Bills 17, Patriots 9

One account I read last night described the Patriots effort yesterday as "uninterested". There was certainly no sense of urgency about their game, especially in the second half and the Bills first win ever at Gillette Stadium will need an asterisk beside it to indicate that the Patriots had nothing to play for except for general consistency and avoiding injury. The stadium opened in 2002 and the Bills play there every year so a win there has been a long time coming, but still.

Week 17 in the NFL features 16 Sunday games - the only week where all 32 teams play on the same day - with no Thursday or Monday games and no byes. It was an exciting day in terms of what was at stake in some of the games but the key games themselves generally lacked drama. The Atlanta Falcons were embarrassed at home by the Panthers in the NFC South Bowl and Black Monday will probably mark the end for coach Mike Smith. The Detroit Lions string of losses at Lambeau Field makes the Bills losing streak in Foxborough look tame in comparison as the Lions, who also play there every year, have not won in Green Bay since 1991. They gave up a chance to win their division and host a home playoff game and will now travel to Dallas on Sunday for a first round match-up. The Steelers also won at home and sent the Bengals to Indianapolis on Sunday. Pittsburgh will host Baltimore on Saturday. The Panthers will be home to the Arizona Cardinals on Saturday.

As for the Bills, President Russ Brandon dispelled rumours yesterday that former General Manager and the architect of the Bills Superbowl teams, Bill Polian, would be returning to the team as early as today. Coach Doug Marrone looks secure for another season as the Bills registered their first winning season in 10 years. GM Doug Whaley may be more vulnerable. He has clearly brought in some good talent, especially on defence but he is also responsible for two key moves which look questionable in retrospect: the over-reaching in last year's draft for quarterback EJ Manuel who, after two seasons, has not lived up to his first round draft position. Second was the trading of the team's first round pick in the 2015 draft to get wideout Sammy Watkins this year. Watkins had a good season and will be a key offensive contributor for years to come but the price of a first round pick for him now seems too high as a couple of other rookie receivers (like Odell Beckham) have posted seasons just as good or better than Watkins has but without the steep price. Whaley saw something in Manuel which just isn't there yet and he gambled that drafting Watlkins would create a powerful combination between the two which never materialized. The key question for the team and whoever the GM is, as it has been since Jim Kelly retired after the 1996 season, is who will be the quarterback. The fan base will likely not be satisfied if they decide to ride Kyle Orton again and with no first round pick, the draft is less likely to produce the franchise quarterback the team needs. A trade? Jay Cutler will probably be available but he has had character issues - which is why he will be available. With a top ten quarterback, I wonder how well this year's team with its awesome defence would have done.

Overall, the 2014 Bills season has been successful as their 9-7 record indicates. After all, I haven't resorted to political rants even once this year (I don't think). I will post after the Superbowl and possibly beforehand if there's something which grabs me.

Raiders 26, Bills 24

Bills defensive tackle Marcel Dareus is signed through the 2015 season, after which he will be an unrestricted free agent, having completed his five year contract. If I were his agent, I would be approaching Doug Whaley this week to discuss an extension. His bargaining position peaked after he left yesterday's game in Oakland with what looked to be a knee injury. With Dareus no longer plugging up the interior of the Bills defensive line, the Raiders began to run the ball seemingly at will which, as it always does, opened later opportunities in the passing game as they officially ended Buffalo's slim playoff hopes. As soon as Dareus left the game, it was like the team collapsed. The Raiders offence moved the ball and their defense stopped the run and found their pass rush too. A late touchdown by the Bills made the score close than the game really was. Just before the Raiders converted on a third down and 22 in the fourth quarter, I jinxed it by saying that if they made it, they deserved to win the game

So, the Bills continue to extend the NFL's longest current playoff drought as they will have to wait until at least next year to play their first post-season game since the Music City Miracle some 15 years ago. CBS decided to show that infamous play near the end of yesterday's broadcast to remind Bills fans of just how long it's been. It looked like footage from a different era (and I guess it was) as it was non-HD. Rob Johnson was quarterbacking the team that day in Nashville (and ironically led the team to what should have been a playoff win) in case anyone had forgotten his name. Now that the Bills have been eliminated, I no longer need to worry about the Bengals losing twice or about needing two teams to tie - or, for that matter about trying to win in Foxborough next week.

