At least the Bills didn't lose as badly as the Acadia Axemen did. After the Michigan game was out of hand on Saturday afternoon, I noticed that the Uteck Bowl was on and, since my alma mater was playing in the game, I decided to check it out. The score when I flipped to it, which I thought was a typo at first, read Western 74, Acadia 3. The Mustangs went on to score another touchdown - just to be sure I guess - making the final score in Wolfville, N.S. 81-3. Western will face the Laval Rouge et Or, winners of the Mitchell Bowl, in the Vanier Cup in Hamilton on Saturday.
As bad as Acadia's run defence was on Saturday (and it was pretty bad), Nathan Peterman's first half of football as an NFL starting quarterback was arguably worse. I think what we saw was the extreme swinging of the pendulum from the conservative play of Tyrod Taylor through his first two and a half seasons as Bills quarterback to a young player who thought he would try tossing the ball all over the yard in order to distinguish himself from his predecessor. Well, he threw it all over the yard alright and proved that if you throw 5 interceptions in the first half, your team will be down by 30 points by the time the coach benches you in favour of the guy they benched to give you a shot. Ball protection has been Tyrod Taylor's signature trait in his career in Buffalo and it is one which I value this morning more then ever. He settles for too many check-downs; he's afraid to throw the ball down the field; he relies on his legs too much, he needs to open up the passing game and take some chances......these have been the Tyrod Taylor naysayers criticisms. I, for one, love his instinct for ball protection and, yes I wish he could generate some bigger plays in the passing game but his ability to avoid the disastrous play has served him and his team well - even if the fans and the coaching staff haven't fully appreciated it.
I have no idea what Sean McDermott is going to do next week going into Kansas City. He stuck his neck out by making the quarterback switch last week and it backfired spectacularly. Will he double down and give Peterman another shot or does he chalk it up to a failed experiment and stick with Taylor? He certainly has the confidence of ownership so his view on the question will be at least be medium term if not long term. My guess is that Peterman starts again on Sunday at Arrrowhead. It just seems like Taylor now has no shot at being under centre in Buffalo in 2018 with a strong quarterback class in next spring's draft and the Bills improving their draft position with each passing week. So, if they still want to see what they have in Peterman - recognizing that one really bad half can not define a player - then giving him another shot is the logical decision. When they were at 5-2, the goal was to make the playoffs for the first time in 17 years. Now, even though they are theoretically very much in the hunt for a wildcard spot, it feels like the season is slipping away with 3 lop-sided losses since beating the Raiders. It should be said that the real elephant in the Bills locker room is the defence which appears to be entirely unable to stop the run. Maybe Marcel Dareus would have helped over these past 3 weeks.
Back to Canadian football which now moves into its final week. Thanks to the best traveling fans in the CFL, the Toronto Argonauts drew just under 25,000 at BMO Field for the Eastern Final where the visiting Green Rider fans left disappointed after their team came all the way back only to lose at the end. So, the Grey Cup in Ottawa will be the Argos against the Calgary Stampeders - the same match-up as the very first Grey Cup game I can remember in 1971 where the Joe Theisman led Argos fell short of winning the game on a late fumble near the Stampeder goal line by Leon "X-Ray" McQuay at a rainy Empire Stadium in Vancouver.
I'm siting inside the cottage as I write this. It sure looks like winter in the early morning twilight with the temperature at minus 7 and light snow falling on the 10cm we already have from the night before. The woodstove is pumping out the heat, a pot of tea made and the porridge is on. We will hike around the lake and sauna before we leave today. Who cares about football anyway?
Commentary on the Buffalo Bills, politics and whatever else is on my mind
Monday, 20 November 2017
Monday, 13 November 2017
Saints 47, Bills 10
We were already on the 219 headed north toward downtown Buffalo and the Peace Bridge when John Murphy, radio play-by-play announcer for the Bills, read off some statistics from the disastrous first three quarters of yesterday's debacle in Orchard Park. The one which stood out for me was the first downs earned by each team: The Saints had 30 and the Bills had 4, including none at all in the third quarter. I have heard football pundits who have run out of topics to address speculate about how the best college football team might fare against even the worst NFL team and yesterday's box score comes close to what they predicted. One even said that it would be extremely difficult for a college team's offence to get any first downs against an NFL defence. Well, yesterday the Bills ended up with 10 of them after Nathan Peterson mopped up at quarterback in garbage time. The box score through three quarters accurately reflected the ugliness for Bills fans.
The game started well enough for the home crowd with LeSean McCoy ripping off a 35 yard run on the second play from scrimmage and then Tyrod Taylor got the Bills deep in Saints territory with a 13 yard keeper before the drive stalled and the Bills settled for a field goal and an early lead. Apart from the Bills defence recovering a Saints fumble later in the first quarter, the rest of the game film should be erased in its entirety. The Saints offence was a well-oiled machine, gaining almost 300 yards on the ground with Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara both going over 100 yards each. When he wasn't handing the ball off to either running back, Drew Brees, who found the Buffalo pass rush to be virtually undetectable, was able to pass for a pedestrian sounding 184 yards, easily and repeatedly finding open receivers for first downs. Turns out that the Saints punter needn't have even bothered to dress for the game - or make the trip to Western New York at all as his services were not required. Not even once. That's right, apart from the first quarter turnover and kneel downs at the end of the game and the end of the first half, every Saints drive resulted in points.
