Bills 38, Patriots 9

Apart from watching Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs continue their season-long game of pitch and catch, my favourite image from ESPN's coverage of last night's blowout football game in Foxborough was Bill Belichick angrily (almost violently) throwing what appeared to be an 80s style cordless telephone after presumably speaking to whoever recommended that he throw the red challenge flag on a sideline catch by Bills tight end Dawson Knox. Not because I dislike him because I really don't dislike him. I just think that he is a bit of a sore loser. Think back to Superbowl XLII when, after posting a 16-0 regular season record, his team lost the championship game 17-14 to the NY Giants, ruining what would have been only the second perfect season in NFL history. After the clock ran out, he stormed off to the locker room without walking toward the centre of the field to shake the hand of Giants coach Tom Coughlin. That stuck with me because I don't think I've ever seen an NFL coach fail to perform that particular post-game ritual before or after that game. 

As I was drifting off to sleep after the game last night - or trying to - WGR's post-game coverage included the virtual press conferences from each head coach. Bills coach Sean McDermott was asked repeatedly to comment on the significance of the win for the Buffalo Bills franchise and fan base. "Was this win a changing of the guard - a declaration by your team that the Patriots have finally been ousted from their 20 year run of domination in the AFC East?" McDermott, never one to create "bulletin board" material for any other team (even if wouldn't be used until next season), wouldn't take the bait and literally said that. "Nice try but this was just a big win for our football team and we have more work to do to reach our goal as an organization". I'm not worried about the bulletin board consideration so I'll offer my own answer: Yes it was. In many ways. Amazingly, 2020 was the first season since 2000 which saw any of the Patriots three division rivals sweep both games in one season. This is also the Patriots first losing season in 20 years. The Bills division title comes after the Patriots claimed the crown for the past 11 consecutive years. And to win this particular game in such an emphatic style is what Bills Nation was hoping for going in while most prognosticators (including me) predicted that Belichick would find a way to keep the game close. 

As for Belichick's press conference, he made the appropriate deferential comments about the team he just lost to, saying in his customary monotone style that they played better than his team did in all three phases and are well-coached etc etc. He was then specifically asked about the telephone throwing incident. After a long pause where even in my half-asleep state I could feel his slow burn, all he offered was that the Bills receiver made a good catch and that his challenge was unsuccessful as it should have been. He was asked again why the play was challenged - and at the time I also wondered why as all replays clearly showed Knox with full control of the ball with both feet touching well inside the white line - and he simply repeated his first answer about the catch being good. Whoever suggested to Belichick that he challenge the call was probably on the other end of that phone call and deserves full criticism for costing the Patriots a time-out. Belichick will probably insist that he personally pay for a replacement telephone for the bench. I actually have one in a drawer somewhere which worked well before I disconnected my landline, although the battery pack may be dead. Dead like the 2020 Patriots.

In September, 2013, the Carolina Panthers came to Orchard Park and lost a one-point game on a late game comeback engineered by Bills rookie quarterback EJ Manuel. I attended the game and I distinctly remember carefully watching Panthers quarterback Cam Newton, in his third year in the league, display his other-worldly athleticism and strong and accurate throwing arm. He was then and remains an impressive physical specimen and now at age 31, he should be in his prime - if not at his peak - as an NFL quarterback in his 10th year in the league. Following the 2019 season, after injuries plagued him for his last two seasons in Charlotte, the Panthers gave up on him. When the Patriots signed Newton this past off-season, I predicted a full revival for him in Belichick's system with years of tormenting the Bills lying ahead. But, despite retaining his athletic ability (seen clearly on the Patriots only touchdown last night), the man, for whatever reason, has lost his ability to throw a football. The ESPN crew kept referring to the Patriots passing game posing no real downfield threat and, trailing by double digits in the third quarter when it was most needed, they didn't even try to throw deep. Josh Allen, be thankful for what you have. In the NFL, it can be fleeting.