Doug Marrone will surely be back next year. But Bills fans will wonder who will be under centre next September. Will EJ Manuel start on Sunday in New England and begin the process of earning his starting job back which he lost after week 4? Or will the team try to ride the workmanlike Kyle Orton again? With no pick in the first round of next year's draft, it is possible that the franchise quarterback could be found in the second round, but it doesn't seem likely. How would this year's team have done with an elite quarterback throwing to Sammy Watkins? The Bills very good defense will be a year older next year and the window may be closing on players like Kyle and Mario Williams. Or not. Teams can change so much year to year but the Bills seem to swing between simply being bad and then being mediocre or slightly better. The defining play this season was Bryce Brown's fumble on his way into the endzone against the Chiefs.

I felt a little sorry for the Arizona Cardinals last night. They had a chance to clinch home field and a good chance to be the first ever team to play in a Superbowl in its home stadium. But a third string quarterback going against the Seattle secondary had no chance and now the Seahawks look like they could be the league's first repeat Superbowl winners since Denver in 1999. And if the Broncos lose tonight, the Patriots wrap up home field advantage through the AFC playoffs and look to be a good bet to get back to the Superbowl and maybe even win it for the first time in 10 years.  

Bills 21, Packers 13

On the final meaningful play from scrimmage in yesterday's memorable game in Orchard Park, Mario Williams got enough of his fingertips on the ball to knock it out of Aaron Rodgers hand. It spun back and landed about 2 yards deep in the endzone and it looked it would sit there for a while since no one on the line of scrimmage seemed to know where it was. So, I went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth and when I returned to the TV, Rodgers was still looking for the ball around the 5 yard line. Packers running back Eddie Lacey finally picked it up, tried to advance it and was tackled just outside the goal line. The play resulted in a safety which gave the Bills an 8 point lead and, since Green Bay had exhausted its time-outs and the Bills would get the ball back again, the game was over.

Why a safety, then? After all, Lacey appeared to advance the ball out of the endzone before being tackled. NFL rules are complex by any standard and I had to look up the one which caused the play to be called a safety. In the last 2 minutes of a half (or on 4th down), a fumble by the offensive team can only be advanced by the offensive player who originally fumbled it (or by any player on the defense - obviously). Otherwise, the ball is deemed to be dead at the point of recovery. Lacey picked it up (recovered it) in the endzone. Dead ball at that spot. Safety. Only Rodgers could have picked it up and advanced it and he was still conducting an investigation as to the whereabouts of the ball around the 5 yard line. The rule exists to eliminate the possibility of the ball being intentionally fumbled to a team-mate who could then advance it. Think of those crazy rugby type final plays of the game with desperate lateral passing as the clock runs out. The rule prevents "fumbling" to a team-mate on such a play who could advance the ball. Anyway, strange play, strange call but great result. Terry Pegula approved of the play and the ruling.

If the Packers don't win the Superbowl this year (or don't get to the big game at all) Jordy Nelson will surely remember the ball he dropped in the 3rd quarter yesterday on which he would have likely scored. Deep in their own end and trailing the Bills 16-10, Nelson made a double move at the line of scrimmage and was wide open. Rodgers pass couldn't have been better but it hit Nelson's hands and bounced away. It seemed like a turning point in the game. Packers receivers had a few drops yesterday and Rodgers uncharacteristically missed some throws which he almost always makes. The Packers come to Buffalo only every 8 years and they're probably happy about that as they have never won in Orchard Park. Not once in 6 tries darting back to 1979. Mike McCarthy will surely have his team prepared for their next chance in 2022.

