The NFL playoff picture finally saw its final pieces fall into place late last night. Two teams lost at home yesterday - one in a huge upset - reducing their prospects in the post-season tournament which begins next weekend. The Seattle Seahawks came literally within an inch of taking the NFC West title and the right to a home playoff game with a home loss to San Francisco and the New England Patriots lost at home to the Miami Dolphins - something I said for the past two weeks was not going to happen. The Patriots still won the AFC East but now find themselves playing in the wildcard round for the first time in ten years. As is usually the case with the NFL's final day of regular season play, some games featured high drama while others were entirely irrelevant.
I made my way to one of the irrelevant games yesterday in Orchard Park where the Bills dropped their second straight game to finish the season at 10-6. In a drenching rain, the New York Jets cobbled together enough offense to post their 7th win of their lost season mostly against the Bills second-stringers. A massive rain system impacted Sunday's games in the eastern time zone and the Buffalo area took a direct hit. Luckily, the rain held off for the tailgating portion of the day and we were able to heat our turkey vegetable soup (a new cold-weather addition to the tailgating menu) and cook our sausages on charcoal in an on-and-off light drizzle. The heavy rain held off until after the game started and more than 69,000 still showed up for at least some of the game. I expect that my socks will be dry by tomorrow. The crowd was soaked and subdued for the most part but the loudest cheer came when we saw a replay of Tom Brady throwing a pick-six against the Dolphins in their most unlikely win.
For the Bills, they will, as expected, travel to Houston to face the Texans in the first of the NFL's 10 January playoff games on Saturday at 4.30pm. The Texans are early 3.5 point favourites. The Bills didn't quite achieve their objective of surviving the game without injuries as cornerback Levi Wallace suffered a non-contact right ankle injury as he made an interception in the first quarter and right tackle Ty Nsehke re-injured his ankle on an almost identical play to the one which sidelined him in November in Miami. Early reports are that Wallace is probable for Saturday while Nsehke is likely done for the year. Josh Allen saw limited action yesterday before Matt Barkley took over while most of the other key offensive players were inactive. T.J. Yeldin ran the ball effectively, especially later in the game and fan-favourite and former CFLer Duke Williams made some good catches in the rain.
As we left after the third quarter, I said to my season-ticket neighbour to my left, a very serious football fan named Steve (who looks a lot like Metallica frontman James Hetfield) that I would either see him for the AFC Championship Game in three weeks or in September for the 2020 home opener. As the fifth seed, if the Bills and the 6th seeded Tennessee Titans can collectively win four road playoff games at Houston, New England, Kansas City and Baltimore over the next two weekends, the AFC Championship Game will see the Titans travel to Orchard Park for the right to a birth in the Superbowl. I give that about as much of a chance as I gave the Dolphins of winning yesterday in Foxborough. Ok, maybe a bit less than that but I still can't quite believe that Ryan Fitzpatrick was able to pull out the win yesterday. He has one year remaining on his deal with the Dolphins and I expect to see him again next year in Miami, probably seeing plenty of playing time, even if the Dolphins draft another quarterback in the first round.
If the Patriots were the biggest losers yesterday (honourable mention to the Steelers), the biggest winners were the 49ers whose win secured home field throughout the NFC playoffs. A loss would have pushed them down to the fifth seed needing to win three games on the road to get to the Superbowl. Now, like the Ravens in the AFC, a bye week to rest followed by two home wins gets them there. In the four games next weekend, here are my picks: The Bills with a road win over Houston, the Patriots at home over Tennessee, the Saints at home over Minnesota and the Seahawks over the Eagles in Philadelphia. In a strange scheduling quirk, both AFC games go Saturday and both NFC games are on Sunday.
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