Mum’s not the word for postseason for Bills
Players are outspoken about playoff hopes
PITTSFORD — No one in the Buffalo Bills’ organization is taking the Jim Mora approach to the P-word this summer.
The idea of making the playoffs is on the lips of seemingly every Bills player on the opening weekend of training camp at St. John Fisher College.
“This should definitely be a playoff year for us,” said linebacker Paul Posluszny. “We have that type of attitude going into camp and we feel as long as we do all the right things we’ll be in good shape.”
Even coach Dick Jauron is eschewing the famed outlook of Mora, the former Indianapolis Colts coach who made NFL sound bite history with his dismissal of playoff talk during a postgame news conference in 2001.
“I don’t have any problems with that, particularly with the players that have voiced them,” Jauron said. “We’ve all seen them play. They’re not people that don’t walk the walk. They play hard. They know that the goal is to go to the playoffs. When we haven’t made it, they’ve been very disappointed. They don’t want to be disappointed again.”
That’s a far cry from Mora’s take, which came, albeit, after a disappointing midseason loss. Said Mora: “Playoffs? Don’t talk about playoffs! Are you kidding me? Playoffs? I’m just hoping we can win a game; another game!”
Bills safety Donte Whitner took the wheel of the Bills’ playoff bandwagon earlier this summer when he told the Sporting News: “Do I expect us to make the playoffs? I’m guaranteeing it.”
Whitner did not have to sell his teammates on the idea.
“This is as high expectations as I’ve seen around here, and this is my sixth season here,” said defensive end Chris Kelsay. “Everybody I’ve spoken to — from teammates to [Chief Operating Officer Russ Brandon], coach Jauron, our position coaches — everybody’s on the same page. Everybody wants to get the same thing accomplished — first and foremost, get to the postseason.”
“I think we have an opportunity to be really good this year, so I’m excited to be back and to be able to bond with my teammates,” said guard Derrick Dockery.
“We have a hard division with the Patriots, the Jets and the Dolphins. It’s going to be very competitive. But I think the acquisitions we made this year have really helped us, especially on defense, with [Marcus] Stroud and the backers we brought in and the rookies we drafted. We have to believe in ourselves.”
The Bills are coming off a 7-9 season in which they finished nine games behind New England in the AFC East. Buffalo also ranked 30th on offense and 31st in defense last year. So it is not a chic pick among prognosticators this summer.
The Sporting News season preview predicts the Bills to finish 5-11 and third in the AFC East. Pro Football Weekly picks Buffalo at 9-7 but missing out on a wild-card berth to Jacksonville and Pittsburgh. Athlon’s magazine picks the Bills second in the division but has them losing a wild-card berth to Jacksonville and Cincinnati.
Nevertheless, the fact the Bills stood 7-6 with three weeks remaining last season despite an injury bug that put a league-high 19 players on the injured reserve list has the Buffalo players convinced they are playoff material.
Asked what his individual goal is this season, defensive tackle Kyle Williams said: “Make the playoffs. That’s the only one I’ve got. We’ve got guys who have been around here six, seven years. Aaron Schobel has been here eight years and hasn’t gone to the playoffs. That’s what we want to do. Obviously we haven’t been satisfied the last two years being 7-9 and being close at the end.”
“They’ve just stepped up and challenged themselves,” Jauron said. “And now we’ve got to play. If a guy doesn’t feel that way, I don’t know if you want him on your team. Should they say it? Not everybody, but if that’s what they think, that’s what they firmly believe, that it’ll help the team, I’ve got no problems with it.”
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Bills owner Ralph C. Wilson Jr. is due to report to camp today, and he is scheduled to entertain U. S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
The purpose of the meeting, planned several months ago at the suggestion of Schumer, is to discuss the long-term viability of the Bills’ franchise.
