In the second-last game of the ill-fated "Toronto" series, a 23-0 blanking of Washington on October 30, 2011, the Bills improved their record to 5-2 under second year head coach Chan Gailey. Marcel Dareus had 2.5 of the Bills 10 sacks that afternoon and Ryan Fitzpatrick played well enough to earn himself a lucrative contract extension as he had, in the minds of the Bills management team, established himself as the team's franchise quarterback. After starting the previous season 0-8 and posting a 4-12 record in 2010, the Bills had turned things around just short of the mid-point of that 2011 season and were positioned to at least challenge for a playoff spot, and perhaps even overtake the Patriots to win the AFC East. Bills fans were riding high that day - even if most of them stayed state-side and watched the game from Toronto on TV.
The Bills went on to lose their next seven consecutive games and would win exactly once more in 2011, en route to a very dissapointing 6-10 season. Bills GM Buddy Nix would end up wearing the Fitzpatrick extension like an anvil around his neck. Chan Gailey and Ryan Fitzpatrick would have one more season as Bills head coach and quarterback respectively before passing their torches to Doug Marrone and EJ Manuel, who also came and went like so many Bills coaches and quarterbacks have since Marv Levy and Jim Kelly retired. I have never really been a glass half-empty kind of sports fan but I've seen enough promising starts vapourize by the teams I root for over the years to not always see the glass as half-full.
But the Bills do look pretty good this time around. The head coach seems to have fostered a winning attitude which manifests itself by way of his team playing with confidence and poise and I think I detect a certain intangible trust on the part of the players in the game plans, schemes and individual plays designed and called by the coaching staff. In short, McDermott just seems like a guy who knows what he's doing, knows the kinds of players he wants and, most importantly, he demands and receives the effort and commitment that's required not just for this season but for the long term.
It's quite amazing really that the team has, since training camp, jettisoned Sammy Watkins, Ronald Darby and, this past week, Marcel Dareus. Any Bills fan would have identified these players as some of the most valuable on the roster as the team reported to camp and, although Jordan Matthews has contributed very nicely at the wideout position, the stockpiling of draft picks from trading these players looked very much like a sacrifice of this season in favour of a better chance of success over the next five seasons. Maybe that was the strategy all along and no one is more surprised than Bills GM Brandon Beane at the team's 5-2 record so far. Sure, we'll trade one of our starting defensive tackles and former 3rd overall pick in Darues for a conditional later round pick. No problem. We'll beat Oakland anyway.
Speaking of Oakland, when the Raiders took the opening kick-off yesterday and marched it downfield for a touchdown, I worried that it was going to be a long afternoon for the Bills secondary. But, aided once again by a series of take-aways on defence and by a brilliant performance by LeSean McCoy and the offensive line, the team improved its home record to 4-0. It feels like with every home game and as the weather now turns colder with the threat of snow in the air before long, New Era Field looks like a very tough place for visiting teams to win - just as it was way back in the early 90s when when it was still called Rich Stadium. The next home game is in a couple of weeks against the red-hot Saints, a dome team which just might be worried about being overwhelmed by the crowd noise and the cold and wind of a mid-November afternoon in Orchard Park.
Up next - just three days from now - is a prime time match-up with the Jets. When you're 5-2, all games are big but this game feels like one the Bills need to have to go 6-2 with 10 days for the team and the fans to prepare for the Saints. It will be my first trip to Orchard Park this year and I would love to leave the stadium with a 7-2 record to contemplate.
Monday, 30 October 2017
Monday, 23 October 2017
Bills 30, Buccaneers 27
There are many ways to lose games in the NFL and the Bills were busy stockpiling them yesterday afternoon in Orchard Park against the Tampa Bay Bucs before finally finding a way to pull out a win. After the Bucs took a 27-20 lead with a little more than three minutes remaining, things didn't look good for Bills fans. Whether it was the inexcusable clock mismanagement at the end of the first half, the missed field goal by the usually very reliable Steven Hauschka or the untimely late game fumble by LeSean McCoy, the Monday morning quarterbacks would have plenty of reasons to choose from to explain rookie head coach Sean McDermott's first home loss.
