Drubbings are so much better when you’re the drubber than the drubee – Sunday proved that. Last week’s debacle in Orchard Park hurt – badly. Not only had the Bills been thoroughly defeated, but their week 1 win lost a bit of its luster when the Jets also ran over Indianapolis – the Jets are a decent team, but suddenly you had to wonder how strong the Colts were and if the Bills’ week 1 win was as big as we thought it was.

Going into Sunday’s game I really wasn’t sure what the Bills had. In week 1 we learned that the Bills could play tough and even beat (pretty handily) a team that is supposed to be one of the best in the AFC; in week 2 we learned that despite all our hopes, talent and emotions, Tom Brady and New England are the same as they always are – a team that easily handles the Bills time and time again.

So Buffalo wasn’t looking as if there would be a changing of the guard atop the AFC East, but they did look like they could contend for the playoffs. Miami, a team with good talent and one many had predicted to be the second best in the division, was opening at home in week 3 when the Bills came to town. It looked as if the game could have gone either way – I would not have been stunned if the Bills had dropped to 1-2 on Sunday.

And so the game began on Sunday afternoon. I wish I could tell you that the Bills looked good on their first drive, but I only heard about it. Not being in the local market but getting the game on local TV, Bills fans in Boston and New York were treated to several kneel downs at the end of the Bengals game followed by about 35 commercials for Dunkin’ Donuts before finally breaking in to show Dan Carpenter kicking an extra point (seriously, CBS – you don’t need to advertise Dunkin’ Donuts in Boston – there’s one on every corner and they’re always busy, day or night).

I’ve read that the Bills started out fast again, just as they did against New England. The Bills held Miami to 5 yards on an initial 3-and-out series, then took their first offensive drive and went 77 yards in 5 plays to score a touchdown – it doesn’t get much better than that. The exclamation point on the drive was that Charles Clay, the ex-Dolphin, had 3 catches for 58 yards and the touchdown where he absolutely embarrassed a couple of tacklers.

OK – let’s not get too excited – last week the Bills scored quickly on their first drive and held New England to 3-and-out on their first series and that was about it for positive plays for Buffalo. But Sunday was different. The Bills drove 81 yards in 9 plays and scored another touchdown and with just over 5 minutes gone in the game the Bills were up by 14 points. By halftime the Bills had three interceptions and were up by 27 points with Miami yet to score – the rout was on.

The Miami fans in the stands looked much like the Bills fans had the week before – long faces, stunned disbelief, trying to figure out why everything had seemed so right but somehow gone so wrong. I almost felt sorry for them, then I realized it was Miami and I hate the color aqua with a passion – heck, if you dress in aqua and orange and try and look tough you get what’s coming.

For the third week in a row I’ve been really impressed with Tyrod Taylor – he’s just fun to watch and he seems to be getting better and growing into the position. Every time Taylor takes the snap I feel that there is the possibility for a really exciting play – I can’t tell you how refreshing that is. Even when the Bills had a quarterback who was winning it was all dink and dunk – it may have moved the chains but it wasn’t very exciting. Taylor has done an excellent job of keeping calm and going through his reads, something that really hurts young quarterbacks without much game experience. When he has thrown the ball his accuracy has been good – he almost never throws a ball that makes you jump up and yell “where was he even going with that one?” or skipping it off the turf.

I really want to be more excited about Taylor than I am, but too many times I’ve been let down by a new quarterback who looks very promising after a few games and is never seen again. My gut tells me that Taylor is different, but I expect I may wake up one night bathed in sweat and screaming as I dream about Taylor stepping up to the mike at the post-game press conference and peeling off his face to reveal that he is actually Trent Edwards – ahhhh!!!!

You have to give the Bills offensive line a ton of credit for the two wins they have. Against Indianapolis and again against the Dolphins, the line gave Taylor the time he needed to make his reads and make some nice throws. The time Taylor had most of the day on Sunday was truly amazing, especially when you consider that Miami has one of the better defensive fronts in the league. For all you heard about how Ndamukong Suh was going to put Miami over the top this year he did next to nothing – the Bills completely handled him.

The Bills defense was simply smothering. Ryan Tannehill was sacked only twice (shocking, right?) but he was put on the turf almost every play. The Dolphins quarterback threw 3 interceptions and had a fumble returned via a Buffalo penalty, all the result of the pressure he faced. Take out the fluky 46 yard scramble and touchdown throw and Miami had no plays longer than 19 yards all afternoon.

So Buffalo is through one of the toughest part of the schedule - the first three games. At the start of the season I would have very happily taken a 2-1 record at this point, and I’m positively giddy that the two wins have been dominant performances. I’d like to think that the New England game was a team having a bad day across the board, but I honestly don’t expect much better the next time the teams meet (in Foxborough, on a nationally televised Monday night game). That’s OK, because aside from that game I think the Bills have a good chance of winning each of their remaining games (they won’t, but I’m not counting them out against anyone else). The Bills must continue to show that they can play or even dominate opponents, especially against teams that could be in the wild card hunt (Bengals, Jets, Miami, KC). So far the chips have generally been falling favorably for the Bills (Baltimore is 0-3, Pittsburgh has been killed with injuries, the Jets and Miami have shown to be weaker than many imagined). I’m trying not to get too optimistic, but it’s hard, and that’s a weird feeling if you’re a Bills fan.