The NFL has managed to steer its ship, listing at times but always recovering, nearly to the finish line as week 17 of the regular season approaches. No week 18 will be needed and the playoffs and Superbowl are set to proceed on schedule. In September, I would have bet against this. Sure, the league has its retractors and for good reasons. But what it has managed to pull off in 2020 deserves to be applauded. The only complaint that comes to mind about the NFL this season, for me, is that game officials seem to have completely forgotten to call "helmet to helmet" hit infractions. There were two obvious incidents last night: one against Bills running back Devin Singletary and a second initiated by Bills safety Jordan Poyer against Cam Newton. Neither infraction was called but Poyer was taken off the field afterward for concussion evaluation and did not return. It was obviously a league initiated decision to remove him from the game after the violent hit. More credit to the NFL for this I guess but they have to call penalties on those hits if they are ever going to stop them.  

 

Bills 48, Broncos 19

Near the end of regulation time in the first game I ever attended at Rich Stadium in Orchard Park, NY, Fred Smerlas was able to get a big paw up and block a field goal attempt to send the game into overtime tied at 6-6. It was November 20, 1988 - week 13 of the NFL season which had no bye weeks. Linebacker Cornelius Bennett recovered a NY Jets fumble in overtime which set up the winning field goal by Scott Norwood who would become a household name across the football world a couple of years later. The fans, releasing pent-up frustration since 1980 which turned to euphoria, pulled down the goalposts in the post-game celebration. With the win, the Bills, now at 12-1, had clinched their first AFC East division title since the days of Joe Ferguson, Frank Lewis and Lou Piccone. The eight years which had passed since their last division title seemed longer than that as the team had sunk to the bottom of the league with consecutive 2-14 seasons in 1984 and 1985 under the entirely forgettable head coaching of Kay Stephenson who was fired four games into the 1986 season.

Taking Stephenson's place in October, 1986 was one Marv Levy who had been coaching football for almost 40 years already but had been out of the game for almost two seasons, most recently coaching the Chicago Blitz of the USFL. Levy's NFL coaching career began as a special teams assistant with George Allen in Washington but his only previous NFL head coaching experience was five seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs from 1978 to 1982. That 1988 AFC East division championship was to be the first of a run of six division titles over the next eight years, with the most recent one coming in 1995. Sean McDermott reported that he received a congratulatory email from Marv Levy, now 95 years old and living in his home-town of Chicago, on Saturday evening after the Bills had clinched their first division title in 25 years. McDermott apparently did not hear from Kay Stephenson. 

Josh Allen's was born on May 21, 1996. It has been erroneously reported that he had not been born when the Bills played their last home playoff game but he was actually about seven months old when the Bills lost the wildcard game at Rich Stadium to Jacksonville on December 28, 1996. The Jaguars sacked Jim Kelly late in the game and knocked him out - out of the game and out of football for the rest of his life - then recovered his fumble before kicking the winning field goal for 30-27 win. Yes, the Bills have not played a playoff game in Orchard Park since Jim Kelly was under centre. Levy went on to coach one more season before giving way to Wade Phillips who guided the team to two playoff appearances in 1998 and 1999. 

Sean McDermott's record in Buffalo over the last four season has been massively impressive. After a stretch of 17 seasons with no playoffs, McDermott has steered his team to the post-season in three of his four years. And with the wholesale changes in New England this season which released Bill Belichick's iron grip on the AFC East, the coveted division championship and the home playoff game which goes with it, have now too been achieved. What Bills fans are looking for now is for the team to win playoff games and the chances of that seem pretty good.

Going into Saturday's late afternoon game in Denver, I was feeling pretty good. Cross-country skiing in the morning, skating on the lake in the afternoon, a pot roast in the oven, plenty of firewood inside and we were all set. And the Bills did not disappoint. The 48 points they put up were the most the team had scored in ten years and Josh Allen had another outstanding game, going 28 of 40 for 359 yards and two running touchdowns, two touchdown passes and, once again, no interceptions or fumbles. His best throw might have been the laser touchdown pass to heretofore unknown receiver Jake Kumerow who, like so many NFL players who toil in anonymity, was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Bengals after playing for the Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawks, a Division III school. He bounced around the practice squads of the Bengals, Patriots and Packers before coming to Buffalo in September. It was his first catch of the season.

