Dolphins 34, Bills 31 (OT)

I've never been big on questioning coaching decisions. Why does he play that defenceman on power plays? Why didn't he take that pitcher out after the last inning? Why are they running the ball on third down and seven? I just assume that coaches in professional sports know far more than me about the factors they need to to consider when making the decisions they make - and they obviously do. But questioning coaching decisions in the prerogative of fans and especially those who pay their hard-earned after tax money to buy tickets to games. I just don't happen to do it very much. But I certainly did it once on Christmas Eve.

With four minutes remaining in the overtime period of Saturday's game in Orchard Park with the Bills facing a fourth down and three, Rex Ryan decided to punt the ball. Had the game been a 10-10 defensive struggle, his hope that his defence would get a stop and get the ball back with enough time to score in a game they had to win to stay alive might have been realistic. But this was a 31-31 game where both offences were running in high gear for the whole game - including Buffalo's which set a single game offensive production record with 589 yards from scrimmage. Ryan's post-game claim that "any coach in America would have done the same thing" seemed almost delusional. It is true that if they had gone for the first down on that fourth and three and not made it, the game would have been over. Punting the ball away at that point simply ended the Bills remote playoff chances in a slow and painful way until they allowed Jay Ajayi to rumble for 60 yards against 10 defenders to set up the game winning field goal. Ryan is the head coach and the decision was his to make, he made it and they lost game. That's sports. I guess the real thing I questioned was his claim that he thought that his defence had a better shot at a three and out than his offence did at picking up three yards after posting almost 600 in the game up to that point. Had he chosen to try for the first down and had they not made it, fans would have questioned that decision too. I would like to think that I would not have been among them.

So, the Bills are out of the playoffs for the 17th consecutive season. If they beat the Jets next week, they will finish 8-8 and Rex's record over two seasons will be a yawn inducing 16-16. I think he will be back next year but the real question at this point will be what they do with their quarterback Tyrod Taylor. In a league where contracts are not guaranteed, there are many options. The team has the right, under a contract extension signed during training camp, to retain Taylor in 2017 but at a steep price of $27.5 million. If they decide that they want to go in a different direction (current third stringer Cardale Jones, through free agency or through the draft), then they will just cut him and he's a free agent. If they want to retain him but not at $27.5 million, they could try to re-negotiate the deal or they choose a more creative path which would involve cutting him, letting him see the options available to him in free agency and, assuming that he isn't offered $27.5 million by another team (which seems unlikely), they could themselves sign him as a free agent at a salary more in line with his performance this season. His performance was solid in some respects but his throwing accuracy is still below average for an NFL quarterback and most observers agree that he is not worth $27.5 million to the Bills or to any other team. Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo will be a free agent this off-season.

The Dolphins have now officially made the playoffs as all six AFC teams have been determined going into week 17. In the NFC, the game next Sunday night at Ford Field between Detroit and Green Bay will determine the winner of the NFC North which comes with a home playoff game. The other important game involves Washington which can claim a wildcard spot with a win over the Giants who have nothing to play for. The AFC West could still be won by the Chiefs if they can beat the Chargers and if the Raiders, who suffered a devastating loss of their star quarterback Derek Carr, lose to the Broncos.



    

Bills 33, Browns 13

It feels like we're on a perpetual course of mediocrity as the Bills grind their way to the end of another 8-8 season - or 7-9 or 9-7 - whatever. Its not disastrous like 2-14 where you blow it up and start over but they just can't take it to the next level and be one of the 12 NFL teams which make the playoffs rather than perpetually being one of the 20 that doesn't. What would I do if were Terry Pegula? Tough decision for sure. Except for a few personal items I would purchase.

The Bills are 6-1 against teams with losing records (a week 2 loss to the Jets) and a reciprocal 1-6 against teams with winning records (a win at New England with Brady out) for a nice even record of 7-7. Should Rex Ryan be dismissed with 3 years remaining on his $5 million a year contract? I can see valid arguments on each side but I think I'm coming around to predicting and maybe even reluctantly hoping that they bring him back for one more try. I mean a new coach means a new system, new assistants and, most importantly an admission on the owner's part that he hired the wrong guy. And maybe Rex and Tyrod can somehow find their mojo in year 3. The owner will also have to consider the sentiment of the fan base and I'm not sure how that breaks down. I'm thinking more Bills fans would lean to wanting Rex fired than not but I think it would be close.