So, at 8-6, the Bills will not have a losing season - their first in 10 years. If they can win in Oakland next week, they can match 2004's 9-7 record, assuming that they will not win at New England in week 17. There is a logjam of teams at 8-6 and the 2 AFC wildcard spots are currently occupied by 9-5 teams so the playoffs are still extremely unlikely. But Bills fans have to be encouraged as their team has one of the best defenses in the league and possibly the best front 4. Questions that come to mind now include: Will the defense be as good next year? Who will play quarterback next year? Will Kiko Alonso return and pick up where his rookie season left off? Will CJ Spiller be on the team? With the Giants and Cowboys coming to Orchard Park next year, will they get a Monday night home game? I'm betting that they will - against Dallas.

Broncos 24, Bills 17

This game was not nearly as close as the score would imply. Despite a solid defensive effort which ended Payton Manning's streak of 51 consecutive games with at least one touchdown pass, the Bills fell rather easily to the Broncos who ran for three touchdowns and were never really in danger of losing this game. They built a 24-3 third quarter lead before simply letting the Bills run out the clock and score a couple of late touchdowns in the process.

Kyle Orton returned to Denver where he famously lost his starting job to Tim Tebow at the end of the 2011 season. That led one Denver sports writer at the time to create an amusing headline to describe Orton's performance: "Orton hears a boo". He might have heard more boos had the game been played in Buffalo as he did what he had done a good job of not doing so far this season: throwing interceptions. For his part, Payton Manning did not have a great day throwing the ball either but the Broncos earned the win with their defence and running game - two things that the Bills were also expected to rely on as the season began.

The AFC playoff picture is no more clear than it was a week ago, There are now three teams at 8-5 (and two of them are likely to earn playoff spots) and five teams at 7-6, including the Bills. With three games remaining and two of them against the two teams favoured to earn Superbowl births in Green Bay and New England, Buffalo's playoff hopes are now dead. Even the winnable looking trip the Black Hole in Oakland looks a little less winnable now after the Raiders took care of the 49ers there yesterday. Even an 8-8 season looks tough now.

I felt sorry for the Cleveland Browns and their fans yesterday. Losing their game by one point to the Colts dropped them to 7-6 and reduced their playoff hopes to slim at best. As I nursed a hangover from a rockin' house party the night before (thanks Jen and Martin), I watched the Browns dominate the Colts for most of the game and I ended up missing a good portion of the first quarter of the Bills game because I stuck with the Browns until the bitter end. Despite both the Bills and the Browns losing yesterday, this morning I feel hangover free and fantastic.

I wrote an article about my experience working on the Toronto election and it was published in the December issue of True North Perspective. Here is the link. My account may represent one of the final impacts that the Fords have had on Toronto politics and it was almost as chaotic and crazy as any of the others. I recently saw Robyn Doolittle speak and I'm now about halfway through her account of the Ford story called Crazy Town.

 

Bills 26, Browns 10

The AFC playoff scenarios after week 13 (with one game to go) are as complex as they could be. With 5 teams, including the Bills, at 7-5 (and likely a 6th in the Miami Dolphins if they can beat the Jets tonight), the 5th and 6th playoff seeds are up for grabs and will likely be determined by the NFL's tie-breaker formula. Yesterday's loss in Buffalo was particularly tough for the Cleveland Browns who allowed the Bills to tie them at 7-5 and would now lose the tie-breaker to them as head-to-head competition is the first metric of the tie-breaker. The Chiefs loss last night to Denver also brings them to 7-5 but they hold the tie-breaker over the Bills, having beaten them 3 weeks ago. The Ravens and Steelers are not on the Bills schedule this year so each team's record within the conference would be the first tie-breaker should either of them end up tied with Buffalo. The most important thing to focus on is to keep winning games. The fact remains that if the Bills are ever going to play a home playoff game (something they have not done since the 1996 season, Jim Kelly's last), they must win the AFC East. The Patriots lost yesterday at Lambeau Field to fall to 9-3 and they face the Bills in week 17. So, it is possible. But a huge test awaits the Bills this week with a game in Denver before returning home to play the Packers in 2 weeks. Of their remaining 4 games, the only truly winnable looking one is a trip to the Black Hole against the hapless Raiders in week 16.