Our strategy of waiting for a colder weather game with more importance and the excitement and pressure of the Bills trying to keep pace with the Patriots in the division or at least stay in the hunt in the AFC wildcard playoff race, didn't work. At least not in terms of seeing a competitive game. The stadium was as quiet as I can remember it and I've been there about 60 times over the last 30 years. If the comeback game - the Miracle at Rich - in January, 1993 was the best game I've ever seen live, yesterday's was probably the worst one. We left with about 8 minutes remaining in the third quarter and John Murphy was describing the final few painful seconds of the game as we were just about to drive across the Peace Bridge. On the bright side, at least it made for an easy exit from the parking lot, no waiting at the border and an early arrival home. I half-heartedly hoped that the Broncos might upset the Patriots last night and preserve a slim chance for the Bills to catch them in the division with two head-to-head games still to come in December. I think I'm dreading those games now.
I have noticed in recent years - I guess since 9/11 - that US Border Patrol officers have an amazing ability to ask a question, every time I cross, which I have never been asked before. It seems hard to believe because how many different questions are there to ask of 2 men in their mid-50's, decked out in Bills gear at 9am on a Sunday at the Lewiston crossing? "What is your citizenship?", "Where are you going?", "What are you bringing with you?" We always get those questions but then there is always a question which I presume is designed to take us out of our comfort zone in order to see how we respond in terms of the actual answer or our body language, or if we pause before answering or look or seem uncomfortable in some way. During the outbreak of Mad Cow Disease, we were regularly asked if we were bringing beef in the USA. A few years ago, one officer asked repeatedly if either of us had ever been arrested. Yesterday, we were asked a question I have definitely never been asked at a border crossing before. After advising the officer that we had 6 cans of beer with us, with a look of curiosity he asked "Is that going to be enough?". I think it was a rhetorical question but the irony of course is that it wasn't nearly enough.
The game started well enough for the home crowd with LeSean McCoy ripping off a 35 yard run on the second play from scrimmage and then Tyrod Taylor got the Bills deep in Saints territory with a 13 yard keeper before the drive stalled and the Bills settled for a field goal and an early lead. Apart from the Bills defence recovering a Saints fumble later in the first quarter, the rest of the game film should be erased in its entirety. The Saints offence was a well-oiled machine, gaining almost 300 yards on the ground with Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara both going over 100 yards each. When he wasn't handing the ball off to either running back, Drew Brees, who found the Buffalo pass rush to be virtually undetectable, was able to pass for a pedestrian sounding 184 yards, easily and repeatedly finding open receivers for first downs. Turns out that the Saints punter needn't have even bothered to dress for the game - or make the trip to Western New York at all as his services were not required. Not even once. That's right, apart from the first quarter turnover and kneel downs at the end of the game and the end of the first half, every Saints drive resulted in points.
Our strategy of waiting for a colder weather game with more importance and the excitement and pressure of the Bills trying to keep pace with the Patriots in the division or at least stay in the hunt in the AFC wildcard playoff race, didn't work. At least not in terms of seeing a competitive game. The stadium was as quiet as I can remember it and I've been there about 60 times over the last 30 years. If the comeback game - the Miracle at Rich - in January, 1993 was the best game I've ever seen live, yesterday's was probably the worst one. We left with about 8 minutes remaining in the third quarter and John Murphy was describing the final few painful seconds of the game as we were just about to drive across the Peace Bridge. On the bright side, at least it made for an easy exit from the parking lot, no waiting at the border and an early arrival home. I half-heartedly hoped that the Broncos might upset the Patriots last night and preserve a slim chance for the Bills to catch them in the division with two head-to-head games still to come in December. I think I'm dreading those games now.
I have noticed in recent years - I guess since 9/11 - that US Border Patrol officers have an amazing ability to ask a question, every time I cross, which I have never been asked before. It seems hard to believe because how many different questions are there to ask of 2 men in their mid-50's, decked out in Bills gear at 9am on a Sunday at the Lewiston crossing? "What is your citizenship?", "Where are you going?", "What are you bringing with you?" We always get those questions but then there is always a question which I presume is designed to take us out of our comfort zone in order to see how we respond in terms of the actual answer or our body language, or if we pause before answering or look or seem uncomfortable in some way. During the outbreak of Mad Cow Disease, we were regularly asked if we were bringing beef in the USA. A few years ago, one officer asked repeatedly if either of us had ever been arrested. Yesterday, we were asked a question I have definitely never been asked at a border crossing before. After advising the officer that we had 6 cans of beer with us, with a look of curiosity he asked "Is that going to be enough?". I think it was a rhetorical question but the irony of course is that it wasn't nearly enough.
Monday, 6 November 2017
Jets 34, Bills 21
Jerry Sullivan of the Buffalo News put it best in his post-game column: "I can't blame Bills fans who are conditioned to expect calamity when things seem most promising". Over the course of what is known throughout the fan base as the "Drought" (as in, not making the NFL playoffs since 1999 - the longest current streak of non-playoff seasons in the league), Sullivan ominously observed that, over the course of the last 17 years, the team often hits the wall after 5 wins. And, after citing several examples, I'm afraid that he's right.
