Bills 23 Chargers 14

-Coast

For the first time since 1995, the Bills are 5-1 and it feels good. People criticize the Bills for not beating anyone good and thought they were overrated because of their performance against Arizona. This was a legit win, no questions asked. Yeah, the Chargers were 3-3...but if it wasn’t for Ed Hochuli’s blown fumble call and that last second lucky pass by Delhomme opening day, San Diego would have been a 5-1 football team. The Chargers are good…and today, the Bills were without a doubt the better team.

The 12th man was on their games today. The stadium was rocking and for the entire first half, the casual fan would have had no idea what was going on…no scoreboard, no public address announcer, no power whatsoever, the concourse area was pitch black…no light in the bathrooms…the entire stadium was without power. Some balloons got caught in a transformer before the game which apparently caused it to blow up and I guess Ralph Wilson Stadium either didn’t have emergency generators or was too cheap to utilize them…probably the latter. Anyways, there was no power for much of the first half and the only way to watch the game was to be in Orchard Park.

I am going to start by giving credit where credit is due. Last year I constantly argued in favor of JP Losman and wondered why Trent Edwards was playing and JP wasn’t. Well, now it would be an insult to even mention JP Losman’s name in the same sentence as Trent Edwards. Trent completed 19 of his first 20 passes…he finished the game 25-30 for 261 yards and a touchdown. He did not throw an interception. He did not fumble. He was not sacked. Perhaps the biggest play of the game came on a 12 yard scramble in the third quarter on third and 7. San Diego took the lead 14-13 and the Bills were in danger of going three and out…but Trent was able to run for a first down…what a huge play at the time. Trent was accurate all day, always found the open guy…he completed passes to 7 different receivers. Great pass to Parrish on the sideline on the drive that produced the game winning points. Great pass to Lee Evans to get a first down late in the 4th quarter after being pinned at the 1 yard line. I can remember every single one of Trent Edwards incomplete passes today…swing pass to Lynch that he dropped, pass knocked down at the line on third down late in the 2nd quarter inside the Charger 5, on the Bills final field goal drive, he had a pass knocked down on a rollout that intended for Royal, a deep out to Josh Reed that was barely tripped at the last second and he missed Royal on an out pattern in the third quarter. Whenever you can remember every incomplete pass your QB threw on the day when he attempts 30 passes…you know it was a good day.

Todays game, and Edwards season thus far brings up a few important questions.

1. How many Qbs in this league would you rather have on your team right now than Trent Edwards? I can’t really think of any. Yeah Cutler, Manning and Rivers are all young, good players and Cutler and Rivers can probably be mentioned in the same breath as Trent right now. Obviously Eli has a ring which sets him apart. You may be thinking Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, McNabb, Brees…etc…but don’t forget that Trent is this good already and is only 23 years old…hasn’t even started a full seasons worth of games…I don’t know if I would want to trade him for anyone in the entire league. Rivers and Edwards played head to head today…you tell me who outplayed who…Edwards didn’t turn it over at all…Rivers 3 times…you make that call.
2. Is Trent Edwards the MVP of the league? Is there a guy in this league who is more valuable than him to his team? Without Trent, the Bills may have 3 wins right now…maybe even less.

The Bills defense stepped it up today in a big way. They allowed only 14 points to the leagues highest scoring offense. Tomlinson ran for less than 50 yards. They forced three key turnovers…all three turnovers were huge. The first one came after the Bills missed a 52 yard field goal and San Diego took over at the 42 yard line with a 7-3 lead. Rivers’ fumble led to a Lee Evans touchdown. The 2nd came with the Bills up by 6 in the 4th quarter when Kawika Mitchell intercepted a pass at the goaline to preserve the lead. Then Mitchell did it again when he forced a fumble on the Charger next drive in the 4th quarter to essentially ice the game. Of course I can’t be completely positive about our entire defense. Our defensive ends cannot generate anything close to a pass rush. It is pathetic. Ryan Denney should not be on an NFL team. If you took Trent Edwards, put him in a Denney jersey and threw him out there to play D end he would look exactly like Ryan Denney. Denney looks so skinny out there and actually had me wishing that Schobel was playing. Leodis McKelvin needs A LOT of work. He was completely owned on San Diego’s two touchdown passes…he really had no chance and looks overmatched out there. He doesn’t even really look dangerous on kickoffs to be honest with you. He needs to show me something really soon. Terrance McGee get better real soon. Why was Youboty even active today if he was too injured to even play? Get Reggie Corner in the game for Gods sake. Plug Chris Ellis in at D end for a rep…where is the 2008 draft class for the love of god?

What about the Bills running game? Lynch had 19 carries for 70 yards and a touchdown. Once again, not that good of numbers but this is to absolute no fault of his own. For some reason which I cannot figure out given the size of our offensive line, these guys just cannot run block. Lynch was getting hit at or before the line almost even time he touched the football. On one play Jason Whittle was thrown like 3 yards into the backfield right into Lynch that resulted in no gain. I give the Bills credit though…they never abandoned the run. They kept running the ball even though they were only getting 2 or 3 yards a carry. This finally paid off late in the third and in the 4th quarter with Lynch’s 9 yard touchdown run (Fred Jackson provided a sick block on this play completely plowing Quentin Jammer over…Lynch then hid behind Jackson on the side line so that Jackson would get all the congratulations…not Lynch), followed by a 19 yard run on the Bills next drive that led to the game iceing field goal. I give Dick and Turk credit for not abandoning the run.

What else can I say besides what a great win and it feels good to be a Bills fan for the first time this millennium probably. The Bills are 5-1 and in first place in the AFC East and trailing only one team in the conference…and the entire NFL. Can we start talking home field? Why not? We haven’t been able to have that conversation since like 1993 so we might as well have it. Can we talk about having an MVP candidate on our team? Again…why not? What about an NFL coach of the year? Why not? The road to the super bowl went through Orchard Park the last time it was held in Tampa…why not again? The next three games will be huge for the Bills…three divisional games, 2 of which are on the road…the Bills win 2 of these games, they will be 7-2...and their next 4 games are Cleveland at home, at Kansas City, San Francisco at home, Miami at the Rogers Centre. Can you say 11-2?