How good was that Air Force Reserve Celebration Bowl game, won by the Grambling State Tigers 10-9 over the North Carolina Central Eagles? Well, not that great but it was on channel 7 on my HD antenna on Saturday so, having never heard of this particular bowl game, I googled it. Turns out that the "Celebration Bowl", which has been sponsored by the Air Force Reserve through its first two years, is a game played between the winners of the two NCAA Division 1 athletic conferences which are predominantly comprised of what I gather are known as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The Celebration bowl is the championship game of Black College Football. Its "payout" - an important element of any bowl game - is $1 million per school. The Rose Bowl's payout is $35 million per school.

Then came the New Mexico Bowl which, amazingly, was won by the New Mexico Lobos 23-20 over those pesky Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners. Having spent 5 days exploring, hiking and camping in New Mexico a few years ago, I'm immediately drawn to anything remotely related to or even mentioning New Mexico which was a spectacular place to visit. We stayed in very well maintained State Campgrounds with showers, laundry and free firewood for $8 a night. The mountains, the hiking, the dessert, the cactus, the odd ghost town - were all fantastic but what I loved was that it was vast, remote and sparsely populated. That's also why the US military likes it for various training ranges and whatever else they may or may not do there. Anyway the New Mexico Bowl was not quite as good as New Mexico itself but how many bowl games really are?

Tonight we have the Miami Beach Bowl and tomorrow the Boca Raton Bowl so the excitement just keeps building as we approach the 4 team playoff which has two games set to go on New Year's Eve: the Peach Bowl between No.1 Alabama and No. 4 Washington then the Fiesta Bowl between No. 2 Clemson and No.3 Ohio State. The National Championship is January 9th. This year, including the 3 games which will determine the national champion, there are 44 bowl games. I promise not to review very many more of them.

Next up for the Bills: a Christmas Eve home game on Saturday against their division rivals, the 9-5 Miami Dolphins who will have plenty to play for as they are in the thick of the AFC playoff race. The Dolphins record in Buffalo in December isn't good. Frozen fish squish just fine.







  

Steelers 27, Bills 20

Maybe the Pegulas don't really look forward to December. For the third consecutive year - every December since they acquired the Buffalo Bills - turmoil surrounds their football team. Multiple reports surfaced before yesterday's game that a power struggle was playing out at One Bills Drive between the head coach and the general manager about who should start under centre for the team's final three or four games.

Rex Ryan apparently still believes that Tyrod Taylor is the team's quarterback of the future and should start the remainder of the team's games as long as he's healthy. Doug Whaley wants to see third stringer and 2016 fourth round draft pick Cardale Jones start the team's last three games to see how he does on a big stage, although after the season is lost, as it now is. The reports suggested that Ryan could be gone as early as today (Monday). If there is any truth to this, then it seems to me that Ryan could save his job by coming around on the quarterback issue and agreeing to start Cardale Jones, if he wants to. I just wonder how EJ Manuel must feel this morning. Maybe he's permanently stuck at the two spot in the Bills quarterback depth chart. Ryan has more than $16 million remaining on his five year contract and, unlike the players he coaches, his money is guaranteed.

Yesterday's game was not nearly as close as the score indicates. Taylor and the Bills offense was awful and the defense wasn't much better although they did capitalize on some errant throws by Ben Roethlisberger. I actually saw only the first and fourth quarters as I decided to go out cross-country skiing between 1.30 and 3pm. It was lovely as it will be today with another 15cm having fallen here in Muskoka overnight.

Like many sports fans in southern Ontario, I tuned in to the MLS Championship game on Saturday night. I even watched a bit of the pre-game discussions, mostly among unknown (to me at least) British analysts. Before Saturday, the only soccer games I have ever consciously tuned it for have been World Cup finals or perhaps semi-finals. I don't think I had seen a minute of a TFC game on television but I had heard from many sources that attending a game live makes for a highly enjoyable event. I think I'm even more mystified about the game now than I was last week.

First, the semi-final was a two-game total goal format (I can remember when the CFL did this in its conference finals up to the 1970s) between Toronto and Montreal while the league championship is only a single game. Seems odd. The game itself wasn't particularly interesting to me and I found myself back to the Leaf game in Boston before long. But I did keep switching back and watched quite a bit of it. The game, for me, lacked a sense of urgency that could reasonably be expected for a championship game. TFC had the better chances and I read the next morning that the X Box team didn't register a shot on goal for the entire game, including extra time, injury time and the extra minute or two that the referees let the teams play beyond the injury time.

