Bills 33, Raiders 30

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 1^st, 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.    

 

 

 

    

    

Bills 37, Rams 34 (OT)

The first four notes of Johnny Pearson’s 1970 instrumental piece Heavy Action are among the most iconic and identifiable musical notes for sports fans in North America and in the United Kingdom. It has been closely associated with ABC’s (and later ESPN’s) Monday Night Football (MNF) since 1975 when it was first used in its broadcast introduction and as a looping background soundtrack for Howard Cossell’s halftime review of highlights from the previous day’s NFL games. Pearson, the long-time leader of the Top of the Pops Orchestra, originally wrote the piece for the UK sports show Superstars. It has been re-arranged multiple times but in 2018, ESPN resumed using Pearson’s original arrangement for MNF and has continued using it up to and including last night. A few years ago, I downloaded the original version and I still dial it up occasionally during the long football off-season.

The history of MNF is fascinating. In early 1970, Pete Rozelle, NFL Commissioner from 1960 to 1989, first proposed his idea of a weekly Monday prime time NFL game to NBC and CBS. Skeptical that Americans would want to watch football on Monday nights, both declined. He then approached ABC Sports head Roone Arledge who reluctantly agreed to give it a try. ABC was mired in third place in US network ratings, well behind NBC and CBS. From it’s first broadcast on September 21, 1970 from Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium, it was a huge hit. Arledge hired the controversial New York sports personality Howard Cossell to do play-by-play and to boost ratings. Cossell was a strong and early supporter of black athletes and developed a close relationship with Muhammed Ali. He was probably the first broadcaster who attracted viewers who tuned in to “hate watch” him. Bars across the US had parties on Monday nights where patrons were invited to throw bricks through old television sets whenever Cossell irritated them enough. His abrasive and pompous broadcast style became legendary and helped make Monday Night Football must-see-TV from the outset.  Howard Cossell famously let the world know of John Lennon’s assassination on a live game broadcast on December 8, 1980. Lennon himself appeared in Cossell’s broadcast booth for a short interview during a 1974 game.  Another curious personality added to the Monday Night Football broadcast booth was comedian Dennis Miller who lasted two seasons alongside Al Michaels and Dan Fouts who years later said that he never quite knew what to make of the Dennis Miller experiment and felt uncomfortable with it for the entire two seasons.

MNF has been a 56-year television ratings success story but in 2005 when the NFL decided to make Sunday Night Football its marquee prime time offering, Disney moved MNF from ABC to ESPN. Ratings remained strong on Mondays but by 2011, NBC’s Sunday Night Football climbed to the top of weekly American television ratings where it has remained ever since. When broadcast crews were shuffled following the 2021 season, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman left FOX and moved into the MNF booth where they continue to deliver solid game commentary and strong ratings. MNF games began at 9pm until 1997 when the kick-off was moved to 8.15pm. I would welcome a 7.30pm start time but I guess that’s too early for west coast viewers. I am sometimes asked why they don’t start the prime-time games earlier (because many of the games go 11.30pm or later like last night’s did, far past my cohort’s usual bedtime). The answer is that if they thought they could attract more viewers by staring the games at a different time, they would start the games at a different time.

Dateline: November 20, 1988. In a game I attended, Bills defensive lineman Fred Smerlas got a big paw up to block a Pat Leahy field goal attempt with 25 seconds remaining in regulation to send the game to overtime where the Bills would go on to beat the New York Jets 9-6 and claim their first AFC East title since 1980. It was probably the most important blocked kick in Bills history but, allowing for some recency bias, Greg Rosseau’s block in overtime last night at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles now stands in second place to the Smerlas block. Picked 30^th overall in the 2021 NFL draft, Rosseau is now in his sixth season with the Bills and it looks to be by far his best with six quarterback sacks through the first three games. His block allowed Josh Allen to engineer the winning drive and one of the most epic October Bills wins in recent years. And all of this on Monday Night Football! I definitely had more trouble falling asleep afterward than I did staying up through the game’s tense final moments. A great win it was for the Bills who were due for a break or two to fall their way in a tight national game.

After a sort of sleepy first half, the Bills took a 13-7 lead to the locker room and led 19-14 after three quarters before the teams exploded for 35 points in the fourth quarter to finish tied at 37 after 60 minutes. After James Cook’s second fumble, things looked bleak for the Bills before Rosseau saved the day. Despite missing an extra point earlier, with two minutes remaining in the extra period, Tyler Bass hit a 45-yard field goal which looked like it would have been good from 65. A rather large monkey was removed from Josh Allen’s back in the process as his record in overtime games improved to 1-7. The Bills also converted on a two-point attempt which removed a much smaller but quite irritating monkey as well.

A few quick thoughts this morning: (1) I wish Josh Allen would learn to slide. That extra yard or two usually isn’t worth the injury risk he takes in getting them. (2) A few Bills players (with the exception of Spencer Brown who did not return) appeared to suffer significant injuries – Benford, Bernard, Gardiner-Johnson – but each returned to the game. (3) James Cook needs to hold the ball more securely on every carry. He should watch film of Stefon Diggs who was the master of ball protection upon first contact. It’s harder for running backs but opposing defences will be coached-up to punch the ball out of his hands on every carry because it seems like it’s easy to do – too easy.   

The Bills will stay on the west coast this week as they face the Las Vegas Raiders in sin city next Sunday at 4.25pm in the featured late-window game on CBS.  

      

 

Patriots 29, Bills 26

I had a dream about Dianna Russini last night. No not that kind of dream. In an effort to resurrect her sports journalism career, she was interviewing various NFL podcasters and bloggers about their experiences, how they build their viewership and readership, how they got into the business etc (remember, it was a dream) and as we sat in her makeshift studio on a terrace at a swanky Sedona, AZ resort, her husband, Shake Shack executive Kevin Goldschmidt, kept poking his head around the corner to see what we were actually doing. Then, Mike Vrabel’s wife Jennifer showed up with Patriots owner Robert Kraft and that’s about all I can really remember. Vrabel did not appear in the dream as I guess he had business to attend to in Orchard Park, NY.

In the aftermath of the exposure of their extra-marital affair this past April, Vrabel and Russini have been on very different trajectories. Russini resigned from her position as NFL “insider” at the Athletic (a New York Times media property) as her employer conducted its own investigation into the matter. That investigation would eventually find that Russini violated the terms of her employment. No kidding. From 2015 to 2023, Russini was an NFL reporter for ESPN which included time as a beat reporter assigned to the Tennessee Titans where Vrabel was head coach from 2018 to 2023. It is clear that as a sports journalist, Russini’s involvement with the coach of an NFL team she was covering represented a breach of trust. And it has obviously cost her deeply as her wiki page identifies her as a “former” sports journalist and it appears that she is currently unemployed. Vrabel, on the other hand, was “disciplined” by Robert Kraft who may not be the best judge of character in this regard, having been caught soliciting sexual services at a Florida massage parlour in 2019 and is alleged to have had a long relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. The NFL cleared Vrabel of any wrongdoing in its slipshod investigation and Vrabel’s “punishment” from Kraft amounted to a few counselling sessions and a public statement about his having had some “difficult conversations” with his family and with the team. So, she’s unemployed and he gets a slap on the wrist and we all move on watching NFL games as we always did. It’s a man’s world, isn’t it? And not just in football.

In a related story, last week, San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York was suspended by the NFL for six games and fined a whopping $500,000 as punishment for his arrest in an Ohio mobile home park on prostitution-related charges. What does it mean when an owner is “suspended”? I guess he has to watch the games on television like the rest of us – and probably not in a mobile home park. Perhaps Dianna Russini should interview him next.

One of the legions of NFL pundits said on Saturday that yesterday’s game at Highmark Stadium was far more important to the 1-2 New England Patriots than it was for the 3-0 Buffalo Bills. For the Patriots, a loss would have meant slipping three games behind the Bills in the AFC East and, taking into account the tie-breaker formula, four games behind. With a loss, the pundit argued, the Bills would still hold a one game lead in the division. It was close to a must-win game for the Patriots and they came through, as one would have expected from a team which went to the Superbowl last season. Through three games, Patriots quarterback Drake Maye demonstrated a level of regression which was alarming to Patriots fans and the pressure was clearly on him yesterday. He delivered in spectacular fashion while his opponent on the other sideline, Bills quarterback Josh Allen, posted his second consecutive sub-par game. As the Bills were driving to tie the game with a field goal or take the lead with a touchdown, Allen’s ill-advised deep ball into double coverage, after miraculously eluding a sack, sealed the win for the Patriots.