The Thursday night game 4 days ago was forgettable from the start. The Bills first offensive play from scrimmage was a 12 yard sack of Taylor after the right side of the line allowed a full Jets jailbreak. They never recovered on either side of the ball. Josh McCown, the journeyman quarterback now playing for his eighth NFL team looked like the second coming of YA Tittle (for you, Scott B) as the Jets built a 31-7 lead before I turned off the TV and went to sleep. I gather that the Bills managed to score a couple of touchdowns late in the game to make the score look more reasonable.
I wonder about the future of the the NFL's full slate of Thursday night games. Don Banks, the long-time NFL writer and weekly commentator on Bob McCown's Prime Time Sports said last week that he sees the Thursday night schedule as a prime target for the league to address the problem of over-saturation if it chooses to do so - which it should. The old adage seems to have been turned around for many sports fans as the NFL Thursday night games have left many of them wanting less. The Bills and Jets have faced each other on TNF for 4 straight years now and while the idea of promoting a divisional rivalry year after year would appear to make sense, neither of the two teams has not been particularly compelling to watch in recent years. Many of the Thursday night match-ups since the league expanded to a full season schedule in 2012 have been similarly uninteresting and I think that the combination of over-saturation and games that don't generate much interest regardless of when they are played has presented the league with a clear jumping off point if they are serious about stopping the TV ratings decline.
Thursday Night Football actually dates back to 2006 when the NFL presented 8 late-season games on Thursday and Saturday nights. I recommend that they return to such a format whereby Thursday games are limited to the first regular season game every year, the Thanksgiving Day games (of which there are now three) and perhaps one or two others in the second half of the year which feature teams in the playoff hunt (under NFL Flex Scheduling, this is certainly possible, although a logistical challenge to be sure). Having attended two Thursday night home games in Buffalo, I can say that while night games are an interesting novelty, I am not a fan of getting home at 3am. Scrap the full slate of Thursday games next season, I say.
I am looking forward to a trip to Orchard Park this coming Sunday. The weather forecast is looking decidedly cold and I'm happy about that not only because I have all the right clothing but because the New Orleans Saints may not be entirely comfortable breaking out their own cold weather gear. The Bills will need all the cold and wind they can get as the Saints come in on a 6 game winning streak. After losing their first two games, the Saints have built their record to 6-2 and they have done it like a cold weather team usually does - by running the ball and playing strong defence. The Bills will need their running game to shine again if they are to break the Saints winning streak.
Bills fans who read the Buffalo News have been critical of sports columnist Jerry Sullivan who has pulled no punches in trashing the team over the course of the Drought. I hope that he has a positive angle to his story next Monday. As he likes to say in response to readers who don't like what he writes, "I column as I see 'em".
The Thursday night game 4 days ago was forgettable from the start. The Bills first offensive play from scrimmage was a 12 yard sack of Taylor after the right side of the line allowed a full Jets jailbreak. They never recovered on either side of the ball. Josh McCown, the journeyman quarterback now playing for his eighth NFL team looked like the second coming of YA Tittle (for you, Scott B) as the Jets built a 31-7 lead before I turned off the TV and went to sleep. I gather that the Bills managed to score a couple of touchdowns late in the game to make the score look more reasonable.
I wonder about the future of the the NFL's full slate of Thursday night games. Don Banks, the long-time NFL writer and weekly commentator on Bob McCown's Prime Time Sports said last week that he sees the Thursday night schedule as a prime target for the league to address the problem of over-saturation if it chooses to do so - which it should. The old adage seems to have been turned around for many sports fans as the NFL Thursday night games have left many of them wanting less. The Bills and Jets have faced each other on TNF for 4 straight years now and while the idea of promoting a divisional rivalry year after year would appear to make sense, neither of the two teams has not been particularly compelling to watch in recent years. Many of the Thursday night match-ups since the league expanded to a full season schedule in 2012 have been similarly uninteresting and I think that the combination of over-saturation and games that don't generate much interest regardless of when they are played has presented the league with a clear jumping off point if they are serious about stopping the TV ratings decline.
Thursday Night Football actually dates back to 2006 when the NFL presented 8 late-season games on Thursday and Saturday nights. I recommend that they return to such a format whereby Thursday games are limited to the first regular season game every year, the Thanksgiving Day games (of which there are now three) and perhaps one or two others in the second half of the year which feature teams in the playoff hunt (under NFL Flex Scheduling, this is certainly possible, although a logistical challenge to be sure). Having attended two Thursday night home games in Buffalo, I can say that while night games are an interesting novelty, I am not a fan of getting home at 3am. Scrap the full slate of Thursday games next season, I say.
I am looking forward to a trip to Orchard Park this coming Sunday. The weather forecast is looking decidedly cold and I'm happy about that not only because I have all the right clothing but because the New Orleans Saints may not be entirely comfortable breaking out their own cold weather gear. The Bills will need all the cold and wind they can get as the Saints come in on a 6 game winning streak. After losing their first two games, the Saints have built their record to 6-2 and they have done it like a cold weather team usually does - by running the ball and playing strong defence. The Bills will need their running game to shine again if they are to break the Saints winning streak.
