Rex Ryan was feeling the heat at his post-game press conference yesterday in Landover, Maryland. He said that changes were coming to his team which was officially eliminated from the NFL playoffs after a disheartening loss to the Washington Redskins. Ryan was asked if some of the changes might come in connection with a report last week that Bills GM Doug Whaley had expressed his displeasure with some of the team's assistant coaches. Ryan dismissed the report but his terse response and body language said (to me at least) that all is not well between the Bills front office and the coaching staff. Whaley has been disappointed, according to the report, with offensive coordinator Greg Roman's heavy emphasis on the run game which leaves star wide receiver Sammy Watkins as a spectator on far too many plays. Whaley has a particular interest in seeing Watkins live up to the price the team paid to get him in the 2014 draft by trading its first round pick this year to grab him at number four overall - a move orchestrated by Whaley himself. Watkins has been very good through his first two seasons but not good enough to justify his price.
The problem is that Whaley was already the GM when Doug Marrone mysteriously resigned at the end of last season and Ryan was hired as head coach by team owners Terry and Kim Pegula. Ryan then brought in Roman, known for his emphasis on the running game, as offensive coordinator. Whaley then traded for running back LeSean McCoy but now apparently wishes that the team had thrown the ball to Watkins more than it has. If I were Whaley, my questions would be directed much more to the coaches on defensive side of the ball. Ryan and his hand-picked defensive coaches have steered the Bills defence to a league ranking of 20th going into yesterday's game. Last year, with an almost identical defensive line-up but different coaches, the Bills defence finished the season ranked number four in the league. I would much rather hear Ryan's explanation about that than about play selection on offense.
Before the NFL schedule was released in April, and knowing that the Dallas Cowboys were scheduled to make their once-every-eight-years trip to Orchard Park in 2015, I was quite certain that the league would schedule the game on a Monday night in the first half of the season in a effort to replicate the thrilling 2007 game, still seen as one of the best games played in Buffalo in the last 20 years. But, no, the game was scheduled for two days after Christmas. So, here it is: Up next, the 4-10 Cowboys, minus Tony Romo who is on injured reserve and out for the season, will take on the 6-8 Bills with the teams relative 2016 draft positions the only matters still to be decided.
OPP Sergeant and communications "officer" Kerry Schmidt was on the radio this morning providing some statistics on this year's RIDE program. Almost 500 drivers have been charged with impaired driving in Ontario so far this holiday season (and we're still 5 days away from Christmas), including 95 this past weekend. It seems like drunk driving is making a comeback but there is another very disturbing trend this year: drivers attempting to flee RIDE check points. In December alone, there have been at least three reported incidents of this in Ontario (Whitby, Guelph and London). A 24 year old female pedestrian was killed by one of these fleeing drivers and the others have ended up crashing their vehicles while being chased. I guess alcohol clouds judgment but I am still fascinated that someone would decide to try to flee from police in any circumstances at all. The ironic and tragic thing about these stories is that, unless the driver is killed in a crash, they always end up getting caught, they are often injured, their vehicles are usually written-off, they are charged with flight from police and charged with other Highway Traffic Act offenses like wreckless driving. To cap it all off, and in the ultimate of ironies, they are also charged (I assume) with impaired driving. Happy Holidays.
Commentary on the Buffalo Bills, politics and whatever else is on my mind
Monday, 21 December 2015
Monday, 14 December 2015
Eagles 23, Bills 20
When the Philadelphia Eagles worked out a deal to trade running back LeSean McCoy to the Bills for linebacker Kiko Alonso on March 9th of this year, the two teams apparently decided not to inform either of the players involved until the trade was approved by the league, which it was the following day. According to Eagles coach Chip Kelly, who tried to set the record straight on this last week, the problem with the plan was that word of the trade was leaked before league approval was obtained and McCoy learned of it through his agent (who had heard through his own sources) and not through anyone in the Eagles organization. This upset him and understandably so. Kelly expressed regret that he did not handle the situation differently by informing McCoy himself as he says is his usual practice in these situations. After all, McCoy had established himself as one of the premier running backs in the NFL over the course of six seasons with the Eagles who drafted him 53rd overall in the second round of the 2009 draft from the Pittsburgh Panthers. The explanation of a leak between the time that the deal was made and league approval was given - as the reason why McCoy wasn't informed of the trade by the team - does seem plausible but perhaps should have been provided more publicly at the time and not nine months later. Kelly also explained last week that the trade was made for financial and salary cap reasons as McCoy was to have represented more than an $11 million cap hit for the Eagles in 2015 while Alonzo's cap hit was only $700,000. Kelly is also very familiar with Kiko Alonso, having coached him for four seasons at Oregon. After describing his perspective on the trade last week, Kelly also said that he would like to try to repair the relationship and offered to shake McCoy's hand before the game.
