ORCHARD PARK — The movie Pearl Harbor has several memorable scenes.

One is when actor Jon Voight, playing the commander in chief of the armed forces, discusses with military leaders the concept of the initial bombing of America’s then-chief enemy in the Pacific.

The military leaders are skeptical that such a bombing raid is doable, particularly at that time in the war.

In a stellar performance, Voight looks around the conference table and says he sees defeat in everyone’s eyes.

The military leaders remain skeptical. They look at the commander in chief in disbelief.

“What you’re asking can’t be done,” one of them says.

Then comes the high point of the scene.

The commander in chief pushes himself back from the conference table and unfastens his legs from his wheelchair. As he begins to stand with his leg braces, a White House butler, fearful that the commander in chief will fall, lunges toward him.

“Head back, George. Get back,” comes the response.

A determined commander in chief hoists himself up through the strength of his shoulders and arms, struggles to get to his feet, solidifies his composure, and gains his balance.

With determination, he says, “Do not tell me it can’t be done.”

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The Buffalo Bills are a team that some from across the country foresaw winning not only the American Football Conference championship but also the Super Bowl this season.

Now, some of the Bills and some of the fans have defeat in their eyes.

A team with this much talent was supposed to have a better record. Most of the losses shouldn’t have happened. But they did.

The challenges are numerous and surmountable.

≤ Among them are having a single person filling–for an entire season–the roles of head coach and defensive coordinator. On any National Football League team, each role is so big that it needs its own person.

≤ Injuries are among the challenges. Injuries besetting the Bills have been both numerous and serious. They won’t all heal this season, yet time will heal them.

≤ Turnovers are among the challenges. It’s hard for even great teams to win while committing this many turnovers. And, no, they’re not all one person’s doing.

≤ Penalties are among the challenges. The more penalties a team has, the harder it is to win.

≤ Relying too much on the passing game and not enough on the running game is among the challenges.

You, faithful reader of this column, recall the admonition of former head coach Marv Levy: “Run and stop the run.”

Not running the ball enough means, among other things, that the Bills’ time of possession isn’t as high as it should be. That, in turn, means that the defense has to be on the field more than it should be, which can mean tiring out the defense, which makes it harder to win.

≤ ≤ ≤

All of these are among factors contributing to the defeat that one sees in the eyes of some of the Bills and some of the fans.

Then there are the usual naysayers–including, but not only, in the press–who, before this season even started, declared that this era’s window of opportunity for the Bills to win a Super Bowl was closing or had closed.

That was baloney then, and it’s baloney now. Besides, that isn’t just defeat in their eyes. It’s capitulation.

≤ ≤ ≤

Late in the 2022 season, the Bills and the fans faced a challenge greater than the current challenges.

On a Monday evening in Cincinnati, No. 3–Damar Hamlin–went into cardiac arrest, collapsed on the field, and almost died.

But Hamlin came back.

And the Bills came back.

And the fans came back too.

The Bills didn’t win it all in 2022.

It will be hard to win it all in 2023. Doable, but hard.

Nevertheless, a team with this much talent and with fans this dedicated can do so another year.

With the usual naysayers having capitulation in their eyes, the Bills and the fans need to join together and, with determination, say, “Do not tell us it can’t be done.”

The only sports-fan letter Randy Elf has ever written was to Marv Levy, who wrote back to express his thanks and to say that he liked the enclosed Winston Churchill poster so much that he had it framed and mounted on his office wall at the stadium.

COPYRIGHT (c) 2023 BY RANDY ELF