Competitive Bills

by Mario "Game" Granata

For those of you who are Buffalo Bills fans, you have suffered since 1999 in the manner that you have not seen the Buffalo Bills in the playoffs, and when you truly examine the record of the team during that span, and a further breakdown of the statistics of the Bills, you can determine that it is harder for them to turn it around in the past 14 years. 

Since the 2000 season, the Buffalo Bills have amassed a 15-75 record versus playoff teams in that span, and taking a deeper look at the teams that competed in the Super Bowl for those years, the Buffalo Bills are 3-18 against those teams.  The fan base in Western New York, want to be competitive, but in order for that to come to fruition, the players that are picked in the draft can’t be the only focus for the Buffalo Bills.  It has to start from the top down, and from the front office, down to the coaching staff, has to be in place, and set the precedent for the organization and the team. 

Now, that is the record that the Bills have amassed against the best the NFL has to offer, but how do they compete during that span against the bottom of the NFL.  Well, teams who have drafted in the Top 10 of the NFL, who have played the Bills in the season where they picked in the Top 10, are a meager 33-35.  So, not only are they not competitive with the cream of the NFL crop, they are not even .500 against the teams that are rebuilding. 

The number one factor that the Buffalo Bills has to develop is a personality.  During the 2013 season, and with the help of Mike Pettine, the Buffalo Bills were known as a strong, blitzing defense, and they needed to be with the slow development of the offense.  Well, Mr. Pettine is now calling the shots in Cleveland, which leaves the Buffalo Bills to rewrite their identity, and if they are to be competitive, Brandon, Whaley all the way down to Marrone, Hackett, and now Schwartz has to bring to the team an attitude of winning, and a belief that they can be competitive, because if they don’t, the people who cheer for the Bills are in for another decade of being the NFL’s doormat.