McCoy's explanation of the reason why he was traded by the Eagles, which he offered immediately after the trade was made, was considerably different that Kelly's. McCoy explained that Kelly didn't respect the league's star players and that he had at least some racial motivation in trading him for a white linebacker. This I find to be a much less plausible story than Kelly's. As the "revenge" game approached, McCoy was asked about Kelly's comments but declined to change his story and stated that would not shake Kelly's hand on Sunday and wanted nothing to do with him. This story became the main backdrop for yesterday's game. While I can certainly understand McCoy's bitterness not only at being traded but also (and likely more so) by the way he learned of it, his suggestion that any NFL coach in 2015 makes player personnel decisions based on whether players are white or black simply isn't credible. But, he was clearly motivated to play well yesterday for a variety of reasons.
McCoy was clearly hoping to have a big game against his former team and what he had was a decent game with 74 yards rushing on 20 carries and another 35 receiving yards on 4 catches, but the main story from yesterday's game was the 15 penalties called against the Bills, most of them on offensive and defensive linemen. The Eagles defensive line had a strong game - too strong for the Bills offensive line who took several holding penalties to protect their quarterback. On the other side of the ball, the defensive line jumped offside repeatedly on Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford's hard counts. Now at 6-7, while not mathematically eliminated, the Bills find themselves out of the playoff picture this morning. This will be the 16th consecutive season with no playoffs, the longest current stretch in the league.
Donald Trump continued to make news last week as he called for a moratorium on Muslim immigration to the US. Finally, the leadership of the GOP responded with a rebuke of this idea and Trump then hinted that he could still consider a presidential run as an independent candidate next year if he is not successful in securing the nomination. This would surely bode well for the Clinton campaign and be disastrous for the Republican Party. It would also serve to clearly quantify just how popular Trump's ideology is, mostly among uneducated white males. However it plays out, political culture in the US will become even more divided than it already is.
McCoy's explanation of the reason why he was traded by the Eagles, which he offered immediately after the trade was made, was considerably different that Kelly's. McCoy explained that Kelly didn't respect the league's star players and that he had at least some racial motivation in trading him for a white linebacker. This I find to be a much less plausible story than Kelly's. As the "revenge" game approached, McCoy was asked about Kelly's comments but declined to change his story and stated that would not shake Kelly's hand on Sunday and wanted nothing to do with him. This story became the main backdrop for yesterday's game. While I can certainly understand McCoy's bitterness not only at being traded but also (and likely more so) by the way he learned of it, his suggestion that any NFL coach in 2015 makes player personnel decisions based on whether players are white or black simply isn't credible. But, he was clearly motivated to play well yesterday for a variety of reasons.
McCoy was clearly hoping to have a big game against his former team and what he had was a decent game with 74 yards rushing on 20 carries and another 35 receiving yards on 4 catches, but the main story from yesterday's game was the 15 penalties called against the Bills, most of them on offensive and defensive linemen. The Eagles defensive line had a strong game - too strong for the Bills offensive line who took several holding penalties to protect their quarterback. On the other side of the ball, the defensive line jumped offside repeatedly on Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford's hard counts. Now at 6-7, while not mathematically eliminated, the Bills find themselves out of the playoff picture this morning. This will be the 16th consecutive season with no playoffs, the longest current stretch in the league.
Donald Trump continued to make news last week as he called for a moratorium on Muslim immigration to the US. Finally, the leadership of the GOP responded with a rebuke of this idea and Trump then hinted that he could still consider a presidential run as an independent candidate next year if he is not successful in securing the nomination. This would surely bode well for the Clinton campaign and be disastrous for the Republican Party. It would also serve to clearly quantify just how popular Trump's ideology is, mostly among uneducated white males. However it plays out, political culture in the US will become even more divided than it already is.
