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It has been interesting to listen to some of the national sports commentators critique NFL teams at this point of the season. Two of the league’s most disappointing teams, the Dallas Cowboys and Minnesota Vikings, are getting crucified by the national media, for good reason. Both have losing records in a year when they were expected to contend for the Super Bowl, and the national media “grim reapers” have started counting down the days until their coaches, Wade Phillips and Brad Childress, are fired. Mike Shanahan is getting grief for his handling of the benching of Donovan McNabb in Washington, and the annual “fire Norv Turner” watch is on again in San Diego. Two other teams that were expected to contend, Cincinnati and San Francisco, have been disappointments and their coaches are under fire also.

Meanwhile, the 0-7 Buffalo Bills are getting positive reviews from a lot of the national media. I must have heard at least 3 different experts compare the Cowboys and Bills as examples of coaches getting the least out of the talent on their roster, and the most. The Bills have yet to win a game, yet their effort in each game is being praised by people who follow the game, including a lot of ex-players who have been in the situation of trying to turn around a losing program. The fact that they are competing hard on a weekly basis with their season already in the tank is a sign of good things to come, once the players are completely comfortable with the systems they are playing. I have expressed disappointment in the fact that the Bills, who’ve been mediocre for a decade but at least have hovered around the .500 mark, have fallen so far down the ladder this year – all the way to the bottom of the league. But I also think that they are methodically building a team that the fans will be proud of at some point. The roster is slowly being purged of players who either don’t want to do what it takes to play in the NFL, or don’t have the skills and/or mental toughness to play for a winner. For years the Bills’ roster has been loaded with players who basically just show up, put up some meaningless numbers and seem happy with what they’ve contributed despite all the mediocrity. It’s at least encouraging that a lot of football experts are giving the team kudos for their weekly focus and effort, rather than just dismissing them as a laughingstock, which is usually the case with a team that is the only winless team left in the league.