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Yeah, but that game was a 3 point game in the 4th quarter and was a game we had nothing to play for in.
As another Bills fan, I don't see us contending for the AFC East title this season, but I do see us contending for a wild card. We literally lost no one other than fat load Larry Tripplett off of our team last year and will be getting back Posluzsny, Ko Simpson and 3rd DE Ryan Denney from injury (those were the main guys out for almost all of the year last year) in addition to the upgrades of Mitchell (love to see his delayed blitz work for us this season!), Stroud and Johnson in FA on D and the two rookies I expect to make an immediate impact, Hardy and McKelvin.
On the youth point, it's also worth pointing out that our O line gave up something like 26 sacks last season (a franchise record) and was starting three new guys in doing so. That unit played together for 15 out of 16 games and got Jason Peters elected to the first of what I suspect will be many Pro Bowls at left tackle--not bad for an undrafted FA TE (and even better, he's signed through 2010 at a reasonable price). Having that under their belt will be huge, as will the experience that Lynch and Edwards picked up.
All that said, I see you guys going 12-4 or 13-3 next year (you know you're going to get everyone's SB this year--like you did last year the last month and half of the season when you had a number of close games), barring an injury to Brady--if that happens, I see you guys as 8-8 to 11-5. I'm still not sure why you haven't picked up a vet QB option behind him, but that's up to Pioli and BB. I see us as likely going in the neighborhood of 9-7 or 10-6. One more draft and one more offseason without losing anyone of consequence (our two big FAs next year are Lee Evans (working on an extension as we speak) and Angelo Crowell, who we could franchise if we get Lee done) and I think we're in the mix for the whole thing, all, of course, subject to Trent Edwards proving to be an above-average QB, which is admittedly a big if, but he has shown potential as a rookie. Just MHO......