Dolphins 34, Bills 31 (OT)

I've never been big on questioning coaching decisions. Why does he play that defenceman on power plays? Why didn't he take that pitcher out after the last inning? Why are they running the ball on third down and seven? I just assume that coaches in professional sports know far more than me about the factors they need to to consider when making the decisions they make - and they obviously do. But questioning coaching decisions in the prerogative of fans and especially those who pay their hard-earned after tax money to buy tickets to games. I just don't happen to do it very much. But I certainly did it once on Christmas Eve.

With four minutes remaining in the overtime period of Saturday's game in Orchard Park with the Bills facing a fourth down and three, Rex Ryan decided to punt the ball. Had the game been a 10-10 defensive struggle, his hope that his defence would get a stop and get the ball back with enough time to score in a game they had to win to stay alive might have been realistic. But this was a 31-31 game where both offences were running in high gear for the whole game - including Buffalo's which set a single game offensive production record with 589 yards from scrimmage. Ryan's post-game claim that "any coach in America would have done the same thing" seemed almost delusional. It is true that if they had gone for the first down on that fourth and three and not made it, the game would have been over. Punting the ball away at that point simply ended the Bills remote playoff chances in a slow and painful way until they allowed Jay Ajayi to rumble for 60 yards against 10 defenders to set up the game winning field goal. Ryan is the head coach and the decision was his to make, he made it and they lost game. That's sports. I guess the real thing I questioned was his claim that he thought that his defence had a better shot at a three and out than his offence did at picking up three yards after posting almost 600 in the game up to that point. Had he chosen to try for the first down and had they not made it, fans would have questioned that decision too. I would like to think that I would not have been among them.

So, the Bills are out of the playoffs for the 17th consecutive season. If they beat the Jets next week, they will finish 8-8 and Rex's record over two seasons will be a yawn inducing 16-16. I think he will be back next year but the real question at this point will be what they do with their quarterback Tyrod Taylor. In a league where contracts are not guaranteed, there are many options. The team has the right, under a contract extension signed during training camp, to retain Taylor in 2017 but at a steep price of $27.5 million. If they decide that they want to go in a different direction (current third stringer Cardale Jones, through free agency or through the draft), then they will just cut him and he's a free agent. If they want to retain him but not at $27.5 million, they could try to re-negotiate the deal or they choose a more creative path which would involve cutting him, letting him see the options available to him in free agency and, assuming that he isn't offered $27.5 million by another team (which seems unlikely), they could themselves sign him as a free agent at a salary more in line with his performance this season. His performance was solid in some respects but his throwing accuracy is still below average for an NFL quarterback and most observers agree that he is not worth $27.5 million to the Bills or to any other team. Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo will be a free agent this off-season.

The Dolphins have now officially made the playoffs as all six AFC teams have been determined going into week 17. In the NFC, the game next Sunday night at Ford Field between Detroit and Green Bay will determine the winner of the NFC North which comes with a home playoff game. The other important game involves Washington which can claim a wildcard spot with a win over the Giants who have nothing to play for. The AFC West could still be won by the Chiefs if they can beat the Chargers and if the Raiders, who suffered a devastating loss of their star quarterback Derek Carr, lose to the Broncos.



    

Bills 33, Browns 13

It feels like we're on a perpetual course of mediocrity as the Bills grind their way to the end of another 8-8 season - or 7-9 or 9-7 - whatever. Its not disastrous like 2-14 where you blow it up and start over but they just can't take it to the next level and be one of the 12 NFL teams which make the playoffs rather than perpetually being one of the 20 that doesn't. What would I do if were Terry Pegula? Tough decision for sure. Except for a few personal items I would purchase.

The Bills are 6-1 against teams with losing records (a week 2 loss to the Jets) and a reciprocal 1-6 against teams with winning records (a win at New England with Brady out) for a nice even record of 7-7. Should Rex Ryan be dismissed with 3 years remaining on his $5 million a year contract? I can see valid arguments on each side but I think I'm coming around to predicting and maybe even reluctantly hoping that they bring him back for one more try. I mean a new coach means a new system, new assistants and, most importantly an admission on the owner's part that he hired the wrong guy. And maybe Rex and Tyrod can somehow find their mojo in year 3. The owner will also have to consider the sentiment of the fan base and I'm not sure how that breaks down. I'm thinking more Bills fans would lean to wanting Rex fired than not but I think it would be close.

How good was that Air Force Reserve Celebration Bowl game, won by the Grambling State Tigers 10-9 over the North Carolina Central Eagles? Well, not that great but it was on channel 7 on my HD antenna on Saturday so, having never heard of this particular bowl game, I googled it. Turns out that the "Celebration Bowl", which has been sponsored by the Air Force Reserve through its first two years, is a game played between the winners of the two NCAA Division 1 athletic conferences which are predominantly comprised of what I gather are known as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The Celebration bowl is the championship game of Black College Football. Its "payout" - an important element of any bowl game - is $1 million per school. The Rose Bowl's payout is $35 million per school.

Then came the New Mexico Bowl which, amazingly, was won by the New Mexico Lobos 23-20 over those pesky Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners. Having spent 5 days exploring, hiking and camping in New Mexico a few years ago, I'm immediately drawn to anything remotely related to or even mentioning New Mexico which was a spectacular place to visit. We stayed in very well maintained State Campgrounds with showers, laundry and free firewood for $8 a night. The mountains, the hiking, the dessert, the cactus, the odd ghost town - were all fantastic but what I loved was that it was vast, remote and sparsely populated. That's also why the US military likes it for various training ranges and whatever else they may or may not do there. Anyway the New Mexico Bowl was not quite as good as New Mexico itself but how many bowl games really are?

Tonight we have the Miami Beach Bowl and tomorrow the Boca Raton Bowl so the excitement just keeps building as we approach the 4 team playoff which has two games set to go on New Year's Eve: the Peach Bowl between No.1 Alabama and No. 4 Washington then the Fiesta Bowl between No. 2 Clemson and No.3 Ohio State. The National Championship is January 9th. This year, including the 3 games which will determine the national champion, there are 44 bowl games. I promise not to review very many more of them.

Next up for the Bills: a Christmas Eve home game on Saturday against their division rivals, the 9-5 Miami Dolphins who will have plenty to play for as they are in the thick of the AFC playoff race. The Dolphins record in Buffalo in December isn't good. Frozen fish squish just fine.







  

Steelers 27, Bills 20

Maybe the Pegulas don't really look forward to December. For the third consecutive year - every December since they acquired the Buffalo Bills - turmoil surrounds their football team. Multiple reports surfaced before yesterday's game that a power struggle was playing out at One Bills Drive between the head coach and the general manager about who should start under centre for the team's final three or four games.

Rex Ryan apparently still believes that Tyrod Taylor is the team's quarterback of the future and should start the remainder of the team's games as long as he's healthy. Doug Whaley wants to see third stringer and 2016 fourth round draft pick Cardale Jones start the team's last three games to see how he does on a big stage, although after the season is lost, as it now is. The reports suggested that Ryan could be gone as early as today (Monday). If there is any truth to this, then it seems to me that Ryan could save his job by coming around on the quarterback issue and agreeing to start Cardale Jones, if he wants to. I just wonder how EJ Manuel must feel this morning. Maybe he's permanently stuck at the two spot in the Bills quarterback depth chart. Ryan has more than $16 million remaining on his five year contract and, unlike the players he coaches, his money is guaranteed.

