The Bills relish being doubted
The Bills have thrived all season long at being the underdog. This has been the case since the preseason, when many local and national media members were predicting a losing season for Buffalo. The Bills have seemed to use the doubters as fuel. They began the season with three wins in their first three games and have continued to rattle off wins through to December, never having major stumbles. The Bills have yet to lose back-to-back games all season long.
Even through the winning, much of the discussion has been about the quality of the Bills’ opponents and some of the struggles of their offense, specifically their starting quarterback. Allen is a player who has been questioned since college. The many flaws in his game have been picked apart and analyzed to death. In many ways, this has made him the perfect quarterback for a team that loves to prove people wrong.
The Bills are by no means perfect and Allen does have issues that may or may not ever improve, but the Bills have been able to shove the doubters aside and produce a magic carpet ride of a season that will take them to the playoffs. The ride continued Sunday night in Pittsburgh as the Bills exercised several demons. Not only did they clinch a playoff berth without needing help from an Andy Dalton miracle, they won a night, which they never do, and they won in Pittsburgh, which they hadn’t done since 1993. They hadn’t even beaten the Steelers anywhere since 1999.
After the game, both Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane spoke to assembled members of the media and both talked about overcoming outside doubts. McDermott mentioned how people told him before he took the job that Buffalo was a place where he couldn’t win. Beane answered a question about exceeding expectations by mentioning prognosticators who had the Bills winning “five, six, seven games.” It’s clear the Bills have set out to prove those prognosticators wrong.
Still, you can’t just want to prove the doubters wrong. You have to make the right moves to put a good team together and you have to do the job on the field. The Bills have done both and have earned the accolades they are now receiving.
And guess what? The doubts will continue next week and into the postseason. The Bills haven’t beaten Tom Brady and the Patriots in a game that has mattered in forever. They haven’t won a playoff game since the mid 90s. They will have plenty more milestones to accomplish and people to prove wrong. Who’s to say they can’t do it?