Looking at playoff seeding scenarios, the Chiefs are closing in on number one but if the Steelers find a way to lose to the Bengals tonight, they would be tied with the Bills at 11-3 with the Bills holding the tie-breaker, having won their head-to-head game last week. The Titans and Colts are both a game behind the Bills at 10-4. After having only six days to prepare for each of the last two games, the Bills now have a luxurious nine days to get ready for a trip to New England for their second official Monday Night game of 2020.       

Bills 26, Steelers 15

Like Carrie Underwood, I waited all day for Sunday Night - quite patiently too - but for most of the first half of last night's big game on NBC, the wait didn't really seem worthwhile as the Bills and Steelers treated viewers to a plodding defensive punt-fest. My dad used to say that he liked watching prolific defences ply their trade in football and he said that he didn't like the US college game very much because the defences just weren't very good. Both defences were certainly good in the first half last night but I found it frustrating to watch. That is, until things opened up for both offences - especially for Josh Allen and the Bills - in the second half.  

With the Bills trailing 7-3 late in the first half, safety Taron Johnson stepped in front of Steelers receiver Jo Jo Smith-Shuster, grabbed the pass thrown his way by Ben Roethlisberger and streaked into the endzone to give the Bills a 9-7 lead at the break. That was the game's turning point as the Bills then scored touchdowns on each of their first two possessions of the second half to open a 23-7 lead which the Steelers would not overcome. As much as Josh Allen struggled with the Steelers relentless blitzing in the first half, he and his offensive line found a way to overcome the pressure after the break and show the prime time television audience that his performance six days earlier against the 49ers was no fluke.  

Al Michaels, the ageless play-by-play man who looks almost the same now as he did when he called the Miracle On Ice in 1980, sat out the trip to Buffalo and this upset some Bills fans calling in to WGR 550 last week. Michaels, now 76, is one of the most iconic American sports broadcasters of all-time and fully deserving of a weekend or two off in this 2020 season. Enter Mike Tirico, formerly of ESPN, who took his place in the booth with Chris Collinsworth last night. Tirico, although his resume isn't as long as Michaels, is an outstanding sportscaster in his own right and that showed as I thought that he and Collinsworth (who can be a bit fawning at times) delivered excellent play-by-play and colour commentary respectively. As they remarked, last night's game would have been a great one for live fans and the repeated aerial shots of an empty Bills Stadium still seemed surreal to me even this late in the season.

And the Dolphins lost yesterday too. I watched most of their game as they hung in with the Chiefs but came up short and, with the Bills big win later on, fell two games behind them with three games to go. The Bills had only six days to prepare for the game (after playing on Monday night) and they will have another six days once again to prepare for their next game on Saturday in Denver. The 4.30pm game against the Broncos will be the Bills third of four consecutive games on national television with the possibility of a fifth to end the season if the week 17 game against the Dolphins is flexed to Sunday Night. As much as I'm sure that Al Michaels would love to finally make it to Orchard Park this season, I hope it doesn't happen because it will mean that the Dolphins will have closed the gap with a chance to challenge for the division with a win. At 10-3, I don't think that it's a stretch to say that the Bills are now legitimate Superbowl contenders. The Chiefs now have the inside track on the first seed overall and the road to the Superbowl will probably go through Kansas City. As things stand now, the Bills clearly have a very good shot at making it to the AFC Championship game.   

Michigan and Ohio State were scheduled to play on Saturday, about three weeks later than usual, as part of the Big Ten's truncated football season. But, last Tuesday, the Wolverine football program reportedly registered more than 40 positive COVID tests and Michigan Athletic Director Warde Manuel appropriately informed the Buckeyes and the Big Ten that the annual game between the two rivals would not be played for the first time since 1917. At 5-0, the Buckeyes will still earn a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game against Northwestern after the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors changed the rules, for the second time in a month, reducing the minimum number of games played to qualify the Buckeyes to play for the conference title. This has been the strangest of college football seasons where many games have been postponed or cancelled altogether due to COVID outbreaks and some programs have not taken the field at all. After all, a school called Coastal Carolina of the Sunbelt Conference, at 10-0, is currently ranked 11th in the AP top 25 poll and the closest Division I team to Toronto, the University of Buffalo Bulls of the Mid-American Conference, sits 24th in the same poll. But, when the four schools who will participate in the National Championship playoff are announced next Sunday, four quite familiar names will probably be on the list: Alabama, Notre Dame, Clemson and Ohio State. Sorry, Coastal Carolina and UB, maybe you've had your dream seasons but its time for the dominant programs to dominate once again. Maybe the world is returning to a semblance of normalcy after all.

