3-0. Hell yes.

We had my brothers and my brother’s fiancee, Marie, over for the Bills game today. Cooked up some football snacks, and just had a good time. It was a good thing we were having fun, because the game? Well, the majority of it sucked. Big time. Our team that has played pretty well the last two weeks? They fell apart today.

I don’t know what it was: Overconfidence? First taste of truly cool weather? Just a bad day? Hard to say. (I blame the throwback jerseys.)

Once the Raiders broke away for an 85-yard touchdown pass in the 4th quarter, we all sat, stunned, staring at the TV with jaws hanging open. That was it, we thought. They just lost the game. The score was 23-14, and they had to score twice to win. And well, if you have been a Bills fan the last few years, you know that the Bills don’t do comeback victories. If they’re losing, they lose.

They had a bit of a comeback last week against the Jacksonville Jaguars, but it was nothing like what they would have to do here.

When the Bills got the ball back after the Raiders’ touchdown, our excitement grew as they marched down the field and scored a touchdown. 23-21 with about four minutes remaining in the game. We turned our focus to the defense, screaming at them from our living room to not allow the Raiders a first down. And they came through.

With a little over two minutes left in the game, the Bills had a chance. And then they did it. First down, first down, first down. Once they got into field goal range, they let the clock wind down to three seconds before they called their final timeout.

Our kicker, Rian Lindell, ran out onto the field to attempt to win the game with a 38-yard field goal. Scary, considering he missed a field goal attempt earlier in the game.

Next thing we knew, it was up… and it was good. Lindell nailed it. NAILED it. Bills win!! 24-23, with no time left on the clock. A last-second victory.

These are the things that usually happen to other teams. These are the ways in which we’re used to LOSING games, not winning them. So this is very exciting. And the Bills? 3-0 for the first time since 1992. We are cautiously optimistic.

GO BILLS!

A few side notes about the game:

• The turnovers. Ugh, they killed me with the turnovers. Edwards’ fumble (SECOND WEEK IN A ROW, BUDDY! HOLD ONTO THE DAMN BALL!) and interception, along with Lee Evans’ fumble. Ugh.
• The penalties. Seriously, what the hell. The Bills are usually one of the least penalized teams in the league, and today, they were morons. Evans’ offensive pass interference call… he shouldn’t be doing that sort of thing! Get it together, Lee!
• Speaking of penalties. We had a pass interference call go in our favor, and it was clear from the replay that it was going to be controversial. The ball had been deflected off a Raider’s helmet, which negates pass interference. The smart thing would have been to quickly run a play before the Raiders’ coach could do anything about it. What did the Bills do? Edwards seemed disoriented and confused, and gave the Raiders all damn day to look at replay after replay after replay. And then the red flag came out. Idiots. That was a free pass interference call you could have had there.
• What the hell was with the Raider punching Josh Reed in the face in the endzone? What an ass. Leave it to a Raider to get ejected from the game. Just sayin’.
• Did I mention the Bills are in FIRST PLACE in the AFC East? :)