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.
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