The game featured three spectacular catches which deserve mention. One was by Bills receiver Keon Coleman, who arguably had his best day as pro, on the left sideline where he showed incredible athleticism, body control and concentration in securing the ball (he later made a nice catch for a touchdown). Two Patriots receivers made one-handed touchdown catches which should each make the highlight reels when the 2026 season is done. Romeo Doubs, wearing his Great Gazoo helmet cover (a few players around the league now wear an extra layer of padding on the outside of their helmets – like former Bills player Taylor Rapp), made his brilliant catch on a fade to the right side of the endzone. Then, everyone’s favourite undrafted free agent out of Eastern Washington University and sporting one of the best names ever to suit up in the NFL, Efton Chism III, taking time out from his responsibilities as Commodore of the Boston Yacht Club, made what would be the game-winning one-handed grab in the fourth quarter. I’m willing to say right now that Efton Chism III will never make a more impressive catch for the rest of his career.

Up next for the Bills is a Monday Night Football match-up with the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium on Canadian Thanksgiving Day/Night. Yesterday’s loss will generate a bit of soul-searching and angst among the Bills fan base and I will be interested to see how first-year coach Joe Brady handles the questions this week. With their first taste of adversity this season, look for the Bills to better than they have shown over the last couple of weeks against the Rams in what could be a Superbowl preview. The Bills then travel to Las Vegas in week six which also fell to 3-1 with a loss to the Chiefs yesterday.   

 

 

 

Bills 24, Chargers 16

David Mamet’s 1975 play American Buffalo (and the 1996 film with Dustin Hoffman and Dennis Franz) takes place in a junk shop where the owner has sold a Buffalo Nickel to a customer for $90 then regrets the low sale price and plans to steal it back. Buffalo Nickels are five-cent coins struck by the US Mint between 1913 and 1938 and are considered to be somewhat rare and valuable. These coins form the historical basis for the “alternate” Buffalo Bills uniforms, called the “Nickel City” uniforms, unveiled early in the Bills 2026 training camp. Reaction to the uniforms at the time was swift and negative. Josh Allen asked fans to relax and assured us that the uniforms were fine and that we would all grow to appreciate them. They were worn in yesterday’s game at Highmark Stadium for the first time in the regular season and the reaction – both nationally and within the Bills fan base – remained overwhelmingly negative. I decided to wait and see but I now officially join the mainstream body of opinion in saying that they’re simply awful. The strange colour palette looks like the bastard child of the uniforms of the Detroit Lions and the New York Giants. The numbers and player names are hard to see and Mike Schop said on WGR that they looked like they weren’t fitted properly. The Bills now have a minor public relations problem on their hands as the uniforms are scheduled to be worn again on December 19^th when the Bills host the Chicago Bears. I doubt that the plan will change but I will be interested to see how they spin things as that date approaches. We all know why the NFL mandated alternate uniforms – to sell more merch. And it has worked: we saw plenty of Nickel City game jerseys at the home opener. I guess if all you had was a Diggs jersey from five years ago, it might be an interesting option. Give me the Royal Blue and White in any jersey and pant combination and leave it at that.

Maybe the crappy alternate uniforms will be considered lucky as the Bills pulled out a win against the Chargers yesterday in a game they probably should have lost. Five turnovers usually means you lose but the Bills defence – much maligned through the first two games, and rightly so - was the difference in the end. James Cook had another strong game after fumbling on the very first play from scrimmage. A key interception by veteran safety CJ Gardner-Johnson set up a Cook touchdown which saw the Bills take an unlikely lead which they would not give up. This was a FOX game with their number-one crew of Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brady. Brady seems now to have settled into his colour commentary role and I would give him a solid 7.5 out of 10 for yesterday’s broadcast.   

Dateline: September, 1973. Shortly after my eleventh birthday, I started at a new school (new for me) in St. Catharines, Ontario for grade six. It was Ridley College - a “private” school for boys (there was a handful of girls in grade 13 that year – the first year of what would be a successful co-ed experiment), conceived and operated in the image of English “public” schools: teachers were masters, the principal was a headmaster, grades were forms, we had classes on Saturday mornings, cadet training, a comprehensive sports program, chapel every morning and an archaic hierarchy of “old boys” and “new boys” where new boys performed tasks for old boys on request (shining shoes, carrying books etc). The old boy system was thankfully abolished long ago as the school modernized itself, maintaining some of the symbolic historical traditions while ditching the ones which seem preposterous in retrospect today. High educational standards were part of the formula throughout and continue to this day. About two thirds of the students were boarders. A cohort of about eight of us would move all the way from grade six (the sixth “form” as it was called) through to grade 13, graduating in 1981. Most, if not all, of our small cohort were “day students” who had grown up in St. Catharines, attending various public schools through grade five. A couple of nights ago, we marked the 45^th anniversary of our graduation from Ridley. By my count, five of us from that original grade six cohort made it. As I pointed out to Bill C., it was the 45^th anniversary of our graduation from Ridley but the 53^rd anniversary of our starting in the sixth form. Despite not seeing some of these cats for several decades, it’s amazing how personalities just don’t really change that much from age 11 to age 64. We hope to have everyone out – the full sixth form cohort and all of those who came to Ridley later and graduated with us – in five years time as we mark our 50^th. Thanks to Kelly N. and Jon B. for arranging and getting us all out on Saturday night in St. Catharines.

In five years time, I hope and expect that two or three (one at the very least) Superbowl Champion banners will hang in the new Highmark Stadium. Josh Allen, now in his ninth year in Buffalo and at the peak of his abilities – the perfect combination of physical and experiential proficeincy - will be on the back nine of his career but hopefully still playing effectively….maybe sort of like Aaron Rodgers but without the anti-vax crap.

Three AFC teams now sport undefeated 3-0 records: the Bills, the Chiefs and…..wait for it…….the Raiders. It’s easy to predict that the Raiders will soon revert to mediocrity but the Chiefs and Bills will not. Although it’s two months out, the Chiefs at Bills Thanksgiving night game on November 26^th looms large on the schedule.

Next up for the Bills is a visit from the New England Patriots on Sunday. The Pats are coming off a pretty brutal loss at Jacksonville and will be looking to right themselves in the first divisional game for both teams.  

Bills 41, Lions 31

Whenever my driving takes me on any form of triangular shape, I am reminded of the reclusive inventor Wendel Beckwith who lived alone on Best Island on Whitewater Lake in what remains of Wabakimi Provincial Park (after a devastating fire swept through it two months ago). Among other eclectic interests, he was fascinated by various triangular theories including his contention that Best Island was located at the exact the centre of the universe and existed in perfect triangulation with Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids. Beckwith died in 1980 and we visited what’s left of his cabins on Best Island in 2009.

Over the last four days, my own triangulation driving took me from east Muskoka to Orchard Park, NY, back to Muskoka and then to a small lake just south of Maniwaki, Quebec (150km north of Ottawa) where I visited with old friends, had a few laughs and did not do any night water-skiing like we had done 30 years ago. The triangulation among Orchard Park, Muskoka and Maniwaki is, in my view, just as significant as Beckwith’s was. As far as I know, my friend doesn’t theorize about Pi like Beckwith did but I can say with certainty that the drive from Orchard Park to Maniwaki via Muskoka is about 3.14 times longer than what you’d usually want to do on an average weekend.   

The triangulation began on Thursday with a rather slow and busy drive to the Queenston-Lewiston bridge. I thought for a second that the US Border Officer might just jump in the back of the car and go to the game with us. He commented about how he sure wished he was going to the Bills game which I suspected, incorrectly, might be leading to final bizarre question of some kind. It’s happened before. More thick Buffalo rush-hour traffic and the usual bottleneck around the stadium made it a four-hour drive. On a Sunday morning, it’s two-and-a-half. The reconfigured parking lots have noticeably smaller spaces leaving little room between vehicles. This became relevant when the folks next to us set up a single-burner butane stove less than a foot from their truck to heat water for corn. Somehow, as we stood within a metre or so of the sketchy-looking set-up, the entire thing burst into flames and burned intensely with six-foot high flames for about a minute before the butane was spent and someone nearby doused it with water. A scary minute it was but the party resumed immediately afterward. We left the game with eight minutes left and got out of the lot very quickly. I think the egress is better but we won’t know for sure until there’s a close game where everyone stays to the end.

Turns out that with two billion dollars a new NFL football stadium can be built – just not one with very good seats. Let me explain: the plastic seats in section 136 at mid-field on the visitor side look like the cheapest ones they could find and they are not particularly well-fastened either. They are of course perfectly fine for watching a football game. I guess I was expecting something a little better. The view from these “cheap-seats” is fantastic as I knew it would be – at the 48-yard line 22 rows from the field. The slope of the lower bowl is identical to that of the now mostly demolished Rich Stadium so it’s the same view as I had before except five yards closer to the 50 yard line and one row lower. I guess the padded and more spacious seats are in the club sections. There is definitely more leg room between the rows and more space for people to pass (as was promised) but most of us will still have to stand up, especially when bundled up for winter games. The stadium offers great sightlines and general aesthetics with a much more spacious and well-lit concourse with the field visible from all of it. Curiously, there seems to be absolutely no signage whatsoever for washrooms. No signs like “Mens”, or “Washroom”, or the universal washroom symbol. Nothing. Our investigation led us to a door with men streaming in and out marked “Exit Only” which we realized was indeed a men’s room. Only a small line-up inside (possibly because no one could find it) which was not bad for 15 minutes before kick-off. A non-existent security check at the gate (9/11 was 25 years ago so “let’s lighten up on it” seemed to be the sentiment) then a pinch-point at the ticket scanning stations but not nearly as bad as Rich was. Overall, an excellent and fully functional – but I will stop short of saying luxurious – new stadium which is orders of magnitude better than Rich was. Just get some washroom signage. After forking over $850 million, the taxpayers of New York State and Erie County surely deserve to be able to find where to relieve themselves.