Yesterday's game was not nearly as close as the score indicates. Taylor and the Bills offense was awful and the defense wasn't much better although they did capitalize on some errant throws by Ben Roethlisberger. I actually saw only the first and fourth quarters as I decided to go out cross-country skiing between 1.30 and 3pm. It was lovely as it will be today with another 15cm having fallen here in Muskoka overnight.

Like many sports fans in southern Ontario, I tuned in to the MLS Championship game on Saturday night. I even watched a bit of the pre-game discussions, mostly among unknown (to me at least) British analysts. Before Saturday, the only soccer games I have ever consciously tuned it for have been World Cup finals or perhaps semi-finals. I don't think I had seen a minute of a TFC game on television but I had heard from many sources that attending a game live makes for a highly enjoyable event. I think I'm even more mystified about the game now than I was last week.

First, the semi-final was a two-game total goal format (I can remember when the CFL did this in its conference finals up to the 1970s) between Toronto and Montreal while the league championship is only a single game. Seems odd. The game itself wasn't particularly interesting to me and I found myself back to the Leaf game in Boston before long. But I did keep switching back and watched quite a bit of it. The game, for me, lacked a sense of urgency that could reasonably be expected for a championship game. TFC had the better chances and I read the next morning that the X Box team didn't register a shot on goal for the entire game, including extra time, injury time and the extra minute or two that the referees let the teams play beyond the injury time.

The basic problem with soccer for most North American sports fans is that it is simply too difficult to score goals. I have no idea what a solution for this might look like. I can remember a few years ago a soccer expert explaining the difference between soccer and the four North American sports this way: he said that North American sports fans want their sports to "explode" while soccer is a game which simply "unfolds". Yes, it unfolds and it can be very pleasing to watch but when the score, after 120 minutes plus injury time, is nil/nil, maybe it needs to explode just a little. Then, almost like a coin toss, the game is decided on penalty kicks because the concept of a sudden-death, "play until someone scores" approach would, apparently, lead to highly defensive play on each side and the game would go on and on and on. One suggestion I can think of is to allow multiple - hey how about unlimited - substitutions during extra time to increase the chances of a goal or, at the very least, a shot on goal. Or just let the game end in a tie. Both teams could then half-heartedly hoist the cup.

The Bills welcome their sorry Lake Erie cousins, the 0-13 Cleveland Browns, this weekend in Orchard Park. It will be one hot ticket. Unfortunately, I have two.

Raiders 38, Bills 24

After taking a one point lead into halftime yesterday in Oakland, the Bills came out of the gate in third quarter, inspired by another long run from scrimmage by LeSean McCoy, and promptly scored two touchdowns to take what looked like a comfortable 24-9 lead. The Raiders, whose playoff drought dates back to 2002 when they went to the Superbowl and lost to Tampa Bay, were 0 for the last 72 times they found themselves trailing by 15 or more points. Make that 1 for 72 now as they roared back with 29 unanswered points in less than 12 minutes of play. And the Bills last won in Oakland in 1966.

Tied with the Patriots at 10-2, the Raiders are in a strong position to earn a first round bye in the AFC playoffs, if not home field advantage throughout. Raider fans have waited a long time for this but Bills fans have three years on them and New Era Field doesn't have any of its upper deck sections covered with tight fitting tarps because the seats can't be sold. The stadium in Oakland is old and decrepit but the sightlines from those tarped off sections look ok and it seems surprising to me that, in this very successful season, the team wouldn't open them up for sale. The Raiders may well end up in Las Vegas before long and the league apparently has a hate on for its owner, Mark Davis. In Oakland, success on the field isn't matched by overall franchise success. But the most dedicated members of Raider Nation still stand above any other fan base in terms of the elaborate make-up and costumes they don on Sundays at the Black Hole. Every NFL highlight package on weeks when the Raiders play at home includes a look at some of them. For these guys, it's Halloween eight times every year.

As for the Bills, hopes for an end to the playoff drought are all but gone. Winning out to finish 10-6 probably won't get it done as it looks to me like both wildcard teams will come from the AFC West which has four strong teams this year. One again, Bills fans are faced with December home games where the team is playing for next year's roster positions, for pride or perhaps to play a spoiler role as they did last year against the Jets in week 17. The Steelers come to Orchard Park next week to kick off three straight December home games. Then the winless Cleveland Browns come in on December 18th and the Dophins, who lost badly yesterday, come in on Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas.

I keep hoping - yearning, to use a Seinfeld reference - for Tyrod Taylor to show that he is a proficient NFL passer but he keeps letting me down. Until yesterday, he had been very solid at ball protection and his scrambling ability is as good or better than any quarterback in the league but his passing skills just aren't there and yesterday was another good example as he missed several open receivers and couldn't get the right touch on some short passes either. I'm afraid that the Bills will have to look once again to the draft to try to nail down the most important position in the game. Jim Kelly retired 20 years ago and the team is still looking for his replacement.

The College football four-team playoff participants were announced yesterday: Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson and Washington. I think that it's only a matter of time before the playoff is expanded to eight teams as at least two of the teams left out of the tournament this year (Michigan and Penn State, both from the Big Ten) are at least as good as Washington. In an eight team playoff, the 9th and 10th best teams will always make similar arguments but still....

I've left politics alone on this blog since the US election and I intend to stick with that approach. However, rather than submitting my usual monthly sports column for True North Perspective, I decided to write an article on the Electoral College for December's issue. You can read it here.

Bills 28, Jaguars 21

I have no idea if Jim Harbaugh and Gus Bradley are friends but they might consider having lunch this week to commiserate on their tough losses this past weekend. Both coaches feel, quite rightly, that poor officiating cost their teams games. Harbaugh, whose Michigan Wolverines dropped an overtime game in Columbus to the Ohio State Buckeyes, focused on the officiating in his post-game press conference, pointing out three specific calls which went against his team - any of which he says would have changed the outcome of the game. The three calls included two pass interference incidents - one called against a Michigan player on what Harbaugh says was an uncatchable ball and another non-call involving a Michigan receiver who was clearly interfered with. The third involved a ball spot on a fourth down run in the second overtime by Buckeyes quarterback JT Barrett on which Harbaugh says his view from the sideline clearly indicated that he was 6 inches short. Even after a review, Ohio State was awarded a first down. The right call would have ended the game and sent the Wolverines into the playoff. Harbaugh didn't mention the turnovers his team committed, any of which would have been crucial to the outcome of the game, had they not occurred. So, Michigan will play in some bowl game or other in a few weeks.

