Texans 23, Bills 19

I started going to the Vanier Cup in the early 80s when it was held at Varsity Stadium. My alma mater, Western, was usually either playing in the game or had lost the Mitchell or Uteck Bowl the week before. Our usual routine was to attend the game which ended around 4pm then make our way to the Morrissey Tavern on Yonge Street where we would be well in our cups by the dinner hour. We stopped going after the 1989 game which was moved to dome and featured the most antiseptic atmosphere possible: 40,000 empty seats with undecipherable announcements echoing off the steel and concrete roof. In recent years, the location has moved around the country with this past Saturday’s match-up between Les Carabins de l’universite de Montreal and the University of Saskatchewan Huskies taking place for the first time at Regina’s Mosaic Stadium. In an obvious attempt at three-down symmetry vis-a vis the identical Grey Cup match-up a week earlier, the game was won by Montreal, its third championship overall and its second in three years. Attendance was just under 9,000. I saw none of it as I spent most of the afternoon driving Siobhan to airport and battling Christmas shopping traffic in the process.  

The NFL game on Thursday Night in Houston was a sobering three hours for Bills Mafia. Among other revelations which came into focus, it became clear that the 2025 Buffalo Bills are not a Superbowl calibre team – at least not right now. And there’s no reason to think that they will be able to pull themselves together for a long playoff run – a run which looks like it would have to take place entirely on the road. Not enough offensive weapons, porous run defence and, it pains me to say this, poor coaching plagued the Bills as they have too many times this season. The most disappointing part of the game in Houston was the performance (or lack thereof) of the offensive line which was dominated by the Texans four-man pass rush on almost every snap. Not only did the Bills have no answer for this, they appeared not to try to make any adjustments to it whatsoever. It reminded me of the old Anthony Robbins trope of trying the same thing over and over and expecting the results to change. I wouldn’t have had any issue with them lining up nine at the line of scrimmage – 14 personnel if you will with one running back, four tight-ends and no wide receivers – and trying some short tight-end passes just to prove to Josh Allen that he could make a throw from the pocket without being hurried, pressured or sacked. The Texans front four pass rush was relentless and highly effective to an extent that I don’t think I’ve seen in the Josh Allen era. For his part, Josh forgot how to throw the ball away under pressure and this cost his team field position and exposed himself to an unsustainable physical pummelling. Spencer Brown lost the use of his right arm which is an important arm for anyone trying to play right tackle in the NFL. My man O’Cyrus Torrence (I have his game jersey) was noticeable for the first time in his two-and-a-half-year career for the wrong reasons. All-pro left tackle Deon Dawkins had a poor game as well and was called for a critical false start on the game’s second-last play when the Bills were driving for what would have been an unlikely game-winning touchdown.   

Amongst the gnashing of teeth in the aftermath, the knives were out in some circles for offensive coordinator Joe Brady whose play-calling, they said, lacked the creativity he has shown in the past and had somehow become predictable. There were even calls for the reinstatement of the recently-fired former Giants head coach and now theoretically available Brian Daboll who gave Josh Allen his wings as Bills offensive coordinator in Allen’s early years. With no love lost between Daboll and Sean McDermott, that isn’t going to happen – at least not during this season. Chris “Bulldog” Parker said it best on WGR on Friday by pointing out that when it is said that Brady’s play-calling lacks creativity, what they really mean is that they would like him to stop calling plays which don’t work. Had James Cook made that short fourth down run successfully instead of being tackled for a two-yard loss, Brady’s play-call at that moment would have of course been spot-on. Such is the nature of Monday (or in this case Friday) morning quarterbacking.

With the new Highmark Stadium set to open less than ten months from now, the Bills sent season ticket holders a rather heavy wood plaque rendering of the soon-to-be-mothballed Rich Stadium which opened in 1973. It weighs at least three pounds and arrived by UPS last week. Other than the “Bills Bucks” card (with a value reflecting a percentage of each subscriber’s season ticket invoice) which can be used for merchandise or at the in-stadium concession stands, it’s been several years since the team has sent any physical item to its subscribers. With season ticket holders accounting for more than 60,000 of the 71,000 seats at Rich Stadium, imagine the cost to not only manufacture these plaques but to send them to each subscriber. Good thing the fracking business afforded Terry Pegula the means to do what he does……although maybe the ten new minority limited partners in the ownership group (including former Raptor players Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady) may have opposed the plaque idea.

I caught parts of some good games yesterday: the Chiefs came back to hand the Colts their third loss in overtime and then then FOX must have been pleased to see the Cowboys overcome a 21-point deficit to the Eagles by scoring 24 unanswered points to win 24-21. The ratings must have been huge for the second half – probably even higher than the Bills v. Chiefs for CBS in week nine.

Up next for the Bills is a trip to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers who lost in Chicago without the services of Aaron Rodgers whose injured left hand was too vulnerable for him to play. Expect him to be back in the lineup against the Bills who have been installed as four-point favourites for the late-window 4.25pm CBS game.