Road to redemption

Being a Bills fan has always been a constant lowering of your own expectations on what excites you and the art of always thinking the worst is yet to come. Sometimes, that self-defeating mindset leads to jubilation whenever the worm turns for you. Why? The outcome shocks folks who are used to losing and then finally get a taste of victory. In a way, it is overcoming the adversity of just being shitty or a disappointment.

A bend in the road is not the end of the road… unless you fail to make the turn. These are just some of the folks who turned it around on Sunday.

Stevie Johnson- I didn't even think about it. The Pittsburgh drop didn't enter my head after Stevie's game-winning TD. Mainly because I was thinking about his redemption from overcoming last week's drop. It is kind of the curse Stevie faces because his drops manifest into a death knell for the team's success. Stevie talked about the Pittsburgh drop which certainly will stay on his player resume forever. While Stevie is a really good WR, it is certainly debatable about whether he's a clutch WR. For the last two seasons, the lowest receptions and yards for Stevie has come in the 4th quarter of games (37 catches for 444 yards). Seriously, outside of the Bengals game from 2010, can you remember a real clutch performance from the guy? Just making that grab when the Bills needed a first down to extend a critical drive. It will take you a while, right? Well, he did that Sunday with 8 catches for 111 yards and was an impact player on the final drive with the TD catch and causing a PI penalty. In 3 of his last 5 games, Stevie has over 100 yards receiving, his best stretch of play statistically speaking since 2010. As Stevie put it, he's been chasing after that Pittsburgh drop for years now and hopefully he'll now start chasing his previous clutch catches and continue to push the envelope. 

Mario Williams- I don't even think Mario dealt with as much adversity as some want to make it out to be. Yes, a breakup is shitty as hell and obviously will affect your mindset, but the other crap like footgate, wristgate, fridgegate and badgegate were all just bullshit yellow journalism that we see too often. To me, it was always about what Mario did on the field. He struggled last year at times and was too inconsistent with folks saying he wasn't worth the money. Well, he earned that paycheck on Sunday. 4.5 sacks and is now leading the league in that category. He also has the most tackles for losses (4) by any Defensive end in the league and is 2nd in the league for QB hurries (9). In his last 12 games, Mario quietly has 13.5 sacks. Give that man a meat locker instead of a mini fridge! The guy was in the zone and he dominated that game more than any defensive player in the last 15 years for the Bills. And that's a fact.

CJ Spiller- I'm pretty sure that 95% of the fan base knew that this would be just a minor setback in CJ Spiller's game after his downer of a performance against the Pats. His game on Sunday wasn't the flashy CJ Spiller type of game we've been accustomed to of just one cut and gone. Instead, he ran really tough in the inside and broke a few tackles. Currently, he's ranked 7th in the NFL for yards after contact. We can all drool over EJ and Stevie like we are lions desperate for red meat, but the road to respectability goes through CJ Spiller.

Leodis McKelvin- So much for my predictions piece from a few weeks ago about how McKelvin was going to be our scapegoat this season. According to Profootball Focus, McKelvin is tied for first for most pass defended (5) and is only giving up a QB rating of 50.1 when the ball is thrown his way. That's better than what Revis has this season so far. Yes, it is still early and you could chalk up some of his stellar performance against Steve Smith with Cam Newton overthrows, but when you consider how scared shitless I was about McKelvin starting and how he was only a year removed from being the 4th CB, you can't complain. When Gilmore gets back, I'll be more than happy to have him as our 2nd CB.

Doug Marrone- Dougie got some bullshit flack for having the Bills run the no-huddle offense while clinging to their 1 point lead against NE. While I didn't think he deserved it, some thought otherwise. Well..did you see how the Bills ran that last 2-minute drill? They moved the ball pretty effortlessly and that's what happens when you execute the plays and do what the coach says. Keep the no-huddle and chains moving.