NOTE: I wanted to add this as a comment to the "Beginner's Guide" FanPost, but it is now closed, so here I am. If this FanPost is unappropriate, please forgive me.

I was out all weekend without internet access, so this morning I was buried with two days' worth of TO signing opinions on all the usual NFL news channels. Mostly crap.

Luckily, Buffalo Rumblings was the first place I visited, as usual. Apart from Tim Graham's AFC Blog on ESPN, this is the only place in the net where the matter has been clearly reported, well detailed and immediatly analyzed in terms of football. As always.

Kudos to you all!

Sorry for the rant but this is something that puzzled me for quite some time.

At the start of 2007 the Bills' offense showed all its limits early in the season. Some roster changes were made on the run, mainly because of injuries, the most important of which the QB switch from Losman to Edwards and the #2 WR switch from Price to Reed. The result didn't change: the Bills had one of the worst offenses of their history, and were at the bottom of the ranks in nearly every offensive stat. Simply put, the 2007 Bills' offense was simply awfu, no matter who was the quarterback or the receivers or thestarting tight ends.

Fast forward to september: at the start of the 2008 campaign, the Bills' offense was rated at least above average. Some (both fans - me included - and so called experts) even considered the Bills on the verge of becoming a dominant attack. But if we look at the Bills' roster from the end of 200, the only change has been in the TE position, where the 2nd year Schouman filled the position left vacant by Michael Gaines.

This is the puzzling part. The starters were virtually the same, so why so much optimism? What was the charm that led me (and many of us, and the whole Bills' organization) to believe we were a legitimate playoff team?

I think that we all put too much hopes in the so-called intangibles. We thought that Edwards would blossom with more experience; we gambled on the Hardy making an early impact; we were sure the OL was to become a dominant unit; most of all, we were all intrigued by the "Bill Walsh" background of our young QB and new OC, Turk Schonert.

Now we know where all the intangibles have lead our team, and I wonder: can we still count on them for next year? Do you feel we are a center (or an OC) away from turning in a good offensive team? Will 2009 be Edwards' year? Can Hardy and Johnson step up? Will Lee Evans return to the Pro Bowl? Why I feel like deja vu?

Just to keep things in the right perspective, this is where the Bills stands after 8 weeks of NFL football, roughly half of the season. Source is the NFL.com standings page.

• The Bills are on top of the AFC East (same record as NE but net points)
• The Bills are the second team in the AFC, after the Titans
  
• The Bills are the fifth team in the NFL, after Titans, Giants, Panthers and Redskins.
  
• The Bills 3-2 in the last 5 games. Only 4 teams (Titans, Giants, Panthers and Redskins, again) have a better W-L ratio.
• 3 of the last 5 games for the Bills were away. Apart from the Titans, all the other top 5 teams already played at least 4 games at home (Carolina is on top with 5 home games out of 8).
• The Bills are the only AFC team, together with the ubiquitous Titans, without home losses.

As a side note, remember that what really counts are the W, not the stats, as our unfriendly neighbours - the Patriots -  know well.