ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. _ Here lie the Buffalo Bills, gone well before their time.
That's how it felt a couple of weeks ago, at least, after Rex Ryan's team lost its first two games in a five-day stretch, fired offensive coordinator Greg Roman and saw its best offensive player, receiver Sammy Watkins, suffer a foot injury.
After back-to-back victories over the Arizona Cardinals and New England Patriots, however, the Bills have come back to life.
"We dug ourselves out to this point," Ryan said Monday, "to get to 2-2 from 0-2 because of how hard we worked, all the preparation time, and the accountability to each other.
"We've just got to keep digging. We'll never make up for that 0-2 start. We've just got to keep taking that dirt off us."
It's a feeling the Los Angeles Rams know, having followed a face-plant at San Francisco with consecutive wins over the Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Cardinals.
If the first quarter of the NFL season has reminded us of anything, it's don't anoint or bury teams too soon. For instance, it was only nine months ago that the Cardinals and Carolina Panthers played in the NFC championship game and now the projected Super Bowl contenders are 1-3 with their quarterbacks, Carson Palmer and Cam Newton, under concussion protocol.
Written off too soon were teams such as the Denver Broncos and Minnesota Vikings. Both were undefeated through the weekend, with the Vikings hosting the New York Giants on Monday night.
After Peyton Manning retired and Brock Osweiler signed with the Houston Texans, the Broncos handed the keys to the offense to second-year quarterback Trevor Siemian, who had three strong games before suffering a sprained shoulder Sunday and being replaced by rookie Paxton Lynch. Denver is the first defending Super Bowl champion since the 2001 Baltimore Ravens to open the season with a different starting quarterback.
Broncos coach Gary Kubiak said Monday that Siemian is "day to day" and that he expects him back for Sunday's game against the Atlanta Falcons.
"He's just really sore, just going through that motion and going through the throwing motion," Kubiak said. "Throwing the ball is not going to be a problem, it's how does it feel when he moves his whole trunk. We'll have to see."
The Vikings got off to a 3-0 start despite losing quarterback Teddy Bridgewater just before the regular season started, followed by running back Adrian Peterson and left tackle Matt Kalil.