Yesterday in Orchard Park, the Jacksonville Jaguars looked like the team that wanted the game more than the Bills did, especially in the first half. The Jaguars defense in particular looked well prepared as they held the Bills and their league-leading power running attack in check through 30 minutes. But LeSean McCoy found the endzone just before halftime and again on a 75 yard run to open the third quarter and the Bills held on to win a game in which they were outplayed. But Jaguars coach Gus Bradley also pointed to three bad calls against his team which he felt cost them the game. But Bradley, whose record as Jags head coach now stands at 14-45, should also look in the mirror when he reflects on the game as he failed to call a time-out before the play clock expired on a critical fourth down play near the end of the game. The Jags took a five yard penalty on the play then came up short, turned the ball over on downs and let the Bills run out the clock. The Jaguars look to be a decent team but, at 2-9, are set to have another high draft pick in April. I've said it before but Doug Marrone really hit the jackpot two years ago when he resigned as Bills head coach and ended up settling for one of the least prestigious coaching positions in the NFL: offensive line coach with the Jaguars.

There were more than 110,000 fans at the Horseshoe in Columbus on Saturday. A few hours drive away, in Hamilton, Ontario, there were considerably fewer than 10,000 fans on hand at Tim Horton's Field for the Vanier Cup. Some estimates were that the actual attendance was not much more than 5,000 but those who did bother to show up were treated to a very entertaining and close game won by the Laval Rouge et Or 31-26 over the Calgary Dinosaurs.

Despite the ongoing attendance issues with Canadian football in southern Ontario, both championship games on the weekend were excellent, including the Grey Cup game, most of which I did watch while checking in on the Jets / Patriots game and later the Chiefs / Broncos. The stands at BMO Field looked fully occupied from what I could see and the teams served up an overtime thriller won by 41 year-old Henry Burris and the Ottawa Redblacks. After plenty of unfortunate negative PR leading up to the game, including a pizza joint in Hamilton offering two tickets to the game with the order of a large pizza, the CFL always seems to redeem itself on Grey Cup day with a compelling, entertaining and close game. I wonder if the league is looking for a way to gracefully exit the Toronto market.

The Bills make their third (and final, except for a possible playoff game) trip to the west coast next Sunday to face the 9-2 Raiders at the Black Hole. Maybe the Raiders will be looking ahead to their game four days later at Kansas City.

Bills 16, Bengals 12

I don't think that Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor threw the ball down field even once during yesterday's game in Cincinnati. It felt infuriating to me at times - partly because the Bills passing attack just wasn't there yesterday and partly because watching on TV, the down field coverage can't be seen. But I kept wanting him to throw it deep anyway. Surely one receiver can get open, I thought. Give one of them a chance to make a play, I said to myself as the wind and snow pelted against the cottage windows. But, in keeping with his instinct to protect the ball, Taylor threw only short passes, did plenty of scrambling and relied on a formidable running game and his team's defense which played very well yesterday, especially in the second half.

The Bills ran for 183 yards yesterday while Taylor's passing statistics looked weak at 19 for 27 for 159 yards and one interception. The interception was a poor decision to be sure but hardly disastrous as it gave the Bengals the ball at their own one yard line. The defense held the Bengals to 93 yards rushing and 300 yards in total. It was a hard-fought but exceedingly frustrating game to watch as the ineptitude of the Bills passing game persisted. But a win is a win and a loss would have almost ended any playoff hopes the team has, however slim they might be.

I have no data to back this up but it feels like there have been more injuries in the league this year than in previous years. Yesterday was no exception as Cincinnati star receiver AJ Green went down with a hamstring on the first series and is likely gone for the season. Then, Bills receiver Robert Woods went out with a knee and LeSean McCoy left the game with a dislocated thumb. Add those injuries to the loss of centre Eric Wood two weeks ago, not to mention Sammy Watkins who really hasn't played this year at all with an ailing foot. The injury to the Panthers Luke Kuechly on Thursday night drew attention as his teary reaction to another concussion brought the issue of head injuries to the surface once again.

Now at 5-5, the Bills have what looks to be an easy game next week against the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars in Orchard Park before heading to Oakland the following week to face the resurgent Raiders. Then, 3 straight home games against the Steelers, Browns and Dolphins before closing out the season at the Meadowlands against the Jets. 10-6 usually gets you in to the playoffs. Its a steep hill to climb but not out of the question.

Besides the Bills game next weekend, there are three other games I will be watching - two to be played on Canadian soil and the other south of the border. In chronological order, the first is on Saturday at noon and features the No.3 ranked Michigan Wolverines facing the No.2 Ohio State Buckeyes at the Horseshoe in Columbus. The annual end-of-season rivalry game has more riding on it this year than it has since probably 2003. Michigan has not won in Columbus since 2000. The winner is guaranteed a spot in the 4 team college football playoff and the loser will likely miss out.

Next up is the Vanier Cup, the Canadian University football championship game, at Tim Horton's Field in Hamilton on Saturday at 1pm between the Laval Rouge et Or and the Calgary Dinosaurs. And, on Sunday the 104th Grey Cup kicks off at 6.30pm at BMO Field in Toronto between the Ottawa Redblacks and the Calgary Stampeders. Canadian football fans in Calgary have two good reasons to travel to southern Ontario next weekend. I don't think that they will need to worry about getting tickets for either game.



 

Seahawks 31, Bills 25

Rex Ryan was relatively calm in his post-game press conference in Seattle. Bills beat reporters, among others, were expecting him be breathing fire after a heartbreaking down-to-the-last-play loss in the the Bills first trip to the Pacific Northwest since 2004. If it were a baseball game, Ryan surely would have been ejected by referee Walt Anderson just before halftime after he expressed his outrage to him at a non-call on Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman. Sherman was as clearly offside as a player could be on a Dan Carpenter field goal attempt with three seconds left in the half. Officials flagged the offside but no further penalty was called on Sherman who continued into the backfield and slammed into Carpenter's plant leg and knocked him to the ground.

When a punter is fouled as or after he punts, there are two types of penalties which can be called: "running into the kicker" which is a five yard penalty or "roughing the kicker", a personal foul which carries a 15 yard penalty. It seemed clear to me that, notwithstanding Carpenter's embellishment of his leg injury, a personal foul should have been called. Then, the officials botched the lead-up to Carpenter's actual kick attempt, finally placing the ball on the field with less than five seconds remaining on the play clock. After the delay of game penalty, Carpenter missed the kick. Ryan was understandably livid in the moment but, presumably having learned how to avoid fines from the league office for comments on officiating, simply said that he would have made a different call on the Sherman play. He was also obviously proud of how his team competed in the game - and rightfully so.

Ryan was asked if he thought that last night's game was Tyrod Taylor's best one in a Bills uniform. He replied by saying that Taylor plays well every game and that he isn't sure why this opinion isn't more widely shared. Despite throwing one needless and careless interception (only the Bills 5th turnover through nine games), Taylor demonstrated his usual elusiveness in the pocket and his consistent ball protection instinct but he also had a pretty good night throwing the ball, following two games where he did not. The Bills defence was also solid in the second half after a shaky first 30 minutes. And, the game was theirs to win on the last series and the last play where Taylor's pass sailed through the endzone. Was Robert Woods held on that last play? Didn't look like it to me but a defensive holding or pass interference call on the play would have gone a long way to righting the officiating wrong from the end of the first half.  

