There's a lot to talk about when, for the first time in a long time, your favorite football team is coming off of a dominant win. That's exactly what the Buffalo Bills are doing after yesterday's 38-17 throttling of the winless Miami Dolphins. There's lots of reading material and news to pass along, so I thought I'd give you a reading list to ponder over the next 12 or so hours:
Safety George Wilson's broken ribs will end his season, and the emerging safety prospect could be sent to IR. A fitting quote from head coach Dick Jauron to encompass Wilson's value to the team:
Note to Marshawn Lynch: "Action Jackson" is a far, far better nickname for Fred Jackson than "Head", no matter how astronomically large Jackson's head may be (and I speak as a man whose noggin is a big bigger than it probably should be). It's not about the nicknames with these guys, though - Beast Mode and Action Jackson finally give the Bills a great 1-2 punch; I absolutely salivate at the potential of these two. These guys are going to be fun to watch.
John Dudley makes the point of the week in his latest column: Buffalo's playoff hopes rest on their comic book rushing duo and the O-Line. When you're playing a late-season game in the northeast, it's important to have a mauling O-Line and a strong running game. Cleveland has it with their great line and Jamal Lewis; now the Bills have an attack that can keep pace with the Browns' units. The pressure is on those seven men to continue their stellar play on Sunday if the Bills hope to escape Cleveland with a huge win.
Leo Roth (and he's joined by almost every other Bills fan) likes what he sees from Trent Edwards:
After the woeful Dolphins found juice from a Lemon (backup Cleo), and climbed back to within two touchdowns, Edwards faced a third-and-nine at his own 30-yard line. Rather than settle for a familiar screen pass or curl route to a tight end, he uncorked a 70-yard touchdown throw to Evans, hitting the speeding target in stride down the left sideline. It was the magic bullet.
For those of you wondering - yes, I'll be trying to incorporate the "magic bullet" phrase into as many of my posts as possible, because it's golden. Good work, Leo. I'm not going to pass judgment on Edwards in this one - yes, his performance was very impressive, but it was just Miami. He's got a far, far stiffer challenge coming up in a week's time; that will be a far better indicator as to just how far he's come.
In case you hadn't heard, the Bills/Giants matchup in two weeks will not be flexed. That's fine by me - prime time has been bad to Buffalo this season. That's for future reference; I'm trying my hardest to not talk about anything but the Bills and Browns this week. Focus is everything.
And finally, here's a very moving quote from Robert Royal after his big day:
"I'm definitely going to call him," Royal said. "He's going to be excited for me. He's always happy for the tight ends when we do well. He loves us, and we love him. He'll probably be the first guy I talk to."