As the clock wound down toward the end of the first half in yesterday's game at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, I thought that the Bills roster would again be reduced by another halftime retirement. And this week's candidate was going to be Nathan Peterman. Had he followed Vontae Davis' lead from last week, Peterman probably would have made his decision when Josh Allen decided to launch himself up and over Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr on a third and nine run late in the first quarter with his team up 17-0. Peterman could have resigned himself at that point that he wasn't going to see another live snap this season as he watched Allen establish himself as the confident, aggressive, athletic leader the team was hoping he would become when they picked him seventh overall in April.
I guess Peterman wanted to stick around for the second half to see if his team would fold and allow the Vikings back into the game. But that didn't happen as the Bills came close to shutting out the Vikings on their home field for the first time since 1962. By the time the home team did finally score, the game was beyond reach and the Bills went on to earn their first win of the season. And if the team ends the season with three, four, five or perhaps six wins, yesterday's road performance will probably be remembered as the highlight - as the day that Josh Allen showed us why he is the future of the team and the day that the Bills showed the football world that they are in fact better than the Alabama Crimson Tide and maybe not the 32nd best professional football team in North America.
To put yesterday's win in perspective, the betting line at kick-off was Minnesota minus 16.5 which was the largest spread for a September NFL game in five years. The line opened at minus 17 but some Buffalo money late in the week brought it down by a half point. The spread was so large that Proline delisted the game and it actually was not on my $25,000 ticket (which didn't win but came close). Here's an even more remarkable statistic from yesterday's game: the Bills were the biggest underdog to win an NFL game outright since 1995. This game proved the principle we know by rote that any team can win on any given Sunday. Pundits, odds-makers and gamblers also know the principle of a "trap game" and the Vikings, who travel to Los Angeles to play the Rams on Thursday, fell hard into the trap of overlooking what was considered to be the worst team in the league while subconsciously preparing to play the Rams four days later, who some consider to be the best.
I heaped plenty of praise on Tony Romo as a colour commentator last season (his first) so I don't need to go on about it again - except to say that he delivers the most insightful analysis of anyone in that role, ever. Yesterday was no exception. I'm not sure why Buffalo at Minnesota deserved CBS's top broadcast team of Romo and his play-by-play partner Jim Nantz but I'm glad that it did. Romo addressed the issue which emerged after last week's game against the Chargers where head coach Sean McDermott took over the defensive play-calling from coordinator (and former Vikings head coach) Leslie Frazier at halftime. Romo explained that the passing back and forth of play-calling responsibilities between head coaches and coordinators is common-place and depends on who has the best feel for how the game is going. I don't know who called the defensive formations yesterday but they worked extremely well as the Bills were able to pressure Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins all afternoon. The Bills pass rush earned them two key turnovers in the first quarter which they turned into 10 points and never looked back. In his post-game locker room speech, McDermott gave the game ball to Frazier.
The Green Bay Packers lost yesterday in Washington to bring their season record to 1-1-1 with the high-flying Bills traveling to the not-quite-frozen tundra of Lambeau Field on Sunday. I suspect that the Packers will not fall into the same trap as the Vikings did so the Bills will have a much tougher test in week four. But, as we know, and as was proven yesterday, any team can beat any other team on any given Sunday.
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