But the Bills offence came roaring back on the next series with a deep pass to Deonte Thompson who the Bills plucked from the scrapheap after being cut by the Bears last week. Aided by a personal foul on the tackle, the Bills found themselves deep in Tampa territory and they scored the tying touchdown shortly afterward. What they needed then was to play some defence to get the game to overtime. But a Tampa fumble which reciprocated the McCoy fumble earlier in the quarter set them up for the winning field goal which Hauschka actually almost missed. The game ended with a prolonged Harlem Globetrotters style Bucs exercise in laterals which sent them closer and closer to their own endzone before it finally ended. NBC showed the play in fast motion with a ragtime soundtrack on their highlight reel. The disaster of the "home run throwback" play in Nashville in January, 2000 (which became better known as the Music City Miracle) isn't far from the surface of my consciousness and, honestly, I was worried about another calamity of that kind until the game-ending tackle was finally made.
Seven weeks into the NFL season, the owners are increasingly concerned about steadily declining viewership numbers. The average television audience for an NFL game has dropped about 7% from a year ago - from 16.3 million to 15.2 million. In 2015, the average game drew 18.5 million. Declining viewership will not impact the league's bottom line in the short term as network television contracts are fixed but when television rights are up for sale next time, they definitely will. The networks who broadcast NFL games now find themselves having to prepare to offer "make good" spots to advertisers whose audience numbers have fallen short of projections upon which advertising rates are based. Make good spots count among television networks least favourite obligations for obvious reasons. Credit Suisse has actually downgraded its target share prices for the parent companies of NFL broadcasters like CBS and FOX on account of their having to offer them. Now that's some serious stuff which can't be explained away by election or hurricane coverage.
A recent Gallup poll found that 57% of Americans consider themselves to be "pro football fans". That result is down an amazing 10 full points from a year ago. A CNN poll, which asked respondents about their support for the ongoing NFL player protests, found that only 43% supported the practice of players kneeling during the national anthem or skipping it altogether while 49% were opposed. Roger Goodell convened a meeting of team owners last week to discuss the protest issue and, to their credit, they did not mandate that players stand for the anthem as was widely expected. They realize, I presume, that the issue is extremely sensitive, especially when combined with Trump's flame-fanning tweets and they decided instead to propose a series of race relations and equality initiatives to placate the protesting players. What they really hope is that the issue just slowly fades away. If not for the President's involvement, it probably would have already.
So, what, if anything, will stem the NFL's decline in popularity? After decades of domination of North American sports culture which has seen the league's fortunes improve despite teams extorting stadium funding from cities under the real threat of moving (ask San Diego, St, Louis, Oakland), adding a full season of Thursday prime time games and a steady stream of criminal charges and domestic battery issues among it players, is the jig finally up for the NFL? I predict that the decline will continue for some time to come - perhaps another two or three seasons or more - before settling at a level maybe 20% below its peak of a few years ago in terms of television viewership. And maybe that will end up being a good thing for a league which has suffered no real adversity or threat to its bottom line until very recently. Mark Cuban, the outspoken NBA owner, said this a few years ago about the NFL moving to a full slate of Thursday games: "Pigs get fat; hogs get slaughtered."
But the Bills offence came roaring back on the next series with a deep pass to Deonte Thompson who the Bills plucked from the scrapheap after being cut by the Bears last week. Aided by a personal foul on the tackle, the Bills found themselves deep in Tampa territory and they scored the tying touchdown shortly afterward. What they needed then was to play some defence to get the game to overtime. But a Tampa fumble which reciprocated the McCoy fumble earlier in the quarter set them up for the winning field goal which Hauschka actually almost missed. The game ended with a prolonged Harlem Globetrotters style Bucs exercise in laterals which sent them closer and closer to their own endzone before it finally ended. NBC showed the play in fast motion with a ragtime soundtrack on their highlight reel. The disaster of the "home run throwback" play in Nashville in January, 2000 (which became better known as the Music City Miracle) isn't far from the surface of my consciousness and, honestly, I was worried about another calamity of that kind until the game-ending tackle was finally made.
