3-0 Buffalo
Don’t look now, but the Buffalo Bills are 3-0. After beating the rival New England Patriots this past weekend the Bills are now sitting alone on top of the AFC East. Now if you think I’m going to crown them as the division champs after only three games, you’re absolutely wrong. However, this brings to home the point I was making last week. The NFL has a history in Buffalo and it must stay in Buffalo. Just like the NFL had a history in Baltimore and Cleveland before they let those franchises leave. Now the NFL did make amends by bringing football back to those cities, but I don’t want to see it happen again. The Bills are that classic no-name team that everyone can get behind. They have a good quarterback in Ryan Fitzpatrick. A top notch receiver in Stevie Johnson. And a damn good running back in Fred Jackson. All three of those guys are under appreciated and have been for a while in Buffalo. Now that there is success for the Bills maybe, just maybe the city of Buffalo can have something good to hold onto for this season.
Oakland looks good
Whether you want to believe Joe Namath that the Jets weren’t ready to play against the Oakland Raiders because of poor game planing is up to you. I would like to think that they were just beaten fair and square. Someone should have told Joe that his Jets were winning 17-7 during the 2nd quarter. It’s not like the Jets were blown out of the water. With that out of the way the Oakland Raiders actually looked good. Really good. Aside from blowing a 21-3 halftime lead against Buffalo during Week 2, the Raiders have been a scary team to play. Yes, a scary team. Why in the world would I be saying that? Well, just watch the highlights if you can’t watch the entire game. Their defense isn’t elite, but they are smashing opposing teams in the mouth and don’t care about it. Just ask the Jets if they could consistently run the ball this past weekend. Oakland has a fairly flexible schedule because they play in the AFC West. They play the Chiefs and Chargers twice and the Broncos one more time this year. Remember they did go 6-0 against their division last year and could do it again. There aren’t many teams that scare you nowadays, but Oakland is definitely one of them now.
3-0 Detroit
Like with Buffalo this is the other feel good story in the NFL. The last time both Buffalo and Detroit started a season 3-0 was back in 1980. That’s right, 31 years ago. Just like the Arizona Cardinals and New Orleans Saints were due for a Super Bowl appearance, it’s high time that Detroit gets back into contention. Fortunately for them it started pretty recently. It wasn’t when they drafted WR Calvin Johnson in 2007 or QB Matthew Stafford in 2009. No, it was last year when they drafted DT Ndamukong Suh. He has immediately changed the attitude of the entire team with his ferocious style of play. Watching him play at this level is no surprise why he was a Heisman trophy candidate during his last year at Nebraska. He’s a game changer. The Lions fortunes just like Buffalo’s are changing rapidly. It’s only three games, but it’s hard to say that Detroit can’t keep this going. They have a favorable schedule leading up to their big Thanksgiving day game against the rival Green Bay Packers. Can you imagine if both Detroit and Green Bay were undefeated going into that game? Turkey day just got a little bit better if that were the case. Make sure you leave some for me because I will be glued to my seat if that happens.
westhesportsguy.com 