Monday, 7 December 2015
Bills 30, Texans 21
Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor, the fifth year man out of Virginia Tech, has not thrown an interception in five consecutive games now - a new team record. And, looking at his body of work through the ten games he's started this season, his natural instinct to maintain attention to ball security has enabled him to consistently manage to avoid disastrous plays. Many a young and mobile quarterback in the NFL has suffered from a tendency to self-destruct in their first season or two before learning to protect the ball as it should be protected. I honestly think that spending four entire seasons as Joe Flacco's back-up (and never registering a regular season or playoff start) seasoned him to the point that when he did get his chance to be a franchise quarterback this season in Buffalo, he was truly ready. He's really played very well all season, including in yesterday's match-up with the Texans, winners of four straight coming into the game. In fact, both teams protected the ball yesterday as there were no turnovers by either team, until the game's very last play when Marcus Easley intercepted Brian Hoyer's pass in the end zone.
LeSean McCoy rushed for over 100 yards, Sammy Watkins caught three balls for over 100 yards and a touchdown and Taylor finished 11 for 21 with three touchdowns - just the kind of stats Greg Roman would have been hoping for as he drew up the game plan. When Rex Ryan hired Roman to be the team's offensive coordinator, he said that their offensive approach would emphasize the run over the pass. The Bills ran the ball 36 times yesterday and passed 21 times in their 57 plays from scrimmage.
So, at the three-quarter mark of the season, the Bills have posted a perfectly symmetrical record, now being 3-3 at home and 3-3 on the road with four games to go. The next three games come against NFC East teams: At Philadelphia next week, at Washington the following week and then home to the Cowboys two days after Christmas. The Jets visit on January 3rd to close out the regular season. With yesterday's win, the Bills remain squarely in the wildcard hunt, now with the same record as the Texans but holding the all-important tie breaker against them. A 10-6 record will very likely be enough to earn a post-season spot.
The New York Times published an editorial on its front page this past weekend, the first time it has done so since the 1920s. It wasn't exactly a revelation that the Times supports some measure of stricter gun control and the paper's publishers surely knew that the editorial would probably serve to strengthen the resolve of the NRA types so dedicated to closing down any debate at all on what they see as the spirit of the sacred Second Amendment. But, as long as the gun lobby helps to fund most Republican Congressional campaigns and as long as the Republicans control Congress (which they will at least for another year), then no action will be taken. The argument against any move toward tighter gun safety is the "slippery slope" theory which says that, while it is possible that any individual restriction, such as not allowing those on the terrorist "no fly" list to purchase firearms, may sound reasonable in isolation, it would represent the first step in a march toward the federal government taking away the guns of citizens. The other argument I've heard is that bad people will always be able to get guns if they want them. This was also the basis of the main objection to the now scrapped Canadian long gun registry. If we look at jurisdictions like the U.K. and Japan which have very restrictive gun ownership laws, these countries see gun deaths which are orders of magnitude lower than in the US. The San Bernardino couple who killed 14 people last week had an arsenal of semi-automatic weapons and ammunition in their home - all of which were legally purchased. As David Frum said last week, the NRA has established conditions where not only nothing can be done about this, but nothing can be said either.
LeSean McCoy rushed for over 100 yards, Sammy Watkins caught three balls for over 100 yards and a touchdown and Taylor finished 11 for 21 with three touchdowns - just the kind of stats Greg Roman would have been hoping for as he drew up the game plan. When Rex Ryan hired Roman to be the team's offensive coordinator, he said that their offensive approach would emphasize the run over the pass. The Bills ran the ball 36 times yesterday and passed 21 times in their 57 plays from scrimmage.
So, at the three-quarter mark of the season, the Bills have posted a perfectly symmetrical record, now being 3-3 at home and 3-3 on the road with four games to go. The next three games come against NFC East teams: At Philadelphia next week, at Washington the following week and then home to the Cowboys two days after Christmas. The Jets visit on January 3rd to close out the regular season. With yesterday's win, the Bills remain squarely in the wildcard hunt, now with the same record as the Texans but holding the all-important tie breaker against them. A 10-6 record will very likely be enough to earn a post-season spot.
The New York Times published an editorial on its front page this past weekend, the first time it has done so since the 1920s. It wasn't exactly a revelation that the Times supports some measure of stricter gun control and the paper's publishers surely knew that the editorial would probably serve to strengthen the resolve of the NRA types so dedicated to closing down any debate at all on what they see as the spirit of the sacred Second Amendment. But, as long as the gun lobby helps to fund most Republican Congressional campaigns and as long as the Republicans control Congress (which they will at least for another year), then no action will be taken. The argument against any move toward tighter gun safety is the "slippery slope" theory which says that, while it is possible that any individual restriction, such as not allowing those on the terrorist "no fly" list to purchase firearms, may sound reasonable in isolation, it would represent the first step in a march toward the federal government taking away the guns of citizens. The other argument I've heard is that bad people will always be able to get guns if they want them. This was also the basis of the main objection to the now scrapped Canadian long gun registry. If we look at jurisdictions like the U.K. and Japan which have very restrictive gun ownership laws, these countries see gun deaths which are orders of magnitude lower than in the US. The San Bernardino couple who killed 14 people last week had an arsenal of semi-automatic weapons and ammunition in their home - all of which were legally purchased. As David Frum said last week, the NRA has established conditions where not only nothing can be done about this, but nothing can be said either.
