When the score in last night's game at drizzly Bills Stadium was 20-10, Troy Aikman remarked that the score looked relatively close but that the game itself did not seem close at all. Although the Buffalo Bills were able to avoid a blowout on the scoreboard and appeared to have forced a turnover deep in Chiefs territory in the fourth quarter while down by only six points, the Chiefs held control over the game throughout. The fumble was correctly overruled on replay review and the Chiefs tacked on a late field goal to seal their win.
Bills head coach Sean McDermott explained after the game that his team's defensive approach was to take away big plays down the field - almost a "prevent" defence - and make the Chiefs earn their points by way of the short passing game and the run. So, that's exactly what they did. The Bills strategy could have worked if their run defence had showed up at all and if the offence had been able to generate any sustained drives not aided by penalties. McDermott, when asked if he had considered loading the "box" with nine defenders (thereby leaving two wide receivers in man-to-man coverage on the outside), he said that teams who have tried that approach against the Chiefs with Patrick Mahomes under centre regretted the strategy which lead to the Chiefs hanging more than 40 points on the board every time. The explanation made sense and the strategy could well have worked if the offence had done its part.
The Bills gave up 245 yards on the ground and had problems, once again, making plays against the run at the line of scrimmage. Chiefs rookie running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire, the last pick in the first round (32nd overall) of the 2020 draft, was able to get to the second level of the Bills run defence far too often and piled up 161 yards in the process. Mahomes, for his part, did what he was asked to do within Andy Reid's game plan, adding 221 passing yards. The Chiefs gained 466 yards overall, compared to the Bills paltry 206. In the fourth quarter, two of the leaders on the Bills defence, cornerback Tre'Davious White and safety Jordan Poyer lost their composure and each was flagged for personal fouls for late hits out of bounds two play apart. On WGR, Mike Schopp described Poyer's out of bounds tackle as being "about 3 weeks late". Last season, the Bills fielded a top-ranked defence but, as happens in the NFL more often than in any other sport, the players who were good a year ago have fallen into mediocrity. Look no further than Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson who tore up the league last year. This year? Not so much. At least not yet.
At 4-2, the Bills remain on top of the AFC East, one game ahead of the Ryan Fitzpatrick led Dolphins. Next week, they face the league's worst team in the New York Jets for the second time. They are early 11 point favourites and had better not stumble for a third consecutive week. The Jets are a mess at 0-6 but, with their season lost, will be loose and willing to take risks which contending teams wouldn't. Time for Josh Allen to find his accuracy again and for the running game to get back on track.
I watch television in two places: in Muskoka on a satellite service where the main US network affiliates come from Detroit and in Toronto on an HD antenna where the US channels originate in Buffalo. In the past couple of weeks, I estimate that I have seen at least 10 Biden ads for every one Trump ad. In fact, I don't think I've seen any Trump ads coming from Buffalo stations in the last few days which makes sense given that New York is a solidly blue state (and Trump has no chance there with the "winner take all" electoral college system). But Michigan, which Trump won four years ago, is a swing state and, all things being equal, I would have expected an even split of ads on the airwaves. But over the past three weeks, I have seen multiple reports that Trump's fund-raising has fallen off dramatically and that his campaign has cancelled previously booked television ad buys in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan. The messaging on social media from the Biden campaign is now warning against complacency. The last Presidential debate is scheduled for Thursday as long as either of the candidates doesn't find a way to back out of it.
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