Bills 30, Chiefs 21

“The play of the year” exclaimed Jim Nantz on the CBS broadcast after Josh Allen bulldozed his way to the endzone on a game-clinching 26-yard run on fourth down and two to put the Bills up 29-21 last evening in Orchard Park. Tyler Bass came on for the critical extra point to extend the lead to two scores and made it. I had spent most of the game - after Bass missed the extra point wide-right in the first quarter – convinced that the Chiefs would end up winning the game by a point, making Bass the scapegoat once again. But he was solid on his one field goal try and his other three extra points. Not as confidence inspiring as we might want but Bass does seem to have the ability to shake off his shaky moments and regain consistency.

When Josh Allen is inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, OH, yesterday’s touchdown run will be included in the highlight reel of the top ten plays in his career. Hopefully, along with his multiple Superbowl winning plays as well. Someone commented that on his touchdown yesterday, Allen ran as if it might be the very last thing he did in his time on this earth. I was happy enough to see him pass the first down marker then amazed as he made another three or four Chiefs miss or get dragged into the endzone with him. The play of the year indeed.  

When I saw late in the week that Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker sprained his misogynous bone and was placed on Injured Reserve (meaning he must miss at least four games), I wondered how his wife Isabella was feeling about the prospect of having him around the house more than usual during his recovery from arthroscopic surgery. His traditional ideas around marriage and the role of women, which sound like those of a stereotypical 1950s American family, probably mean more work for her with him laid up as he is. She’ll be doing more cooking, more cleaning etc. I guess but will probably be happy to oblige as, according to her husband, and by happy coincidence, she shares his views on family roles and responsibilities.

The Chiefs plucked Spencer Schrader from the Jets practice squad to handle placekicking duties for the next four games. The Jets had elevated Schrader for their week 10 game against the Cardinals and he made both kicks he tried. But they left him on their practice squad rather than protecting him by moving him up to the active 53-man roster - presumably unaware that another team like the Chiefs might claim him. He kicked his three extra points yesterday as if they were 60-yard field goal attempts and certainly looked confident doing so. He will be a much cheaper option than Butker next season and beyond.    

I’ll be sure watch Chris Berman’s halftime week 11 recap package tonight where he will be sure to include some Grey Cup highlights as he does every year.  Berman is one of the all-time great sports broadcasters, having invented the convention of the insertion of a middle name for sports figures as in Tony “what are they” Pena, Pat “international” borders and probably my favourite: “fettuccini” Alfredo Griffin. Berman will be running through highlights of another Toronto Argonaut Grey Cup victory – the team’s 19^th in its 151-year history. The Argos are the oldest professional sports team in North America which still uses its original name. Now owned by MLSE (the reason why CEO Keith Pelley was shown celebrating fourth quarter touchdowns), the Argos have had an eclectic ownership journey over the last few decades which famously included Wayne Gretzky and John Candy in the early 1990s.

I have never been to a Grey Cup game but I make up for it partly by having attended several Vanier Cup games at Varsity Stadium and one – my last one – at the dome in Toronto. My CFL cred comes from being at a few Argos games in the early 1980s at Exhibition Stadium and running onto the field afterward to celebrate. One of those times, we smoked a joint in the Blue Jays dugout. Seriously. I am also one of the very few surviving attendees of the Las Vegas Posse game in Edmonton in the final week of the 1994 CFL season. Originally scheduled as Posse home game, it was moved to Commonwealth Stadium on account of stadium lease issues in Vegas along with a general lack of fan support. The Posse folded immediately following the game. A great CFL story indeed.

The Bills now find themselves at 9-2, a half game up on the Chiefs and now holding the potentially all-important tie-breaker with them. Teams usually hope for a late bye week and this one now upon them comes at a perfect time for the Bills with a growing list of nagging injuries which will benefit from a couple of weeks off.

The Chiefs have an easy remaining schedule, starting with a trip to Charlotte this week to face the 3-7 Panthers. They may not lose again in the regular season which would lock up the number one seed in the AFC for them. It safe to assume that their offence will improve when stud running back Isiah Pacheco returns from injury perhaps as early as next week. The defence – and the run defence in particular – is mainly what led them to the 9-0 start and it looked very good most of the time yesterday as well. Despite trying, the Bills were unable to establish an effective run game yesterday and had most of their offensive success by way of Josh Allen.

After the break next week, the San Francisco 49ers come to Orchard Park for Sunday Night Football on December 1^st. The last time they visited western New York was in the middle of the Colin Kaepernick controversy when players were kneeling or choosing to stay in the locker room during the national anthem. Kaepernick was on the 49ers roster that day. I was at the game and saw many anti-Kaepernick signs in the parking lot. The political situation in the United States seems ripe for another round of some form of civil protest. Who knows if and when it might manifest itself but Roger Goodell is certainly hoping that if it happens, it happens well away from NFL stadiums.