Don’t Chicken Out Yet, Bills Fans

The sky isn’t falling in Buffalo yet, but Bills fans are lacing up their running shoes.

That “kerplunk” you hear resonating from Western New York is the sound of a city’s lofty football expectations crashing back to earth after Buffalo’s 48-28 loss in New Jersey on Sunday.

Coach Chan Gailey should be fired. Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick should be replaced by Tarvaris Jackson (who was inactive in Week 1). And prize free agent signee Mario Williams should take his $100 million contract and shove it.

Or at least that’s what a majority of playoff-starved Bills fans would have you believe.

Calm down, Chicken Littles, it’s a long season.

The NFL is so popular because a sense of desperation encompasses every game, a win here or a loss there can make or break a season. That feeling is magnified when your favorite team plays an abysmal first half to start the season, the perfect pigskin recipe for mass hysteria.

By now, of course, Bills fans default to pessimism. That’s what happens when you haven’t sniffed the postseason since the year MySpace launched (1999).

I’m here to suggest not running blindly into Foxy Woxy’s lair, at least not yet.

Only 12 teams make it to the dance. None of them do so after one week.

Yes, Fred Jackson, arguably your best offensive player, is sidelined for at least a month. C.J. Spiller sure looked good as the lead back last week (194 total yards, 1 touchdown). Sure, those shiny new defensive linemen, Williams and Mark Anderson (1 tackle combined), didn’t earn their hefty paychecks Sunday, but they are certain to improve. As for Fitzpatrick, well…it can’t get any worse, right? Right?

Sunday’s game with Kansas City will be telling. Like the Bills, the Chefs are supposed to be on the rise, but were summarily thumped in their season opener. Also like Buffalo, Kansas City’s big money quarterback, Matt Cassel, had an underwhelming performance (258 yards, 2 total touchdowns, 3 turnovers) that put additional strain on a revamped defensive line.

However, unlike the Chiefs, Buffalo has the opportunity to put Sunday’s embarrassing loss in the rearview mirror by playing well in front of 80,000 Bill-ievers at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

Both teams have much on the line – according to ESPN Stats & Information, just 12 percent of teams to start a season 0-2 (22-184) have reached the postseason since it was expanded to 12 teams in 1990. When you live in a division with New England, those are odds you don’t want to test.

What this all means is that we’ll find out soon if the sky really is falling in Buffalo, or if the loss to the Jets was merely an acorn-to-the-head wakeup call in a season that promises to be nuts.