Dolphins 21, Bills 19

When the Montreal Canadiens won four consecutive Stanley Cups from 1976 through 1979, it was often said their top farm team, the Nova Scotia Voyageurs, were easily better than many of the weaker NHL teams during that period. The Canadiens organization was so strong and so deep that most players drafted by the club out of the Junior hockey ranks had little chance of making the big club - at least in the first few years of their pro careers.

Bills General Manager Brandon Beane has built possibly the best and deepest roster in the NFL over his six years at the helm. Yesterday in steamy Miami Gardens, FL that depth was tested as it had never been before over his tenure. I consider myself a fairly serious fan of the team but there were players taking the field yesterday, on both sides of the ball, whose names were entirely new to me. I'm not a serious enough fan to be familiar with the Bills entire Practice Squad roster but after the game yesterday, I think I probably now know most of them. And to think that with so many starters out going into the game and with so many more dropping in the south Florida heat as the afternoon wore on, they came within a play of winning the game. The team has faired quite well over the past few seasons in terms of avoiding multiple serious injuries (Tre White's knee ligament tear last Thanksgiving notwithstanding). This has been attributed to the team's top-notch training staff, physiotherapy program, kinesiologists, dieticians, sleep and hydration technicians etc etc. But more likely, in my opinion, is that they've just been lucky and the tables have clearly turned on them early this season. Let's hope that their version of the 1970s Nova Scotia Voyageurs can get the job done at least in the short term. 

As with pretty much every close football game, if any one of four or five plays had been made or gone the other way, the Bills would be sitting atop the AFC East at 3-0 as the Dolphins are this morning: Allen was sacked deep in his own end in the first quarter and fumbled, gifting the Dolphins an easy short field and they capitalized accordingly. Matt Milano had a touchdown in his hands and dropped it. Tyler Bass uncharacteristically missed an easy field goal. Josh Allen also (1) had Isaiah MacKenzie open in the near corner of the endzone late in the game and threw the ball at his feet, (2) fumbled the snap at the end of the first half, costing his team a chance at a field goal (3) was flagged for a personal foul late for ripping a defender's helmet off, costing his team 15 yards on the final failed game-winning drive. Bass almost got a chance to win the game at the end as time expired just before a spike attempt. 

The depleted Bills dominated the game statistically by outgaining the Dolphins by 285 yards (497 to 212), earned 31 first downs to the Dolphins 15 and held the ball for more than two thirds of the game. The Bills second string secondary held speedster Tyreek Hill to two receptions for 33 yards. Even though they lost the game, long-time Buffalo journalist and perpetual naysayer Jerry Sullivan tweeted "I'm even more convinced that they're the team to beat in the NFL." High praise indeed from the glass-half-empty Sullivan.

When Dolphins punter Thomas Morestead stood at the back of his own endzone late in the game, the television camera angle made it appear (to me anyway) like he had shanked his punt badly to the left and it looked for a second like the Bills would have excellent field position for a potential game-winning touchdown drive. But the play resulted in a safety as Morestead's punt landed a direct hit on the buttocks of his teammate Trent Sherfield before bouncing out of the back of the endzone. The "butt punt", as it is known this morning, will make all of the 2022 NFL blooper highlight reels when the season is done but Morestead redeemed himself on the following free kick by pinning the Bills deep - too deep as it turned out - for their drive for the winning field goal.  

Things do not get any easier in week four as the Bills travel to Baltimore to face the Ravens. At least the heat shouldn't be as bad in the Chesapeake area as it was in Miami but Lamar Jackson will present a huge challenge for the Bills depleted defence. At least they will have a full week to recover.      

Bills 72, Rams 10, Titans 7

When my team is the consistent Superbowl favourite throughout the off-season - at least it was after the signing of Von Miller - it makes me nervous just like it did in the early 1990s. And we all know how that played out. But then I realized that going into last season, the Vegas oddsmakers gave the best chance at the Lombardi trophy to the Los Angeles Rams and they obliged with a close win over the Cinderella Bengals. Also interesting to note that through the first 54 Superbowls, no team had won the big game playing in their home stadium. It has now happened twice with the Bucs in 2021 and the Rams seven months ago. The big game in February returns to the Arizona desert so I guess the pressure is really on Kyler Murray and the Cardinals to make it a three-peat. My hope is for a Bills v. Vikings Superbowl as these two teams are a combined 0-8 in the championship game. 

The Bills were rewarded for their top pre-season ranking with the marquis Week One match-up At SoFi Stadium against the Rams with Von Miller lining up against the team he shared the trophy with last time he suited up. Despite a few stumbles in the first half, the Bills ran away with it in the third quarter and demonstrated that they really are the favourites to win the game in Phoenix five months from now. 

Last night in Orchard Park, despite some injuries along the way, the Bills faced the Titans for the fifth consecutive season. With losses in Nashville in each of the last two games Buffalo was missing two key pieces of its interior defensive line - Ed Oliver and Tim Settle - whose presence was considered critical in stopping Derrick Henry.Would this be the game that the Bills came down to earth and settled back into the pack of good teams in the AFC instead of being the clear favourite? Ah, no. Apart from the Titans first drive which tied the game at seven, it wasn't a close game at all. By the time the fourth quarter began, both teams were resting starters, the stands were emptying and the Bills remained the consensus Superbowl pick. 

The Josh Allen / Stefon Diggs combination looked like it did in 2020: Allen was 26 of 38 for 317 yards with four touchdowns and no picks; Diggs caught 12 of the 14 balls thrown his way for 148 yards and three scores. The Titans were held to 187 yards of total offence with Henry averaging 1.9 yards per carry on his way to a paltry 25 yards on 13 carries. And we finally got to see Sam Martin punt. The placekicking team of long-snapper Reid Ferguson, holder Martin and kicker Tyler Bass was perfect as well. 

The best part of last night's pre-game activities was the appearance of 97 year-old Marv Levy who took the microphone from Jim Kelly (whose singing needs some work) and led the crowd with the now-famous question he used to ask his team before every game: "Where else would you rather be than right here, right now?" He looked and sounded just fine and it warmed my heart. 

When I discovered the almost incomprehensible changes that OLG has made to Proline before the game in Los Angeles, I almost gave up on it until I realized that single game bets were on the menu - instead of the minimum three game parlay from previous years. Two games down, and two winning tickets later for me as I won $15 in week one and $19 last night. The $34 in winnings I've booked is $34 more than I have won on Proline in the last ten years. OLG may target me as a risk to their business model but I'll keep betting on the Bills as long as they let me.

Almost out of nowhere, next week's match-up in steamy South Florida is a big game. With both teams at 2-0, the winner will have the inside track in the AFC East. Tua Tagavailoa has looked much better through two games than he did a year ago and the Tyreek Hill is still Tyreek Hill. Let's hope that the Bills aren't too depleted on defence as two more starters went down last night with neck injuries: Dane Jackson with a scary looking accidental hit from teammate Tremaine Edmunds and Micah Hyde on an innocent looking tackle. Matt Milano scored the first touchdown of his career before leaving with a stinger and Jordan Phillips pulled a hamstring as well. Dane Jackson's injury was the most serious but late reports were that he has full movement of all of his extremities after being taken by ambulance to ECMC directly from the field.