The basic problem with soccer for most North American sports fans is that it is simply too difficult to score goals. I have no idea what a solution for this might look like. I can remember a few years ago a soccer expert explaining the difference between soccer and the four North American sports this way: he said that North American sports fans want their sports to "explode" while soccer is a game which simply "unfolds". Yes, it unfolds and it can be very pleasing to watch but when the score, after 120 minutes plus injury time, is nil/nil, maybe it needs to explode just a little. Then, almost like a coin toss, the game is decided on penalty kicks because the concept of a sudden-death, "play until someone scores" approach would, apparently, lead to highly defensive play on each side and the game would go on and on and on. One suggestion I can think of is to allow multiple - hey how about unlimited - substitutions during extra time to increase the chances of a goal or, at the very least, a shot on goal. Or just let the game end in a tie. Both teams could then half-heartedly hoist the cup.

The Bills welcome their sorry Lake Erie cousins, the 0-13 Cleveland Browns, this weekend in Orchard Park. It will be one hot ticket. Unfortunately, I have two.

Raiders 38, Bills 24

After taking a one point lead into halftime yesterday in Oakland, the Bills came out of the gate in third quarter, inspired by another long run from scrimmage by LeSean McCoy, and promptly scored two touchdowns to take what looked like a comfortable 24-9 lead. The Raiders, whose playoff drought dates back to 2002 when they went to the Superbowl and lost to Tampa Bay, were 0 for the last 72 times they found themselves trailing by 15 or more points. Make that 1 for 72 now as they roared back with 29 unanswered points in less than 12 minutes of play. And the Bills last won in Oakland in 1966.

Tied with the Patriots at 10-2, the Raiders are in a strong position to earn a first round bye in the AFC playoffs, if not home field advantage throughout. Raider fans have waited a long time for this but Bills fans have three years on them and New Era Field doesn't have any of its upper deck sections covered with tight fitting tarps because the seats can't be sold. The stadium in Oakland is old and decrepit but the sightlines from those tarped off sections look ok and it seems surprising to me that, in this very successful season, the team wouldn't open them up for sale. The Raiders may well end up in Las Vegas before long and the league apparently has a hate on for its owner, Mark Davis. In Oakland, success on the field isn't matched by overall franchise success. But the most dedicated members of Raider Nation still stand above any other fan base in terms of the elaborate make-up and costumes they don on Sundays at the Black Hole. Every NFL highlight package on weeks when the Raiders play at home includes a look at some of them. For these guys, it's Halloween eight times every year.

As for the Bills, hopes for an end to the playoff drought are all but gone. Winning out to finish 10-6 probably won't get it done as it looks to me like both wildcard teams will come from the AFC West which has four strong teams this year. One again, Bills fans are faced with December home games where the team is playing for next year's roster positions, for pride or perhaps to play a spoiler role as they did last year against the Jets in week 17. The Steelers come to Orchard Park next week to kick off three straight December home games. Then the winless Cleveland Browns come in on December 18th and the Dophins, who lost badly yesterday, come in on Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas.

I keep hoping - yearning, to use a Seinfeld reference - for Tyrod Taylor to show that he is a proficient NFL passer but he keeps letting me down. Until yesterday, he had been very solid at ball protection and his scrambling ability is as good or better than any quarterback in the league but his passing skills just aren't there and yesterday was another good example as he missed several open receivers and couldn't get the right touch on some short passes either. I'm afraid that the Bills will have to look once again to the draft to try to nail down the most important position in the game. Jim Kelly retired 20 years ago and the team is still looking for his replacement.

The College football four-team playoff participants were announced yesterday: Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson and Washington. I think that it's only a matter of time before the playoff is expanded to eight teams as at least two of the teams left out of the tournament this year (Michigan and Penn State, both from the Big Ten) are at least as good as Washington. In an eight team playoff, the 9th and 10th best teams will always make similar arguments but still....

I've left politics alone on this blog since the US election and I intend to stick with that approach. However, rather than submitting my usual monthly sports column for True North Perspective, I decided to write an article on the Electoral College for December's issue. You can read it here.

Bills 28, Jaguars 21

I have no idea if Jim Harbaugh and Gus Bradley are friends but they might consider having lunch this week to commiserate on their tough losses this past weekend. Both coaches feel, quite rightly, that poor officiating cost their teams games. Harbaugh, whose Michigan Wolverines dropped an overtime game in Columbus to the Ohio State Buckeyes, focused on the officiating in his post-game press conference, pointing out three specific calls which went against his team - any of which he says would have changed the outcome of the game. The three calls included two pass interference incidents - one called against a Michigan player on what Harbaugh says was an uncatchable ball and another non-call involving a Michigan receiver who was clearly interfered with. The third involved a ball spot on a fourth down run in the second overtime by Buckeyes quarterback JT Barrett on which Harbaugh says his view from the sideline clearly indicated that he was 6 inches short. Even after a review, Ohio State was awarded a first down. The right call would have ended the game and sent the Wolverines into the playoff. Harbaugh didn't mention the turnovers his team committed, any of which would have been crucial to the outcome of the game, had they not occurred. So, Michigan will play in some bowl game or other in a few weeks.