Bills 34, 49ers 24

Was I ready for some football, as Hank Williams, Jr. would have asked. A Monday night party? All his rowdy friends were there for Monday night - or so he used to say. Williams, a well-known Republican, lost his Monday Night Football musical gig after comments he made about a 2011 golf game involving Barack Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner. He disapproved of Boehner agreeing to play with the President, saying that it was like Benjamin Netanyahu agreeing to play golf with Hitler.  But anyway, yes I was ready. No rowdy friends - just Sophie and I but we were both fully prepared after a beautiful sunny day of frolicking in the Muskoka snow. I began adjusting my sleep patterns last week in anticipation of a late night and a short sleep, what with the pressure of writing this blog at my usual early hour. 11.30pm now feels like the middle of the night for me but the game kept me awake and a bit tense until near its end. Sophie decided to re-energize for another day of chasing tennis balls in the snow and slept through the entire game.

Before last night, the Bills last win in an official Monday Night Football game came 21 years ago in Miami (not counting their 2014 win in a "home" game in Detroit which was originally scheduled for the day before but more than a metre of lake effect snow in Orchard Park led to its postponement and change of venue.) Doug Flutie hit Eric Moulds with a perfect back-shoulder fade pass to the endzone to seal the win. I remember the game very well - watched it with a work colleague at our bosses house in Etobicoke. The Bills have not fared well in prime time in recent years, going 8-22 since 2000. 

But they have enjoyed recent success in nationally televised games as Josh Allen seems to excel on the big stage with two big wins last year - at Dallas on Thanksgiving and at Pittsburgh on a late-season Sunday night. Last night's performance was easily his best in a Bills uniform. He went 32 of 40 for 375 yards, no interceptions and four touchdowns. He looked calm and collected - in total control of the Bills offence. Good thing he was because the running game never materialized, posting only 81 yards. The defence continued its improved play in recent weeks with a "bend but don't break" approach which saw the 49ers rack up 402 yards and 24 first downs. By comparison, the Bills had 449 yards and 31 first downs. 

The game started with two consecutive four-down goal-line stands - one by each team - before Zack Moss fumbled on his own two yard line, giving San Francisco its first score. With the win last night, the Bills took a 7-6 lead in the all-time series between the teams. Their first meeting, a 27-20 Buffalo win, was in 1972 at the Rockpile. Chris Berman is one of my favourite NFL broadcasters ever, with his trademark middle name insertions like baseball catcher Tony "what are they" Pena, pitcher Rich "280 ZX" Dotson and quarterback Jake "daylight come and you wanna" Delhomme (possibly his best one was "fettuccini" Alfredo Griffin). The MNF broadcast made reference to Berman's prediction of a Bills v. 49ers Superbowl for many consecutive years starting in 1988. Although one of the two teams did make it to the big game in many of those years, they have never met outside the 13 regular season games. The best known game in the series took place in September, 1992 with the Bills posting a 34-31 win in a back-and-forth contest between two prolific offences which became known as the "no punt" game.

The Bills continue their late-season string of prime-time games next week with a match-up against the no longer undefeated Pittsburgh Steelers. Of all the Bills home games this season, having fans at this one would have generated an electric atmosphere in Orchard Park. With only a three-hour drive between the two rust-belt cities and with Steeler Nation being one of the best travelling fan bases in the NFL, this would have been the game to attend in 2020. The Steelers, losers to Washington in the 5pm game yesterday, are now tied with the Chiefs at 11-1 and will be highly motivated to avenge their first loss of the season. The Bills need another prime-time win to stay a game ahead of the Dolphins. Sunday Night Football surpassed Monday Night Football in viewership several years ago and next week's game will surely attract another huge television audience. Just what Josh Allen ordered.