Monday, 30 November 2015
Chiefs 30, Bills 22
CFL Commissioner Jeffrey Orridge unveiled the new Canadian Football League logo at his "State of the League" address on Friday, two days before the league's signature event, the 103rd Grey Cup. The league has now had four different logos since the 1950s and Mr. Orridge hopes that this latest one will help build a new generation of Canadian football fans. The league always seems to put on a good show for the Grey Cup, as it certainly did yesterday, despite the viability of the league appearing at times to be hanging from a thread. It isn't now and I hope that it can continue on for a long time because I like it.
Being a resident of Toronto and an NFL season ticket holder, people assume that I am not a fan of the CFL. Far from it. I can remember very clearly when the Argonauts won the Grey Cup in 1983 in Vancouver, led by back-up quarterback Joe Barnes, running back Cedric Minter and receiver Terry Greer. It was the team's first Cup win since 1952 (hard to believe in a nine or eight team league) and it felt like a big deal at the time. The 1983 Argos season featured big crowds at Exhibition Stadium who rushed the field after each home win. 55,000+ filled the stadium for the Eastern Final against Hamilton, a game won by the Argos on a highly questionable pass interference call against the Ti-Cats. I watched the game in a packed sports bar in London, Ontario.
In November of 1994, I attended an Edmonton Eskimos game at Commonwealth Stadium with my uncle Dave who was a long-time Eskimo season ticket holder. The opponent was the Las Vegas Posse. The game was scheduled to be a home game for the Posse but was moved to Edmonton due, presumably, to a lack of interest and ticket sales in Las Vegas. I think the Eskimos won the game and, later that month, the Grey Cup was won by the BC Lions over the Baltimore Stallions. Baltimore would win the Cup the following year, marking the only time that a non-Canadian team won the CFL championship. The league has obviously been willing to try new strategies to remain viable.
Stephen Brunt was pontificating on the FAN last week about the CFL's problems in Canada's largest city. Argos attendance at the Rogers Centre has been weak for many years and the team receives little coverage in the Toronto media, compared to that given to the Leafs, Blue Jays and Raptors. Brunt observed that on local sports radio call-in shows, the subject of the Argos and the CFL does come up from time to time but he also recalled that it has been literally years since any caller wanted to ask or comment about the team's quarterback, defensive game-planning or needs in the draft. Rather, calls are about the viability of the team, the shortcomings of the stadium or ownership issues. The team has now played its last game at the dome and will make an expanded BMO Field its home beginning in 2016. Capacity for football will be about 30,000. Brunt suggested that, despite the expected lift from the novelty of a new home, that number may be a bit big for the current Toronto CFL appetite. The recent success of the Montreal Allouettes can be attributed to a "scarcity" of tickets in a 20,000 seat stadium which has led to consistent sell-outs. I am happy not to see another football game in the dome which feels cavernously empty even with 35,000 inside. Will I buy a ticket to an Argos game at BMO Field next season? Perhaps I will. Jeffrey Orridge needs me to and he also needs to sell the game to a much younger generation than I represent. I wish him success with that.
As for the Bills, it feels like the season is slowly but surely slipping away. Rex Ryan apparently said that his staff in the booth did not have a good view of Chris Hogan's catch in the 4th quarter which was ruled incomplete. It was clearly a catch and would have been reversed on a challenge, keeping the Bills drive alive. They would have needed a touchdown and a two point conversion to tie. Now, at 5-6, the playoffs are still a possibility with the Houston Texans coming to Orchard Park on Sunday. Amazingly enough, my tickets are still available.
Being a resident of Toronto and an NFL season ticket holder, people assume that I am not a fan of the CFL. Far from it. I can remember very clearly when the Argonauts won the Grey Cup in 1983 in Vancouver, led by back-up quarterback Joe Barnes, running back Cedric Minter and receiver Terry Greer. It was the team's first Cup win since 1952 (hard to believe in a nine or eight team league) and it felt like a big deal at the time. The 1983 Argos season featured big crowds at Exhibition Stadium who rushed the field after each home win. 55,000+ filled the stadium for the Eastern Final against Hamilton, a game won by the Argos on a highly questionable pass interference call against the Ti-Cats. I watched the game in a packed sports bar in London, Ontario.
