare and a smart guy like him can do just enough to make the offense functional.  He doesn't need to be great, just functionable.

The real reason to get excited (assuming Fitz plays) is the schedule and the other teams in the AFC.  In our next 7 games we do not play a team with a winning record.  Take these games 1 by 1.

@ Carolina(2-3):  They have won 2 in a row and can certainly run the ball.  But Jake Delhomme is still Jake Delhomme and they struggle stopping the run.  They beat TB and Wash which aren't exactly word better.

Houston (3-3):  By far the toughest game of the 7 game stretch but Houston doesn't run the ball well and their Defense is extremely suspect ranking in the bottom 5.

@ TN (0-6):  It won't be easy but they are in complete dissaray.  59-0.  I never thought a team would quit on Jeff Fisher.

@ Jax (3-3):  They struggled to beat St. L at home.  Two of their wins were against teams who haven't won yet this season.  Garrard is still turnover prone and the Jags pass D is one of the worst in the NFL.

Jets (3-3):  Won't be easy, but the hunnymoon is over in NY.

Mia (2-3):  We know this won't be easy, but this is not the Patriots, Steelers or Colts coming to the Ralph

@KC (1-5):  Playing much better ball, Aerohead is a tough place to play, but the Bills won in KC last  year.  

Obviously, the Bills won't run the table, and even more obviously they will need to win one of the next two to ensure at least a 3-5 record going into the bye (hopefully 4-4).  But, it is not that unrealistic to think they could go 5-2 in this set of 7 games and set up a 7-6 record with a home game against the Pats.  In week 17 the Colts will have nothing to play for just like the Steelers in 2004 (or was it '03?).  The Colts will be the number 1 seed in the AFC with the division clinched.  

But even more importantly is if you look at the rest of the AFC almost every team will have an extremely tough time getting to 10 wins.  Denver has an absolutely brutal scheduel.  If Denver doesn't win today they could fall to 5-3 before they know it.  I still think only 1 team comes out of the West (which I believe will ultimately be SD).  I don't believe in Jax, so really the only playoff team in the South is Houston so that game will be big.  In the Central you almost feel like they won't get 2 wc's.  Someone...most likely Cinci or Baltimore will falter.  Both Pitt and Cinci have tough games this week against MN and Chi respectively.  Pitt next 3 games are against teams with a combined record of 15-2 (and then after that they still have Baltimore twice).  It is reasonable to think there is a tie with a bunch of teams at 9 wins to get the last spot.

I am delusional I know.  I mean Dick Jauron is still our coach but I can't help but wonder if the Cleveland loss will be the one we are kicking ourselves about at the end of the season.