As Wil Lutz's 41 yard attempt sailed wide right in the dying seconds last night, the sense of relief - a collective exhale - was palpable both in the stadium and in my own mind. But only for a moment. 12 men on the field for the attempt gave Lutz another shot from five yards closer and he didn't miss. A critical pass interference call against Taron Johnson on an underthrown Russell Wilson pass set the Broncos up for the game winning kick and they took full advantage...the second time around. Add in four turnovers which could easily have been six and the Buffalo Bills are now 5-5 with their hopes for a home playoff game probably gone and hopes for a berth in the playoffs fading fast.
The knives are now officially out for Sean McDermott - at least amongst the angry post-game callers to WGR 550. I turned it off after a couple of calls. "I gave him the benefit of the doubt", lamented the first caller "after they blew a 16-0 lead in Houston. I gave him the benefit of the doubt after falling to the Chiefs in the AFC title game in 2021. I gave him the benefit of the doubt after 13 seconds. And I gave him the benefit of the doubt after his team didn't show up in the snow last year against the Bengals. After this game, he is out of chances and should now be fired". He will not be fired between now and January but maybe McDermott's time in Buffalo has an end in sight. I rarely question coaching decisions but benching James Cook for most of the first half after a fumble on the game's first play seemed like something out of junior varsity. I mean he's an NFL player - and a good one - who was stripped of the ball twice last night (and miraculously got the second one back without losing stride). He ran the ball well after returning. Benching him doesn't make him hold the ball tighter. Fumbles happen. He should have been in there all night.
I'd say that one thing we have learned over the last two seasons is that Brian Daboll, who is suffering through a second season as Giants head coach which is as miserable as his first one was brilliant, was indeed a very good offensive play caller for Josh Allen and the Bills offence. It seemed like he always had a play or two in his back pocket which were going to work when they really needed it. I get no such sense with Ken Dorsey's playbook. They have good players at skilled positions. They bolstered the offensive line in the off-season. They should be better than they have shown. On a short week, I expect no changes before the Jets game.
On Saturday, the Michigan Wolverines silenced the 110,000+ at Beaver Stadium in State College, PA with a strong running game and no need for head coach Jim Harbaugh to be on the sidelines. The Big Ten handed him a three game suspension as punishment to the Michigan program for what is alleged to have been a sophisticated and obviously illegal sign-stealing effort. Rather than deny the allegations, Michigan's response to the charges was to accuse three other Big Ten schools of doing the same. Three corresponding wrongs don't make a right as far as I know but I admit having little knowledge of Big Ten jurisprudence in these matters. Whether they knew Penn State's signs or not, the Wolverines came up big in their first real test of the season. Harbaugh is permitted to coach the team throughout the next two weeks but will not be on the sidelines when they take on the Maryland Terrapins next Saturday and then the Ohio State Buckeyes at the Big House on the 25th in the most important game of the year in college football - as it almost always is. Michigan sought an injunction on Saturday morning reinstating Harbaugh to the sidelines with a ruling needed before the noon kick-off. It was not granted. Maybe the judge was an Ohio State alumni. No appeal was filed as the appeal court offices are closed on Saturdays. Only in America.
Also on Saturday, the Argos couldn't get it done in the Eastern Final before the largest crowd they have ever drawn at BMO Field - "announced" at more than 26,000. The CFL has not released in-game attendance figures for the past few seasons, except when it suits them like it did in this case. Too bad the home team couldn't reward the fans who turned out. Kudos to Chris Berman who included the CFL conference title games at the end of his three-minute wrap-up last night. The CFL conference championship games were formerly played on Sundays but the league figured - probably correctly - that they would draw more viewers when not directly competing with NFL games. MLB took the same approach this season with no World Series games being played on Sundays. Leaving Sundays to the NFL is the only approach which makes any sense at all. Those who watch television on Sundays in North America and are not watching NFL football are either watching Netflix or are left with B-level made-for-TV movies and maybe re-runs of Mannix, Baretta or Starsky & Hutch. A colour bar would probably do almost as well.
Up next for the Bills is another home game against the Jets on Sunday at 4.25pm. It doesn't seem plausible to think that things will turn around now. On a weekend which featured no less than six games decided by last-second field goals (including last night's game obviously), one caller to WGR reflected before I turned the radio off: "the Bills have taken the joy out of watching football".
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