With nine games down and seven to go, the Bills probably have to win six of them to have a realistic shot a wildcard spot. With road games in Cincinnati and Oakland and a home date with the Steelers on the schedule, they have a tough road. At 4-5, the Bills look to be close to a lock to extend the NFL's longest playoff drought which dates back to the Music City Miracle which followed the 1999 season.

Before the game, I looked up the history of the Bills playing on Monday night. With a couple of exceptions, it isn't pretty. The most memorable game for me was the October, 2007 game against Dallas where the heavily favoured Cowboys eked out a 25-24 win after a successful onside kick and a 53 yard field goal as time ran out. The Bills are 2-9 in their last 11 Monday night games.

The history of Monday Night Football is also fascinating. Thanks almost entirely to a man named Roone Arledge who convinced his skeptical bosses at ABC (CBS and NBC had passed on the idea, thinking that football fans would not watch a game on a Monday night) to take a chance on it in 1970. Arledge introduced many innovative ideas to the prime time broadcast, including the use of multiple cameras and celebrity guest appearances in the broadcast booth, the most famous of which was Howard Cosell's 1974 interview with John Lennon. Six years later, Cosell announced, during a live broadcast of Monday Night Football, that Lennon was dead, making ABC the first network to break the story.

To my American friends, I wish you a successful election today. NFL fans in southern California will be paying close attention to a proposition on the ballot in the San Diego area where voters will choose whether or not to allocate tax dollars for a new stadium for the Chargers. Only in America.  

Patriots 41, Bills 25

Reports of declining NFL television ratings were easy to dismiss or explain away during the first couple of weeks of the season but, now at the halfway mark, the lower numbers are both consistent and significant. Many theories abound as to why.

Here are the facts: Overall, NFL television viewership in 2016 is down 12% from a year ago. Prime time games are suffering much more than Sunday afternoon broadcasts with Thursday night viewership down 18%, Sunday night games down 19% and Monday Night Football off a quite remarkable 24%.

A poll was conducted recently for Seaton Hall University which asked respondents why they were watching less NFL on television. Here are some of the reasons respondents provided and some other theories which have been proposed to explain the sudden and relatively steep drop in the number of Americans watching NFL games on television:

1. The Presidential election: It is common for sports television viewership to decline modestly in election years. This year, (and the Trump campaign complained about this when the debate schedule was released) two of the three debates between the two main candidates took place at the same time as NFL prime time broadcasts and this year's debates attracted the highest viewership since 1980.

2. Head Injuries: Maybe the long list of stories about the shattered lives of some former NFL players who suffered repeated head trauma during their playing days has finally driven some viewers away from the sport.

3. Domestic Violence: The NFL's response over the past few years to incidents of domestic abuse on the part of  players has generally been slow and muted and has added to the list of bad news stories about the league.

4. Over-saturation: With the move to a full schedule of Thursday night games a few years ago, the NFL decided that it had to own not one, not two but three prime time television nights each week. I can remember when Monday Night football was the only prime time football game every week and there was something special about it. Not to mention that this season's prime time game slate has featured neither compelling story lines nor particularly competitive games.

5. Cord cutters watching in sports bars: the cable industry can rhyme off the statistics (but they don't want to) of its declining traditional customer base but maybe some of us who have ditched cable in favour of a combination of OTA and Netflix are still watching football at our friends places, in sports bars or elsewhere. It's nearly impossible to measure this.

6. National anthem protests: This is perhaps the most interesting one and a bit of mystery too as the national anthem is generally not part of the broadcast of an NFL game (except for the Superbowl). If the fact that some players are not standing during the anthem (or making other gestures to support the protest idea started by 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick) has caused some viewers to tune out, then either those viewers were never very serious fans or they need to grow thicker skins.

The fact remains that, even with significantly lower ratings, nothing can touch the NFL in terms of delivering eyeballs to television advertisers. Take a massively large number and reduce it by 12% and you've still got a very big number. The real question is whether the current decline in viewership is the new normal or if it will rebound as the season progresses and in future years.

I actually watched very little of the Bills game yesterday. CTV decided that what I really wanted to watch at 1pm was the entire scoreless overtime period of the London game between Washington and the Bengals which caused me to miss most of the first quarter. Then, as the Patriots seemed to be toying with the Bills, I lost interest and spent more time cutting firewood than I did watching the debacle.

Brady threw for 315 yards and 4 touchdowns - a typical game in Buffalo for him. With the Bills depleted offensive line-up, the game was going to come down to whether the defence could stop Brady. They couldn't. They never have been able to and there was no reason to think that it would start yesterday. At 7-1, the Patriots are the clear favourites to win it all again this year. Brady and Belichick will move on some day but it seems clear that the Bills will not realize any meaningful success until they do.

Up next: Monday Night Football at Seattle the night before the election. As a cord-cutter, I will have to find a place to watch it as ESPN is not an OTA broadcaster where I live.

      

Dolphins 28, Bils 25

Dolphins running back Jay Ajayi joined some elite company yesterday in South Florida as he gained over 200 yards on the ground for the second consecutive game. Only three other players in NFL history have ever accomplished this: OJ Simpson who did it twice for the Bills in the 1970s, Houston Oilers great Earl Campbell in 1980 and the Dophins Ricky Williams in 2003. Ajayi, who was born to Nigerian parents in London, England and moved to the US at age 7, played his college football at Boise State and was the 149th overall pick by the Dolphins in the 2015 draft. He was left off the roster for the Dolphins first game of this season at Seattle for disciplinary reasons (in hockey, it's called being a "healthy scratch") but has obviously become a critical part of the offense, taking some pressure off the persistently mediocre quarterback Ryan Tanehill and saving, for now, prospects for the Dolphins season after a 1-4 start.

Now the Bills know what it feels like to have a team run at will against them. When a defence knows that the run is coming but still can't stop it, two things happen: it slowly but surely breaks the spirit of the defence and then it opens up opportunities in the passing game. That's what happened yesterday to the Bills after doing much the same to their opponents over the course of their four game winning streak. They made the score look close with a late touchdown and two point conversion before trying an unsuccessful onside kick with 13 seconds left.

The Patriots keep on rolling, with a win in Pittsburgh yesterday to move to 6-1, with their only loss coming at the hands of the Bills. They make their annual trip to Orchard Park next week. With a win yesterday, the Bills would have pushed their record to 5-2 with this week's game representing a chance to move into first place in the AFC East, tied with the Patriots but holding the tie-breaker having beaten them twice. But, at 4-3, even with a win on Sunday, which seems unlikely, a home playoff game remains a pipe dream in Buffalo as these go only to division winners. The Patriots are early 5 to 7 point favourites on most lines and I look for that line to creep up as the week goes on and the state of some key Bills injuries come into focus.

I have a prediction for what we might see on the evening of November 8th between 10 and 11pm. Hillary Clinton will have won a landslide victory in the Presidential election, at least in terms of the Electoral College results, winning by 9 points over Donald Trump in the national popular vote. The protocol would then require that he address his supporters and the nation before Clinton delivers her victory speech. Protocol would also require that one of the first things that he says in his concession speech would be to very briefly recount a phone call which he had a few minutes earlier.