Bills fans who read the Buffalo News have been critical of sports columnist Jerry Sullivan who has pulled no punches in trashing the team over the course of the Drought. I hope that he has a positive angle to his story next Monday. As he likes to say in response to readers who don't like what he writes, "I column as I see 'em".
Monday, 30 October 2017
Bills 34, Raiders 14
In the second-last game of the ill-fated "Toronto" series, a 23-0 blanking of Washington on October 30, 2011, the Bills improved their record to 5-2 under second year head coach Chan Gailey. Marcel Dareus had 2.5 of the Bills 10 sacks that afternoon and Ryan Fitzpatrick played well enough to earn himself a lucrative contract extension as he had, in the minds of the Bills management team, established himself as the team's franchise quarterback. After starting the previous season 0-8 and posting a 4-12 record in 2010, the Bills had turned things around just short of the mid-point of that 2011 season and were positioned to at least challenge for a playoff spot, and perhaps even overtake the Patriots to win the AFC East. Bills fans were riding high that day - even if most of them stayed state-side and watched the game from Toronto on TV.
The Bills went on to lose their next seven consecutive games and would win exactly once more in 2011, en route to a very dissapointing 6-10 season. Bills GM Buddy Nix would end up wearing the Fitzpatrick extension like an anvil around his neck. Chan Gailey and Ryan Fitzpatrick would have one more season as Bills head coach and quarterback respectively before passing their torches to Doug Marrone and EJ Manuel, who also came and went like so many Bills coaches and quarterbacks have since Marv Levy and Jim Kelly retired. I have never really been a glass half-empty kind of sports fan but I've seen enough promising starts vapourize by the teams I root for over the years to not always see the glass as half-full.
But the Bills do look pretty good this time around. The head coach seems to have fostered a winning attitude which manifests itself by way of his team playing with confidence and poise and I think I detect a certain intangible trust on the part of the players in the game plans, schemes and individual plays designed and called by the coaching staff. In short, McDermott just seems like a guy who knows what he's doing, knows the kinds of players he wants and, most importantly, he demands and receives the effort and commitment that's required not just for this season but for the long term.
It's quite amazing really that the team has, since training camp, jettisoned Sammy Watkins, Ronald Darby and, this past week, Marcel Dareus. Any Bills fan would have identified these players as some of the most valuable on the roster as the team reported to camp and, although Jordan Matthews has contributed very nicely at the wideout position, the stockpiling of draft picks from trading these players looked very much like a sacrifice of this season in favour of a better chance of success over the next five seasons. Maybe that was the strategy all along and no one is more surprised than Bills GM Brandon Beane at the team's 5-2 record so far. Sure, we'll trade one of our starting defensive tackles and former 3rd overall pick in Darues for a conditional later round pick. No problem. We'll beat Oakland anyway.
Speaking of Oakland, when the Raiders took the opening kick-off yesterday and marched it downfield for a touchdown, I worried that it was going to be a long afternoon for the Bills secondary. But, aided once again by a series of take-aways on defence and by a brilliant performance by LeSean McCoy and the offensive line, the team improved its home record to 4-0. It feels like with every home game and as the weather now turns colder with the threat of snow in the air before long, New Era Field looks like a very tough place for visiting teams to win - just as it was way back in the early 90s when when it was still called Rich Stadium. The next home game is in a couple of weeks against the red-hot Saints, a dome team which just might be worried about being overwhelmed by the crowd noise and the cold and wind of a mid-November afternoon in Orchard Park.
Up next - just three days from now - is a prime time match-up with the Jets. When you're 5-2, all games are big but this game feels like one the Bills need to have to go 6-2 with 10 days for the team and the fans to prepare for the Saints. It will be my first trip to Orchard Park this year and I would love to leave the stadium with a 7-2 record to contemplate.
The Bills went on to lose their next seven consecutive games and would win exactly once more in 2011, en route to a very dissapointing 6-10 season. Bills GM Buddy Nix would end up wearing the Fitzpatrick extension like an anvil around his neck. Chan Gailey and Ryan Fitzpatrick would have one more season as Bills head coach and quarterback respectively before passing their torches to Doug Marrone and EJ Manuel, who also came and went like so many Bills coaches and quarterbacks have since Marv Levy and Jim Kelly retired. I have never really been a glass half-empty kind of sports fan but I've seen enough promising starts vapourize by the teams I root for over the years to not always see the glass as half-full.
But the Bills do look pretty good this time around. The head coach seems to have fostered a winning attitude which manifests itself by way of his team playing with confidence and poise and I think I detect a certain intangible trust on the part of the players in the game plans, schemes and individual plays designed and called by the coaching staff. In short, McDermott just seems like a guy who knows what he's doing, knows the kinds of players he wants and, most importantly, he demands and receives the effort and commitment that's required not just for this season but for the long term.
It's quite amazing really that the team has, since training camp, jettisoned Sammy Watkins, Ronald Darby and, this past week, Marcel Dareus. Any Bills fan would have identified these players as some of the most valuable on the roster as the team reported to camp and, although Jordan Matthews has contributed very nicely at the wideout position, the stockpiling of draft picks from trading these players looked very much like a sacrifice of this season in favour of a better chance of success over the next five seasons. Maybe that was the strategy all along and no one is more surprised than Bills GM Brandon Beane at the team's 5-2 record so far. Sure, we'll trade one of our starting defensive tackles and former 3rd overall pick in Darues for a conditional later round pick. No problem. We'll beat Oakland anyway.
