After
an inauspicious 0-4 start, it was looking like another one of those seasons for the Buffalo Bills. You
know, the kind that begin with high expectations and end in disillusionment.
Fans in Buffalo and beyond were frustrated and clamoring for answers.

One
of the most common questions was, “Why does this team look the same as it did
under Gregg Williams?” Williams, who was fired at the end of the 2003 season,
is an excellent defensive coordinator, but as a head coach he failed to inspire
his players and establish an identity for the team. The Gregg Williams era was
brief because his team underachieved to the tune of a 17-31 record. Few NFL
coaches have ever survived numbers like that over a three-year span.

This
season, a sense of “here we go again” had settled into the stomachs
of Bills fans by late September. In the season opener against the Jacksonville
Jaguars, the Bills were in control of the game’s first 58 minutes, but gave up
the deciding touchdown on the last play of the game. In Oakland the following
week, a sputtering offense and three subjective penalty calls — two of which
the NFL later acknowledged were incorrect — conspired to send the Bills home
with a second straight loss.

“Here
we go again,” indeed. Two similar losses later, and fans had come to
believe that their team had an intractable knack for snatching defeat from the
jaws of victory. Yet three words persistently made their way into post-game
interviews and weekly press conferences: “we still believe.”

When the Bills were 2-5 and
coming off an ugly loss in Baltimore, those three words rang a bit hollow for
me, so I decided to call Tom. I figured if anyone could help make sense of the
2004 Buffalo Bills, it would be Tom — as in Tom Donahoe, the president and
general manager of the Buffalo Bills. Donahoe explained that the players and
coaches were frustrated, but not in the same way that fans were frustrated.

The
team didn’t have that “here we go again” feeling that had been
spreading through the Buffalo Bills community. The Bills knew they had beaten
themselves in three of their first four losses, and they knew that better days
were ahead. Donahoe told me that I would soon see what the Bills were made of.
I believed him, but only because I had good reason to.

You
see, last season, I decided to call the Bills GM on a whim, to ask a few
questions about the team’s mid-season slide past mediocrity and into foul
territory. I left a message with his secretary, explained that I was simply a
fan with a few questions for the boss, and hung up expecting nothing.

An
hour later, Tom Donahoe called me back. We talked for about 15 minutes on the
state of the Bills. He responded to my questions fairly and honestly, and even
said some things I wouldn’t have expected him to share with Joe Fan. But he
didn’t project the same kind of optimism back then.

I
could hear in his voice and in his choice of words that he believed there was
something wrong with the team, and there was. For the most part, the 2003 Bills
were mentally tough as individuals. But as a team, they were playing like they
were afraid to lose, like they were afraid of perpetuating their own fears.
This is the opposite of mental toughness, and it showed in their 6-10 season
record.

The 2004 Bills are a lot
different from last year’s incarnation. They have shown they have the ability
to bounce back, a vital characteristic for success in the NFL. After their last
loss — a humbling primetime defeat in New England that put their playoff
hopes up against the wall — the Bills could have raised the white flag.
Instead, they took the loss personally. They came back the next week and
destroyed the Rams 37-17, then went out to Seattle to show the NFC West
division leaders how to play the game, dominating in all three phases and
finishing with a 38-9 rout.

Fans
are beginning to see how good this team can be, now and in the future. It took
a while for the players to fully absorb rookie head coach Mike Mularkey’s
offense, but it’s coming together and the team is peaking late. It’s often said
that good football teams take on the characteristics of their head coach.
Mularkey never strayed from his plan when fans were panicking. He remained
cool, confident, and determined.

After
winning six of their last seven games, it’s clear the Bills have found
themselves. A calm confidence has grown in them. Mularkey is coaching smart
football and his players are playing smart football. Team chemistry seems to be
excellent, and they believe, individually
and collectively. They’ve said so all along, but back when the outlook was
bleak, their record spoke louder.

Today
the Bills stand at 7-6 with three games to play. On Sunday, they embarrassed
the Cleveland Browns 37-7, but that doesn’t even tell the whole story. The
Bills defense held Cleveland to 17 total yards — for the entire game. That
represents the fifth fewest yards allowed by any team in NFL history.

The
Bills just might make some more history in the coming weeks. Only one other
team has ever started 0-4 and went on to make the playoffs (the 1992 San Diego
Chargers). The Bills believe they can finish with 10 wins, which is usually the
“magic number” for making the playoffs. However, a 10-6 record might
not be enough this season, as the AFC is crowded with good teams vying for
those two precious wildcard berths. Can they do it? I believe so. It’s a long
shot, but it’s a shot, and they’re
not likely to squander it.

Keep
up with the Bills at www.buffalobills.com, which offers
practice videos, press conferences, game highlights, and more, including
Donahoe and Mularkey’s weekly answers to fans’ questions.

This article appears in Dec 15-21, 2004.