Yesterday in Orchard Park, the Jacksonville Jaguars looked like the team that wanted the game more than the Bills did, especially in the first half. The Jaguars defense in particular looked well prepared as they held the Bills and their league-leading power running attack in check through 30 minutes. But LeSean McCoy found the endzone just before halftime and again on a 75 yard run to open the third quarter and the Bills held on to win a game in which they were outplayed. But Jaguars coach Gus Bradley also pointed to three bad calls against his team which he felt cost them the game. But Bradley, whose record as Jags head coach now stands at 14-45, should also look in the mirror when he reflects on the game as he failed to call a time-out before the play clock expired on a critical fourth down play near the end of the game. The Jags took a five yard penalty on the play then came up short, turned the ball over on downs and let the Bills run out the clock. The Jaguars look to be a decent team but, at 2-9, are set to have another high draft pick in April. I've said it before but Doug Marrone really hit the jackpot two years ago when he resigned as Bills head coach and ended up settling for one of the least prestigious coaching positions in the NFL: offensive line coach with the Jaguars.

There were more than 110,000 fans at the Horseshoe in Columbus on Saturday. A few hours drive away, in Hamilton, Ontario, there were considerably fewer than 10,000 fans on hand at Tim Horton's Field for the Vanier Cup. Some estimates were that the actual attendance was not much more than 5,000 but those who did bother to show up were treated to a very entertaining and close game won by the Laval Rouge et Or 31-26 over the Calgary Dinosaurs.

Despite the ongoing attendance issues with Canadian football in southern Ontario, both championship games on the weekend were excellent, including the Grey Cup game, most of which I did watch while checking in on the Jets / Patriots game and later the Chiefs / Broncos. The stands at BMO Field looked fully occupied from what I could see and the teams served up an overtime thriller won by 41 year-old Henry Burris and the Ottawa Redblacks. After plenty of unfortunate negative PR leading up to the game, including a pizza joint in Hamilton offering two tickets to the game with the order of a large pizza, the CFL always seems to redeem itself on Grey Cup day with a compelling, entertaining and close game. I wonder if the league is looking for a way to gracefully exit the Toronto market.

The Bills make their third (and final, except for a possible playoff game) trip to the west coast next Sunday to face the 9-2 Raiders at the Black Hole. Maybe the Raiders will be looking ahead to their game four days later at Kansas City.

Bills 16, Bengals 12

I don't think that Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor threw the ball down field even once during yesterday's game in Cincinnati. It felt infuriating to me at times - partly because the Bills passing attack just wasn't there yesterday and partly because watching on TV, the down field coverage can't be seen. But I kept wanting him to throw it deep anyway. Surely one receiver can get open, I thought. Give one of them a chance to make a play, I said to myself as the wind and snow pelted against the cottage windows. But, in keeping with his instinct to protect the ball, Taylor threw only short passes, did plenty of scrambling and relied on a formidable running game and his team's defense which played very well yesterday, especially in the second half.

The Bills ran for 183 yards yesterday while Taylor's passing statistics looked weak at 19 for 27 for 159 yards and one interception. The interception was a poor decision to be sure but hardly disastrous as it gave the Bengals the ball at their own one yard line. The defense held the Bengals to 93 yards rushing and 300 yards in total. It was a hard-fought but exceedingly frustrating game to watch as the ineptitude of the Bills passing game persisted. But a win is a win and a loss would have almost ended any playoff hopes the team has, however slim they might be.

I have no data to back this up but it feels like there have been more injuries in the league this year than in previous years. Yesterday was no exception as Cincinnati star receiver AJ Green went down with a hamstring on the first series and is likely gone for the season. Then, Bills receiver Robert Woods went out with a knee and LeSean McCoy left the game with a dislocated thumb. Add those injuries to the loss of centre Eric Wood two weeks ago, not to mention Sammy Watkins who really hasn't played this year at all with an ailing foot. The injury to the Panthers Luke Kuechly on Thursday night drew attention as his teary reaction to another concussion brought the issue of head injuries to the surface once again.

Now at 5-5, the Bills have what looks to be an easy game next week against the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars in Orchard Park before heading to Oakland the following week to face the resurgent Raiders. Then, 3 straight home games against the Steelers, Browns and Dolphins before closing out the season at the Meadowlands against the Jets. 10-6 usually gets you in to the playoffs. Its a steep hill to climb but not out of the question.

