On the Edge

by Ryan

We're just about to slide into another big sports weekend in Buffalo, and I have to admit I'm a bit nervous. Actually, looking at the schedule it appears I could write the same thing for the next four Fridays. The Sabres play on every Friday and Saturday in November, and yes that's kind of crazy. Also, aside from the suddenly huge Monday Night game the Bills will play every Sunday. That's your weekend schedule for the month, so don't make any plans or anything.

We could talk about my nerves with the Sabres, but in reality they are pretty basic. The schedule is very symmetrical but could harm them because of the back to back games. Only having games on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday for an entire month is pretty crazy, and we all know how poorly the Sabres have played in the Saturday night slot over the past few seasons.

Still, I think the Sabres will be fine. They are once again healthy and Miller is playing as lights out as he ever has. Having Lalime to fill in the back to back nights is a huge upgrade from last year, I don't think it's possible to overstate this. Jocelyn Thibault, you suck at life. I hate you. I hope you contract Typhoid or something more vile and painful.

Ahem.

The Bills, however, are my main concern. Losing two straight in the division makes them suddenly seem a whole lot less "real" than we originally thought, and a loss to the Patriots puts them in panic button territory. Missing four starters isn't going to help things at all, and New England still has a very good offense that just happens to have a terrible quarterback at the helm.

Judging from the above paragraph, the NFL is all kinds of f#$ked up this year. It's quite possible that the Dolphins are the best team in the division, and that the Jets can make the playoffs despite being the worst. Seriously, no matter what you took from the game last Sunday I think we can all agree that the Jets are terrible.

New England, Buffalo, and amazingly Miami are all potential playoff teams, and in a conference where only one team truly stands out (Tennessee) the division crown suddenly means all that much more. Assuming Tennessee is the top seed, there's still a first round bye floating around out there, and the AFC East has as good a chance as any to get it. Forget about the home playoff game we'd like so badly to have, the Bills need to step it up and put themselves in a good position for the playoffs, and a bye still isn't out of the question.

However, losing on Sunday will put plenty of the above in question, including a playoff spot altogether. It's frightening to say it, but a lot is on the line in Foxboro on Sunday, and there's not much optimism going around right now. With a big Monday Night looming, the Bills need to put up a win on the road to get that momentum back. The Browns will come to town with high hopes for a quarterback but two crushing losses. What will the Bills bring to the Ralph in ten days?

Just another big sports weekend in Buffalo.