Bills Hit The Spot

Sometimes, things just fall into place.

The We Want Marangi coverage team timed its journey to Orchard Park Sunday morning perfectly to avoid even the thinnest of traffic, walked into a smooth-running tailgate party (more on that later) and got to our seats just in time for Buffalo and Kansas City to kick things off.

The day’s good vibe extended to the playing field, where the Bills executed a near-flawless about-face from their abortive launch in New Jersey a week earlier.

And now, look who is in first place.

Or last, depending on your world view.

Buffalo’s 35-17 smashing of Kansas City, New England’s uncharacteristic home-opener letdown against Arizona, the New York Jets’ highly characteristic letdown in Pittsburgh and Miami’s stunning display of competence against Oakland leave the AFC East with all four participants at 1-1 after the season’s first two weeks.

If the Bills who showed up at Taxpayer-Funded Stadium yesterday are the same guys we see the rest of the year, they might have to get used to such a lofty ranking.

The reversal of form from Week 1, when Ryan Fitzpatrick’s early ineptitude doomed Buffalo to a 48-28 loss to the Jets, was remarkable.

C.J. Spiller had his first big day as a professional that did not come with his team playing out the string of a lost season or against a soft defense protecting a five-touchdown lead.

The offensive line gouged holes in Kansas City’s defense while keeping the Chiefs’ pass rush at a safe distance from Fitzpatrick.

The defensive front was even better, keeping Kansas City’s runners contained while it still mattered and steadily harassing Matt Cassel, preventing the Chiefs quarterback from doing much of anything until the Bills had gone up 35-3 on Leodis McKelvin’s in-your-face 88-yard punt return in the third quarter. The Kansas City stat sheet doesn’t look as bad as its offense did most of the afternoon, but 192 of the Chiefs’ 422 total yards came in the game’s final 20 minutes.

And Fitzpatrick, even if he did not exactly strafe the Kansas City secondary, at least he was not awful. Even if his day started that way.

On Buffalo’s first possession, Fitzpatrick – he of the three brutal interceptions last week against the Jets – rolled right on third-and-1 to get a clear view of a wide-open Scott Chandler. And promptly fired the ball into the faux turf, several yards short of his tight end.

“Fitzpatrick, you’re a fucking bum,” shouted the teenaged kid in a black T-shirt sitting a couple seats down from Gary and I, who were situated in the lower bowl, 26 rows behind the Bills bench.

Most of the sell-out crowd seemed to be in agreement, serenading Fitzpatrick with a variety of insults and boos.

From that point, though, he threw only 18 more passes, connecting on 10 of them, including two for touchdowns. He even hit a few receivers in stride, including Stevie Johnson on a 49-yard catch-and-run in the third quarter that effectively finished Kansas City.

Fitzpatrick also made a couple of crucial plays on the ground. His 20-yard third-down jaunt in the first quarter set up Spiller’s 17-yard run for the game’s first score and a 7-yard run enabled Spiller’s second touchdown.

Buffalo’s defense started just as poorly as its quarterback, with no one bothering to cover Peyton Hillis when the hulking running back split out wide on the Chiefs’ first play from scrimmage, conceding a 15-yard gain on the game’s first play.

It, too, got better quickly, though, forcing a punt on that series and keeping Kansas City scoreless until the third quarter. After a notoriously inconspicuous Bills debut against the Jets, Mario Williams recovered a fumble and regularly drew double- and triple-teams, freeing up linemates Marcell Dareus, Kyle Williams and fellow free-agent signee Mark Anderson to rampage through the Kansas City backfield.

So for one week, at least, the Bills played according to plan, delivering the kind of performance expected of a team that was one of the consensus preseason darlings and had generated more local buzz than any of its predecessors since the arrival of Drew Bledsoe.

Then again, you do have to consider the opponent. The Chiefs looked as lost for most of Sunday as they did a year ago when getting whacked by Buffalo in their own home opener. And, if those two games, along with Buffalo's 58-24 blowout in '08 -- taught us anything, it's that nobody, but nobody, gives up right away like the Kansas City Chiefs.

Next week, though, Buffalo visits the Browns, who have a well-established tradition of dragging the Bills  down to their level. Then, a visit from the Patriots, who do not figure to continue flailing about like they did in their home opener against the Cardinals.

For now, though, especially after such a dismal debut, everything about this one really hit the spot.

WE WANT MARANGI MVP: Spiller ran for 123 yards and the two aforementioned scores and caught three passes for another 47.

After two weeks, he has 292 yards on the ground on just 29 carries. According to the WWM Statistical Analysis Department, this puts him on pace to shatter the NFL single-season rushing mark with 2,336 yards, shooting by O.J. Simpson’s 14-game mark of 2,003 in as many contests.

TAILGATING AT ITS FINEST: Gary and I joined the festivities hosted each home game by Brenda, Penny and Claudia in the Erie Community College parking lot. The spread was out when we arrived, including homemade chicken wings (which were divine), shrimp with cocktail sauce (which is always divine) and a variety of other side dishes and salads (which we suppose were divine if you like that kind of thing).

Gary – whose core philosophy is “Every Bills quarterback becomes Rob Johnson in the end” -- topped it off with hearty burgers replete with lettuce, tomato and bacon. There was even one left that we took into the stadium to divvy up at halftime, which spared us a wait in a concession-stand line (as well as the  generally disappointing fare waiting at the end of that line). The burger made a perfect pairing with the lemon cake Gary brought, as well.

THE NEXT BRUUUUUUUUCE? When Williams recovered the Cassel fumble forced by Anderson, the most distinctive reaction from the fans around us was a simultaneous “Heeeeeeyyyy,” as if to say, “Right – that big-money guy we heard so much about did turn up, after all.”

It sounded a lot like the guy providing the voice for Jack Black’s Ben Franklin in this bit of comedy gold.

So, if you're cool and need something to yell  the next time Mario Williams makes a play (or doesn't for that matter), feel free to use "Heeeeeeeeeyyyy." You're welcome.

FASHION UPDATE: The Darick Holmes jersey was a big hit, drawing at least a half-dozen compliments and comments from strangers, one of whom asked to take a picture to prove to his friends that he had actually seen one.

“Great jersey, man,” said the guy behind me in line just before we passed through the security checkpoint upon entering the stadium.

Thank you, and it’s pretty safe to say I’ll never wear anything else to a Bills game again.

Except pants and appropriate undergarments, of course.