What happens in Irvine CA stays in Irvine, CA. On a short week, the Buffalo Bills practices at Crawford Field, on the campus of the University of California Irvine, were closed to the media. With two games in the Pacific time zone within six days, the Bills remained on the west coast and practiced at UC Irvine’s training facility. Home to the Los Angels Rams training camp, Crawford Field has been the training site for countless Big Ten teams (and others) preparing for the Rose Bowl every January and the Broncos, Lions and Chargers have all used the facility over the years. Nearby Crawford Hall (home of the UC Irvine Anteaters basketball and volleyball teams) offers spacious locker rooms and modern training facilities, making the location an easy choice for the Bills and their traveling entourage of more than 200 players, coaches and staff. And it’s a short one-hour flight to Las Vegas, NV which the team took on Saturday afternoon.
I have been to Las Vegas once, in April 2010. At the end of
a ten-day hiking and camping trip through Nevada and California, we spent 24 hours
there: stayed in a nice new (at the time) hotel, ate dinner at a fancy
restaurant, caught a Cirque de Soleil show (Eau), walked the strip, saw the
water fountain show at Bellagio and, in the process spent more money on that
last day than we did on the rest of the trip. It was interesting to see for
sure but I feel no desire to ever go there again. Except perhaps for a Bills
game against the Raiders or, better yet, the Superbowl in a couple of years
(following the 2028 season). My sources on the ground in Las Vegas reported
that Bills Mafia (I really don’t like that term and it makes me feel uncomfortable
being associated with any kind of “mafia” but I’ve given up on it) had taken
over the Las Vegas strip last week and seemed like a majority of fans yesterday
at Allegiant Stadium. They were also celebrating enthusiastically in their
customary hard-drinking fashion after the game last night. Supporters of the
Buffalo Bills have become one of the best traveling fanbases in the NFL (Steelers
fans have long been the gold-standard in this regard) and with Las Vegas being
one of the most popular domestic destinations in the country, it’s hardly
surprising that Bills Mafia made their presence known on the strip last week and
at the game yesterday. For the Raiders and their fans, playing in a destination
city creates high demand for tickets but probably takes away some of the usual
home-field advantage most NFL teams enjoy.
When the Raiders got their last touchdown last night after
the two-minute warning and with no time-outs left, their hopes were pinned to
an on-side kick which Khalil Shakir easily cradled to end the game. The irony
of that touchdown scored in Las Vegas having huge implications for the betting
lines was not lost on anyone. With the over/under set at 53.5, it locked in
the over for those who selected it and it also meant that the Raiders covered
the spread which ranged anywhere from four to five-and-a-half. My Proline
ticket was dead on arrival already but the Raiders late touchdown caused a
swing of probably tens of millions of dollars for sports books and their
customers.
Scanning through the game statistics last night, I was
surprised to see that James Cook fell short of a 100-yard day on the ground. He
finished with 95 yards and did not break off a long one as he usually does (his
longest run was 13 yards). Cook also caught three passes for another 58 yards,
including a 26-yarder. When he retires, he should run clinics for running backs
on how to protect the ball because his technique, effort and consistency in
that regard was flawless and impressive. The Bills had an entirely clean game with
no fumbles and no turnovers. Cook’s 153 “all-purpose” yards were key to yesterday’s
win as were Keon Coleman’s four catches for 59 yards, including a touchdown on
a classic Josh Allen ad-libbed pitch pass in the third quarter. With DJ Moore
out once again, Coleman looked like a number-one receiver yesterday. What a difference
a year makes: from being late to team meetings and designated a healthy scratch
by Sean McDermott to team leader, clutch receiver and a very valuable NFL player.
As for the Bills defence, it remains a work in progress and
that is being kind. As JJ Watt pointed out on the CBS broadcast, the Bills
clearly have a Championship calibre offence but they give up far too many chunk
plays on defence. Can they keep winning these shoot-out games as the season
grinds its way into November and December? We’ll see. The most frustrating
pattern from yesterday’s game was that the defence generally looked competent on
first and second downs but time after time on third down, Kirk Cousins was able
to shred the Bills secondary and extend drives. I don’t claim to have any real
expertise here but the talent level of the players seems to be less of an issue
that the so-called “scheme” and coverage assignments. We expected that the
transition from the Sean McDermott “bend but don’t break” method to Jim
Leonhard’s 3-4 system would be rough at times but this is getting ridiculous.
And speaking of ridiculous, I will be interested to see how Joe Brady deals
with the CJ Gardner-Johnson situation after he was ejected from the game for
spitting in the general direction of Raiders tight end Brock Bowers. The Bills
are Gardner-Johnson’s eight team in nine years which tells us all we really
need to know about him. I’d say that if Brady thought that his team’s personnel
would be solid enough without him, he’d be gone but my prediction is that
he will be given yet another chance.
Now at 5-1, the Bills bye week is upon them. Later bye weeks
are the usual preference but this time around, a pause might help (1) to
clarify and reinforce assignments in the defensive backfield and (2) to rehab DJ
Moore and Ed Oliver back into the starting lineup.
On November 1st, the Baltimore Ravens come to Orchard
Park. With the clocks going back earlier that day, we will all have had extra
hour of sleep which I am looking forward to mainly because I so dislike prolonged
morning darkness like there is right now. If Ontario and New York State ever
move to permanent Daylight Saving Time, I will continue to change my own clocks
twice annually. So if I’m meeting you for lunch, check the time carefully.
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