When Sean McDermott makes his list of things for his football team to work on going into its next game in south Florida, goal line defence will not likely be on it. The Bills amazingly stopped the Cleveland Browns on no less than 12 plays from inside the three yard line, on two separate series yesterday on the south shore of Lake Erie. Browns coach Fred Kitchens was prepared to roll a lucky 13 on a fourth down play but chose to kick a field goal when one of his offensive linemen was flagged for a false start. That field goal gave the Browns a 9-7 lead before halftime.
In a game which was frustrating to watch for fans of either team, the Bills took a four point lead with just over five minutes remaining on Josh Allen's second rushing touchdown of the game. Just before that, Allen fumbled the ball - yet again - on the four yard line but the ball was knocked forward to Jose Feliciano, whose ability to find just the right balance between his music and football careers, showed that he really does have a keen sense of smell for the ball by recovering it on the one yard line to not only preserve possession and extend the drive, but for a first down as well. After the touchdown, leading 16-12, the Bills appeared to seal the win as Jerry Hughes recovered a botched "hand-off" attempt by Baker Mayfield and scampered to the endzone for an apparent touchdown and a 22-12 Bills lead. But as soon as CBS rules analyst Gene Seratore, a long time NFL referee, said that in his opinion Mayfield's unsuccessful short vertical toss amounted to an incomplete pass, I knew that the Bills lead had been reduced again to four.
When kickers miss field goal attempts, headlines in the sports press often declare that "there is plenty of blame to go around". Well, yes there is for a Bills team which continued again yesterday to struggle on offence but kicker Stephen Hauschka not only missed on a 53 yard attempt to tie the game in perfectly decent weather conditions, but he also missed a 34 yard try earlier on. We can all count, as Andy Reid once said, and by my count, the missed field goals really made the difference in the game. The Bills have generally been solid in the place-kicking department over many years - think of names like Steve Christie and Ryan Lindell - and Hauschka had success in Baltimore, Denver and Seattle before coming to Buffalo in 2017. He has been quite consistent over the past three seasons with the Bills and in August signed a two-year contract extension which pays him $4 million per season.
The Bills remain on the road in week 11, travelling to Miami to face the red-hot Dolphins, winners of two straight games, including an upset road win in Indianapolis yesterday over the heavily favoured Colts. At 6-3, the Bills are still well positioned for a playoff spot in the relatively weak AFC.
Elsewhere in the football world, the CFL's Division Championship games are set with Hamilton hosting Edmonton and Winnipeg playing the Riders in Regina next Sunday. The Grey Cup is set for November 24th in Calgary whose Stampeders lost at home yesterday to the Bombers. Since the game at McMahon Stadium drew only 24,000 yesterday in Calgary, Grey Cup tickets, I presume, will be easy to come by.
There is something about Alabama coach Nick Saban which I don't like so I was happy to see his Crimson Tide (and the 100,000+ fans in Tuscoloosa who cheered Donald Trump) lose to LSU whose coach, Ed Orgeron, looks and talks like a mobster.
My neighbourhood high school football team in north Toronto is the Lawrence Park Panthers. The Panthers play on Thursday in the Tier 1 semi-finals against Richview CI at Esther Shiner stadium. I know one of the players who I expect will be able to get me a good seat for the 2pm kick.
Finally, to the good people of Canada - and I guess to you too Don Cherry - today is Remembrance Day so please take a moment at 11am to pay your respects. Maybe its time to remove Mr. Cherry from the public airwaves since he has failed or refused to apologize for his baffling comments on Saturday night - leaving that to his employer, Sportsnet and to his broadcast partner Ron McLean.
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