I’ve been tuning in recently to the syndicated CBS Sports Radio programming which the FAN in Toronto carries very early on weekend mornings. When its 5am on a Saturday, the host’s job seems to be to float opinions which are controversial, provocative or otherwise inflammatory enough to cause North America's insomniacs and early risers to reach for their phones and call in to explain why the host is wrong. It usually works well enough to occupy the airwaves through these hours when the human spirit is usually at its lowest ebb. Last weekend, host Zach Gelb decided to tell his overnight listeners (Alan McPhee referred to it and them as “vacuumland” when he occupied CBC Radio’s overnight airwaves in the 60s and 70s) that the NFL itself is at a low ebb with fewer and fewer compelling games, explosive plays or memorable moments. He suggested that maybe the shrinking participation in tackle football in the US – from junior and Pop Warner programs to high school and even high level college programs – is starting to filter upward in the form of a watered down talent pool in the NFL. TV ratings are down a bit across the board this season for the NFL but even so, it’s televised games continue to dwarf any other programming on conventional television. Viewership for the Thursday night package is off sharply but I’d say that’s mostly because they are carried by Amazon Prime in the US and not on regular television at all. A slate of Thursday night clunker match-ups doesn't help either. I didn’t call in to disagree but others certainly did.
I wonder if Zach Gelb was watching the Bills and Vikings epic
battle in Orchard Park yesterday – or any of the close games the Bills have played
already in 2022 in Miami, Baltimore, Kansas City and New York. Anyway, Zach
Gelb, I know you have to say things at 5am which you may not really mean but I
have a feeling you’ll be casting yesterday’s game in a positive light one day
when you’re fawning again over the juggernaut that is the modern NFL.
It’s great to have your team involved in games which become
instant classics but I suspect that they’re even more satisfying when you
end winning one of them. In retrospect, analysis of most close football games
isolates a couple or maybe a few critical plays which, had they gone the other
way, would have changed the outcome of the game. I can think of at least ten of
those from yesterday: the interceptions in the endzone for sure, the Singletary
fumble which if the call on the field had ruled him “down” would have stood as
such, the Cam Lewis almost interception which ended up being a miraculous 32 yard catch
by Justin Jefferson on a 4th and 18, the botched snap, fumble and
Vikings touchdown to name a few. The Vikings should have won the game in
regulation if the replay officials had noticed Gabriel Davis’s non-catch with
17 seconds left which helped set up the tying field goal. In short, for viewers
without a rooting interest, it was an exciting and at times even shocking game
to watch - and easily the best regular season game of 2022. Just like the playoff game in Kansas City in January, it was a
testament to how exciting NFL football can be. I’m sure that even Zach Gelb can
see that.
After the game, I was in the car and well within range of
the WGR radio signal. The fans were angry; some were apoplectic. This team
finds new and different excruciating ways to lose games every year, they said. Add this one
to the list of franchise heartbreakers. Sure. The bottom line, according to
Chris Parker (aka Bulldog) is that with Josh Allen, we’re going to get plenty
of spectacular plays but we’re going to have to accept a few “What the hell are
you doing!” moments along with them. In some games more than others; maybe for
a few games in a row (and we seem to be in one of those stretches right now)
but overall, Allen needs to play with an approach somewhere between aggressive
and reckless to be at his most effective. He played that way yesterday and he
plays that way pretty much all the time. Most teams would take it in a heartbeat.
At 6-3 (the same record as they had after nine games last
season) , the Bills, amazingly, have dropped to third place in the AFC East and
currently hold the sixth seed in the AFC playoff picture. Four division games
remain with three of those at home. Up next, their Lake Erie cousins and
perennial NFL doormat, the Cleveland Browns, come to Orchard Park on Sunday.
Four days later, they play the Lions in Detroit in the early Thanksgiving Day
slot. They should end up 8-3 after those games but who knows.
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