In November of 1994, I attended an Edmonton Eskimos game at Commonwealth Stadium with my uncle Dave who was a long-time Eskimo season ticket holder. The opponent was the Las Vegas Posse. The game was scheduled to be a home game for the Posse but was moved to Edmonton due, presumably, to a lack of interest and ticket sales in Las Vegas. I think the Eskimos won the game and, later that month, the Grey Cup was won by the BC Lions over the Baltimore Stallions. Baltimore would win the Cup the following year, marking the only time that a non-Canadian team won the CFL championship. The league has obviously been willing to try new strategies to remain viable.
Stephen Brunt was pontificating on the FAN last week about the CFL's problems in Canada's largest city. Argos attendance at the Rogers Centre has been weak for many years and the team receives little coverage in the Toronto media, compared to that given to the Leafs, Blue Jays and Raptors. Brunt observed that on local sports radio call-in shows, the subject of the Argos and the CFL does come up from time to time but he also recalled that it has been literally years since any caller wanted to ask or comment about the team's quarterback, defensive game-planning or needs in the draft. Rather, calls are about the viability of the team, the shortcomings of the stadium or ownership issues. The team has now played its last game at the dome and will make an expanded BMO Field its home beginning in 2016. Capacity for football will be about 30,000. Brunt suggested that, despite the expected lift from the novelty of a new home, that number may be a bit big for the current Toronto CFL appetite. The recent success of the Montreal Allouettes can be attributed to a "scarcity" of tickets in a 20,000 seat stadium which has led to consistent sell-outs. I am happy not to see another football game in the dome which feels cavernously empty even with 35,000 inside. Will I buy a ticket to an Argos game at BMO Field next season? Perhaps I will. Jeffrey Orridge needs me to and he also needs to sell the game to a much younger generation than I represent. I wish him success with that.
As for the Bills, it feels like the season is slowly but surely slipping away. Rex Ryan apparently said that his staff in the booth did not have a good view of Chris Hogan's catch in the 4th quarter which was ruled incomplete. It was clearly a catch and would have been reversed on a challenge, keeping the Bills drive alive. They would have needed a touchdown and a two point conversion to tie. Now, at 5-6, the playoffs are still a possibility with the Houston Texans coming to Orchard Park on Sunday. Amazingly enough, my tickets are still available.
Tuesday, 24 November 2015
Patriots 20, Bills 13
Last night's game was generally quite infuriating to watch. Not only because the Bills offense sputtered with quarterback Tyrod Taylor having a poor night throwing the ball but because the game, which wasn't officially over until its last minute, went WAY past my usual bedtime. This was due obviously to an 8.30pm kick-off but also because of delays from numerous injuries on both sides and several officials' on-field conferences where strange calls were discussed and confirmed. Overall, it was just another loss to New England. Not including last season's week 17 win against the Patriots third stringers, the Bills have beaten the Patriots only once since the opening game of 2003 - a week 3 win in Buffalo in September of 2011.
The week 17 win in Foxboro last season was the one which secured a winning season for Buffalo at 9-7, their first one since 2004 when their record was also 9-7. Of note is that each of the two coaches who guided the team to those 9-7 winning seasons, namely Mike Mularkey (now serving a sentence as the Titans interim head coach) and Doug Marrone, both resigned their positions as head coach of the Bills. Mularkey resigned following the 2005 season after Ralph Wilson brought back Marv Levy to serve as the team's general manager. Mularkey foresaw his own firing, presumably, and Levy then hired Dick Jauron who claimed (and proved) that it is indeed hard to win in the NFL. Marrone's resignation was more mysterious as he bailed out last New Year's Eve after rumours circulated that the team was considering bringing back Bill Polian as general manager (which did not happen). Marrone won the jackpot anyway, landing a job as the offensive line coach for the Jaguars. If coaching football is your chosen career path and you find yourself holding one of the 32 jobs which represent the pinnacle of your profession, would you not hold that job for as long possible regardless of who your team may or may not bring in to be your boss? The Bills could easily finish this season at 9-7, after which Rex Ryan will likely resign. Just to follow the pattern.
If Rex doesn't resign after this season (if the Bills finish 8-8, for example), then he will have two more chances next year to beat the Patriots (and state several more times as those games approach that he has no desire to kiss Belichick's rings) with Brady and Belichick but maybe not many more than that as these two will have to retire at some point. Their schedule is quite favourable the rest of the way and they have a great chance to post another 16-0 season, like they did in 2007. At this point, I'm hoping they are able to do that, not only because the Bills are finished with them this season but because they're just so impressive.