Josh Allen, who Richard Sherman suggested was suffering from a bad bout of flu on Thursday, opened the new stadium in style, appropriately scoring the first touchdown, then passing for three more and running for another to reach five in total. The game was never in question really. Colin Cowherd suggested on Friday that the Lions never had a chance – missing their two starting safeties against Josh Allen who was opening the house that was built mainly for and because of him. Cowherd speculated that Lions coach Dan Campbell probably said to his team “if we can just survive the first quarter…..” Well, the Bills steamrolled through that first quarter and most of the second before the home crowd held its breath as receiver DJ Moore injured his shoulder in the endzone. Initial speculation was that it could be a broken collar-bone but it wasn’t and Moore is listed as day-to-day with an AC joint sprain, although his status for the Chargers game is unknown. Dalton Kincaid and Keon Coleman both had big games with seven and six catches respectively. James Cook had 21 carries for 135 yards and a touchdown. Like Moore, Ed Oliver, who was a game-time scratch with a hip injury, is listed as day-to-day.

Up next for the Bills is a visit from the Chargers who have arguably been the most disappointing team in the NFL through two weeks of play. Any half-decent team - which pre-season punditry suggested the Chargers certainly were – with an 0-2 record is a dangerous opponent indeed and their fear of going 0-3 may be stronger than the Bills desire to push to a 3-0 start. Maybe the Chargers aren’t that good in 2026 after all. As they say, that’s why they play the games.

The Bills should be considered, after two weeks of play, to be the early favourite to represent the AFC in Los Angeles on Valentine's Day. That could – and probably will – change as the season grinds on.

 

 

Bills 36, Texans 31

The day I drove to the location of the Bills Highmark Stadium Experience, in a nondescript strip mall in Williamsville, NY – almost exactly two years now ago to the day – I had still not made a final decision on the long-term commitment to costly seat licences and to ten pairs of much more expensive football tickets each and every year until I reached the age of 92. But I sort of knew deep down that I would probably decide to do it, as long as the seats were good and the other details seemed reasonable. I had been ruminating about the long-term prospects for the NFL in general and for the Bills in particular. I was worried that the Buffalo market might not have the capacity to absorb NFL tickets priced at $347 USD each (which mine are for this season) in, say, fifteen years time when Josh Allen is long-retired, the team is struggling competitively and perhaps the juggernaut of popularity enjoyed by the NFL over the last 25 years is waning. Those December games with both teams sporting 2-11 records are hard to sell at any price. I know this from bitter experience during the 17-year playoff drought which ended with the hiring of Sean McDermott. Even in good times like now, they can be hard to get rid of. $350 (plus inflation) to sit in an outdoor stadium late in the 2041 season to watch two teams out of playoff contention could be a big ask. Maybe too big. Very low on the list of considerations I was mulling over on that September morning was any concern for unforeseen political developments on either side of the border.

But here we are only three days from the first regular season game at the new Highmark Stadium. I’m pretty excited about it with a couple of reservations to mention. I won’t comment here about the current political situation except to say that I am really wondering if the Bare Naked Ladies rendition of O Canada on Thursday night will attract boos. I hope not but I suspect there will be at least a smattering. The other worry I have is about my own late-night stamina and endurance as I prepare for an 8.15pm kick-off and a 3am (or later) arrival home. I really REALLY hope that the egress from the parking lots will have improved (as promised as part of the seat licence sales pitch) but my assigned lot this year is exactly the same one I been parking in for several years now so I’m not especially optimistic about it. I’ll start practicing staying up late tonight I guess. For someone who is often in bed by 9.30pm, It’s kind of like dealing with anticipatory jet lag.

The Bills opened the 2026 season with a win in what has been a hostile building for them throughout the Josh Allen era. As with every close football game, a few key plays, had they either not been made or gone a way other than they did, determined the outcome. The Houston Texans and their fans will look to Kamari Lassiter’s dropped interception attempt late in the fourth quarter in the endzone. Josh Allen threw up what CBS analyst Ross Tucker called a “YOLO” pass in the general direction of Josh Palmer which Lassiter had in his hands as he fell backward in the endzone. As is so often said with these kinds of plays, Lassiter makes the interception on the play nine times out of ten. But he bobbled the ball and, as fate would have it, on the next play, Allen hit Palmer with a perfect pass on a deep post route for what would stand as the game-winning touchdown. If Lassiter holds on to the ball on the previous play, the Texans win. This is what league parity looks like.

Two players on the Bills side stood out for me in the game. Josh Allen – “doing Josh Allen things” - as CBS play-by-play man Ian Eagle (whose first name is, for some reason, pronounced “eye-on”) said after his first touchdown – or maybe it after his second or third or fourth touchdown. Allen was magnificent: over 300 yards passing, two rushing touchdowns, two passing touchdowns and no turnovers. On the other side of the ball, Deone Walker, the six foot seven 331-pound nose tackle drafted last year by the Bills in the fourth round from the Kentucky Wildcats established himself yesterday as one of the premium interior defensive lineman in the league with a dominating performance. He posted six tackles (two for losses) and was a force on defensive coordinator Jim Leonard’s new “three-four” look as nose tackle. From now on, opposing teams will need to game-plan for Walker and I expect that he will be double-teamed (and sometimes triple-teamed) in a way that Bills fans probably haven’t seen since the days of Bruce Smith. Speaking of Smith, who was drafted first overall in the 1985 NFL draft (as opposed to Walker who was picked 109^th overall), he will be the first Legend of the Game in the new stadium on Thursday.  Steve Tasker says that Smith is the greatest player ever to don a Bills uniform. For Deone Walker, that’s a high bar but something to shoot for.

After their thrilling week one win, the Bills now play three straight games at Highmark Stadium. Knowing that I would not be missing the opener on Thursday, a few weeks ago, I listed my tickets for the week three game against the Los Angeles Chargers (a Sunday 1pm game) for sale for $740 each – a sort of “YOLO” listing which I had frankly forgotten about. At some point during the tense fourth quarter yesterday, an email came in to my phone which I checked at the next commercial break. The Chargers tickets had sold for $1,480 USD. Not only does this bode well for the near future, it will easily cover my three remaining seat licence payments. I clearly made the right decision by investing long-term in the Buffalo Bills, in the National Football League and in the United States of America, right?

 

  

        

Broncos 33, Bills 30

Someone called into WGR a few years ago lamenting Buffalo’s four consecutive Superbowl losses. “I wish they hadn’t made it to any of them because they lost all of them”, he stated, believing that it’s better to not play at all than it is to lose. I remember thinking that as each NFL team enters a new season, the best possible result at the end is a Superbowl victory. From its owner to its coaches, managers, players and fanbase, that objective is unarguable. But what is the second-best possible accomplishment? The answer is clear in my view: it is to lose the Superbowl. Doesn’t matter how many times – consecutively or not. The opportunity to savour the lead-up, the hype, the endless analysis over the two weeks between the Conference Championship Games and the big game is one which should not be passed up. Believing otherwise is like believing that it’s better to have never loved at all than to have loved and lost.

For the Bills often-tortured fanbase, their team seems to have the unique ability to find ever-more excruciating ways to lose with each passing playoff run. The list is long: Wide Right, the Music City Miracle, 13 Seconds etc and Saturday’s overtime loss in Denver will probably take on its own moniker (maybe it already has) as sports talk-radio fodder and to formally add it to the Wall of Shame. Would we have preferred finishing out of the playoffs instead of making it, winning in Jacksonville last week then getting very close to the conference title game but falling just short? Not me. When the Broncos took a 23-10 lead in the third quarter, it felt like the game could end up 30-13 but the Bills came back, took the lead, gave it up, tied it late then came agonizingly close to winning it in overtime but didn’t. Would I have preferred 30-13? Of course not.

Sean McDermott has now completed nine seasons as Bills head coach. His teams have made the playoffs in all but one of them, winning eight playoff games along the way and making the conference title game twice. With the exception of the 27-10 home loss to the Bengals after the 2022 season, their playoff exits have been heart-breaking for sure but anyone who says that they would have preferred not to compete than to lose in gut-wrenching fashion, I suggest doesn’t know how to be a sports fan. After the game ended, I poured myself a scotch, settled in to the Seattle game and thought about how thankful we as Bills fans should be with the team’s long run of success. And I thought about Josh Allen’s turnovers. And the officiating. I considered firing up my sauna and dunking through the ice hole in the photo but I left that to the next day.  