I think that he will do that but when it comes time to say who he had just spoken with on the phone, there will be a twist. Here's what I think he will say: "I just got off the phone with.......... Ann Coulter" - insert applause here - "and she told me to keep fighting this election and not concede until we have exhausted all possible fraud investigations, court challenges and vote recounts." Then, he will offer some misogynous commentary on her physical appearance (still pretty good but past her best days etc). And, with that, he will not concede - at least not on election night.

Coulter's recent book, "In Trump We Trust" sets out all of the great planks in his policy platform and, on her website, she explains that the only policy detail that he has not provided in the campaign is "which company will supply rebar for the wall".  

Ok, back to the Bills. With the Patriots coming up next, followed by a trip to Seattle for a night-before-the-election appearance on Monday Night Football on November 7th, a wildcard playoff spot will look even more difficult to achieve at 4-5 as they enter their bye week.

Bills 45, 49ers 16

Colin Kaepernick sports a large afro hairstyle and when he jogged out of the tunnel from the locker room to take the field yesterday in Orchard Park, without his helmet on, it seemed like he wanted everyone in the stadium to notice him. There was some booing and a few jeers of "traitor" with one fan near us who favoured the term "eat shit Kaepernick" which he repeated throughout the game. Just as the anthem was about to start, a cheer of "USA, USA" gained momentum but was quickly drowned out by the Star Spangled Banner singer. Kaepernick and two teammates kneeled during the anthem and several more 49ers players stood with their right fists raised and clenched in the style of the Black Panther movement which the world came to know during the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. All Bills players stood in a line on their sideline during the anthem.

Kaepernick's form of protest has prompted a backlash among some football fans and others. After the game yesterday, he explained his position this way: "I don't understand what's un-American about fighting for liberty and justice for everybody, for the equality that this country stands for. I see it as very patriotic and American." I have read reports this morning of t-shirts for sale outside New Era Field yesterday with Kaepernick's image in the cross-hairs of a gun scope and beer coolers with an image of Kaepernick and the words "stand up and shut up". I didn't see any of that myself. Inside the stadium and after the game began, what I saw was a quarterback in his first start of the season who showed only a fraction of the kind of player he was in 2012 when he led his team to the Superbowl.

The Bills ran for 312 yards yesterday (their best running performance since 1992) and, as was reported on Twitter by Football Perspective, they have racked up 847 yards over the past four weeks, marking the highest total for any team in weeks 3 through 6 in the NFL since 1981 and the 5th most since 1970. Most football coaches will say that, if given the choice, they would almost always choose to run the ball; it's more conservative, less likely to lead to turnovers, more likely to keep the game clock running and, when successful, is quite demoralizing for the opposing defense. Marv Levy always said that to win in the NFL, a team need only do two things: run the ball and stop the run. The Bills obviously accomplished the running part yesterday and, while allowing Kaepernick to rush for team leading 66 yards on the day, the defense held the 49ers running backs to only 67 yards on the ground.

49ers coach Chip Kelly favours a "hurry-up" type of offense with either no huddles between plays or very brief huddles. The strategy is meant to tire out the defense and limit its ability to substitute in changing down and distance situations. The Bills defense seemed well prepared for this and, until the game was well in hand, their offense frequently used the same strategy yesterday. And they were able to run the ball at will with strong offensive line play and the the brilliance of LeSean McCoy. It was a dominating performance which allowed us to leave the stadium early and beat the traffic. I was home just after 6.30pm.

Thankfully, the third and final Presidential debate takes place on Wednesday at UNLV. Fox News Chris Wallace will be the moderator. At least Alec Baldwin will be able to get one more guest spot on SNL from it and possibly more, depending on how the final three weeks of the campaign play out. But, if Trump goes away after his expected landslide defeat, Baldwin's run will end after November 8th. Don't bet on it though. Baldwin should keep his Saturday night calendar clear for some time to come as I don't think Trump will accept defeat graciously - if at all.





  

Bills 30, Rams 19

Rams fans are questioning Jeff Fisher's decision to go with a fake punt attempt on a 4th and 5 deep in his own territory with less than 4 minutes to go and trailing by 4 points. The Bills were ready for it, stopped it and went on to score the game clinching touchdown. As the Rams lined up to punt, I was thinking this possibility: with only 5 yards needed for a first down, the chances seemed good that Fisher might try it. If I were a Rams fan, I hope that I would have the perspective to appreciate that it was a reasonable call (although obviously a high risk one) in a game where the Rams needed a touchdown or they would lose the game. The trouble with such a call in such a critical situation is that if it doesn't work, the game is over. And it was.

When the Bills traded linebacker Kiko Alonso to the Eagles before last season for running back LeSean McCoy, detractors said that the NFL had become a passing league and that serviceable running backs could be found in the later rounds of the draft and there was no need to trade valuable assets for a featured back. Under former offensive coordinator Greg Roman, through a full season and two more games this year, McCoy's production was decent at times but probably less than what Bills fans had hoped for when he was acquired. In the three games since Anthony Lynn became offensive coordinator, McCoy has been fantastic and yesterday was, in my opinion, his best game in a Bills uniform, gaining 150 yards on the ground.

Tyrod Taylor's play at quarterback over the course of the Bills current three game winning streak has been less than eye-popping in terms of the usual statistical accumulation expected from franchise quarterbacks. The key statistic for me, on the other hand - and one which sometimes isn't tracked as closely as it should be - is turnovers. In Taylor's case, the dominating statistic is his lack of them. The quarterback, more than any player on the field, has the potential to cause turnovers through the usual course of ball handling, receiving snaps from centre in the shotgun formation, interceptions and sacks/blind side hits which lead to fumbles. How may times did we see JP Losman or even Drew Bledsoe, at critical points in games, hold on to the ball for too long, get sacked and fumble away a game? How many times have we seen Tyrod Taylor do the same? I can't think of any. This man protects the ball and avoids disastrous plays. Sure, he doesn't throw for 300 yards on a weekly basis and sometimes lacks the right touch on certain passes but I will take his modest statistical production combined with his commitment to ball protection - any time. Combining a very strong running game with a competent quarterback who protects the ball is a winning formula and the Bills have proven this over the past three weeks.

Now at 3-2, the Bills have what looks to be an easy out coming up with the San Francicso 49ers coming to Orchard Park next Sunday. I will be watching the 49er bench during the national anthem as coach Chip Kelly will likely start Colin Kaepernick at quarterback. The 49ers are rated at or near the bottom of the league in most analysts power rankings so I look for the Bills to possibly be double digit favourites for the first time in a very long time. Their well documented struggles over the past 16 years have not presented the Bills with many games where they could potentially overlook a weak opponent and I hope they don't start this week. A trip to south Florida to play the reeling Dolphins is on for the following week before a home re-match with the Patriots on October 30th where the AFC East lead could be on the line.

I made sure to put new batteries in my TV remote yesterday morning with the early slate of NFL games, the Bills late kick-off in Los Angeles and then the Blue Jays clinching their series with Texas to earn their second consecutive trip to the ALCS. But at 9pm, my TV was locked on to the second presidential debate which I watched almost in its entirety while checking on the baseball game.