Seven weeks into the NFL season, the owners are increasingly concerned about steadily declining viewership numbers. The average television audience for an NFL game has dropped about 7% from a year ago - from 16.3 million to 15.2 million. In 2015, the average game drew 18.5 million. Declining viewership will not impact the league's bottom line in the short term as network television contracts are fixed but when television rights are up for sale next time, they definitely will. The networks who broadcast NFL games now find themselves having to prepare to offer "make good" spots to advertisers whose audience numbers have fallen short of projections upon which advertising rates are based. Make good spots count among television networks least favourite obligations for obvious reasons. Credit Suisse has actually downgraded its target share prices for the parent companies of NFL broadcasters like CBS and FOX on account of their having to offer them. Now that's some serious stuff which can't be explained away by election or hurricane coverage.
A recent Gallup poll found that 57% of Americans consider themselves to be "pro football fans". That result is down an amazing 10 full points from a year ago. A CNN poll, which asked respondents about their support for the ongoing NFL player protests, found that only 43% supported the practice of players kneeling during the national anthem or skipping it altogether while 49% were opposed. Roger Goodell convened a meeting of team owners last week to discuss the protest issue and, to their credit, they did not mandate that players stand for the anthem as was widely expected. They realize, I presume, that the issue is extremely sensitive, especially when combined with Trump's flame-fanning tweets and they decided instead to propose a series of race relations and equality initiatives to placate the protesting players. What they really hope is that the issue just slowly fades away. If not for the President's involvement, it probably would have already.
So, what, if anything, will stem the NFL's decline in popularity? After decades of domination of North American sports culture which has seen the league's fortunes improve despite teams extorting stadium funding from cities under the real threat of moving (ask San Diego, St, Louis, Oakland), adding a full season of Thursday prime time games and a steady stream of criminal charges and domestic battery issues among it players, is the jig finally up for the NFL? I predict that the decline will continue for some time to come - perhaps another two or three seasons or more - before settling at a level maybe 20% below its peak of a few years ago in terms of television viewership. And maybe that will end up being a good thing for a league which has suffered no real adversity or threat to its bottom line until very recently. Mark Cuban, the outspoken NBA owner, said this a few years ago about the NFL moving to a full slate of Thursday games: "Pigs get fat; hogs get slaughtered."
Monday, 9 October 2017
Bengals 20, Bills 16
I guess the Bills could have won yesterday's game in Cincinnati if they had made a play or two here or there but they didn't play well enough to have deserved to win. Without the benefit of three Bengal turnovers, the Bills would have been lost more decisively than they did and if they had somehow managed to pull it out, the headlines in this morning's papers would have referred them as having stolen a win etc.
The Bengals gave a good effort on both sides of the ball with their defense holding LeSean McCoy to 63 hard-earned yards and Andy Dalton looked confident and poised throughout the game with his only bone-headed throw - a pass to the endzone late in the fourth quarter which could have easily been intercepted but wasn't - not costing him at all. The three turnovers the Bengals gave up were mostly of the unlucky variety with two Bills interceptions coming on tipped balls and another coming on a punched out ball after a long gain. The Bengals got off to a terrible start this season but yesterday they looked like a competent and talented team.
US Vice-President Mike Pence decided to upstage a tribute to Payton Manning yesterday in Indianapolis by leaving the stadium after 23 San Francisco 49ers players kneeled during the national anthem. Pence took to Twitter afterwards explaining that he and the President "would not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our flag or our national anthem". As SI's Peter King wrote on Sunday (as a special piece ahead of his weekly Monday Morning Quarterback column), this was an orchestrated strategy by Pence as he knew that at least some players would kneel during the anthem and he also knew that he would then leave the stadium, making that the story of the day in Indianapolis instead of what it was intended to be - a well-deserved tribute given to Manning who was inducted on to the Colts Ring of Honour for his incredible career in a Colts uniform. King's point is that Pence knew that he would become the headline and he deliberately and intentionally proceeded to insert himself into the situation, presumably at the urging of or on orders from the President. One of Indiana's most beloved sports figures deserved his special day yesterday without it being overshadowed by the Trump administration's wedge politics. As King said in his column, "Mike Pence will have to live with himself for that."