The AFC playoff picture is cloudy now but next week's game will clear things up a little as the 5-5 Bills travel to Kansas City to face the 5-5 Chiefs, who are playing as well as any team in the league now. Then the schedule gets considerably easier with a home game against Houston, followed by 3 straight against NFC East teams before closing out the schedule at home to the Jets. The playoffs are still well within reach for this team. If they can make it and break the 16 year drought, Rex Ryan will need to think long and hard about whether or not to resign.
The week 17 win in Foxboro last season was the one which secured a winning season for Buffalo at 9-7, their first one since 2004 when their record was also 9-7. Of note is that each of the two coaches who guided the team to those 9-7 winning seasons, namely Mike Mularkey (now serving a sentence as the Titans interim head coach) and Doug Marrone, both resigned their positions as head coach of the Bills. Mularkey resigned following the 2005 season after Ralph Wilson brought back Marv Levy to serve as the team's general manager. Mularkey foresaw his own firing, presumably, and Levy then hired Dick Jauron who claimed (and proved) that it is indeed hard to win in the NFL. Marrone's resignation was more mysterious as he bailed out last New Year's Eve after rumours circulated that the team was considering bringing back Bill Polian as general manager (which did not happen). Marrone won the jackpot anyway, landing a job as the offensive line coach for the Jaguars. If coaching football is your chosen career path and you find yourself holding one of the 32 jobs which represent the pinnacle of your profession, would you not hold that job for as long possible regardless of who your team may or may not bring in to be your boss? The Bills could easily finish this season at 9-7, after which Rex Ryan will likely resign. Just to follow the pattern.
If Rex doesn't resign after this season (if the Bills finish 8-8, for example), then he will have two more chances next year to beat the Patriots (and state several more times as those games approach that he has no desire to kiss Belichick's rings) with Brady and Belichick but maybe not many more than that as these two will have to retire at some point. Their schedule is quite favourable the rest of the way and they have a great chance to post another 16-0 season, like they did in 2007. At this point, I'm hoping they are able to do that, not only because the Bills are finished with them this season but because they're just so impressive.
The AFC playoff picture is cloudy now but next week's game will clear things up a little as the 5-5 Bills travel to Kansas City to face the 5-5 Chiefs, who are playing as well as any team in the league now. Then the schedule gets considerably easier with a home game against Houston, followed by 3 straight against NFC East teams before closing out the schedule at home to the Jets. The playoffs are still well within reach for this team. If they can make it and break the 16 year drought, Rex Ryan will need to think long and hard about whether or not to resign.
Monday, 16 November 2015
Bills 22, Jets 17
Meet Garrison Sanborn. He's not a musician or an American civil war general; he is a professional athlete who holds a highly specialized job - perhaps the most specialized position in sports: an NFL long snapper. He and his 31 other long snapping colleagues around the league are paid to propel footballs from the ground, backwards from between their legs, a distance of about 7 yards and about one yard off the ground for field goals and extra point attempts or about 11 yards at waist height to punters. The role of long-snapper is usually a little noticed one, unless, of course, they make a bad snap. The consequences of a bad snap can be disastrous. Good snaps, like good refereeing, are almost never discussed.
Sanborn, from Tampa, Fla, is the 4th highest paid long snapper in the NFL, earning a base salary of $910,000 in 2015. Signed as free agent in 2009 by the Bills, his contract was extended by 3 years in September, 2014 keeping him under contract to the Bills through the 2017 season. He is considered to be one of the most consistent and reliable long snappers in the league but, on Thursday night in the Meadowlands of New Jersey, late in a close game against the Jets, a bad Sanborn snap caused Bills Punter Colton Schmidt to fumble the ball for a second - long enough to prevent him from getting his punt off and giving the Jets the ball deep in Buffalo territory and down by only 5 points. The Bills defence came up big and they hung on to win the game, despite the bad snap. Sanborn hopes for no further notariety this season.
Rex Ryan kept saying, as the game approached, that his return to New Jersey was not the story of this game but his demeanor during his post-game press conference said differently. He was clearly thrilled to have been leaving the Meadowlands with a win and he spoke directly and by name to many in the New York sports press corps with whom he had developed close relationships over his 6 years as head coach there.
