When Shea Emery intercepted a perfectly thrown pass - perfectly thrown to him that is - and returned it for a touchdown to give the Montreal Allouettes a 24-12 lead over the Toronto Argonauts in the 4th quarter of yesterday's CFL game at the Rogers Centre, I knew that I soon would be able to leave, get on the subway, make my way home and settle in to what I hoped would be a turnaround game and a better effort from the Bills in the desert.
There is something about being inside the Rogers Centre when the roof is closed. Something bad. Even when it's close to full for regular season NFL games, the sounds coming from the public address system echo off the concrete and steel in a way that makes the building still feel empty. The Argonauts have given up on drawing more than 30,000 as the entire 500 level is closed, save for a few large fabric advertising banners (including one I noticed for the company which makes fabric advertising banners). The 100 and 200 levels were close to full on the east side of the stadium - the Argos side - but the west side looked to be less than half full, except for the 2 full sections of Montreal fans. The official attendance was over 25,000 but the feeling I had for most of the game was one of listless emptiness. The game itself was poor by CFL standards but the building is just not well suited for football - especially CFL football. If the Argos had an outdoor facility with about 30,000 seats, they could create at least some sense of a real football atmosphere. With the exception of the Bills/Seahawks game in December for which I bought tickets 4 years ago, I will not soon be back to the Rogers Centre for football.
The Bills were leading 9-3 when I turned the TV on just after 4.30pm. After 2 weeks of embarrassment, the defence showed up this week. Mario Williams recorded 2 sacks and the front 7 created constant pressure on Cardinal quarterback Kevin Kolb. Ryan Fitzpatrick, unfortunately, played poorly again. His passing accuracy is simply not good enough to win consistently in the NFL. But with the defence playing closer to expectations and CJ Spiller and Fred Jackson performing very well as one of the leagues best sets of running backs, the Bills found themselves leading by 3 with just over 3 minutes left in the game and driving with the ball at around the Arizona 35 yard line. That's when the game went wacky.
Brad Smith came in at quarterback to run a wildcat play and, for the first time this year, he threw the ball. And he threw it deep. And very poorly. It was intercepted in the endzone by the Cardinals who then drove to just inside the Bills 45 yard line. Facing a 4th down and long, Jay Feely came in to try a 61 yard field goal. He made it easily to tie the game. Then the Bills then went 3 and out and the Cardinals again drove deep into Bills territory and lined up to try a game winning 38 yard field goal to win the game. But Alex Carrington got enough of a finger on the kick to steer it to the goal post where it bounced out, leaving the game tied. In overtime, Jairus Byrd's second interception of the game set up the winning kick. Before the Smith wildcat pass, the game was under control with a couple of more first downs probably being enough to secure the win. Despite playing much better than they had the previous 2 weeks, it certainly looked like they were going to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
All 4 teams in the AFC East are tied at 3-3. The Tennessee Titans come to Orchard Park on Sunday. They, like the Cardinals, will have had 10 days to prepare, having beaten the Steelers last Thursday. The game is winnable and it's sold out. I am going with a friend has not been to Orchard Park for about 20 years.
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