I ALWAYS BLAME MYSELF
In the NFL, change is inevitable.
In 2018, the New Orleans Saints were eliminated in the playoffs for the third straight year. I believed that the Saints were the best team in the NFL all three years; a scoring machine bled by Drew Brees, who would set the record for most yards and more touchdown passes in league history during those three years. But there was no Vince Lombardi trophy at the end, only theee brutal playoff defeats: the Minneapolis Miracle, the uncalled pass interference call against the Rams in the 2018 NFC Championship, and another loss’s against the Vikings, this time in overtime. There would be one more playoff loss against Tom Brady’s Buccaneers, but by then they were far from the best team in the league. Brees retired, Sean Payton left for Denver, and the Saints have been rebuilding ever since.
So of course, in January of 2020, I posted about it in Facebook.
Then, the Buffalo Bills took their place. Possibly the best team in the NFL, brutal playoff loses, no Super Bowl rings. Could have been a 3 time, maybe a 4 time Super Bowl champ. (Forgive me for wishful thinking.)
And now, it is time for their reckoning.
It has begun with the retirement of safety Micah Hyde, the first free agent signing of the Brandon Beane - Sean McDermott era. Then on Wednesday, March 6, came the bloodletting, deemed necessary due to the fact that the Bills sat at $43,815,909 over the salary cap.
Jordan Poyer, who had teamed with Hyde to form of the best safety tandems in the league, was released. So was Mitch Morse, signed in 2019 from Kansas City to anchor the offensive line. So was Tredavious White, first round draft choice in 2017 who had been a standout cornerback until a series of injuries curtailed his career (His release will not be official until June 1.) Also released were cornerback Siran Neal, WR Deone Harty and running back Nyheim Hines, and re-structured the contracts of Rasual Douglas and Von Miller. After all was said and done, the Bills are now only $1,177,381 over the cap. If only we could all erase our debt so easily.
The Bills will, of course, field a 53-man roster on Week 1 of the 2024 season. With QB Josh Allen at the helm, they will still be competitive. They may avoid sinking into the mire that the Saints, or other teams that fell short, find themselves in. They may make deals to resign free-agents, bring in new ones, or strike a mortherloaad
But an era has ended, in a manner almost as jarring as when, after the 1999 season, the Bills released Andre Reed, Thurman Thomas, and Bruce Smith. White, Poyer and Morse are not at that level, but they were all impactful contributors to this era of Bills football. You never questioned their effort, their heart, their drive. Their leadership on and off the field were exemplary. Hell, unlike other Bills draft choices, TreDavious White WANTED to play in Buffalo. They helped turn the Bills from doormat to a team that garnered eyeballs all over the sports world. They took us as close to the promised land as one can get. They made Bills fans believe when belief seemed foolish. That should never be forgotten.
Whoever is brought in their positions, whether through free agency or the draft, will have big shoes to fill. The first test of the Beane era is upon us, one that would have happened if the Bills had won four Super Bowls or not. Can they put together the formula to keep the wagons circling? That will be as much of their legacy as any championships in the future,
There may not be any lamentations about the Bills lack of making it the Super Bowl, and the players that were on those teams. Time rolls on. The Saints run of brilliance (and they have a Lombardi trophy in their office) doesn’t get talked about much anymore. They may be an afterthought when the Kansas City dynasty is remembered. Perhaps it will be tacked onto the running narrative of Buffalo Bills failure: four Super Bowl defeats, seventeen years of irrelevance, the revival that fell short, only in the reflection of Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. Someone has to play the vanquished foe in recounting the fables of victory, why not the Bills? They certainly provided epics worthy of Homer, Aeschylus, Chaucer, or Peter King.
In the end, maybe I should have kept my mouth shut about the Saints, not knowing I was actually putting the jinx on my team. You know how sports fans think, after all.