Pundits Disrespecting Bills Should Make Fans Smile – Buffalo FAMbase — #BillsMafia

And other miscellaneous thoughts as we head into July…

“Act like you’ve been there before” is a motto Buffalo pro sports fans have heard for decades. We’re hungry to win a championship in Western New York, so whenever there’s a good team in town, we head out like a bunch of drunken sailors touching dry land for the first time in ages.

We also become hypersensitive to any kind of criticism of the Bills and/or Sabres. However, we LOVE our Buffalo Bandits of the National Lacrosse League because they brought the trophy to a city that was starving for a championship. Kudos to the Bandits. We hope they win many more championships in the future.

It’s no surprise, then, that many of the national sports’ “mouthpieces” have already written off the upcoming season for the Buffalo Bills. Diggs is gone, so Buffalo is going to falter on offense. There are so many young, inexperienced players, especially in the defensive backfield after the loss of Tre’Davious While, Jordan Poyer, and Micah Hyde. This incessant chatter is something we’ve grown accustomed to over the years.

But let’s remember the days when Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills were the underdogs to every team in the NFL that wasn’t named the Dolphins. That team, for some reason, seems to perform better when they’re not respected by the media and/or fans. They seem to need a certain amount of grit to perform at their best, and I don’t expect this season to be any different.

So, keep the dissenters coming. We’ve been there many times before. In fact, some fans (like me) feel reassured when expectations for the Bills are low. Being an underdog also seems to be a role Josh Allen relishes. When he took his Wyoming Cowboys to Boise State, no one expected the Laramie team to beat the big dog in the Mountain West Conference. Of course, Josh Allen put the team on his back and took them straight to the winner’s circle.

Which brings me to my next topic.

Matt Milan.

When Mr. Milano suffered a tibial plateau fracture last season, I, like many Bills fans, was devastated. Milano has been the backbone of Buffalo’s defense for years. But we haven’t really gotten to see Matt up close since he returned to Buffalo this spring. All I know is that a tibial plateau fracture can have serious long-term consequences for an NFL player.

Please forgive my failing memory for not remembering where I read this, but somewhere on my Xwitter timeline I saw a snippet go by the other day that claimed the Bills might be in talks with the Las Vegas Raiders about a trade involving Matt Milano.

Oh really?

If there’s any truth to this, it suggests that “Big Baller Beane” might be activating his tendency to trade a player a year before you’d expect his game to start to falter. As far as how Beane operates, this shouldn’t come as a huge surprise, again, IF the rumors are true.

Additionally, if Buffalo is dangling Matt Milano to see what they can get in return, that means Babich and McDermott have a plan for who would take Matt’s spot at linebacker. That would create a huge gaping hole on defense, and the loss of wisdom alone would be profound.

If the Bills trade Matt Milano… add in the wisdom lost by White, Hyde and Poyer… the cumulative loss of veteran leadership is enormous. This is the issue that nags at my mind the most about what we can expect from this defense, especially early in the season.

All of these unknowns are enough to keep many Bills fans awake at night. They certainly provide substantial evidence for the national media to declare Buffalo’s season over before it even begins.

I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one wearing that Grinch grin after reading another round of claims that the Bills will finish third in the AFC East next season. Let the disrespect set in. We’re going to “pretend we’ve been there before”…because we have.

Editor’s Chat: Welcome to the NFL’s “quiet period.” You can also find me chatting on Xwitter @RobynMundyWYO.

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