2008 Season Week 7

Good old fashioned football yesterday in Western New York. No headsets, no helmet speakers, no 40 second clock and no television for about 40% of the game but most importantly for the Buffalo Bills, no turn-overs and no sacks allowed as they handled the hard luck San Diego Chargers 23-14 at a sun drenched Ralph Wilson Stadium. Apparently, some mylar balloons got loose (as they so often do) and somehow caused an electrical transformer near the stadium to fail shortly before game time causing recurring black-outs which cut out almost half of the game for home viewers.

Those at the stadium witnessed an impressive display of quarterbacking as both Philip Rivers and Trent Edwards moved their teams skillfully and combined for over 630 yards in total offence but the game turned on Rivers pass in the red zone late in the game which was intercepted by Kawika Mitchell who would also cause another turnover 2 minutes later with a sack/fumble on Rivers. Chargers coach Norv Turner's punt call on 4th and 1 at the Bills 40 yard line earlier in the 4th quarter was the subject of much discussion on the call-in shows after the game - mostly in terms of the message to the team - and, although they punted the Bills down to their half yard line, Bills fans were probably relieved to see Rivers, Tomlinson and Gates coming off and the punter coming on.

Bills coach Dick Jauron said afterward that the coaching staff and the players saw this game as critical in establishing the team as a true contender in the AFC and really one of the few tough match-ups on this year's otherwise relatively favourable schedule (I'm embellishing his words here) and he has to be happy with how they responded without defensive starters Terrance McGee and Aaron Schobel. As for the Chargers, they now travel to London for their next game against New Orleans before the bye. Now 3-4, how long will they continue to be regarded as one of the AFC's top teams?

Now 5-1, Buffalo's schedule turns to divisional games for the next 3 weeks - beginning at Miami next Sunday. Trent Edwards seems to be the key for this team and if he can stay healthy, which he has not been able to do over the past season or in his career at Stanford, Buffalo can easily challenge for one of the top 2 seeds in the AFC. The cold weather is around the corner and there is a lot of football left. For the first time in almost 10 years, the chances seem good that the Bills will be playing meaningful games in late December.