The Bills next game represents the ultimate test on their schedule and seems like an impossible assignment: a prime time match-up at Gillette Stadium against the undefeated Patriots next Monday night. The Bills actually won on their last visit there - a season-ending sleeper after the Patriots had home field wrapped up before going on to win the Superbowl. To win, the Bills will need not only their best game in all 3 phases but some turnovers and probably some other forms of luck.
The most entertaining game of week 10 featured those same Patriots against the Giants in the same Meadowlands where the Bills won on Thursday. The Giants literally let the game slip away with both a touchdown pass and an interception "dropped", or at least not held onto long enough late in the game. A very late 54 yard field goal after those drops preserved the Patriots perfect season. The schedule lines up nicely for them the rest of the way and it is entirely possible that yesterday's one point win over the Giants will end up being the closest call they have all season.
As I have said many times over the years, the only way that the Bills will ever have a home playoff game is by winning their division. There simply isn't any other way, I have declared over and over. But that's actually not true as I realized yesterday while hauling huge chucks of hemlock on a fridge cart along our cottage road. If the Bills were to secure the first wildcard spot - the 5th seed in the AFC playoffs, after the 4 division winners - and if both the second wildcard team, the 6th and final seed, and the Bills, were to win two road playoff games each, then the AFC Championship Game would be played in Buffalo. The chances of that scenario unfolding seem about as likely as a Bills win next Monday night. But it is possible. And I like to live in the world of the possible.
Sanborn, from Tampa, Fla, is the 4th highest paid long snapper in the NFL, earning a base salary of $910,000 in 2015. Signed as free agent in 2009 by the Bills, his contract was extended by 3 years in September, 2014 keeping him under contract to the Bills through the 2017 season. He is considered to be one of the most consistent and reliable long snappers in the league but, on Thursday night in the Meadowlands of New Jersey, late in a close game against the Jets, a bad Sanborn snap caused Bills Punter Colton Schmidt to fumble the ball for a second - long enough to prevent him from getting his punt off and giving the Jets the ball deep in Buffalo territory and down by only 5 points. The Bills defence came up big and they hung on to win the game, despite the bad snap. Sanborn hopes for no further notariety this season.
Rex Ryan kept saying, as the game approached, that his return to New Jersey was not the story of this game but his demeanor during his post-game press conference said differently. He was clearly thrilled to have been leaving the Meadowlands with a win and he spoke directly and by name to many in the New York sports press corps with whom he had developed close relationships over his 6 years as head coach there.
The Bills next game represents the ultimate test on their schedule and seems like an impossible assignment: a prime time match-up at Gillette Stadium against the undefeated Patriots next Monday night. The Bills actually won on their last visit there - a season-ending sleeper after the Patriots had home field wrapped up before going on to win the Superbowl. To win, the Bills will need not only their best game in all 3 phases but some turnovers and probably some other forms of luck.
The most entertaining game of week 10 featured those same Patriots against the Giants in the same Meadowlands where the Bills won on Thursday. The Giants literally let the game slip away with both a touchdown pass and an interception "dropped", or at least not held onto long enough late in the game. A very late 54 yard field goal after those drops preserved the Patriots perfect season. The schedule lines up nicely for them the rest of the way and it is entirely possible that yesterday's one point win over the Giants will end up being the closest call they have all season.
As I have said many times over the years, the only way that the Bills will ever have a home playoff game is by winning their division. There simply isn't any other way, I have declared over and over. But that's actually not true as I realized yesterday while hauling huge chucks of hemlock on a fridge cart along our cottage road. If the Bills were to secure the first wildcard spot - the 5th seed in the AFC playoffs, after the 4 division winners - and if both the second wildcard team, the 6th and final seed, and the Bills, were to win two road playoff games each, then the AFC Championship Game would be played in Buffalo. The chances of that scenario unfolding seem about as likely as a Bills win next Monday night. But it is possible. And I like to live in the world of the possible.
Monday, 9 November 2015
Bills 33, Dolphins 17
"Have you crossed together before?" asked the US Border Patrol officer in Lewiston, NY yesterday just after 9am, in keeping with the well-established practice of making sure to ask a question that I have never been asked before. I was with a friend with whom I had never traveled anywhere. The only problem with him that I know of is that he's a long-time Miami Dolphins fan. So much so that he insisted on wearing his Ricky Williams Dolphins game jersey into the stadium (and it earned him a few comments too). He's also a doctor and one with a connection to the auto insurance/IME industry to which I have recently and quite unexpectedly been introduced in my own right. So, we talked a bit about that business and he sort of told me where the industry's bodies are buried and some other juicy stuff too. Turns out that people in the industry, like in all other industries, act in their own self-interest. But the system works more or less satisfactorily and is clearly the product of heavy political pressure to hold and/or lower auto insurance premiums in Ontario.