Speaking of Oakland, when the Raiders took the opening kick-off yesterday and marched it downfield for a touchdown, I worried that it was going to be a long afternoon for the Bills secondary. But, aided once again by a series of take-aways on defence and by a brilliant performance by LeSean McCoy and the offensive line, the team improved its home record to 4-0. It feels like with every home game and as the weather now turns colder with the threat of snow in the air before long, New Era Field looks like a very tough place for visiting teams to win - just as it was way back in the early 90s when when it was still called Rich Stadium. The next home game is in a couple of weeks against the red-hot Saints, a dome team which just might be worried about being overwhelmed by the crowd noise and the cold and wind of a mid-November afternoon in Orchard Park.
Up next - just three days from now - is a prime time match-up with the Jets. When you're 5-2, all games are big but this game feels like one the Bills need to have to go 6-2 with 10 days for the team and the fans to prepare for the Saints. It will be my first trip to Orchard Park this year and I would love to leave the stadium with a 7-2 record to contemplate.
Monday, 23 October 2017
Bills 30, Buccaneers 27
There are many ways to lose games in the NFL and the Bills were busy stockpiling them yesterday afternoon in Orchard Park against the Tampa Bay Bucs before finally finding a way to pull out a win. After the Bucs took a 27-20 lead with a little more than three minutes remaining, things didn't look good for Bills fans. Whether it was the inexcusable clock mismanagement at the end of the first half, the missed field goal by the usually very reliable Steven Hauschka or the untimely late game fumble by LeSean McCoy, the Monday morning quarterbacks would have plenty of reasons to choose from to explain rookie head coach Sean McDermott's first home loss.
But the Bills offence came roaring back on the next series with a deep pass to Deonte Thompson who the Bills plucked from the scrapheap after being cut by the Bears last week. Aided by a personal foul on the tackle, the Bills found themselves deep in Tampa territory and they scored the tying touchdown shortly afterward. What they needed then was to play some defence to get the game to overtime. But a Tampa fumble which reciprocated the McCoy fumble earlier in the quarter set them up for the winning field goal which Hauschka actually almost missed. The game ended with a prolonged Harlem Globetrotters style Bucs exercise in laterals which sent them closer and closer to their own endzone before it finally ended. NBC showed the play in fast motion with a ragtime soundtrack on their highlight reel. The disaster of the "home run throwback" play in Nashville in January, 2000 (which became better known as the Music City Miracle) isn't far from the surface of my consciousness and, honestly, I was worried about another calamity of that kind until the game-ending tackle was finally made.
Seven weeks into the NFL season, the owners are increasingly concerned about steadily declining viewership numbers. The average television audience for an NFL game has dropped about 7% from a year ago - from 16.3 million to 15.2 million. In 2015, the average game drew 18.5 million. Declining viewership will not impact the league's bottom line in the short term as network television contracts are fixed but when television rights are up for sale next time, they definitely will. The networks who broadcast NFL games now find themselves having to prepare to offer "make good" spots to advertisers whose audience numbers have fallen short of projections upon which advertising rates are based. Make good spots count among television networks least favourite obligations for obvious reasons. Credit Suisse has actually downgraded its target share prices for the parent companies of NFL broadcasters like CBS and FOX on account of their having to offer them. Now that's some serious stuff which can't be explained away by election or hurricane coverage.
A recent Gallup poll found that 57% of Americans consider themselves to be "pro football fans". That result is down an amazing 10 full points from a year ago. A CNN poll, which asked respondents about their support for the ongoing NFL player protests, found that only 43% supported the practice of players kneeling during the national anthem or skipping it altogether while 49% were opposed. Roger Goodell convened a meeting of team owners last week to discuss the protest issue and, to their credit, they did not mandate that players stand for the anthem as was widely expected. They realize, I presume, that the issue is extremely sensitive, especially when combined with Trump's flame-fanning tweets and they decided instead to propose a series of race relations and equality initiatives to placate the protesting players. What they really hope is that the issue just slowly fades away. If not for the President's involvement, it probably would have already.
So, what, if anything, will stem the NFL's decline in popularity? After decades of domination of North American sports culture which has seen the league's fortunes improve despite teams extorting stadium funding from cities under the real threat of moving (ask San Diego, St, Louis, Oakland), adding a full season of Thursday prime time games and a steady stream of criminal charges and domestic battery issues among it players, is the jig finally up for the NFL? I predict that the decline will continue for some time to come - perhaps another two or three seasons or more - before settling at a level maybe 20% below its peak of a few years ago in terms of television viewership. And maybe that will end up being a good thing for a league which has suffered no real adversity or threat to its bottom line until very recently. Mark Cuban, the outspoken NBA owner, said this a few years ago about the NFL moving to a full slate of Thursday games: "Pigs get fat; hogs get slaughtered."