I think that I am now leaning towards wanting the national anthem dropped from professional sporting events. Do we really need to hear it every time? Ok, maybe we can still have it for the Superbowl but having it before every game is ridiculous. The NBA has moved the anthem up so far that it takes place a full 15 or 20 minutes before tip-off with the stands mostly empty. The pre-game ritual before an NBA game is now fully focused on a loud and inspirational music video for the home team and its fans which takes place just before the presentation of the home starting line-up and only a couple of minutes before the game starts. It feels like the anthem is now played at NBA games because its required and not because fans want it or care at all about it.
I am not suggesting that the anthem be dropped to remove the opportunity for players to express their political views but rather so that those who practice right-wing wedge politics will have their opportunity taken away. Trump has seized the chance to energize his uncouth base and try to damage the NFL for not taking action against those players who passively demonstrate dissent by choosing to kneel during the anthem. Lets deny him that stage and let a football game be just that and nothing more. NFL players will still have plenty of media coverage if they want to be political and I hope that they will use it to share their views. We need to stop the distracting and destructive fallout from the whole national anthem business. I would bet that Roger Goodell agrees but I am sure that he will continue to simply hope that the problem goes away.
The Bills enter their bye week after five games which is probably earlier than they would have liked but still comes at a time when they can rest and try to get Charles Clay and Jordan Matthews back in the line-up for two games against the Bucs and Raiders to close out the month of October.
The Bengals gave a good effort on both sides of the ball with their defense holding LeSean McCoy to 63 hard-earned yards and Andy Dalton looked confident and poised throughout the game with his only bone-headed throw - a pass to the endzone late in the fourth quarter which could have easily been intercepted but wasn't - not costing him at all. The three turnovers the Bengals gave up were mostly of the unlucky variety with two Bills interceptions coming on tipped balls and another coming on a punched out ball after a long gain. The Bengals got off to a terrible start this season but yesterday they looked like a competent and talented team.
US Vice-President Mike Pence decided to upstage a tribute to Payton Manning yesterday in Indianapolis by leaving the stadium after 23 San Francisco 49ers players kneeled during the national anthem. Pence took to Twitter afterwards explaining that he and the President "would not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our flag or our national anthem". As SI's Peter King wrote on Sunday (as a special piece ahead of his weekly Monday Morning Quarterback column), this was an orchestrated strategy by Pence as he knew that at least some players would kneel during the anthem and he also knew that he would then leave the stadium, making that the story of the day in Indianapolis instead of what it was intended to be - a well-deserved tribute given to Manning who was inducted on to the Colts Ring of Honour for his incredible career in a Colts uniform. King's point is that Pence knew that he would become the headline and he deliberately and intentionally proceeded to insert himself into the situation, presumably at the urging of or on orders from the President. One of Indiana's most beloved sports figures deserved his special day yesterday without it being overshadowed by the Trump administration's wedge politics. As King said in his column, "Mike Pence will have to live with himself for that."
I think that I am now leaning towards wanting the national anthem dropped from professional sporting events. Do we really need to hear it every time? Ok, maybe we can still have it for the Superbowl but having it before every game is ridiculous. The NBA has moved the anthem up so far that it takes place a full 15 or 20 minutes before tip-off with the stands mostly empty. The pre-game ritual before an NBA game is now fully focused on a loud and inspirational music video for the home team and its fans which takes place just before the presentation of the home starting line-up and only a couple of minutes before the game starts. It feels like the anthem is now played at NBA games because its required and not because fans want it or care at all about it.