The Buffalo News published a story last week about the tough times which have befallen former Bills linebacker Daryl Talley. He is broke and he is not well. He now thinks that the concussions he suffered over 14 NFL seasons hardly seem worth it now as he is a broken man, plagued by memory loss, mood swings, family and financial issues and depression. A fund raising website was created by a thoughtful Bills fan after the story was published and it has raised more than $100,000 and counting. The NFL wishes that these stories would go away but yesterday, but Jim Kelly showed his support for his former teammate by wearing Talley's jersey as he led the team onto the field. Talley played in the late 80's and 90's when concussion protocols were not what they are now but how much difference did that make? There are many players who played as long as Talley did and are fine but I suspect that there will always be some who end up like Talley regardless of the NFL's improved policies on head trauma. It's a dangerous game and you take your chances.

The CRTC and Canada's cable and satellite TV providers estimate that over-the-air (OTA) TV watchers in Canada make up about 8% of the total. The Toronto area, which overlooks the "Lake Ontario Broadcast Basin", is one of the best locations in North America for antenna TV viewing and more and more of us are ditching our pricey cable and satellite subscriptions. Combined with internet based services like Netflix, we can watch most of what we could with cable - and in full 1080 HD. Most but certainly not all. Like yesterday's Grey Cup. Broadcast only on TSN, I saw not a single snap. I would have tuned in (after the Packers/Patriots game was over) but had to follow it through Steve Paikin's twitter updates which were frequent. If the Grey Cup is still the most watched broadcast in Canada every year, and if the CFL wants to maintain that top spot, it might consider arranging for its showcase game to also be broadcast on a non-cable broadcaster. CTV is the obvious choice. There's another 8% of the TV audience - and growing - up for grabs.

Bills 38, Jets 3

Terry Pegula's first choice for the relocation of last night's game was, apparently, Beaver Stadium at University Park which is in State College, Pennsylvania in an area also known as Happy Valley. It's where the Penn State Nittany Lions play their home games on Saturdays and where Jerry Sandusky perpetrated his evil deeds against young boys, under the not-so-watchful eye of Joe Paterno. PSU is Pegula's Alma Mater and Happy Valley is about a 2 hour drive from Orchard Park. It seemed like a good choice but the league would not approve it because the stadium lacks the communication and video infrastructure for NFL coaching staffs and CBS broadcast requirements. The Rogers Centre was also considered but it was in mid-preparation mode for a music and dance event called "Sensation: Into the Wild". The Carrier Dome in Syracuse was hosting several indoor hockey games over the weekend and logistical considerations would have made it impossible to host the game before today, Tuesday, at the earliest. So, the league settled on Ford Field in Detroit, an modern indoor facility which was available and able to accommodate the Bills requirements for the usual video review and analysis which is part of any team's weekly game preparation. The team and its 53 players, coaches and staff extricated themselves from the snow in Buffalo and flew to Detroit on Friday. Roger Goodell looked a bit nervous in a sideline interview with Steve Tasker as he emphasized that the league did not want a football game to interfere with the needs of western New York citizens.

I liked Scott Chandler's touchdown celebration which was a snow shoveling motion, after he spiked the ball. Then, the disaster that is the New York Jets did the rest as the Bills cruised to their easy win in their first, albeit unscheduled, appearance on a Monday night since 2009. Robert Woods had by far the best game of his career with 9 catches, including a spectacular one-handed grab along the sidelines which wasn't quite as impressive as Odell Beckham Jr.'s catch on Sunday night but was still worthy of inclusion in this season's Bills highlight reel. The defence was solid once again and the Bills had their first blocked punt for a touchdown since 2004. EJ Manuel even came in and performed three successful hand-offs on the last offensive series.