Like many who follow politics, I think I have officially run out of things to say about the campaign. I will offer only this comment: The sheer volume of outrageous statements made by Trump over the past year or so has served to anesthetize us from feeling the contempt and outrage we should over the things has said recently - and one thing in particular from last night. I'm talking about his threat to "direct" his Attorney General (if elected President) to appoint a special prosecutor to go after Hillary Clinton. That's right: a public commitment to prosecute his political opponent.

David Frum said it best on Twitter yesterday: if you left Trump alone in a room with a bottle of whiskey and a revolver and advised him to just do the right thing, when you went back to the room, he would shoot you in the face.    

        

Bills 16, Patriots 0

Rex Ryan repeated several times in his post-game press conference that yesterday's win was great but that the Patriots were "down a man", referring of course to Tom Brady who is set to return next week from his four game deflate-gate related suspension. They were down more that one man with second string quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo also inactive yesterday and star tight end Rob Gronkowski seeing limited duty and recording only one reception in the game. But still. A win in New England when it counts - unlike the last game of the 2014 season when the Bills won against a Patriots team which had clinched home field throughout the playoffs - is quite an achievement and something which two weeks ago seemed almost unthinkable.

The score was actually flattering to the Patriots who were thoroughly dominated throughout the game. With the exception of two deep passes which were each slightly overthrown and would have resulted in touchdowns, Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor looked like a franchise NFL quarterback yesterday. The offensive game plan and series to series play calling were excellent yesterday and have been much improved over the past two weeks - certainly compared to the first two weeks, After hitting what appeared to be rock-bottom following a prime time loss to the Jets then changing offensive coordinators, prospects for the Bills season were looking bleak after two weeks. But now at 2-2, they find themselves only a game back of the Patriots with a re-match coming up, with Tom Brady back in the line-up, on October 30th in Orchard Park. Suddenly, the division title, while still a steep hill to climb, is no longer a total fantasy. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. This week offers another stiff test: a trip to Los Angeles to face a Rams team which is playing well and is enjoying strong support from football fans in southern California.

I was watching Rudy Giuliani offer his thoughts on the Donald Trump tax issue which has dominated the US campaign this past week. He said that Trump was a "genius" for arranging his financial affairs so as to pay no taxes for as many as 20 years after claiming a loss of nearly $1 billion in the 1995 tax year. Trump himself, in Monday's debate, referred to himself as "smart" for not paying taxes. Many very smart Americans, with the help of their lawyers and accountants, pay no income taxes. They are rich and paying no taxes helps to keep them that way. Are they smart for paying no taxes? Maybe but I really doubt that Trump is being smart about this issue in the current political context. His base of support lies among disaffected, white, working class males, many of whom have lost their high-paying, low-skilled manufacturing jobs to Mexico or to China or elsewhere. But when they working, they had little opportunity to reduce, defer or evade paying their taxes which were usually deducted at source by their employers. Even if they had concerns about how much tax they were paying or how the government spent some of their hard-earned money, they understood the connection between the taxes they were paying and the operations of the military, border services and police - all things which Trump has advocated for building up.

Throughout the campaign, Donald Trump has broken all of the conventional rules which candidates generally follow. He had made outrageous (and often false) statements on various issues and has viciously attacked his opponents. Through it all, he has somehow continued to poll well, keep the race tight and he amazingly remains within reach of the presidency. There are five more weeks of campaigning and two more nationally televised debates with Hillary Clinton where Trump can try to re-frame the tax issue if he chooses to do so but his pattern has been to double and triple down on things he has said or on positions he has taken. The Democrats will likely continue to hammer the tax issue and if Trump holds to his claim that he's smart not to pay taxes, his base may finally soften enough to cost him the election.

 

Bills 33, Cardinals 18

This weekend, I was at the school I attended from grades 6 through 13 to mark the 35th year since graduation for my class. I hadn't been back for what I first knew as Old Boys Weekend (now Ridley Association Weekend) since 2001. When I do go back, I always enjoy time spent in the beer tent casually watching - but watching - First Team Football play UCC or TCS or SAC on Saturday afternoon while reconnecting with old friends and faculty. The beer tent was still there, as was the reminiscing with old friends but guess what? Ridley has no football team now and hasn't for about 7 years. The program was deemed to be too expensive but with the school being fully 50/50 coed and with increasing concern about injuries (and concussions and related issues in particular), student interest in the football program was declining to the point where it was becoming difficult to field a team. So, they canned it.

I discussed this briefly with one of my class-mates who was actually the quarterback of the Ridley football team in my senior year (and who I watched being inducted into the new Ridley Athletic Lives of Distinction before lunch on Saturday), I figured that he wouldn't be pleased to see the football program scrapped. But he actually agrees with the decision as he now considers that the risk of serious injury to 16, 17 and 18 year-old young men just can not be justified, at least not at Ridley. Fair enough, I guess but the reunion isn't the same for me without the football game. Hopefully, I'll adjust in time for our 40th in five years.

I know that other high schools of various sizes in Ontario have moved on from their football programs for various reasons, but the trend doesn't bode well for the future of the sport on this side of the border anyway. In the US, I suspect that the move away from high school football will also take hold but it will be slower and less widespread, particularly in the South. The tradition of high school football on Friday nights in the US will undoubtedly hang on for a long time but participation rates in junior football are now in decline and I don't see that changing in the long term as we continue to learn more about brain injuries.

On a much more positive note, the Bills broke into the win column in a big way yesterday at a sun-drenched New Era Field (which I firmly believe should be called New Era Field at Ralph Wilson Stadium, allowing the Pegulas to collect their naming revenue while still honouring the franchise's founder). The team responded to the urgency of avoiding an 0-3 start with strong performances registered on both sides of the ball and on special teams which contributed a touchdown after a costly error by Arizona's long snapper. As Rex Ryan said afterward, "I don't know if anyone needed a win worse than we did".

So the Bills clearly performed well against what was last year a top NFC team. Great. But as Mike Schopp pointed out on WGR after the game, throughout the 16 year playoff drought, the team has certainly won some games - usually enough to fall just short of a wildcard spot. Remember, as Jerry Sullivan of the Buffalo News pointed out a few years ago, Dick Jauron used to string up 7-9 seasons like Christmas lights on his house. The question is: can the team now take its success from yesterday and win in New England next week? If they can, at 2-2, they would have a shot at ending the drought but, if they can't beat the Patriots without Tom Brady next Sunday, at 1-3, it seems that the playoff drought will be so much more likely to continue.

Tonight's Monday Night Football game between the Falcons and the Saints will have some stiff competition starting half an hour after kick-off as the first Presidential debate is set to go at 9pm. The campaign has been so bizarre up to now that predicting the impact of the debates on its trajectory feels very difficult indeed. The only thing which seems clear is that ratings for this first debate will be much higher than usual, regardless of how compelling the football game is.