I am not suggesting that the anthem be dropped to remove the opportunity for players to express their political views but rather so that those who practice right-wing wedge politics will have their opportunity taken away. Trump has seized the chance to energize his uncouth base and try to damage the NFL for not taking action against those players who passively demonstrate dissent by choosing to kneel during the anthem. Lets deny him that stage and let a football game be just that and nothing more. NFL players will still have plenty of media coverage if they want to be political and I hope that they will use it to share their views. We need to stop the distracting and destructive fallout from the whole national anthem business. I would bet that Roger Goodell agrees but I am sure that he will continue to simply hope that the problem goes away.
The Bills enter their bye week after five games which is probably earlier than they would have liked but still comes at a time when they can rest and try to get Charles Clay and Jordan Matthews back in the line-up for two games against the Bucs and Raiders to close out the month of October.
Monday, 2 October 2017
Bills 23, Falcons 17
On fourth down, with less then a minute to go, Matt Ryan's pass misses receiver Taylor Gabriel but Bills rookie cornerback Tre'Davious White is flagged for pass interference, giving the Falcons a first down at the Bills three yard line. After the Bills spend their three time-outs, the Falcons score a touchdown with 48 seconds left, make the extra point, stop the Bills on fourth down on the ensuing series and win the game 24-23. Except there was no pass interference called and the Bills left Atlanta with what Jerry Sullivan of the Buffalo News called the team's biggest road win since 2011.
I generally like the idea of video review for challenges, turnovers and scoring plays. They do take time and they break the natural flow of the game but they usually get the call right. There were two reviews yesterday which I was convinced would go against the Bills but didn't. The first resulted in a Bills touchdown after what was ruled a fumble by Matt Ryan. I've seen plenty of theses kind of plays where, if the quarterback's hand is moving forward - and especially if that forward motion propels the ball forward in any way - the ruling is almost always an incomplete pass. The ruling yesterday must have been that Ryan had already lost control of the ball (which he had as it was clearly knocked out of his hand well before it began to move forward) before batting it forward like a desperate volleyball player using the third hit to get the ball over the net. Ruling: the call on the field stands: touchdown Buffalo.
The second replay review was on a Micah Hyde interception of another Ryan pass where Hyde appeared to trap the tip of the ball on the ground simultaneous with his hands grasping its sides. The ground can not be used to help make a catch - or at least that's what I was convinced would be the ruling - but the play which was initially ruled to be an interception was not overturned on review and the Bills had secured their third turnover of the game. A third replay review went against the Bills who had recovered a fumble after what was initially ruled to be an interception and was then correctly ruled an incomplete pass as the receiver never controlled the ball. Two for three on replay reviews. Had they lost either of the two which they won, the Bills would likely be 2-2 this morning.
It never ceases to amaze me how much the fortunes of NFL football teams can change from season to season (with the obvious exception of the Cleveland Browns who seem permanently mired in oblivion no matter how many times they change general managers and coaches or how many high draft picks they get year after year). After installing a new coaching staff and trading two of their top players in Sammy Watkins and Ronald Darby in the pre-season, this season looked like an rebuilding year for the Bills with a stockpile of draft picks coming in 2018 and 2019. But, after four games, the Bills look to me like they actually are good team right now. The Falcons came as close to winning the Superbowl last year as a team can come without actually winning it and they were 3-0 before losing to the Bills yesterday. Buffalo's only loss was to the Panthers who won in New England yesterday and they have also beaten the Jets who are a surprising 2-2 and Denver who won against the Raiders yesterday to improve to 3-1.
