Bills 40, Jets 14

Bit of a difficult day yesterday for us but not in any way related to the Bills decisive win over the Jets yesterday in Orchard Park. Awoke just before 4.30am to the sounds of our 14-year-old White Sheppard/Husky having a seizure, foaming at the mouth, legs flailing and barely able to breathe. This lasted about 10 minutes then we carried her to the car and headed south through thick fog to the Huronia Emergency Veterinary Clinic in Barrie where she took her last laboured breath around 9.30am. Amazingly – and thankfully – she settled comfortably for her last few minutes before the sedative and the final syringe took effect. This was an animal with whom I had spent a great deal of time and, although we knew her days were numbered, having received a devastating diagnosis of an aggressive and untreatable cancerous growth on her throat, she had been energetic and content for the last 10 days or so, thanks mostly to the miraculous effect of prednisone, a widely prescribed (to humans and animals alike) cortico-steroid. I thought I was prepared for this – and I mostly was – but it was still heartbreaking and intensely sad. Having been through this four times before, I know that the grief of the loss of a dog is severe but relatively short in duration (for me anyway), at least compared to the loss of someone close. Our Sophie is gone now but our Christmas present was her last week at the cottage running in the snow, eating everything in sight and giving us her unconditional love – as she always did.

But we were back at the cottage in time for the week 17 slate of NFL games and the Bills did not disappoint as they built a 40-0 lead with four second-half touchdowns, and cruised to a 40-14 win, sealing up the second seed in the AFC playoff bracket. Aaron Rodgers was understandably frustrated and although I usually pride myself on never rooting against specific teams or players, his failure yesterday - and all season long – did please me. This may have been his last trip to Buffalo in an NFL uniform. Time to kick him to the curb. The Jets will have a huge salary cap hit for the next two seasons if they release him but what choice do they really have? Will another owner choose to sign Rodgers to make some headlines and sell some tickets? Maybe but if I were a fan or a season ticket holder of the team that does that, I’d be pissed.

Week 18 in the NFL is always fascinating and fraught with challenges for book-makers and punters alike. Some teams are out of playoff contention and are playing for pride and draft positioning; some teams need to win to clinch division titles or playoff berths; some teams need to win and hope for others to lose; some teams (like the Bills and Chiefs) are locked in to their playoff seeds and can rest starters, call up deserving players from their practice squads and save their real game-plans for the playoffs. Setting gambling lines amidst all of this is a huge challenge and gamblers who invest time to do their research thoroughly can, in theory, profit more than they do in earlier weeks. Bills coach Sean McDermott mentioned yesterday after the game that there are back-up players who will earn starts next week and practice squad players who will get a chance to earn a real NFL game-cheque. Imagine how hard these men will play when they’re given this rare opportunity then imagine how hard their opponent - the Patriots at 3-13 – will play. The Patriots are in the interesting position of controlling their own destiny in terms of picking first overall in the 2025 NFL draft. All they need to do is lose to the Bills back-ups and subs and it is theirs. The league doesn’t like the idea of teams “tanking” for this purpose but Patriots management and coaches may design a game-plan and deploy personnel for this purpose while creating the appearance of trying to win.

By locking up the second seed, the Bills have effectively earned themselves a bye week and will probably turn their attention to their potential opponent in the Wildcard round. The most likely team to come to Orchard Park in two weeks is the Denver Broncos who need to beat the Chiefs back-ups to the clinch the seventh and last AFC playoff spot. If they lose, then the Miami Dolphins are the Bills next most likely opponent as they need a Broncos loss and a win over the Jets in the Meadowlands to get in. Still alive are the Cincinnati Bengals who need to win in Pittsburgh on Saturday night and hope for losses by the Broncos and the Dolphins. Who of these three would the Bills prefer to play?  They will of course never say but honestly, I’ll take the Broncos. If the Dolphins make it, the Bills would need to beat them for a third time this season and it just seems like they don’t match up well against the Bengals. The Broncos have a rookie quarterback while the Dolphins and Bengals both have seasoned veterans who have played in Buffalo in January before. But the Broncos have to hand the Chiefs what would be only their second loss of the season. And the Chiefs will be resting their starters. But the Chiefs second-stringers and practice squad crew are probably good players looking to make their mark. So, who knows what will happen in week 18. Denver is favoured by 9.5 points and they’re at home. I’ll take Denver then I’ll take the Bills to beat them the following week. That’s what Sophie would have wanted.