Speaking of officiating, let’s review some of the key controversial calls from the game. Gene Steratore, the former NFL referee and rules/officiating expert on CBS (who is often accused of always siding with his referee brethren), posted his reflections on Twitter after the game. On the Brandin Cooks reception/interception in overtime, Steratore said this: “My perspective on it is that Cooks lost the ball as soon as his body hit the ground. In my opinion, if there was no defender near him and he lost the ball when he hit the ground, the ruling would’ve been incomplete.” I agree with his analysis with only this caveat: Had no defender been with him, it is possible that Cooks could have kept the ball from touching the ground while rolling on his back, then regained control as he completed the roll. I do think that Steratore is right on this and he implied that if Cooks had maintained control of the ball through contact with the ground, the defender would not have been able to wrestle it from his hands. I don’t think I have seen a similar play in all my years of watching football. It was obviously a critical play in the game and McDermott’s main complaint afterward was that there was no stoppage for a booth review. Steratore agreed that there should have been but also suggested that a review would have not have resulted in the call being overturned.

There were three instances of defensive pass interference, two of which Steratore commented on in his post: the first took place in the endzone with Broncos cornerback Riley Moss interfering (in my opinion although Steratore did not comment on this one) with Brandin Cooks in the endzone by holding Cooks arm. No flag was thrown. The second instance where Taron Johnson was called for DPI was very similar to the first one and Steratore thought that it should not have been called. But it was called. The third was the back-breaker call on Tre’Davious White at the five yard-line which essentially ended the game. It was called DPI as Steratore said it should have been. I agree that it was clearly pass interference. In my view, the Moss and Johnson instances should both have been called the same way and both probably would have been called DPI in the first quarter of a week five game. The DPI on Cooks took place in the endzone and would have given the Bills a first-and-goal at the one yard-line.

Josh Allen turned the ball over four times with two fumbles and two picks. I blame him completely for the careless fumble at the end of the first half which led to a Broncos field goal. His blindside sack/fumble wasn’t entirely his fault, the first interception was on a deep ball and the “interception” on the Cooks play was basically a completion. The play which Allen surely wants back is the missed pass to a wide-open Dawson Knox with ten seconds left in regulation. A lower thrown ball would have resulted in an easy touchdown and a 34-30 Bills win.

For Bills Mafia, there is much to look forward to in 2026. In addition to still having Josh Allen under centre, the team will hopefully retool its receiver room and have better luck on the injury front. But there is a new stadium to look forward to as well. I don’t know how quickly the old stadium can be demolished – since the entire lower bowl is below ground level, maybe they can just topple the upper decks down into the lower bowl, smooth it out and make it a much-needed parking lot. Whatever they do, I’m looking forward to hearing all about it this off-season, almost as much as I’m looking forward to paying off my seat licences in the fall. My tickets will cost about 50% more then they did in 2025 but I’ll be right at the 50 yard-line, 25 rows up from the visitor bench.

Bills 27, Jaguars 24

As the founder of the recently formed Bahamas Bills Backers, I am pleased to present this blog post from our perch on Paradise Island, Bahamas where there is nothing but warm turquoise water between where I now sit and Jacksonville, FL to the northwest. We were able to find a secluded spot to  watch yesterday’s football game online within the confines of the Shivananda Yoga Ashram retreat, where alcohol, meat, coffee and most forms of fun are all strictly prohibited. Bills playoff games don’t usually count as fun – for Bills fans anyway – so we felt that by watching yesterday’s game on the Ashram property, we were only bending the rules. Plus, at the risk of expulsion from the property, we have been making and drinking contraband coffee. We aren’t the only ones drinking coffee but I think we were the only ones who even knew about the NFL’s Wildcard Weekend and yesterday’s Bills game. It just doesn’t seem to fit within the scope of the deeply spiritual world which is Shivananda yoga. But watch it we did.

The point of coming to a yoga retreat – apart from gathering comedy material by watching and interacting with the full-time devotees – is to relax, unwind and disconnect, leaving the stress of our every day lives behind. Watching yesterday’s game played at Everbank Stadium was the antithesis of what one might do to achieve these objectives, for fans of either team. The Jaguars had a great season and are a strong team which probably deserved a better fate than a one-and-done playoff exit, especially in front of their fans who have suffered through some bad football over the last 30 years. But the Bills were certainly due for a road playoff win and they came through with one in the clutch yesterday – something they have been unable to do since the end of the 1992 season. The stress relief I felt when Cole Bishop clasped his hands around Trevor Lawrence’s deflected pass in the game’s closing minute easily surpassed what any number of sun salutations could ever do. After more than three hours of pure stress, it felt pretty awesome. So, I skipped the 4pm yoga class and went for a swim in the warm, salty Atlantic waters, savouring the victory.

The game was very evenly matched and the statistics bear that out: each team has 20 first downs, the Jags outgained the Bills 359 yards to 340 but the Bills won the time of possession battle by about eight minutes and won the key turnover statistic two to one with the late-game interception. The game was as hard-hitting as it gets and also featured four lead changes in the fourth quarter, the final one being a “tush-push” touchdown by Josh Allen with just over a minute to play. But as I look back at the game this morning with the northeast tradewinds ruffling the curtains of our room here at the Ashram, the key moment might well have been the missed field goal on the final play of the first half by arguably the NFL’s best kicker, the Jags Cam Little.

The Patriots win last night against the Chargers guaranteed that last week’s relatively meaningless game between the Bills and Jets was indeed the last game to be played at the old Highmark Stadium. The Bills are now the lowest remaining seed in the AFC draw and will play on the road as far as that road goes. The next stop on Buffalo’s road trip will be the Divisional Round which takes them to Denver, CO where the Broncos and Bills are set to play on Saturday probably in the late window. I had to check this twice but the Bills have been listed as early 1.5-point road favourites against the number one seeded Broncos who are coming off a bye week and have the advantage of playing at an altitude of more than 1,600 metres above sea level. This reflects the appeal of Josh Allen within the betting public, or at least the bookmaker’s perception of his appeal. I expect the line to move in the Broncos favour later in the week as the so-called “smart money” comes in on Denver. The Broncos are a well-coached and now well-rested team which is accustomed to playing at altitude. If I had to make a meaningful wager on the game, I wouldn’t do it because I never bet against the Bills.

With one game remaining in Wildcard Weekend, the quality of the first five games overall was excellent. Fourth quarter comebacks and lead changes made for compelling viewing with all of the games competitive throughout. The league, its partner television networks and advertisers couldn’t have asked for more and the Divisional Round games look like they will deliver more of the same.

Last night was our last at the Ashram so I decided to take in one of the twice-daily Satsang services/ceremonies. The Ashram is primarily a spiritual retreat for those who dedicate their lives to the ancient teachings of pranayama and asanas whose written form is entirely in Sanskrit. The facility exists for the purpose of advancing the study and education of Vedanta and practice of the Shivanada yoga tradition with its 12 core principles for spiritual growth. These include breath and relaxation practices, diet, and positive thinking with the actual yoga exercise being only a small part. The facility’s operations are primarily funded (as far as I can see) by “vacation yoga” attendees like us who come to the warm climate of the Bahamas to practice yoga with instruction from the Ashram's many masterful teachers. The Satsangs are 90-minute sessions which begin with 30 minutes of silent meditation (I evaluated NFL playoff scenarios), then about 20 minutes of singing from the ancient Sandskrit scripts in a call-and-response format, either a speaker or a musical performance and ending with final prayers and blessings. I can honestly say that, although I generally could not relate to much of it, attending the Satsang was a profoundly moving experience for me and I am grateful for the opportunity to have witnessed and participated in it. Go Bills!   

Bills 35, Jets 8

The Buffalo Bills playoff run after the 1992 season began with the Comeback Game, also known as The Miracle at Rich, a game which I attended in early January of 1993. The Bills came back from a 35-3 deficit early in the third quarter for a thrilling 41-38 overtime win. This, the largest comeback in NFL history (a record since broken by the Vikings by one point in 2022), came with quarterback Jim Kelly injured in favour of back-up Frank Reich. The following week in the Divisional Round, the Bills won in Pittsburgh - this time quite convincingly - with Reich still under centre, 24-3. Kelly returned the following week for the AFC Championship Game in Miami which the Bills won easily, 29-10, earning their third consecutive Superbowl berth. That game, played on January 16^th, 1993, is the last road playoff game won by the Bills. If they are to make a run to the Superbowl in the early weeks of 2026, it will require three road wins – unless the Los Angeles Chargers can win two road games over the next two weeks – in New England and in Denver. If the Bills and Chargers can between them post four road wins over the next two weeks, the AFC Championship Game – Los Angeles Chargers at Buffalo - will become the last game to be played at Rich Stadium.