I sense that it won't be long before I receive an email from the Bills asking me for a deposit on tickets to a home playoff game, something that Bills fans have not witnessed since Jim Kelly's final game in December, 1996. A home playoff game is only possible for teams who win their division (with the extremely remote but mathematically possible exception of a fifth seeded wildcard team playing a conference championship game at home against the sixth seed). With the Patriots at 2-2, the Bills find themselves in first place in the AFC East at 3-1, a position they have not occupied this late in the season in nine years. Yes, I am projecting far too much at the one quarter mark of the season but I am feeling optimistic right now with my desire for important winter-time football in Orchard Park seeming a bit less like a wild fantasy than it did a month ago. There's still plenty of time for the team to come back to earth with a schedule which still includes a trip to Kansas City and two games against the Patriots. But the schedule looks quite manageable otherwise and I see no reason to think that the team can't stay competitive at least through November.
Up next is a trip to Cincinnati this Sunday before the bye week. The Bengals throttled the Browns in Cleveland yesterday for their first win of the season. Their anemic offence has looked much better the past two weeks after firing their offensive coordinator after following a week two loss.
I generally like the idea of video review for challenges, turnovers and scoring plays. They do take time and they break the natural flow of the game but they usually get the call right. There were two reviews yesterday which I was convinced would go against the Bills but didn't. The first resulted in a Bills touchdown after what was ruled a fumble by Matt Ryan. I've seen plenty of theses kind of plays where, if the quarterback's hand is moving forward - and especially if that forward motion propels the ball forward in any way - the ruling is almost always an incomplete pass. The ruling yesterday must have been that Ryan had already lost control of the ball (which he had as it was clearly knocked out of his hand well before it began to move forward) before batting it forward like a desperate volleyball player using the third hit to get the ball over the net. Ruling: the call on the field stands: touchdown Buffalo.
The second replay review was on a Micah Hyde interception of another Ryan pass where Hyde appeared to trap the tip of the ball on the ground simultaneous with his hands grasping its sides. The ground can not be used to help make a catch - or at least that's what I was convinced would be the ruling - but the play which was initially ruled to be an interception was not overturned on review and the Bills had secured their third turnover of the game. A third replay review went against the Bills who had recovered a fumble after what was initially ruled to be an interception and was then correctly ruled an incomplete pass as the receiver never controlled the ball. Two for three on replay reviews. Had they lost either of the two which they won, the Bills would likely be 2-2 this morning.
It never ceases to amaze me how much the fortunes of NFL football teams can change from season to season (with the obvious exception of the Cleveland Browns who seem permanently mired in oblivion no matter how many times they change general managers and coaches or how many high draft picks they get year after year). After installing a new coaching staff and trading two of their top players in Sammy Watkins and Ronald Darby in the pre-season, this season looked like an rebuilding year for the Bills with a stockpile of draft picks coming in 2018 and 2019. But, after four games, the Bills look to me like they actually are good team right now. The Falcons came as close to winning the Superbowl last year as a team can come without actually winning it and they were 3-0 before losing to the Bills yesterday. Buffalo's only loss was to the Panthers who won in New England yesterday and they have also beaten the Jets who are a surprising 2-2 and Denver who won against the Raiders yesterday to improve to 3-1.
I sense that it won't be long before I receive an email from the Bills asking me for a deposit on tickets to a home playoff game, something that Bills fans have not witnessed since Jim Kelly's final game in December, 1996. A home playoff game is only possible for teams who win their division (with the extremely remote but mathematically possible exception of a fifth seeded wildcard team playing a conference championship game at home against the sixth seed). With the Patriots at 2-2, the Bills find themselves in first place in the AFC East at 3-1, a position they have not occupied this late in the season in nine years. Yes, I am projecting far too much at the one quarter mark of the season but I am feeling optimistic right now with my desire for important winter-time football in Orchard Park seeming a bit less like a wild fantasy than it did a month ago. There's still plenty of time for the team to come back to earth with a schedule which still includes a trip to Kansas City and two games against the Patriots. But the schedule looks quite manageable otherwise and I see no reason to think that the team can't stay competitive at least through November.
Up next is a trip to Cincinnati this Sunday before the bye week. The Bengals throttled the Browns in Cleveland yesterday for their first win of the season. Their anemic offence has looked much better the past two weeks after firing their offensive coordinator after following a week two loss.
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