Key questions leading into tonight's debate include: Will Hillary come out swinging? Will Trump be rattled? And perhaps most importantly, will tonight's moderator, NBC New anchor Lester Holt, call out either of the candidates should they say things which are obviously not true? An audience of more than 100 million is expected to tune in to see. I predict that both candidates will be more reserved than expected and that many viewers will flip back to the game after a short time.  

Jets 37, Bills 31

It felt as if we were experiencing the first day of a post-apocalyptic world. It was a few minutes before 3am on a Friday as we approached our shining city from the west on the Gardiner Expressway. There were virtually no other vehicles around as we cruised effortlessly over the Humber River toward the Jamieson exit and the elevated portion of the roadway. If only those who travel this road every day from Oakville, Burlington, Hamilton or beyond could experience this level of tranquility and peacefulness. Driving in Toronto is a breeze during a short two hour window between 2.30 and 4.30am. Leaving the Buffalo, NY area well after midnight en route to Toronto is all it takes.

The Bills season is now on the verge of disaster as the team faces a very likely 0-4 start with Arizona and New England on the schedule the next two weeks. The 1998 team went 0-3 and still made the playoffs but the chances of a turnaround seem slim now as turmoil surrounds the team. After an anemic offensive performance in week 1, week 2 saw an improvement in that area, aided by two long passing plays for touchdowns, but the Bills defence was completely stumped by the Jets and two key individuals who are both very familiar to Bills fans: journeyman quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick and former Bills head coach and current Jets offensive coordinator Chan Gailey. On the night when Bruce Smith's number was retired at a halftime ceremony MC'd by ESPN's Chris Berman, the Jets piled up 493 yards of offence on Thursday night, including 374 yards through the air. The Bills secondary looked out-matched and confused by Gailey's game plan and Ryan Fitzpatrick looked like a top-ranked NFL quarterback.

Multiple reports suggest that the Bills owners, Terry and Kim Pegula, met privately with key Bills offensive players on Friday morning, unbeknownst to head coach Rex Ryan. The Pegulas were apparently unhappy with the style of play calling on offence through two weeks and were looking for confirmation of their concerns from within the locker room. Why their concern that morning did not include questions about the defensive game plan or execution is unknown. The reports say that after the player meetings, the owners then approached the head coach and suggested that offensive coordinator Greg Roman had to go. Ryan then announced a few hours later that he had decided to relieve Roman of his duties and that ownership was supportive of his decision. Ryan not only looks foolish for suggesting that the decision was his but he is obviously not currently not enjoying the confidence of ownership.

Since he retired from coaching after winning the Superbowl with the Steelers in 2005, Bills fans have been speculating, wondering and hoping that current CBS analyst Bill Cowher might return to coaching and that he might be interested in the Buffalo job. I am aware of absolutely no evidence of his interest in a return to coaching in the league generally or in the Bills job specifically but Bills fans have needed some kind of hope to hang on to as the team's playoff drought is about to reach 17 years. The CBS Thursday Night Football makeshift broadcast desk and crew of James Brown, Deion Sanders and Cowher was set up just below our seats at about the 25 yard line. We watched them go through their pre-game analysis between 8pm and kick-off 25 minutes later and when the game started, Cowher stood alone (mostly) on the sideline very intently watching the game, making the occasional note and receiving statistical updates from the production crew. He is a student of the game and would be welcomed in Buffalo if he ever were to want to coach the team but his current gig allows him more sleep, less stress and plenty of money.

With a new offensive coordinator, Anthony Lynn, now in place, the Bills prepare for the Arizona Cardinals who come to Orchard Park next weekend for the first time since 2008. The Cardinals are considered one of the top teams in the NFC, with a dominating defence and big play capability on offence. If the Bills can somehow pull off an upset, their season could be salvaged, especially with some key players returning from injury and suspension in another week or two. Maybe the Cardinals will look past Buffalo as they return to Phoenix to face the Rams in week 4. More likely is that the Pegulas will need to hold another secret player meeting a week from today.

Ravens 13, Bills 7

Earlier this year, I read an interview with Bills Hall of Fame running back Thurman Thomas who had decided to speak publicly about the concussion related problems he has been having over the 15 years since his retirement from the NFL. His first public comments on the issue came at a concussion summit in Niagara Falls, Ontario in April. Thomas said that he does not discuss these problems with family or friends but decided to speak out in order to help the medical community better understand the condition that he shares with many former NFL players and to build awareness of the issue generally.

Thomas said that he suffers from frequent mood swings which have taken their toll on his family and friends. He also recounted an incident where he was driving home on a familiar route and, for a short time, he had no idea where he was or where he was going. Shortly afterward, he had an MRI done on his brain and his doctor described his frontal lobe as being similar to that of someone who fell off a house and landed on the front of his head. His condition is worsening and he's scared. His wife has decided that she no longer wants the couple's 14 year old son, who has already missed games from concussions, to continue playing football. His comments at the concussion forum included a statement that his going public with his story does not make him any less of a man, any less tough or any less loyal to the NFL. It was obvious that he had considered these questions carefully before speaking out.

I was saddened by this story. Thomas is a distinguished member of the Bills alumae, a resident of the Buffalo area and an active member of the community. As a running back, he certainly would have endured his share of hard hits but it seemed to me that his small stature and low centre of gravity allowed him to generally avoid serious hits to the head. But he played football since he he was a child growing up in Houston, then obviously played high school and college football at a high level before being drafted by the Bills in 1988. Those years of contact have now caught up with him and Thomas is now realizing that the game which made him relatively wealthy and famous (at least among football fans) is now seriously diminishing his quality of life.

As Rex Ryan entered his second training camp as Bills head coach, I was optimistic that the team, and the defence in particular, would benefit from the continuity of a returning coaching staff with the same systems and philosophy. But as the pre-season progressed, things began to unravel as a combination of injuries and substance abuse suspensions depleted the line-up. The Bills top two picks in April's draft are out with injuries - one of which is season ending. Two starters, stud defensive lineman Marcel Dareus and offensive lineman Seantrel Henderson, like to smoke marijuana apparently and have each received 4 game suspensions for positive tests. Without commenting on the appropriateness of the league's substance policies, they are the rules which are in place and they are well known to players. Perhaps they could have followed the rules rather than leaving their team short-handed. There's plenty of time to get high after football.

These stories provided the back-drop for yesterday's regular season opener in Baltimore and I must admit that I was not feeling particularly optimistic about the team's fortunes or about the long term viability of the NFL as the most dominant force in North American professional sports. But I tuned in anyway, leaving the critically important Blue Jays baseball game to be watched only on commercial breaks from the Bills game. It was a ridiculously frustrating game to watch as the offense sputtered badly and penalties took their toll. The Bills were unable to stop the Ravens running game when it mattered most - near the end of the game - and opened the season with a loss in a game where they played well enough to win. But in the NFL, I think almost every team plays well enough to win 10 games.

Maybe a short week is what the team needs to get back on track as the 0-1 Jets come to Orchard Park on Thursday night. We're leaving Toronto after lunch but I will be sure to get a nap in on Wednesday as we won't be home until probably 3am.