But the Bills offence came roaring back on the next series with a deep pass to Deonte Thompson who the Bills plucked from the scrapheap after being cut by the Bears last week. Aided by a personal foul on the tackle, the Bills found themselves deep in Tampa territory and they scored the tying touchdown shortly afterward. What they needed then was to play some defence to get the game to overtime. But a Tampa fumble which reciprocated the McCoy fumble earlier in the quarter set them up for the winning field goal which Hauschka actually almost missed. The game ended with a prolonged Harlem Globetrotters style Bucs exercise in laterals which sent them closer and closer to their own endzone before it finally ended. NBC showed the play in fast motion with a ragtime soundtrack on their highlight reel. The disaster of the "home run throwback" play in Nashville in January, 2000 (which became better known as the Music City Miracle) isn't far from the surface of my consciousness and, honestly, I was worried about another calamity of that kind until the game-ending tackle was finally made.
Seven weeks into the NFL season, the owners are increasingly concerned about steadily declining viewership numbers. The average television audience for an NFL game has dropped about 7% from a year ago - from 16.3 million to 15.2 million. In 2015, the average game drew 18.5 million. Declining viewership will not impact the league's bottom line in the short term as network television contracts are fixed but when television rights are up for sale next time, they definitely will. The networks who broadcast NFL games now find themselves having to prepare to offer "make good" spots to advertisers whose audience numbers have fallen short of projections upon which advertising rates are based. Make good spots count among television networks least favourite obligations for obvious reasons. Credit Suisse has actually downgraded its target share prices for the parent companies of NFL broadcasters like CBS and FOX on account of their having to offer them. Now that's some serious stuff which can't be explained away by election or hurricane coverage.
A recent Gallup poll found that 57% of Americans consider themselves to be "pro football fans". That result is down an amazing 10 full points from a year ago. A CNN poll, which asked respondents about their support for the ongoing NFL player protests, found that only 43% supported the practice of players kneeling during the national anthem or skipping it altogether while 49% were opposed. Roger Goodell convened a meeting of team owners last week to discuss the protest issue and, to their credit, they did not mandate that players stand for the anthem as was widely expected. They realize, I presume, that the issue is extremely sensitive, especially when combined with Trump's flame-fanning tweets and they decided instead to propose a series of race relations and equality initiatives to placate the protesting players. What they really hope is that the issue just slowly fades away. If not for the President's involvement, it probably would have already.
So, what, if anything, will stem the NFL's decline in popularity? After decades of domination of North American sports culture which has seen the league's fortunes improve despite teams extorting stadium funding from cities under the real threat of moving (ask San Diego, St, Louis, Oakland), adding a full season of Thursday prime time games and a steady stream of criminal charges and domestic battery issues among it players, is the jig finally up for the NFL? I predict that the decline will continue for some time to come - perhaps another two or three seasons or more - before settling at a level maybe 20% below its peak of a few years ago in terms of television viewership. And maybe that will end up being a good thing for a league which has suffered no real adversity or threat to its bottom line until very recently. Mark Cuban, the outspoken NBA owner, said this a few years ago about the NFL moving to a full slate of Thursday games: "Pigs get fat; hogs get slaughtered."
Monday, 9 October 2017
Bengals 20, Bills 16
I guess the Bills could have won yesterday's game in Cincinnati if they had made a play or two here or there but they didn't play well enough to have deserved to win. Without the benefit of three Bengal turnovers, the Bills would have been lost more decisively than they did and if they had somehow managed to pull it out, the headlines in this morning's papers would have referred them as having stolen a win etc.
The Bengals gave a good effort on both sides of the ball with their defense holding LeSean McCoy to 63 hard-earned yards and Andy Dalton looked confident and poised throughout the game with his only bone-headed throw - a pass to the endzone late in the fourth quarter which could have easily been intercepted but wasn't - not costing him at all. The three turnovers the Bengals gave up were mostly of the unlucky variety with two Bills interceptions coming on tipped balls and another coming on a punched out ball after a long gain. The Bengals got off to a terrible start this season but yesterday they looked like a competent and talented team.
US Vice-President Mike Pence decided to upstage a tribute to Payton Manning yesterday in Indianapolis by leaving the stadium after 23 San Francisco 49ers players kneeled during the national anthem. Pence took to Twitter afterwards explaining that he and the President "would not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our flag or our national anthem". As SI's Peter King wrote on Sunday (as a special piece ahead of his weekly Monday Morning Quarterback column), this was an orchestrated strategy by Pence as he knew that at least some players would kneel during the anthem and he also knew that he would then leave the stadium, making that the story of the day in Indianapolis instead of what it was intended to be - a well-deserved tribute given to Manning who was inducted on to the Colts Ring of Honour for his incredible career in a Colts uniform. King's point is that Pence knew that he would become the headline and he deliberately and intentionally proceeded to insert himself into the situation, presumably at the urging of or on orders from the President. One of Indiana's most beloved sports figures deserved his special day yesterday without it being overshadowed by the Trump administration's wedge politics. As King said in his column, "Mike Pence will have to live with himself for that."
I think that I am now leaning towards wanting the national anthem dropped from professional sporting events. Do we really need to hear it every time? Ok, maybe we can still have it for the Superbowl but having it before every game is ridiculous. The NBA has moved the anthem up so far that it takes place a full 15 or 20 minutes before tip-off with the stands mostly empty. The pre-game ritual before an NBA game is now fully focused on a loud and inspirational music video for the home team and its fans which takes place just before the presentation of the home starting line-up and only a couple of minutes before the game starts. It feels like the anthem is now played at NBA games because its required and not because fans want it or care at all about it.
