Kawika Mitchell has played on a division winner and two playoff teams in Kansas City. He has clutched the Vince Lombardi Trophy as a member of the Super Bowl XLII champion New York Giants.

Mitchell enjoyed a lot of success during his first five seasons in the NFL. But success has

been fleeting since joining the Buffalo Bills.

In 20 games the veteran linebacker has played in Buffalo, he has tasted victory only eight

times and is part of a team in danger of missing the playoffs for the 10th consecutive year.

"It's been tough, I'm not going to lie," Mitchell said this week. "But the frustration

comes from knowing how much talent we have on this team. I think we're better than we were

last year, but we just haven't put it all together. Hopefully we can get it turned around, and

I want to have a hand in that."

The Bills are counting on it.

Mitchell will make his first start at middle linebacker for the Bills when they host the

Cleveland Browns on Sunday. The role is not new to him. He led the Chiefs with 135 and 118

tackles, respectively, in 2005 and '06 while playing in the middle.

Mitchell embraces his new role as the leader of the Bills' defense.

"This week has been fun. I really enjoy it," he said. "From playing Mike linebacker in the

past, I like being the guy that they look to for information and guidance."

It's a job the Bills feel Mitchell is well-suited for. He is a physically tough player with

natural instincts to diagnose plays and an understanding of the defense to get players lined

up properly.

He's also a guy who has the respect of the other veterans and is someone the younger

players gravitate to.

"He's not a big talker, but everybody knows what he does say he absolutely means it," Bills

head coach Dick Jauron said. "He lets his actions talk for him and I like that about him. On

tape before we ever knew him, that's how he played. He plays really hard and gives you

everything he's got. He's really been a good pickup for us."

For a young Bills team that is still trying to figure how to win on a consistent basis,

Jauron said that it's comforting to have someone like Mitchell, who has performed and won on

the NFL's grandest stage.

"It gives him credibility," Jauron said. "Not that Kawika wouldn't have it if he hadn't

been in those situations because his personality and his actions would give him that

credibility. He's been there, he's done it. What he says people know has worked on the field

and off the field, too. That's a great thing to have."

Ashlee Palmer, an undrafted rookie who will start his first game at Mitchell's former

weakside backer spot, said playing beside the man called "Veek" has been invaluable.

"He's played on Super Bowl-caliber teams and just his knowledge of the game keeps me

going," Palmer said. "He tells me about certain situations in the game and how to line up in

certain areas. I'm just taking it all in because he knows what he's talking about."

It's not as if Mitchell, 29, is a grizzled veteran. But he has a wisdom and knowledge of

the game that belies his seven years in the NFL.

Mitchell attributes much of that to his time with the Giants. He said he learned more in

one year with them than he did in four years with the Chiefs.

That Giants team was loaded with talented and supremely confident veterans who knew what it

took to win because they had been through every conceivable situation en route to winning the

Super Bowl.

Mitchell said the Giants approached the game with a level of professionalism that he tries

to emulate on a daily basis.

"Day in and day out, there is something I try to look back on my experience with the Giants

and use while I'm here," he said. "With a young team like ours, you look for anything [you]

can use to help us get to the next level."

Mitchell indicated that one thing the Giants did so well in 2007 was ignore outside

distractions and staying focused on the task at hand. He believes that is what the Bills must

do to snap out of their current funk.

Injuries have made it a little more difficult, but Mitchell has high hopes for where the

Bills will be at the end of the season.

"It's hard sometimes to look so far down the road because you just want to get that one win

after you've lost a couple of games in a row," he said. "But it's exciting when I let myself

think about it."