 

Broncos 24, Panthers 10

Pre-game estimates of the worldwide television audience for last night's Superbowl broadcast were in the range of about 190 million with a US audience expected to be at least as big as last year's 114 million. We'll find out this week but I expect that the ratings will prove to have slipped a little as the game was not especially compelling throughout and the final few minutes provided little drama as the Broncos relatively easily closed out the third Superbowl win in franchise history.

While the Superbowl remains the largest annual television event in the US, its worldwide audience is dwarfed by the summer Olympics and by the FIFA World Cup. The IOC estimated that 3.6 billion viewers watched at least one minute of the London games in 2012 and FIFA says that its 2014 World Cup tournament reached 3.2 billion viewers around the world. In terms of non-sporting events, Princess Diana's 1997 funeral drew about 2.5 billion viewers.

The game last night came down to two plays, both involving the Broncos Von Miller and Panthers quarterback Cam Newton. Miller forced Newton to fumble on each play deep in his own end and the Broncos converted both turnovers into touchdowns which together represented the 14 point margin of victory. Was the Denver defence just really good last night or did Cam Newton have his worst game of the year? I'd say both. We've always heard that defence wins championships but I had predicted that Carolina's offence would find a way to run over the league's number one ranked defence. I was obviously wrong.

I hope that Bills coach Rex Ryan was watching carefully and that the game will motivate him and his twin brother Rob to restore the Bills defence to something closer to its 2014 form. I also hope that the team can sign its linebacker (and my namesake), Nigel Bradham, to a new contract now that he is a free agent. If he signs a long term deal in Buffalo, I hereby undertake to purchase his game jersey. He's probably headed elsewhere, thereby saving me about $150 USD.

So, another NFL season is in the books. And just in time maybe as the Commissioner Roger Goodell spent as much time talking down growing concerns about concussions and their long term effects on players as he did about the continued competitive and financial success of the league. The latest serving of bad news in this regard is related to Oakland Raider great Ken Stabler, who died last year of complications related to colon cancer. Last week, just in time for the final few days of Superbowl hype, it was announced that his brain was found to have advanced CTE, the much-feared degenerative disease caused by repeated concussions. Goodell continues to tell us that player safety is of paramount importance to the league as evidenced by recent rule changes, equipment innovations and its ever-improving concussion "protocol". He claims that the game has never been safer for players but this obviously ignores the fact that the basic nature of the game is inherently dangerous and that can not and will not change. In his "state of the league" press conference last week, Goodell went so far as to directly encourage more participation in junior football programs as football builds character and teaches teamwork and discipline. While youth participation in all organized team sports is down across the US over the last decade or so, football has seen an 18% drop in participation as more parents are steering their kids clear of what they know is a dangerous game. The families of Mike Webster, Dave Duerson, Junior Seau and many others can surely relate,

But the NFL will endure - at least for the time being. Fans will now turn their attention to the off-season rituals of the scouting combine, free agency, the draft, spring OTAs and then, by the end of July, training camps will open and the 2016 season will get underway after Labour Day. I know I'll be there.    

Bills 22, Jets 17

I was really still feeling quite relaxed after the Jets closed the gap to 19-17 in yesterday's final game of the season in Orchard Park. That was for two reasons: first, the Bills would end the season at either 7-9 if they had lost or at 8-8 had they won but out of the playoffs for a 16th consecutive season either way and with a higher draft position to be gained by closing the season out with a loss. The other reason was that the Jets, who were in a "win and in" situation, were quarterbacked by one Ryan Fitzpatrick with whom Bills fans were very familiar. The Harvard gunslinger has had an impressive season with the Jets and he had also put in an impressive performance for much of the game yesterday too. But I was highly confident that he would, when the game was on the line, force a pass into double coverage or otherwise find a way to throw a game-changing interception at a critical time. He did just that yesterday - twice actually - first to end a drive which would have given the Jets lead with a either a field goal or a touchdown and then, on the next drive, to seal the game and keep his team out of the playoffs. Steeler nation was likely not quite as relaxed as I was but things worked out for them thanks to the hapless Cleveland Browns, the Bills effort yesterday and to Fitzpatrick. He plays a high risk style which seems to pay-off when the stakes are low but always turns disastrous when it really matters. He was suitably distraught after the game and I felt for him.

So, at 8-8, another Bills season of mediocrity has ended. Another season with two home games played after the playoffs were officially out of reach negatively impacted my season ticket investment once again. But this is not another end-of-season where the fan base wonders whether the GM and/or the coach will be fired (like in Cleveland) as co-owner Terry Pegula said last week that both GM Doug Whaley and Rex Ryan would be back next season. It's the right decision but I hope that he demands some changes on the defensive side of the ball which performed surprisingly poorly. Gone will be Mario Williams who seems to have lost a step and spent much of the season complaining about schemes and late play calls. Also gone will be his $16 million salary and cap hit which could come in handy when the team tries to re-sign free agent linebacker Nigel Bradham. Roster spots are valuable so maybe its time to draft a kicker who can make field goals and converts and deliver deep kick-offs as the Bills are the only NFL team to carry a kick-off specialist. Dan Carpenter had his problems with the league's new 32 yard converts this season, including missing another one yesterday.

Over the holidays, we watched some of the sports docu-drama about the Bills 4 consecutive Superbowl losses, called "The Four Falls of Buffalo". Bruce Smith and Thurman Thomas were seated on a couch watching footage from the 4 games and re-living the pain of losing each of them. Aside from the missed field goal in Tampa, Thomas's fumble early in the second half of the January, 1994 game against Dallas was probably the most deflating moment in any of the 4 games. The film included much discussion of the damage to the psyche of the team and its fan base after losing 4 straight championship games with some wondering if it was actually worse to get to the big game that many times, only to lose each one, than it would have been not to go at all. I reject this completely. As tough as it was, I look at it this way: the very best result that an NFL team can aspire to each season is to win the Superbowl. Only one team can do this but, surely, the next best result would be to lose the Superbowl. Would I have wished that the Bills had lost one or more of the AFC Championship games they won to spare me the pain of a Superbowl loss? No. The lead-up to the big game and the chance to finally win one (as the losses from previous years piled up) was well worth it. The only regret I have is that the Superbowl parties I hosted over those years generally took on a less-than-festive tone as the games became out of reach. Attendance suffered and, by the 4th one, I watched alone. After 16 seasons out of the playoffs, losing a Superbowl probably sounds like a fantasy Bills fans would be overjoyed to experience.

I spent a week in Muskoka over the holidays and, although the snow coverage was good and the skiing was decent by the middle of last week, the lake, as of Sunday morning, remained open (although with a minus 20 night last night, it may well be frozen as I write this on Monday morning in north Toronto). It seemed surreal to be hanging up our ski boots while watching the waves lap against the dock. The sheltered bays were covered with a layer of ice just thick enough to support a 42 pound dog who (probably unknowingly) risked her life multiple times by venturing out on it. Next time we go up, I hope we can stop worrying about that.

The NFL playoffs begin on the weekend. The two AFC road teams, Kansas City and Pittsburgh will likely be favoured when they travel to Houston and Cincinnati respectively. My dark horse team this year? Minnesota. I may post during the playoffs and/or the Superbowl. In the meantime, enjoy the winter.