But in reality, of course, the last game at the concrete slab 20 miles south of Buffalo was played yesterday. It was a good showing by the Bills back-ups and a handful of starters who had their way with the pathetic New York Jets who might consider folding the franchise, finding a new owner and a new name and starting over as an expansion team. I can’t see how they could do much worse than they did in 2026. Josh Allen maintained his consecutive start streak which now stands at 71 and dates back to week 12 of the 2018 season. After taking the opening snap and handing it off to James Cook (more on him in a minute), Allen gave way to Mitch Trubisky who went 22 for 29 for 259 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. It did come against the Jets but still, he looked comfortable and confident in what quickly became a laugher.

James Cook became the first Bills running back to win the NFL rushing title since OJ Simpson in 1976. His 1,621 yards, only 15 of which came yesterday, was 24 yards more than Derrick Henry finished with and 36 more than Jonathan Taylor of the Colts. Cook’s 15 yards yesterday before he gave way to Ray Davis who went off for 151 yards on 21 carries (again, it came against the Jets), could easily have not been quite enough as Derrick Henry piled up 126 yards in last night’s loss (more on that in a minute). Had Henry broken just one more run for 25 yards, the title would have been his. But this morning, the title belongs to Cook and to the Bills offensive line which takes great pride in this accomplishment as clearly one of the best units n the league this season. I hope that Cook got his five collaborators more than Isotoner gloves for Christmas.

Week 18 in the NFL always produces plenty of drama. In a curious scenario, the winner of the NFC South division - which would be either the Panthers or the Bucs – was determined by the outcome of a game between the Saints and Falcons. The Falcons won (but coach Raheen Morris was still fired), giving the division title to the 8-9 Panthers who had lost the previous day in Tampa. Although the upsets we often see in week 18 didn’t really materialize, the final regular season game of the 2025 season was a thriller with four touchdowns, each producing a lead change, coming in the fourth quarter. Two missed kicks in the game’s final minute added to the drama with Steelers kicker Chris Boswell missing what seemed like a crucial extra point then Ravens kicker Tyler Loop missing what would have been the game-winning field goal on the final play. The Ravens bowed out in excruciating fashion once again, after last year’s dropped two-point convert attempt in Buffalo. One wonders if the 2026 season will see both coach John Harbaugh and quarterback Lamar Jackson return. Each will be in demand should they party ways with the Ravens.

For the second straight year, the Bills find themselves in the familiar Sunday at 1pm window for the Wildcard playoff round. This time, the game will be played at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, FL. The Bills and Jaguars have previously met twice in the playoffs with the Jags winning both times. The first was in late December of 1996 in what would be Jim Kelly’s final game – a 30-27 Jags win. The second time was in early 2018 in Sean McDermott’s first season as Bills head coach (with Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen still only a twinkle in Brandon Beane’s eye) after a miraculous win by the Cincinnati Bengals in Baltimore earned the Bills their first playoff appearance in 17 years. The game, with Tyrod Taylor under centre for Buffalo, was an exceedingly frustrating punt-fest, won by the Jags 10-7.

Josh Allen and Sean McDermott are 0-5 in road playoff games, with three of those losses coming at the hands of the Chiefs in Kansas City. Another road playoff loss in Houston came two years after the Jacksonville loss. It’s been 33 years since the last Bills road playoff win – three years before Josh Allen was born in Firebaugh, CA. Time to flip the script and also time to root for the Chargers who play the Patriots in the Saturday night game.         

Eagles 13, Bills 12

In baseball, the old adage was that you played for the win on the road and played for the tie at home toward the end of the game. Having the bottom of the inning to either match or best your opponent was enough of an advantage to justify the strategy and football offers nothing similar (except in the college football overtime format where who goes first is determined by coin toss). I would have found Sean McDermott’s decision to go for the win last night more understandable had the Bills defence been gassed, had the offence sputtered near the end, if the momentum had been with the Eagles or if Josh Allen hadn’t missed a wide-open Khalil Shakir in the endzone. But the Bills defence had stiffened in the second half and the offence, while not setting the house on fire, was finally moving the ball with success late in the fourth quarter after producing very little through the first 55 minutes of the game. Usually, two touchdowns will beat a touchdown and two field goals but when you can’t convert either touchdown, it doesn’t. I don’t blame the kicker for the blocked extra point on the first one, although maybe it came off his foot a bit low, but – and I realize this is a classic example of Monday morning quarterbacking – I think that playing for the tie and sending the game to overtime would have been the right call. And it would have been the conservative call which, had the kicker missed or if the kick had been blocked again, would have all of us Monday morning quarterbacks saying that they should have gone for the win. The play that Joe Brady dialed up was a good one and their confidence in it was probably a big reason why they went for it. But it didn’t work out.

Yesterday felt like a lot of waiting. Waiting for the possibly catastrophic ice storm here in Central Ontario, waiting for the power to be knocked out, waiting for the Bills game to finally start, waiting for the Bills offence to show up…...at one point I felt like I was waiting for Godot. Like in the Beckett play, Godot never did show up but the freezing rain certainly did and the Bills offence eventually and finally did but it came up one throw short of eking out another unlikely win. The ice accretion was somewhat less than the apocalyptic forecasts were suggesting it seems and, as of this writing early Monday morning, the power remains on in our corner of Muskoka. Strong winds and heavy snow squalls coming later today will probably change that. We’ll see.

While the Bills clinched a playoff spot with last week’s win in Cleveland, yesterday’s loss dropped them to the seventh and last seed in the AFC. They are tied with the Chargers and the Texans at 11-5 but do not hold the tie-breaker with either. The fifth seed is the best that they can hope for but that will require both a Chargers loss to the Broncos in Denver and a Texans home loss to the Colts. The latter seems unlikely as the Colts have completely unravelled since Daniel Jones went down and Philip Rivers admirably stepped in. The former is much more likely as the Broncos will want to seal the first overall seed in the AFC with a win – and they will play in the same 4.25pm window as the Patriots.

Assuming wins next week by the Bills, Broncos and Texans, the Bills will occupy the sixth seed which will very likely mean a road game at Jacksonville. The Bills finish up their season and their 53-year tenure at Rich Stadium next Sunday against the Jets who were trounced by the Patriots yesterday. A Bills win is likely. With the Chargers likely to lose at Denver and the Texans likely to win at home against the Colts, the sixth seed seems like where the Bills will end up. If they somehow manage to fall to the seventh seed, that will almost for sure mean a trip to New England to face the Patriots. I’d rather take my chances in Jacksonville where the Bills could easily be favoured on the road. For the Bills, the road to the Superbowl looks like it will go through Jacksonville. FL, Foxborough, MA and Denver, CO. For eternal optimists, there still remains a very slim chance of a Bills home playoff game in early 2026. It will require the following: A Bills win combined with Chargers and Texans losses on Sunday then in the Wildcard round, wins by all three road teams. This would result in Divisional round games being played in Denver and Buffalo. So, I’m saying there is a chance.

The NFL Week 18 schedule was finalized while most of us slept last night. For some reason, the Bills v. Jets game was slotted into the 4.25pm window on Sunday. The two games on Saturday are equally compelling: the Panthers play in Tampa at 4.30pm to determine the winner of the NFC South with the loser very likely out of the playoffs and the late game features the Seahawks playing in Santa Clara, CA against the 49ers who won last night against the Bears. This game will determine not only the winner of the NFC West but the number one seed in the NFC bracket. The loser will be a wildcard team. Then after a Sunday afternoon lineup of somewhat less interesting games, the Sunday night game between the Steelers and the Ravens in Pittsburgh will determine the winner of the AFC North with the loser going home.  

With the temperature rising overnight to about plus 4 at 7am, where I now sit, wind is picking up and ice is falling from the trees like shrapnel onto the roof and glancing off the windows of the cottage. If the trees can shed most of the ice and snow before the temperature drops and the winds arrive, it may in fact save us from much more severe damage – and long power outages - than were forecast. It’s a “weather bomb” they say and I’m looking forward to a return to normal winter conditions like we’ve been enjoying for about three weeks now.   

Bills 23, Browns 20

The winter solstice occurred at 10.03am EST yesterday. It marks the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere and the southernmost point of the sun’s path across the sky from daybreak to sunset. A lesser-known fact about the variability of the hours of daylight and darkness is that the rate of change – the number of minutes and seconds gained or lost each day – is at its lowest point at the solstices and at its maximum at each equinox in March and September. The length of each day’s daylight hours in our part of the world remains close to constant over the two months on either side of the solstice - from November 21^st to January 21^st – but begins to increase much more rapidly toward the end of February and peaks in late March where daylight hours grow noticeably longer almost every day. At the end of the year, every place on this planet will have received the identical number of daylight hours. These are the darkest days of the year for us and we won’t notice much change for another two months. The photo I took yesterday shows the sun setting over the southwest corner of Clear Lake around 4.30pm. We would have to wait another seven hours before the sun set on the Buffalo Bills chances at a home playoff game in the dark days of January, 2026.