"No we haven't", I said to the border officer, making a mental note of yet another new question to add to the list. We then declared our alcohol and all other forms of contraband on board and a moment later we were on our way along I 290 toward the bridge to Grand Island on a spectacular November morning.
Being the closest home game to Veteran's Day, the national anthem was sung with an American flag almost as big as the playing field stretched out and then folded up with remarkable speed and precision by military personnel. And a hercules flew over low and steeply banked just as the anthem ended. Americans love this stuff, But they don't wear poppies like we do in Canada. I had a poppy on my Bills lanyard yesterday and it may have been the only in the stadium.
Poppies or not, the Bills didn't disappoint their fans yesterday as they snapped a three game home losing streak, powered by strong performances from some key players on offense like Sammy Watkins, LeSean McCoy and Tyrod Taylor. All looked healthy although McCoy was slow to get up on a fourth quarter play but Karlos Williams, himself back from a concussion a few weeks ago, finished the game, and the Dolphins, off. With me in the stands, the Bills home record is 2-0. Without me, its 0-3.
So the Bills, having swept the Dolphins this year, find themselves with three days to prepare for another critical division tilt against the Jets which also features Rex Ryan's first trip to the Meadowlands since being fired after coaching there for the past six seasons. The league, in its constant effort to create and market new product lines, has assigned official Christmas colours to each team for Thursday's game. The Bills will be dressed entirely in red and the Jets entirely in green. At 4-4, a Bills win would bring them even with the Jets who are now 5-3. The Patriots will win the division of course and could easily run the table like they did in 2007. The race for the two AFC wildcard spots looks to still be wide open at the mid-point of the season.
Otherwise big changes are happening. There's a new Prime Minister and cabinet in place and I have a new place to go on weekdays now. I take the Sheppard subway as far east as it runs and then get on a bus and go further east to the Consumer's Road Area (CRA) where I get off the bus and enter a non-descript CRA office building. It isn't a signature location for the city in terms of the quality of the local architecture or the lunch options or much else really but, ever so slowly, for reasons I can't explain, it is growing on me. I'll be sure to include a full description of my experience in the CRA in the long-form census comments section.
"No we haven't", I said to the border officer, making a mental note of yet another new question to add to the list. We then declared our alcohol and all other forms of contraband on board and a moment later we were on our way along I 290 toward the bridge to Grand Island on a spectacular November morning.
Being the closest home game to Veteran's Day, the national anthem was sung with an American flag almost as big as the playing field stretched out and then folded up with remarkable speed and precision by military personnel. And a hercules flew over low and steeply banked just as the anthem ended. Americans love this stuff, But they don't wear poppies like we do in Canada. I had a poppy on my Bills lanyard yesterday and it may have been the only in the stadium.
Poppies or not, the Bills didn't disappoint their fans yesterday as they snapped a three game home losing streak, powered by strong performances from some key players on offense like Sammy Watkins, LeSean McCoy and Tyrod Taylor. All looked healthy although McCoy was slow to get up on a fourth quarter play but Karlos Williams, himself back from a concussion a few weeks ago, finished the game, and the Dolphins, off. With me in the stands, the Bills home record is 2-0. Without me, its 0-3.
So the Bills, having swept the Dolphins this year, find themselves with three days to prepare for another critical division tilt against the Jets which also features Rex Ryan's first trip to the Meadowlands since being fired after coaching there for the past six seasons. The league, in its constant effort to create and market new product lines, has assigned official Christmas colours to each team for Thursday's game. The Bills will be dressed entirely in red and the Jets entirely in green. At 4-4, a Bills win would bring them even with the Jets who are now 5-3. The Patriots will win the division of course and could easily run the table like they did in 2007. The race for the two AFC wildcard spots looks to still be wide open at the mid-point of the season.
Otherwise big changes are happening. There's a new Prime Minister and cabinet in place and I have a new place to go on weekdays now. I take the Sheppard subway as far east as it runs and then get on a bus and go further east to the Consumer's Road Area (CRA) where I get off the bus and enter a non-descript CRA office building. It isn't a signature location for the city in terms of the quality of the local architecture or the lunch options or much else really but, ever so slowly, for reasons I can't explain, it is growing on me. I'll be sure to include a full description of my experience in the CRA in the long-form census comments section.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)