Nando Di Fino - The 2011 NFL season was supposed to be a little goofy early on because of the lockout-induced truncated offseason. But it wasn’t supposed to be this goofy: the Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions will enter Week 4 with a combined 6-0 record. The Bills have scored more points than any team in the league; the Lions have scored the fourth-most, while holding opponents to 15.3 points per game, the third-best in the NFL. On Sunday, both teams overcame at least 20-point deficits to pull off wins. “Welcome to the Bizarro World start to the NFL season,” Yahoo’s Dan Wetzel writes. “where old scenarios are producing new results and unexpected emotions in the most unlikely of places.”
No result seemed to fit the unpredictable theme better than Buffalo’s 34-31 victory over the Patriots, a team the Bills hadn’t beaten in 15 tries dating to 2003. Down 21-0 in the second quarter, the Bills improbably rallied, intercepting Tom Brady four times in the victory (“Four picks?” Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News writes. “Brady threw four all season in 2010 — in 492 attempts. He matched that in about 2 1/2 hours Sunday.”) Brady actually set a record in this game for accruing more passing yards over a three-game span than any quarterback in NFL history. But fans only cared about another record, this one unofficial and set by the Bills: according to the Elias Sports Bureau, no team in league history had come back from an 18-point deficit in two consecutive games. The 2011 Bills are the first, having pulled off a similar comeback in Week 2 against the Raiders.
ESPN’s Sports & Information department notes that the Bills and Lions games mark the first time since Sept. 12, 1999 that two teams overcame such big holes on the same day of the NFL season. “Why is 1999 important?” Stats & Info’s blog asks. “That was the last season that the Bills and Lions each made the playoffs.” Dean Hybl of Sports Then and Now goes back even deeper into history, comparing the 2011 Bills and Lions to their 1980 counterparts, teams that also began the seasons with winning streaks. “It is certainly too early to pencil either the Bills or Lions in the playoffs,” Hybl writes, “but with starts reminiscent of the 1980 campaign, both teams seem headed in the right direction.” The Journal’s Jason Gay takes it one step further – he’s not above (not entirely seriously) talking a Bills-Lions Super Bowl.
Sports Illustrated’s Don Banks says that however unexpected this is, the Bills shouldn’t be considered flukes. Last year, they piled up plenty of heartbreaking losses and played in three overtime games against playoff teams. Because of that experience, they were able to better handle this year’s adversity. “The Bills might have lost every one of those thrillers last year, but those games are paying dividends this time around,” Banks writes. “This season, Buffalo is mastering the art of the comeback, and it’s learning how to win the close games it once routinely lost. These Bills are mentally tougher than any recent Buffalo club.”
As for the Lions, who rallied back from being down 20 to defeat the Vikings in overtime, this 3-0 start already includes two road wins, which, according to Steve Schrader of the Detroit Free Press, is pretty significant. “The last time they had more than that was 2004,” Schrader writes, “when they had three.” And when things are going well for a team, as they currently are in Detroit, your players are allowed to take to Twitter and make light of their sub-par performances. “Only a couple catches,” receiver Nate Burleson tweeted after the win, “but my biggest play of the game was callin ‘HEADS’ in OT!”
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A week after being removed from a game because of a concussion, Philadelphia quarterback Michael Vick again departed with an injury on Sunday, this time due to a broken right (non-throwing) hand in his team’s 29-16 loss to the New York Giants. Vick will see a hand specialist and have a CT scan Monday, and his status for next week against San Francisco is uncertain. After Sunday’s game Vick suggested that he wasn’t getting late hit and helmet-to-helmet penalty calls that other quarterbacks around the league were getting. He made sure to point out that he wasn’t blaming the referees, but pretty much every headline on Monday screamed that he was.
“Every time I throw the ball in all my highlights and just watching film in general, every time I throw the ball I’m on the ground, getting hit in the head and I don’t know why,” Vick told reporters. “I don’t get the 15-yard flags like everybody else does but hey — I’m not going to complain about it. I’m just making everybody aware.” Vick repeatedly assured reporters that he wasn’t ripping into officials, but did say that this was a recurring problem and he had even mentioned it to the referees in training camp when they had their meeting. Phil Sheridan of the Philadelphia Inquirer says that Vick should be blaming his offensive line and coach before the referees, while also arguing that Vick’s style of play contributes to the lack of calls. “With his ability to break tackles and run, Vick almost forces defensive players to follow through if the play is close,” Sheridan writes. “A 15-yard penalty isn’t as bad as a 30-yard run. And because Vick is capable of escaping from situations that other quarterbacks can’t, referees are hesitant to blow a play dead until they have to. The Eagles would complain about quick whistles taking potential big plays away, too.”
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