The 2025 winter solstice brought another long day of football – from the Bills frustrating win in Cleveland to the close and exciting games in the 4.25pm window to the late game statement made by the New England Patriots in Baltimore. I stayed up for all of it in the hopes of a second consecutive Patriots loss which would have brought the Bills even with them at 11-4. Down 11 points in the fourth quarter against the Ravens second-string quarterback, the Patriots stormed back with two touchdowns to seal the win and, although not mathematically just yet, clinch their first AFC division title since before COVID struck. Were they to lose to the Jets and the Dolphins over the next two weeks and if the Bills win out against the Eagles and Jets, the Patriots would then find themselves in a wildcard position. But that wildcard position, this season, will belong to the Bills who will aim to be the fifth seed, facing a trip to probably either Pittsburgh or Jacksonville in the wildcard round. The only shot they have at a final playoff game at Rich Stadium next month will be in the Divisional Round if all three wildcard teams, seeds five through seven, can win their wildcard games. The January 4^th game against the lowly New York Jets will almost for sure be the last game played at Rich Stadium after 53 seasons.

I found the Myles Garrett sack record chasing business to be an unnecessary distraction yesterday but I was relieved that Dion Dawkins was able to keep him in check. He did earn one half of one sack on a play where Josh Allen should have thrown the ball away but didn’t and ended up circling himself into falling down at the goal-line, hurting his right foot in the process. How the league ended up crediting Garrett and Alex Wright with a half-sack each I’m not really sure but he has now come within a half-sack of tying the season record set by Michael Strahan in 2001 and equaled by TJ Watt in 2021. Garrett has two games remaining to set a new single-season sack record but he had better do it next week against the Steelers to avoid the dreaded asterisk on account of the now 17-game season. Strahan posted his 22.5 sacks in a 16-game season while Watt had the luxury of an extra game which was added to the NFL schedule in 2021. The NFL officially began recording quarterback sacks in 1982. Before that, they were simply another kind of “tackle for loss”. Deacon Jones, who played from 1961 to 1974, might well hold the record had sacks been a statistical category when he played. I remember when the Bills signed high profile free agent edge rusher Mario Williams in 2012. His salary for that season was $16 million and, in the interests of symmetry, he recorded 16 sacks. But like the Cleveland Browns this year, the 2012 Bills were not a good team at all.

Up next for the Bills is a home date in the 4.25pm window next Sunday against the defending Superbowl champion Philadelphia Eagles who are coming off a decisive win in Washington on Saturday. The Eagles will win the NFC East division again but the road to the Superbowl on the NFC side of the draw looks like it will go through Seattle who managed a thrilling win on Thursday night over their division rival Los Angeles Rams. This the so-called “17^th game” for the Bills whose AFC East division was matched against the NFC South division this year. The Bills 2025 season consists of the standard six games against division opponents, four against the NFC South, four against the AFC North, two against last year’s AFC division winners from the AFC West and the AFC South (the Chiefs and the Texans) and this the 17^th game against the Eagles. The Bills are early 2.5-point favourites.

For those celebrating Christmas or Hanukkah or whatever else might be marked or observed at this time of year such as the pagan ritual of observing the winter solstice like I do, I wish everyone all the best.   

Bills 35, Patriots 31

As a keen follower of Buffalo Bills history and an observer of NFL football’s occasional symmetry, I must begin with a look-back to the events of September 25, 2011. In a game I attended, the Bills entered week three of that season, what would be their 12^th of 17 consecutive years finishing out of a playoff position, with a 2-0 record and the mighty New England Patriots visiting Orchard Park. After an opening touchdown by Wes Welker, native son Rob Gronkowski (he’s from Amherst) scored two touchdowns of his own to stake the Patriots to what seemed like an insurmountable 21-0 lead early in the second quarter. Game over. Probably. But quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, cornerback Drayton Florence and place-kicker Rian Lindell scripted an alternative narrative as the Bills stormed all the way back to a late lead on Florence’s interception of Tom Brady’s tipped pass which he returned for a touchdown. Brady then led his team to another touchdown to tie the game at 31. Fitzpatrick crafted his own game-winning drive which was capped by Lindell’s field goal as time expired for a 34-31 Bills win which sent Bills fans home in celebration with a 3-0 record and the prospect of a return to the playoffs. Shortly afterward, Fitzpatrick was rewarded with a lucrative contract extension as the Bills seemed set to revive their winning ways of 20 years earlier. They finished the season at 5-11 and Fitzpatrick was run out of town a year later.

To say that the Bills got off to a slow start yesterday in Foxborough would be like saying that the 2011 season didn’t play out as planned. With no first downs in the first quarter, they found themselves down by that familiar 21-0 score. “We’ve got them just where we want them” I said, recalling the game from 14 years earlier as the Bills did manage a score on a pass to James Cook before the Patriots got a late second quarter field goal to take a 24-7 lead into halftime. The Bills then stormed all the way back with three touchdowns to take a 28-24 lead before the teams traded touchdowns again which put the Bills up 35-31 in one of the best games in yesterday’s early window. Joey Bosa got a hand on Drake Maye’s final fourth down pass to seal the massive win for Buffalo. Dawson Knox had two touchdowns on the day to bring his career total to 26, passing Pete Metzelaars on the Bills all-time list for tight-ends. Cook had another big game with three touchdowns and over 100 yards rushing. Matt Milano whose impact seemed to have diminished this season, had a big game with two sacks.

Had the Bills lost yesterday, the issue of the role of replay assist would be top-of-mind this morning. On the Patriots first drive, Maye’s deep pass to Kayshon Boutte down the right sideline was allowed to stand while replay assist quickly nullified Josh Allen’s pass to the Brandon Cooks who could not tap his second foot down before going out of bounds. I don’t share the outrage as the replays of the Boutte pass did not clearly show that he may not have maintained control of the ball as he hit the ground. Replays of the Cooks pass did clearly show that it was incomplete and replay assist quickly corrected the call on the field. Easy for Monday morning quarterbacks to say but Sean McDermott should have used one of his challenges on the Boutte pass but he did not. CBS rules analyst and former NFL referee Gene Steratore said on the broadcast that the Boutte pass would probably have been ruled incomplete on review. On this Victory Monday morning, the point is moot.

I am a fan of one Greg Cossell, seasoned NFL analyst, senior producer at NFL Films and nephew of Howard Cossell. He appeared last week on the Colin Cowherd show previewing the Bills v Pats game. He told Cowherd that, in his learned opinion, the Bills do not have a particularly strong roster. The receiving corps is weak and there really is really no impact player on defence. Drafting near the bottom of the first round for the last five years may be catching up with the Bills, he said, and he was not confident that they could win against a motivated Patriots team seeking their first division title since 2019. Cowherd commented that beyond Josh Allen, “I don’t know what Buffalo is”. Well, Buffalo has proved over the last two weeks to be resilient, if nothing else. Is their roster skilled enough to carry them deep into the playoffs this season?  We will see.

Up next for the Patriots is a trip to Baltimore to face the Ravens who are battling the Steelers for a division title. Baltimore is an early 2.5 favourite and will present a significant challenge to the Patriots who may be feeling a small measure of self-doubt creeping in after posting ten straight wins before yesterday’s loss. A loss and a Bills win in Cleveland would pull the two teams even atop the AFC East at 11-4. The Patriots still hold the tie-breaker (after head-to-head where they’re also now tied) which for a division title is each team’s record within the division. The Patriots now stand at 3-1 against AFC East teams with games remaining against the Jets and Dolphins in weeks 17 and 18. The Bills stand at 3-2 and face the Jets at home in week 18.

The Bills travel west along the south shore of Lake Erie to face Shedeur Sanders and the Cleveland Browns. They are 10-point road favourites. Teams out of contention playing out the schedule can be dangerous and unpredictable and with nothing to lose, they can and often do pull out fake punts and other trick plays and generally take risks they wouldn’t take early in the season. The Bills would be well-advised to get off to a better start against the Browns than they have over the last two games – if only to save their fans another nerve-racking Sunday afternoon.        

Bills 39, Bengals 34

After yesterday’s wild game in Orchard Park, probably the third-last game to be played at Rich Stadium, Bills cornerback Christian Benford explained that the proper technique – which he obviously did not follow – is not to leave your feet when closing in on a quarterback who is about to throw the ball. But he jumped high enough to easily catch Joe Burrow’s attempted lob pass and scampered to the endzone with his second career touchdown in as many weeks. Along with last week’s scoop-and-score in Pittsburgh, each of Benford’s two touchdowns turned the game in the Bills favour. I’m really looking forward to his next four touchdowns against the Patriots, Browns, Eagles and Jets to close out the season with an even half-dozen touchdowns. They don’t call him Christian for nothing as he attributed his going off-script and leaving his feet to an act of God. Whoever was responsible for it - God, Burrow or Benford – it was a magical (Divine?) moment in this topsy-turvy Bills 2025 season.

