After showing signs of renewed life in the preseason, the Buffalo Bills went into their opening game of the 2010 season giving their fans some hope for a revival of the team that’s been mired in mediocrity for a decade. Unfortunately, the first look at the 2010 Bills in a game that counted was pretty much a repeat of the 2009 team. The offense struggled all day, and, just like last year, on the few occasions when they had decent field position they wound up going backwards. The defense, overall, played well enough to win, but in the first half couldn’t make a play on third down to save their lives, and even though they didn’t give up a lot of points, they put the offense in tough field position situations by allowing the Dolphins to drive deep enough so their punter could pin the Bills deep in their own territory to start most drives. The most disappointing part about the opening game is that the Dolphins looked like the hungrier team. They controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball – pass protecting well for Chad Henne and stifling the Bills’ offense as if they knew what plays were coming. Trent Edwards, who won back the starting quarterback job in preseason with an impressive showing, regressed to his 2009 form by looking tentative and holding the ball too long and taking unnecessary sacks in the worst situations – moving his team out of field goal position on a couple of occasions. The fact that Miami stuffed the Bills’ running game didn’t help Edwards. None of the 3 Bills’ backs had enough carries to get any momentum going, and for the most part the Bills’ offensive line was overmatched by the Dolphins defense on both running and passing plays. The Bills didn’t do a very good job of “protecting their house”, as Miami played with more confidence and enthusiasm.
Despite the disappointing start, it’s only one game in a long season. Now the team goes on the road for 2 weeks, facing long odds with games in Green Bay (they are double digit underdogs) and New England. The expectation is they will be 0-3 by the time they play their next home game and the enthusiasm for a possible surprise season will be gone, doused by 2 blowout losses in tough road venues. Let’s see if the Bills can somehow persevere and pull off an upset in one of those games.