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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.

For the second week in a row, the Buffalo Bills lost an overtime heartbreaker, this time to an up-and-coming Kansas City Chiefs team on the last play of OT, 13-10. Despite their 0-7 record, the Bills are competing hard every week and showing some improvement in most areas. The players are obviously buying into coach Chan Gailey’s approach, and their problem isn’t a lack of motivation or effort, it’s a lack of talent on the roster. For the most part, the Bills were outplayed in the trenches on both sides of the ball. Defensively, their play resembled what they did last year – they got gouged in the running game, got beat by throws to the tight end in the most critical moments, but except for one drive managed to keep the Chiefs out of the end zone. The offense was overmatched by KC’s defense most of the day – the running game didn’t produce much, and QB Ryan Fitzpatrick was under pressure on most of his dropbacks. The offense put together a great game-tying drive to send the game into overtime, but couldn’t finish the job in the overtime period, despite having chances. There was a negative play in the overtime that actually encouraged me as far as the team’s approach. The play was set up to create a mismatch in the passing game, and it worked, as Fitzpatrick took a shot downfield to C.J. Spiller but overthrew him. The play failed, but you have to love the attempt to go for the jugular by Gailey. What was discouraging was Fitzpatrick’s failure to get the team closer to a winning field goal attempt when he had chances in the OT, but again, he was under intense pressure.

On defense, the front seven was overwhelmed most of the day, and the Chiefs used the same plan as every other team that faces the Bills. They ran the ball at will and hit timely passes to the tight end at crucial moments.  If the continual defensive problems were scheme-oriented, the coaching staff would have to have figured out how to fix them by now. The defense is showing gradual improvement in some areas, but I still feel their lack of NFL caliber players at linebacker is killing them. Paul Posluszny is probably the only LB on the roster who could even make another team in the league. Also, I don’t see how keeping Chris Kelsay on the field, at this point, is more beneficial than putting some of the younger players with potential,like Arthur Moats or Antonio Coleman or even megabust Aaron Maybin, out there to see what they can do.

Despite all their faults, I still have more respect for a team like the Bills, that’s working its’ collective tail off each week to get that elusive first win, than I do for a team of underachieving superstars like the Dallas Cowboys. Coach Gailey at least has established a strong foundation of collective accountability among his players that will pay benefits when the team finally turns it around.

In my predictions for week seven in the NFL, I had 9 correct and 5 wrong again, leaving the overall count at 60 right and 43 wrong for the season. Here are my week eight choices:

Buffalo at Kansas City – the Chiefs are looking more and more like the surprise team of 2010 that will win its’ division and get into the playoffs, while the Bills are still finding their way, trudging through an 0-6 season so far. Kansas City is usually tough to beat at home also. I think they will, by season’s end, finish first in the AFC West but the Bills will pull an upset and win their first game of the season this week.

Denver vs. San Francisco (in London) – this is technically a home game for the Niners, and after the pathetic showing by Denver last week at home, I have to believe there are issues in the Broncos’ locker room that have found their way to the field. San Francisco wins a sloppy game, and the Tim Tebow watch begins in Denver.

Jacksonville at Dallas – the underachieving Cowboys now have to regroup behind Jon Kitna at QB, and I believe they will. On paper, they are miles ahead of the Jaguars talentwise, and that talent will translate to the field for once this week and the ‘Boys will pull out a win.

Miami at Cincinnati – the Dolphins have reeled off a couple of impressive road wins this season, and I believe they are a tougher team, mentally and physically, than the Bengals.  Miami’s defense shuts down the Cincinnati attack enough to get another road win.

Washington at Detroit – Mike Shanahan has done a great job of returning the Redskins to respectability this year, but I still don’t completely believe in them yet.  The young Lions are starting to feel it and they’ll win with another impressive home field  performance  this week, behind their young returning QB, Matthew Stafford and a young, improving defense.

Carolina at St. Louis – the young Rams, predictably, have been inconsistent this season. This should be one of their “up” weeks, and they’ll beat the Panthers at home.

Green Bay at New York Jets – the AFC East, other than Buffalo, is the best division in the NFL this year, and the brash Jets may be the division’s best team. The Pack is banged up and put a lot of effort into beating Brett Favre and the Vikings on Sunday night, so I see the Jets winning this game rather handily.

Tennessee at San Diego – it’s more than just the usual slow start with the Chargers this season – this team just doesn’t appear to have the talent they’ve had in the past. I don’t believe either of these teams is a serious contender, but the Titans play tougher defense and can run the ball with Chris Johnson, so they’ll pull out a win on the road here.

Minnesota at New England – the Patriots win this game big no matter who is at QB for the Vikings, since Brett Favre seems lost and disinterested anyway. New England is re-tooling on the fly this season, and continuing to win, and this game will be no exception. Don’t be surprised if Deion Branch has a big role in the game plan, just to send Randy Moss a message.

Tampa Bay at Arizona – these teams appear to be going in opposite directions. Josh Freeman has been impressive guiding the young Bucs, while the Cardinals play musical quarterbacks. Tampa is the better of these 2 teams at this point, but I see them getting tripped up on the road in this game in a mild surprise.

Seattle at Oakland – the Seahawks are probably going to win the NFC West, but they’re due for a down week in their inconsistent season, and the Raiders are flying high after demolishing Denver. I like Oakland to win at home. The Raiders have to feel they are legitimate contenders to win their division, and unlike some perceived “better” teams like Dallas and San Diego, they are competitive in every game.

Pittsburgh at New Orleans – the Steelers may be the best team in the NFL right now. New Orleans has struggled, but with Reggie Bush due back from injury and the Saints needing this game to keep pace with Atlanta, I believe New Orleans will win at home. The quality of their opponent this week, and the prime time atmosphere of a Sunday night game, will awaken the Saints from their Super Bowl hangover and keep them playing at the top of their game.

Houston at Indianapolis – the Colts, like a lot of other teams in 2010, have struggled to maintain their past success rate this season. The loss of Dallas Clark for the season will slow the Colts’ offense, at least temporarily until Peyton Manning figures out how to adjust to it. I’m picking Houston to win a game that will be one of the franchise’s biggest victories in their short history.