I am not suggesting that the anthem be dropped to remove the opportunity for players to express their political views but rather so that those who practice right-wing wedge politics will have their opportunity taken away. Trump has seized the chance to energize his uncouth base and try to damage the NFL for not taking action against those players who passively demonstrate dissent by choosing to kneel during the anthem. Lets deny him that stage and let a football game be just that and nothing more. NFL players will still have plenty of media coverage if they want to be political and I hope that they will use it to share their views. We need to stop the distracting and destructive fallout from the whole national anthem business. I would bet that Roger Goodell agrees but I am sure that he will continue to simply hope that the problem goes away.
The Bills enter their bye week after five games which is probably earlier than they would have liked but still comes at a time when they can rest and try to get Charles Clay and Jordan Matthews back in the line-up for two games against the Bucs and Raiders to close out the month of October.
The Bengals gave a good effort on both sides of the ball with their defense holding LeSean McCoy to 63 hard-earned yards and Andy Dalton looked confident and poised throughout the game with his only bone-headed throw - a pass to the endzone late in the fourth quarter which could have easily been intercepted but wasn't - not costing him at all. The three turnovers the Bengals gave up were mostly of the unlucky variety with two Bills interceptions coming on tipped balls and another coming on a punched out ball after a long gain. The Bengals got off to a terrible start this season but yesterday they looked like a competent and talented team.
US Vice-President Mike Pence decided to upstage a tribute to Payton Manning yesterday in Indianapolis by leaving the stadium after 23 San Francisco 49ers players kneeled during the national anthem. Pence took to Twitter afterwards explaining that he and the President "would not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our flag or our national anthem". As SI's Peter King wrote on Sunday (as a special piece ahead of his weekly Monday Morning Quarterback column), this was an orchestrated strategy by Pence as he knew that at least some players would kneel during the anthem and he also knew that he would then leave the stadium, making that the story of the day in Indianapolis instead of what it was intended to be - a well-deserved tribute given to Manning who was inducted on to the Colts Ring of Honour for his incredible career in a Colts uniform. King's point is that Pence knew that he would become the headline and he deliberately and intentionally proceeded to insert himself into the situation, presumably at the urging of or on orders from the President. One of Indiana's most beloved sports figures deserved his special day yesterday without it being overshadowed by the Trump administration's wedge politics. As King said in his column, "Mike Pence will have to live with himself for that."
I think that I am now leaning towards wanting the national anthem dropped from professional sporting events. Do we really need to hear it every time? Ok, maybe we can still have it for the Superbowl but having it before every game is ridiculous. The NBA has moved the anthem up so far that it takes place a full 15 or 20 minutes before tip-off with the stands mostly empty. The pre-game ritual before an NBA game is now fully focused on a loud and inspirational music video for the home team and its fans which takes place just before the presentation of the home starting line-up and only a couple of minutes before the game starts. It feels like the anthem is now played at NBA games because its required and not because fans want it or care at all about it.
I am not suggesting that the anthem be dropped to remove the opportunity for players to express their political views but rather so that those who practice right-wing wedge politics will have their opportunity taken away. Trump has seized the chance to energize his uncouth base and try to damage the NFL for not taking action against those players who passively demonstrate dissent by choosing to kneel during the anthem. Lets deny him that stage and let a football game be just that and nothing more. NFL players will still have plenty of media coverage if they want to be political and I hope that they will use it to share their views. We need to stop the distracting and destructive fallout from the whole national anthem business. I would bet that Roger Goodell agrees but I am sure that he will continue to simply hope that the problem goes away.
The Bills enter their bye week after five games which is probably earlier than they would have liked but still comes at a time when they can rest and try to get Charles Clay and Jordan Matthews back in the line-up for two games against the Bucs and Raiders to close out the month of October.
Monday, 2 October 2017
Bills 23, Falcons 17
On fourth down, with less then a minute to go, Matt Ryan's pass misses receiver Taylor Gabriel but Bills rookie cornerback Tre'Davious White is flagged for pass interference, giving the Falcons a first down at the Bills three yard line. After the Bills spend their three time-outs, the Falcons score a touchdown with 48 seconds left, make the extra point, stop the Bills on fourth down on the ensuing series and win the game 24-23. Except there was no pass interference called and the Bills left Atlanta with what Jerry Sullivan of the Buffalo News called the team's biggest road win since 2011.
I generally like the idea of video review for challenges, turnovers and scoring plays. They do take time and they break the natural flow of the game but they usually get the call right. There were two reviews yesterday which I was convinced would go against the Bills but didn't. The first resulted in a Bills touchdown after what was ruled a fumble by Matt Ryan. I've seen plenty of theses kind of plays where, if the quarterback's hand is moving forward - and especially if that forward motion propels the ball forward in any way - the ruling is almost always an incomplete pass. The ruling yesterday must have been that Ryan had already lost control of the ball (which he had as it was clearly knocked out of his hand well before it began to move forward) before batting it forward like a desperate volleyball player using the third hit to get the ball over the net. Ruling: the call on the field stands: touchdown Buffalo.