As we watched the first half yesterday, I kept saying that the Bengals were just practicing on their first and second down plays from scrimmage. A running play here, an incomplete pass there or maybe a short completion for a few yards to set up a third-and-five – these were done only to set the Bengals up for where they would truly excel yesterday – on third down where they converted each of their first eight. They could have and should have made it nine if Burrow hadn’t overthrown a wide-open Tee Higgins on a scramble on third and 18. It felt like there was no way that the Bills would ever stop them on third down as the Bengals put together three long drives for touchdowns on their first three possessions and looked like they would cruise to an easy win as the Bills could only muster 11 points in the first half. Not until their 10^th third down attempt, on their final possession of the first half when it felt like they were about to go up 28-11, did the Bills pass rush finally cause Burrow to hurry a throw and miss out of bounds to force a punt and hold the lead at ten going into the break.

Once again trailing by ten in the fourth quarter, the magic (Divinity?) began for the Bills who reeled off 21 points in four-and-a-half minutes to take a 39-28 lead. Josh Allen started off the rally with a long touchdown run which was followed shortly afterward by Benford’s pick-six then on the Bengals next play from scrimmage, Jordan Phillips batted a pass which drifted easily into the arms of AJ Epenesa for another interception and the Bills then converted a fourth down attempt on the ensuing drive for another touchdown – this one to tight-end Jackson Hawes whose name makes him sound like a character from a Civil War era novel.

The game felt a lot like the season’s opening game, also at Rich Stadium, when the Bills made an unlikely comeback to stun the Ravens with the aid of a late fumble recovery. This season’s home schedule has now produced two such epic comebacks for the home team with two regular season chances remaining. Had the Bengals been able to hang on to the lead they enjoyed for most of the game, they would still be realistically alive in the AFC wildcard playoff race and the Bills would have finally been shutout of any chance at their sixth division title and the home playoff game(s) which go with it. While the Bengals remain mathematically alive with the best possible scenario having them finish 8-9 if they win out, they are likely done. The Bills still hold a mathematical chance at the division title but the programs which calculate such things put their chances of this at less than 10% as the Patriots will likely have a better division record, the first tie-breaker if they finish with the same win-loss record. But 10% means that there still is a chance, right?

Last week, I speculated that next week’s game in New England against the Patriots might be flexed out of the 1pm time slot to 4.25pm or maybe even to Sunday Night Football. The deadline for so doing came and went last Wednesday with no schedule changes so we are set for another early afternoon game next Sunday. I was quite surprised to see that the Bills have been installed as early 1.5-point favourites against the Patriots who have won ten straight games and will be coming off their bye week. If I were Mike Vrabel, I would be tempted to use this as a motivational tool. If the oddsmakers can’t see their way to favouring the Patriots, who beat the Bills in Buffalo earlier this season and sit at 11-2 with a chance to seal their first division title in six years for their home fans, what then is it going to take? The answer of course is a win over Buffalo at home on Sunday. I guess the Josh Allen factor is a major component in the setting of betting lines which, remember, are done not necessarily as a prediction of the game's outcome but to attract equal money on each team. Vegas likes big names and Josh Allen is one of the biggest in the NFL right now so on that level, the line does make some sense. The so-called “smart money” - bet in large amounts by professional gamblers – could and probably will come in on the Patriots which would move the line down towards a pick'em. Who knows? I just hope that the moment and the pressure will be too much for the Patriots and their young quarterback Drake Maye whose name sound like it comes from The Young and the Restless. I like the Bills in this game, 24-20.     

Bills 26, Steelers 7

As Stephen Brunt once said, you can put any football game of any kind on television and he’ll at least watch some of it. Even by that standard, that was a lot of American football over a four-day period: three NFL games on Thanksgiving Thursday enjoying their own time-slot, then another on Friday, then rivalry weekend in college football on Saturday then the slightly reduced slate of Sunday NFL games. By halftime in the Denver v. Washington game, I’d had enough football although when I checked the score in the night, part of me wished I had seen the dramatic and unsuccessful overtime two-point conversion attempt by Washington which gave the Broncos a one-point win and pulled them even with the Patriots at 10-2 as these two battle for the AFC’s number one playoff seed. But it really was a lot a football.

One thing that occurred to me after the first play from scrimmage of the second half of yesterday's game in Pittsburgh which featured a Joey Bosa blindside sack of Aaron Rodgers then a scoop-and-score by cornerback Christian Benford which propelled the Bills to what became a relatively easy win at Pittsburgh’s Acrisure Stadium was that as Mason Rudolph entered the game on the next play from scrimmage, it was not Rudolph who was sporting the red nose but rather it was Rodgers, who turns 42 tomorrow and looked old, hurt and defeated as he left the game clutching his lame left arm and with his nose bloodied by Bosa’s hit. I have never ever taken pleasure from an injury to any player but I will admit that when Rodgers went down on that play, my sympathy for him, for a few reasons, was ever-so-slightly less than it would have been for almost any other NFL player. To his credit, he returned to the game one series later but was just as ineffective as he had been earlier. If I were a Steelers fan, despite not posting a losing season in 20 years, the prospects at quarterback with Rodgers and the not-so-red-nosed Rudolph atop the depth chart are bleak at best. Add to that the expiring shelf-life of the very long-in-the-tooth (but still highly respected and for good reason) head coach Mike Tomlin, and Steelers Nation will be expecting, and will probably get, some big changes this off-season. The Steelers have only had three head coaches since 1969: Chuck Knoll, Bill Cowher and Tomlin. Looks like its time for a reset in Pittsburgh. The boos were loud and Tomlin, the Steelers head coach since 2007, acknowledged them afterward. He and Bills coach Sean McDermott were teammates at the College of William and Mary and share a close friendship. Tomlin is a class act but I’d say his time is done.

As for the Bills and their offensive mindset going into yesterday’s game, they obviously committed to the run and they certainly stuck with it. How many times did we hear Tony Romo on the CBS broadcast ask how many times the Bills were going to run the same simple rushing play with James Cook? Although there wasn’t much to show for it in the first half, they certainly did not waiver from the plan and the box score shows that it ended up working very well indeed. Cook ran for 144 yards on 32 carries, Ray Davis had nine carries for 62 yards, Ty Johnson had five yards on two carries and Josh Allen added 38 yards on eight carries. All told, the rushing effort added up to 249 of the Bills 372 total yards – the most the Steelers have ever given up at Acrisure Stadium (which opened in 2001) and the most they have allowed at home in 50 years. Keon Coleman, who will be chairing a series of team and community meetings this week, returned to the lineup and caught two balls on three targets with a touchdown. The team’s leader in the passing game yesterday was none other than James Cook with three catches for 33 yards. Cook continues to prove that he is, as Bill Cowher pointed out, the second-best player on the team.

Saturday’s big game at the Big House in Ann Arbor did not live up to its billing as the continuation of what ESPN has called the greatest rivalry in American sports. The Wolverines came into the game - known as “The Game”- as the 15^th ranked team nationally and a win over undefeated and top-ranked Ohio State probably would have propelled them into the 12-team college football playoff but the 121^st meeting between these powerhouse programs was not close with the Buckeyes winning 27-9, a score which flattered the Wolverines and sent their 112,000 fans home disappointed. This rivalry dates back to 1897 with the Wolverines and Buckeyes meeting every season since except for 1918 (because of WW 1) and 2020 (because of COVID). Michigan leads the all-time series 62-53 with six ties.

Up next for the Bills is a home game against the Cincinnati Bengals which was originally scheduled to be a featured 4.25pm game for FOX but was flexed last week to a less prominent 1pm start as the Bengals are not one of the top teams in the AFC as they were expected to be. But they do have Joe Burrow back and he led his team to a big win in the Thanksgiving night game in Baltimore. The Bills have struggled against Cincinnati in the Josh Allen era and with the Bengals having four extra days to prepare and with only a highly unlikely outside shot at a wildcard spot, they will present a real challenge on Sunday in Orchard Park.

Joey Bosa, who has bucked his injury-prone reputation so far this season, left the game in the second half with an undetermined hamstring injury. He was seen walking normally afterward so he may be available against the Bengals but hamstring injuries – just ask Dalton Kinkaid – can linger and usually need a week or two. Thankfully, the Bills came away from yesterday’s game with no other injuries that we know of.

As a side note, looking ahead to the Bills big rematch with the Patriots in Foxboro the following week, the game is currently scheduled to be a 1pm start but (this is pure speculation on my part) it seems likely that it will be flexed to 4.25pm or possibly to the Sunday night game which is currently scheduled to be Minnesota at Dallas.      

