Bills 47, Jaguars 10

The first game I attended in Orchard Park as a Buffalo Bills season ticket holder – opening day of the 2004 season – did not go down in the annals of NFL history as a classic. Quite the opposite actually as two of the league’s weaker teams generated less than 500 yards of total offence combined. With the Bills leading 10-6, Jacksonville got the ball one last time in the game’s final minutes. On a long fourth down pass, Bills cornerback Nate Clements could have easily swatted the ball to the ground to end the game but, on account of either a brain cramp or an attempt to pad his personal statistics, he instead tried for the interception which redirected the ball into the Jags receiver’s hands to prolong the drive. Then, on the last play of the game, another fourth down from the Bills seven-yard line, after three straight incomplete passes, Byron Leftwich found Ernest Wilford who was somehow able to make the catch in double coverage and get both feet down just inside the back of the endzone. Final score: Jags 13, Bills 10.

Going into last night’s tilt at Highmark Stadium, the Bills and Jags had played 19 times, including two playoff games, with the Jags leading the all-time series 10-9. To say that the Bills have underperformed against Jacksonville over the last 30 years would be like saying that Donald Trump isn’t always entirely truthful in his campaign speeches. Two separate debacles in London – the EJ Manuel interception clinic in 2015 and last year’s injury-fest, two excruciating playoff games – a 30-27 home loss in 1996 which would be the last game of Jim Kelly’s NFL career and then a profoundly frustrating 10-3 loss in January, 2018 which ended the 17-year playoff drought and would also be the final game of the Tyrod Taylor era. For no apparent reason, the Bills have had more than their share of bad luck, poor quarterback play, injuries and generally crushing disappointment against this small market team which at best enjoys tepid fan support in its college football crazy part of north Florida. I did attend one Bills v Jags game at Rich Stadium where things went well for the home side: a 1998 17-16 win where Doug Flutie scored the winning touchdown scampering untouched to the left side on a naked bootleg on the last play of the game.

I was in Williamsville last week at a nondescript plaza on Main Street just off the 290. That’s where the Bills have set up their Stadium Experience space to present renderings of the new Highmark Stadium, help season ticket holders select their new seats and most importantly to guide them through the process of opening their wallets to purchase seat licences. What I’ll say is that the new stadium will be a vast improvement over the current brutalist concrete bunker which opened in 1973. Much larger concourses, wider seating rows, better designed parking ingress and egress, much better separation of pedestrians and vehicles in and around the roadways and parking lots (there’s basically none now and people get hit regularly) and more entry gates are just a few of the improvements which Bills fans will notice at the new stadium. They will definitely be paying more for tickets – and undoubtedly for everything else too. One interesting difference is that there will be seating sections right at each 50 yard line as opposed to it being an aisle like in the current stadium. I was lucky enough to secure seats in one of these sections – on the visitor’s side at the 48 yard line, 22 rows up from the field. I’m pretty happy with that. My financial advisor isn’t convinced that the seat licences represent a sound investment but he’s never attended an NFL game and therefore has no business offering an opinion on it.

As many times as I have crossed the US border in a car, it amazes me how often the border guards can come up with a question I’ve never been asked before. After explaining where, why and for how long I was going, as he handed my passport back to me, he asked me “who owns this vehicle?”.  I said “I do”. That answer seemed satisfactory and I was on my way to the white-knuckle bridges of Grand Island. These bridges are quite steep and, if you look, you can see the Niagara River far below through the guardrails. It terrifies me but, like a typical Bills v Jags game, I just can’t look away.  

Although it didn’t fit the historical Bills v Jags pattern, I couldn’t – and didn’t – look away from last night’s game at all. An offensive clinic in the first half turned the whole second half into garbage time and the Bills coasted to an easy win. Although his first convert attempt was blocked, Tyler Bass was perfect on the next five converts and added two field goals as well. This should stop the work-outs of other kickers which did happen last week. I loved what the Elvis guy had on the back of his guitar: “Everybody eats when James Cooks”.

Next up is a very tough assignment: off a short week at Baltimore to face the Ravens on Sunday Night Football. They are coming off a big win in Dallas – amazingly, their first of the season. This is the first of three straight road games for the Bills who travel to Houston the following week then to the Meadowlands to face the Jets after that before returning home tom face the Titans. Baltimore is an early 2.5 point favourite.