Around 9.30pm, CBS scrolled the result of the Ferguson, MO grand jury deliberations which were that no charges would be laid against the white police officer who shot an un-armed black teenager in August. Overnight riots would ensue in the St. Louis suburb as they would in other US cities. Race relations still have a long way to go in the US, regardless of the specific facts in this case.  

The next challenge for Ralph Wilson Stadium and for Erie County is to get the stadium and surrounding area in condition to host a game five days from now. Temperatures reached 65F in the Buffalo area yesterday and there is just no way that the satellite parking lots (most of which are grass fields) can be in any condition to have cars parking on them on Sunday after seven feet of snow has melted on them. The stadium will probably be fine as will the paved lots directly surrounding it but for those going to the game (which I'm hoping will not include me), I would suggest that parking will be limited and extra time should be allowed.

The Bills are now 6-5 and were certainly hoping that the Saints could knock off the Ravens last night, one of the many four loss teams in the AFC playoff hunt. The Ravens won and remain a four loss team. The Bills chances at a playoff spot remain slim but still alive as their Lake Erie cousins, the Cleveland Browns come to Orchard Park on Sunday. The Browns, coached by former Bills defensive coordinator Mike Pettine, are another one of those four loss teams and obviously have a lot to play for.
 

Dolphins 22, Bills 9

November is often a bleak month with little daylight and miserable weather. Its a shoulder season in Muskoka where biking is usually wet and muddy and skiing is still down the road. It is also the only season where we get significant snowfall before the lake freezes, making for often stunning photography - especially when the sun shines on the fresh snow. The photo above was taken this past Friday morning after about 20cm of snow fell on Wednesday overnight and during the day Thursday. The reflections of the snow laden trees on the water makes for memorable late season paddling.

Since CBS decided to carry only the first half of this season's Thursday night games, I was forced to go north for the game. There was no snow on the ground until Gravenhurst on Thursday morning and then I got one of the last bike rides of the season in later in the afternoon in a heavy squall. Then a sauna, dinner and some Thursday night Bills football. This game was going to determine if the Bills long run of non-playoff appearances would continue or if they could make a statement in south Florida and preserve their post-season chances at 6-4. I was not feeling at all confident but through the first half, the offence was decent but was still unable to convert red zone opportunities. The season came apart in the second half which was bleak for Bills fans as Kyle Orton and the Bills offence had no solution for Miami's pass rush. He played his worst game of the six he has started, prompting calls for a return to EJ Manuel. I turned it off when Miami went up 19-9.

Now, the question I have is, once again, how in the world am I going to find anyone interested in seeing the Bills play either the Jets on Sunday or the Cleveland Browns the following week? The Green Bay Packers, one of the league's elite teams, make their once every eight years trip to Orchard Park in week 15 in mid-December and I'm a little less concerned about moving tickets for that game. But, the Jets on Sunday? Really, I ask, who is going to want to go? And, how many more years will I be willing to eat these tickets for late season games after all (or almost all) hope is lost? They would have to go 5-1 over the remaining six games to have a chance at a wildcard and that's just not going to happen.

I saw bits of the games yesterday and the first half of the Patriots game in Indianapolis. I am now really hoping that the Patriots can get to another Superbowl as I just think it would be a good story. After all, its now been 10 years since they won a championship, having lost the big game twice to the New York Giants since then. A New England vs. Green Bay Superbowl is what I would be betting on now and the Bills can help with that as they play each of the those teams in the final six weeks. I'm also hoping that the Browns can grab a playoff spot and the Bills can help with that too.

So, the J-E-T-S come to Orchard Park this weekend. Don't look for CBS to assign its top crew to this one. The game will probably be blacked out and I will listen to a bit of it on the radio in Muskoka. At least, with no paper tickets this year, I won't have to burn them.