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Super teams leave fans here jealous
“It could reach the point where we go eight or nine years without a playoff game. We could become like . . . Arizona.” — Rex Carr in 2004
Yeah, it must be tough to be a Bills fan right now. For nine straight NFL postseasons, Buffalo fans have been reduced to mournful observers, tormented by reminders of what they’ve missing.
Everywhere you looked Sunday, you saw winning qualities the Bills desperately lack. I could imagine the fans out there, shouting at their TV sets: “How come we don’t have one of those?”
Three weeks ago, while announcing Dick Jauron’s new contract by news release, Ralph Wilson said the team was getting closer. Closer to what, I’m not sure. Watching the conference title games, it occurred to me that the Bills aren’t really that close at all.
It must be tough for fans to accept that the Bills aren’t good enough to compete with the elite, and that it’s likely to get worse before it gets better.
It must be tough to see the Cardinals, a perennial NFL laughingstock, earn a spot in the Super Bowl in front of thousands of bandwagon Arizonans who basically ignored the team for years.
It must be tough to watch Mike Gandy, a Bills castoff, playing left tackle for a Super Bowl team, while Buffalo wonders what to do with Jason Peters.
It must be tough to see Steelers strong safety Troy Polamalu make game-changing plays. He and the Ravens’ Ed Reed are the standard at the position. The Bills’ Donte Whitner hasn’t made nearly enough plays to justify the No. 8 overall pick in the draft. And he’ll probably be a free safety next season.
It must be tough to see Larry Fitzgerald catch three TD passes in a title game. No offense to Lee Evans, but it would be nice to have a 6-foot-3, 220-pound wideout who can go deep and get open near the goal line. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to have someone like Anquan Boldin lining up on the other side.
It must be tough to watch two first-time head coaches, Ken Whisenhunt and Mike Tomlin, go to the Super Bowl after two years on the job. So you don’t need a retread loser. You can win with unproven guys, as long as you get the right one.
It must be tough to see Jim Leonhard and Justin Bannan starting for a great Baltimore defense, when they were regarded as expendable by the Bills.
It must be tough to see the Steelers’ outside linebackers, LaMarr Woodley and James Harrison, create havoc for the opposition. Memo to the Bills: A pass-rushing linebacker is the most pressing need in the draft this year.
It must be tough to know that four of the NFL’s top six sackers this season played outside linebacker in 3-4 defenses, while Jauron’s 4-3 scheme got seven sacks from defensive linemen.
It must be tough to know that while the names might change, the Steelers always play a physical, punishing defense that is the envy of the league.
It must be tough to have watched the Eagles defense give up a decisive, clock-eating drive late in their loss to the Cardinals. Surely it brought back bad memories of Bills defenses in recent years.
It must be tough to hear that Baltimore’s defense has gone 36 games without allowing a 100-yard rusher.
It must be tough to watch Haloti Ngata, the Ravens’ star nose tackle, knowing he went four spots after Whitner in the ’06 draft. Not to mention Eagles defensive tackle Brodrick Bunkley, who was taken two picks after Ngata.
It must be tough to watch Ben Roethlisberger make big plays in the clutch. If only Tom Donahoe had moved up two spots in the ’04 draft, saving him from panicking and trading for J. P. Losman.
It must be tough to admit that you’d love to be Arizona today. Right, Rex?
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