Texans 23, Bills 19

I started going to the Vanier Cup in the early 80s when it was held at Varsity Stadium. My alma mater, Western, was usually either playing in the game or had lost the Mitchell or Uteck Bowl the week before. Our usual routine was to attend the game which ended around 4pm then make our way to the Morrissey Tavern on Yonge Street where we would be well in our cups by the dinner hour. We stopped going after the 1989 game which was moved to dome and featured the most antiseptic atmosphere possible: 40,000 empty seats with undecipherable announcements echoing off the steel and concrete roof. In recent years, the location has moved around the country with this past Saturday’s match-up between Les Carabins de l’universite de Montreal and the University of Saskatchewan Huskies taking place for the first time at Regina’s Mosaic Stadium. In an obvious attempt at three-down symmetry vis-a vis the identical Grey Cup match-up a week earlier, the game was won by Montreal, its third championship overall and its second in three years. Attendance was just under 9,000. I saw none of it as I spent most of the afternoon driving Siobhan to airport and battling Christmas shopping traffic in the process.  

The NFL game on Thursday Night in Houston was a sobering three hours for Bills Mafia. Among other revelations which came into focus, it became clear that the 2025 Buffalo Bills are not a Superbowl calibre team – at least not right now. And there’s no reason to think that they will be able to pull themselves together for a long playoff run – a run which looks like it would have to take place entirely on the road. Not enough offensive weapons, porous run defence and, it pains me to say this, poor coaching plagued the Bills as they have too many times this season. The most disappointing part of the game in Houston was the performance (or lack thereof) of the offensive line which was dominated by the Texans four-man pass rush on almost every snap. Not only did the Bills have no answer for this, they appeared not to try to make any adjustments to it whatsoever. It reminded me of the old Anthony Robbins trope of trying the same thing over and over and expecting the results to change. I wouldn’t have had any issue with them lining up nine at the line of scrimmage – 14 personnel if you will with one running back, four tight-ends and no wide receivers – and trying some short tight-end passes just to prove to Josh Allen that he could make a throw from the pocket without being hurried, pressured or sacked. The Texans front four pass rush was relentless and highly effective to an extent that I don’t think I’ve seen in the Josh Allen era. For his part, Josh forgot how to throw the ball away under pressure and this cost his team field position and exposed himself to an unsustainable physical pummelling. Spencer Brown lost the use of his right arm which is an important arm for anyone trying to play right tackle in the NFL. My man O’Cyrus Torrence (I have his game jersey) was noticeable for the first time in his two-and-a-half-year career for the wrong reasons. All-pro left tackle Deon Dawkins had a poor game as well and was called for a critical false start on the game’s second-last play when the Bills were driving for what would have been an unlikely game-winning touchdown.   

Amongst the gnashing of teeth in the aftermath, the knives were out in some circles for offensive coordinator Joe Brady whose play-calling, they said, lacked the creativity he has shown in the past and had somehow become predictable. There were even calls for the reinstatement of the recently-fired former Giants head coach and now theoretically available Brian Daboll who gave Josh Allen his wings as Bills offensive coordinator in Allen’s early years. With no love lost between Daboll and Sean McDermott, that isn’t going to happen – at least not during this season. Chris “Bulldog” Parker said it best on WGR on Friday by pointing out that when it is said that Brady’s play-calling lacks creativity, what they really mean is that they would like him to stop calling plays which don’t work. Had James Cook made that short fourth down run successfully instead of being tackled for a two-yard loss, Brady’s play-call at that moment would have of course been spot-on. Such is the nature of Monday (or in this case Friday) morning quarterbacking.

With the new Highmark Stadium set to open less than ten months from now, the Bills sent season ticket holders a rather heavy wood plaque rendering of the soon-to-be-mothballed Rich Stadium which opened in 1973. It weighs at least three pounds and arrived by UPS last week. Other than the “Bills Bucks” card (with a value reflecting a percentage of each subscriber’s season ticket invoice) which can be used for merchandise or at the in-stadium concession stands, it’s been several years since the team has sent any physical item to its subscribers. With season ticket holders accounting for more than 60,000 of the 71,000 seats at Rich Stadium, imagine the cost to not only manufacture these plaques but to send them to each subscriber. Good thing the fracking business afforded Terry Pegula the means to do what he does……although maybe the ten new minority limited partners in the ownership group (including former Raptor players Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady) may have opposed the plaque idea.

I caught parts of some good games yesterday: the Chiefs came back to hand the Colts their third loss in overtime and then then FOX must have been pleased to see the Cowboys overcome a 21-point deficit to the Eagles by scoring 24 unanswered points to win 24-21. The ratings must have been huge for the second half – probably even higher than the Bills v. Chiefs for CBS in week nine.

Up next for the Bills is a trip to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers who lost in Chicago without the services of Aaron Rodgers whose injured left hand was too vulnerable for him to play. Expect him to be back in the lineup against the Bills who have been installed as four-point favourites for the late-window 4.25pm CBS game.     

Bills 44, Buccaneers 32

Anyone who has worked in or been associated with any organization of any size knows that one of the most common and enduring issues which besets them is the curse of meetings. The wasted time, the unnecessary blathering on of those whose opinions really don’t matter, the inability of participants to decide anything beyond the date and time of the next meeting – yes time spent in meetings is easily the most unproductive portion of the average person’s work effort, week in and week out. Keon Coleman, at the ripe old age of 22, has apparently learned this lesson already and has decided to demonstrate, in a very public and open manner, his disdain for meetings. Reached for comment late yesterday in Orchard Park after his team’s big win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Coleman reminded everyone that in meetings he actually did attend last spring with his agent and with NFL scouts, he made it abundantly clear that meetings were not something he was interested in. He had nothing to add, he said, before he got up and left, to any meetings, except of course this particular one in which he described his unwillingness to attend meetings. He offered to read the minutes of meetings afterward if he had time, which he suggested that he probably would not. So, this business of Coleman repeatedly being late to meetings or blowing them off entirely should be no surprise to Bills head coach Sean McDermott or to offensive coordinator Joe Brady. It is therefore unconscionable for the team to have made him a healthy scratch yesterday for reasons which were explained as “not performance related”. They knew his position on meetings.

He has faced disciplinary team sanctions before for this issue but they were limited to being benched for the first offensive series. Yesterday’s “healthy scratch” was a first for him and hopefully the last time this needs to be addressed. It is truly astounding to think that this guy can not get himself to team meetings on time or, in some cases at all. As the 33^rd overall pick in last year’s NFL draft, Coleman signed a four-year $10 million+ rookie contract with a signing bonus of $4.2 million and over $9 million guaranteed. The opportunities for Coleman – personal, professional and financial – are truly massive compared to the average American and with effort, focus and hard work, he should easily be able to secure a coveted second NFL contract which would create long term financial security for himself and his family. His on-field results have been mixed through his first season-and-a-half but the potential to emerge as a solid NFL receiver is clear. I can not imagine how frustrated his agent must be with all of this. Does he need a new alarm clock? Was he just trying to get a jump on the Black Friday pre-sales? Maybe he’s renting an apartment in Fort Erie and was delayed at the border. I have no idea what personal demons Coleman may be battling – and if he suffers from any form of mental illness or has substance abuse issues (neither of which has been reported) help is available for these. He can obviously afford the help if he needs it. Joshua Palmer, Mecole Hardman and Tyrell Shavers dressed and contributed yesterday in Coleman’s absence with Shavers probably being the odd man out if and when Coleman decides to show up on time for team meetings. Too bad because Shavers had a strong game with a nice touchdown catch.   

The game yesterday featured the partial return of the reckless 2018 Josh Allen. Fortunately, the much-improved version of Josh Allen of the last few years carried the day in the end as he accounted for six touchdowns on the day – three running and three passing. His two-handed chest pass attempt near his own goal-line early in the game, which was easily intercepted, was the worst example of the young Josh Allen, with his second interception on a ball he tried to force to Dawson Knox who was double-covered being the less egregious example. Otherwise, he has a fantastic game and looked like the MVP from a year ago.

The main problem for the Bills this season – and last season as well – is their inability to stop the run. As a fan watching, it is so frustrating – almost demoralizing – to watch the defence get gashed repeatedly on the ground series after series. The front seven just aren’t big enough or fast enough to shut down the run and force their opponent to throw. Without Josh Allen and his high-powered offence to save the day, the Bills wouldn’t be where they are which is in a playoff position and only a game-and-a-half behind the Patriots for the division lead. Ed Oliver, how’s your bicep feeling these days?

I managed to catch most of the second half of the Grey Cup last night and was happy for the good folks of Regina who partied well into the night celebrating their team’s big win – only their fifth ever which seems incredible in a nine-team league. Montreal made it close but fell just short as quarterback Davis Alexander heroically battled a pulled hamstring to almost complete the comeback. The stands in Winnipeg looked full too.   

Up next for the Bills is a short week and a trip to Houston to face the Texans on Thursday night. The Bills are early 3.5-point favourites and the status of Texans first-string quarterback CJ Stroud is uncertain. The Texans narrowly beat the now 1-9 Titans yesterday on a late field goal.  If I were Keon Coleman, I would be in the team meeting room right now preparing slide decks, flip charts, brewing coffee and arranging pastry platters and fruit trays.