Besides the Bills game next weekend, there are three other games I will be watching - two to be played on Canadian soil and the other south of the border. In chronological order, the first is on Saturday at noon and features the No.3 ranked Michigan Wolverines facing the No.2 Ohio State Buckeyes at the Horseshoe in Columbus. The annual end-of-season rivalry game has more riding on it this year than it has since probably 2003. Michigan has not won in Columbus since 2000. The winner is guaranteed a spot in the 4 team college football playoff and the loser will likely miss out.

Next up is the Vanier Cup, the Canadian University football championship game, at Tim Horton's Field in Hamilton on Saturday at 1pm between the Laval Rouge et Or and the Calgary Dinosaurs. And, on Sunday the 104th Grey Cup kicks off at 6.30pm at BMO Field in Toronto between the Ottawa Redblacks and the Calgary Stampeders. Canadian football fans in Calgary have two good reasons to travel to southern Ontario next weekend. I don't think that they will need to worry about getting tickets for either game.



 

Seahawks 31, Bills 25

Rex Ryan was relatively calm in his post-game press conference in Seattle. Bills beat reporters, among others, were expecting him be breathing fire after a heartbreaking down-to-the-last-play loss in the the Bills first trip to the Pacific Northwest since 2004. If it were a baseball game, Ryan surely would have been ejected by referee Walt Anderson just before halftime after he expressed his outrage to him at a non-call on Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman. Sherman was as clearly offside as a player could be on a Dan Carpenter field goal attempt with three seconds left in the half. Officials flagged the offside but no further penalty was called on Sherman who continued into the backfield and slammed into Carpenter's plant leg and knocked him to the ground.

When a punter is fouled as or after he punts, there are two types of penalties which can be called: "running into the kicker" which is a five yard penalty or "roughing the kicker", a personal foul which carries a 15 yard penalty. It seemed clear to me that, notwithstanding Carpenter's embellishment of his leg injury, a personal foul should have been called. Then, the officials botched the lead-up to Carpenter's actual kick attempt, finally placing the ball on the field with less than five seconds remaining on the play clock. After the delay of game penalty, Carpenter missed the kick. Ryan was understandably livid in the moment but, presumably having learned how to avoid fines from the league office for comments on officiating, simply said that he would have made a different call on the Sherman play. He was also obviously proud of how his team competed in the game - and rightfully so.

Ryan was asked if he thought that last night's game was Tyrod Taylor's best one in a Bills uniform. He replied by saying that Taylor plays well every game and that he isn't sure why this opinion isn't more widely shared. Despite throwing one needless and careless interception (only the Bills 5th turnover through nine games), Taylor demonstrated his usual elusiveness in the pocket and his consistent ball protection instinct but he also had a pretty good night throwing the ball, following two games where he did not. The Bills defence was also solid in the second half after a shaky first 30 minutes. And, the game was theirs to win on the last series and the last play where Taylor's pass sailed through the endzone. Was Robert Woods held on that last play? Didn't look like it to me but a defensive holding or pass interference call on the play would have gone a long way to righting the officiating wrong from the end of the first half.  

With nine games down and seven to go, the Bills probably have to win six of them to have a realistic shot a wildcard spot. With road games in Cincinnati and Oakland and a home date with the Steelers on the schedule, they have a tough road. At 4-5, the Bills look to be close to a lock to extend the NFL's longest playoff drought which dates back to the Music City Miracle which followed the 1999 season.

Before the game, I looked up the history of the Bills playing on Monday night. With a couple of exceptions, it isn't pretty. The most memorable game for me was the October, 2007 game against Dallas where the heavily favoured Cowboys eked out a 25-24 win after a successful onside kick and a 53 yard field goal as time ran out. The Bills are 2-9 in their last 11 Monday night games.

The history of Monday Night Football is also fascinating. Thanks almost entirely to a man named Roone Arledge who convinced his skeptical bosses at ABC (CBS and NBC had passed on the idea, thinking that football fans would not watch a game on a Monday night) to take a chance on it in 1970. Arledge introduced many innovative ideas to the prime time broadcast, including the use of multiple cameras and celebrity guest appearances in the broadcast booth, the most famous of which was Howard Cosell's 1974 interview with John Lennon. Six years later, Cosell announced, during a live broadcast of Monday Night Football, that Lennon was dead, making ABC the first network to break the story.

To my American friends, I wish you a successful election today. NFL fans in southern California will be paying close attention to a proposition on the ballot in the San Diego area where voters will choose whether or not to allocate tax dollars for a new stadium for the Chargers. Only in America.