34-31, it didn’t seem possible, like some sort of dream that I would wake up from and all would be back to normal. The New England Patriots would be 3-0 and the Buffalo Bills would be 2-1, with that same monkey on their back of not being able to beat the Patriots in their last 15 attempts, and beginning a downward tumble into obsoleteness after a promising 2-0 start.

But it wasn’t, Buffalo won, 34-31, and is 3-0, New England is 2-1 and that 15-year-old monkey was lifted off the back of the Bills of Buffalo.

I was alive but do not fully remember the 1990 Super Bowl and the now infamous, Scott Norwood, “wide-right,” I wasn’t to entirely coherent at the tender age of four, to fully grasp the plight of back-to-back Super Bowl losses, but the next two years at age five and six, I witnessed my favorite football team get trounced and accomplish the great feat of four straight Super Bowls in a row, but not on the winning end.

Least to say I know sports fan futility and sadness, like Red Sox fans before 2004, and the few remaining true Chicago Cubs fans know, sometimes hope is lost.

But on Sunday Morning I felt like Buffalo had just won the Super Bowl, 15 tries since the Bills have beaten the Patriots, 15! But those no-name Bills came out and instilled hope into the hearts of the Baron tundra of Buffalo and Bills fans nationwide.

Since 2003, the last time the Bills beat the Pats, the Patriots and the golden arm of Tom Brady have won two Super Bowls, the Red Sox broke the “Curse of the Bambino,” by winning their first World Series in 86 years, the trend boom of reality television has taken over 57-inch plasma, high-definition surround sound mini-in-home theaters across the nation, and the United States caught Osama and Saddam. Oh and the “good ol’ US of A,” finally broke the 222 year old color barrier it had on its Presidents by electing Barack Obama the first black president. That’s a lot of stuff and Buffalo couldn’t find a single damn way to beat the Patriots.

But Sunday they did, on the arm of Harvard Legend Ryan Fitzpatrick and the fast moving feet of Fred Jackson, a graduate of Coe College who went undrafted in the 2003 NFL draft, toiled in obscurity in Arena leagues and NFL Europe, and didn’t come into the Bills organization until 2007 and didn’t see solid playing time till 2009. Sunday he had 87 yards receiving, 74 yards rushing, one touchdown, and one of the top five performances in the history of the franchise.

Jackson sat behind Marshawn Lynch till 2009, and had to struggle against C.J. Spiller to get his starting position, and now that he has it, it would seem that there is no looking back. Jackson, in this young season, is fourth on the leagues rushing list but is number one in the hearts of Bills fans everywhere, after his 39-yard reception put Buffalo at the New England 1-yard line with 20 seconds remaining to set up the game-winning field goal by Ryan Lindell.

Fitzpatrick on the other hand, is a story unlike any in the NFL, besides quarterback robot Tom Brady. Drafted 250 overall from Harvard in the 2005 NFL draft, Harvard has never been the go-to place for quarterbacks, led to Fitzpatrick sitting on the benches and even underperforming when called upon, on such teams as the St. Louis Rams(2005-2007) and the Cincinnati Bengals(2007-2009), it wasn’t until last season that “Fitzy,” decided to actually do anything as an NFL quarterback, throwing for 3000-yards and 23 touchdowns, but on the way to a hearty 4-9 as the starting quarterback.

Basically the Bills have done what they were supposed to do, be the NFL’s doormat, and most of all to the Patriots, and they’ve seemed to have done this for the last decade and beyond willingly.

They made the playoffs some years to bow-out ungracefully in the opening rounds, or get shafted by a blatant forward pass in the “Music City Miracle,” in 1999 but other than that let us take a quick look at their last 10 season records in chronological order since 2001; 3-13, 8-8, 6-10, 9-7, 5-11, 7-9,7-9,7-9,6-10, 4-12, and in the 2011-2012 season, which mind you is heading in to week four so it’s still early, is…. 3-0,  with two, yes, count them two, come-back victories over the Oakland Raiders and the all-so-immortal New England Patriots after trailing by 18 or more in both, an NFL first.

Is this a team of destiny, probably not, I’m predicting an 8-8 or at-best 9-7 season for these no-name Bills. But is it fun watching them, it sure is, and maybe, just maybe I won’t have to wait till I’m long dead for there to be a Buffalo Bills Super Bowl victory. To borrow a page out of sports writer Bill Simmons repertoire and to quote the great film “The Shawshank Redemption,” “I Hope.”