Like, how badly do we need this really? Is this season already a success regardless of what happens?
Seems to me like we're not supposed to be here. Not from the league's standpoint, or from the team's preseason goals. This was supposed to be a year where the team got experience, learned how to work together, and ramped up towards future championship runs. We're here ahead of schedule, and the developmental gains from our youth movement have been obvious to all.
Don't get me wrong, I love all the haters screaming about how the hell we're back here only 6 years after we won our last one. I rejoice at the lamentation of the Bills fans in particular, and all the others that were genuinely hoping we could be contained. The tears are delicious, and they're really hoping that they can talk crap with us if we fall short this year, but at this point there's nothing they can really say. We got further than most of them. We made more noise than I bet most of us thought we would already. If we fall in the CCG or the Superbowl, then we went from bottom 4 to top 4 in a single year. Most of the usual suspects don't have a single leg to stand on, so the haters still won't be able to say a damn thing.
I mean, I do want to win this thing, but it just feels to me like the pressure to do or die isn't there, at least not for me. The players haven't won one yet, Vrabel hasn't won one as a coach, I expect them to be hungry, I'm not worried about that, I expect them to play with heart, hunger and rage and I have no doubts about that. I'm talking about myself. I don't have to give myself a heart attack this year, and that's a nice feeling.
Now plunge the dagger into the hater's hearts and do the thing that will make this from satisfying to hilarious. Go play a game of football, you guys know how to do that, and that's all this is. No pressure at all, it's just a game of football like all the others.