The second replay review was on a Micah Hyde interception of another Ryan pass where Hyde appeared to trap the tip of the ball on the ground simultaneous with his hands grasping its sides. The ground can not be used to help make a catch - or at least that's what I was convinced would be the ruling - but the play which was initially ruled to be an interception was not overturned on review and the Bills had secured their third turnover of the game. A third replay review went against the Bills who had recovered a fumble after what was initially ruled to be an interception and was then correctly ruled an incomplete pass as the receiver never controlled the ball. Two for three on replay reviews. Had they lost either of the two which they won, the Bills would likely be 2-2 this morning.
It never ceases to amaze me how much the fortunes of NFL football teams can change from season to season (with the obvious exception of the Cleveland Browns who seem permanently mired in oblivion no matter how many times they change general managers and coaches or how many high draft picks they get year after year). After installing a new coaching staff and trading two of their top players in Sammy Watkins and Ronald Darby in the pre-season, this season looked like an rebuilding year for the Bills with a stockpile of draft picks coming in 2018 and 2019. But, after four games, the Bills look to me like they actually are good team right now. The Falcons came as close to winning the Superbowl last year as a team can come without actually winning it and they were 3-0 before losing to the Bills yesterday. Buffalo's only loss was to the Panthers who won in New England yesterday and they have also beaten the Jets who are a surprising 2-2 and Denver who won against the Raiders yesterday to improve to 3-1.
I sense that it won't be long before I receive an email from the Bills asking me for a deposit on tickets to a home playoff game, something that Bills fans have not witnessed since Jim Kelly's final game in December, 1996. A home playoff game is only possible for teams who win their division (with the extremely remote but mathematically possible exception of a fifth seeded wildcard team playing a conference championship game at home against the sixth seed). With the Patriots at 2-2, the Bills find themselves in first place in the AFC East at 3-1, a position they have not occupied this late in the season in nine years. Yes, I am projecting far too much at the one quarter mark of the season but I am feeling optimistic right now with my desire for important winter-time football in Orchard Park seeming a bit less like a wild fantasy than it did a month ago. There's still plenty of time for the team to come back to earth with a schedule which still includes a trip to Kansas City and two games against the Patriots. But the schedule looks quite manageable otherwise and I see no reason to think that the team can't stay competitive at least through November.
Up next is a trip to Cincinnati this Sunday before the bye week. The Bengals throttled the Browns in Cleveland yesterday for their first win of the season. Their anemic offence has looked much better the past two weeks after firing their offensive coordinator after following a week two loss.
I generally like the idea of video review for challenges, turnovers and scoring plays. They do take time and they break the natural flow of the game but they usually get the call right. There were two reviews yesterday which I was convinced would go against the Bills but didn't. The first resulted in a Bills touchdown after what was ruled a fumble by Matt Ryan. I've seen plenty of theses kind of plays where, if the quarterback's hand is moving forward - and especially if that forward motion propels the ball forward in any way - the ruling is almost always an incomplete pass. The ruling yesterday must have been that Ryan had already lost control of the ball (which he had as it was clearly knocked out of his hand well before it began to move forward) before batting it forward like a desperate volleyball player using the third hit to get the ball over the net. Ruling: the call on the field stands: touchdown Buffalo.
The second replay review was on a Micah Hyde interception of another Ryan pass where Hyde appeared to trap the tip of the ball on the ground simultaneous with his hands grasping its sides. The ground can not be used to help make a catch - or at least that's what I was convinced would be the ruling - but the play which was initially ruled to be an interception was not overturned on review and the Bills had secured their third turnover of the game. A third replay review went against the Bills who had recovered a fumble after what was initially ruled to be an interception and was then correctly ruled an incomplete pass as the receiver never controlled the ball. Two for three on replay reviews. Had they lost either of the two which they won, the Bills would likely be 2-2 this morning.
It never ceases to amaze me how much the fortunes of NFL football teams can change from season to season (with the obvious exception of the Cleveland Browns who seem permanently mired in oblivion no matter how many times they change general managers and coaches or how many high draft picks they get year after year). After installing a new coaching staff and trading two of their top players in Sammy Watkins and Ronald Darby in the pre-season, this season looked like an rebuilding year for the Bills with a stockpile of draft picks coming in 2018 and 2019. But, after four games, the Bills look to me like they actually are good team right now. The Falcons came as close to winning the Superbowl last year as a team can come without actually winning it and they were 3-0 before losing to the Bills yesterday. Buffalo's only loss was to the Panthers who won in New England yesterday and they have also beaten the Jets who are a surprising 2-2 and Denver who won against the Raiders yesterday to improve to 3-1.
I sense that it won't be long before I receive an email from the Bills asking me for a deposit on tickets to a home playoff game, something that Bills fans have not witnessed since Jim Kelly's final game in December, 1996. A home playoff game is only possible for teams who win their division (with the extremely remote but mathematically possible exception of a fifth seeded wildcard team playing a conference championship game at home against the sixth seed). With the Patriots at 2-2, the Bills find themselves in first place in the AFC East at 3-1, a position they have not occupied this late in the season in nine years. Yes, I am projecting far too much at the one quarter mark of the season but I am feeling optimistic right now with my desire for important winter-time football in Orchard Park seeming a bit less like a wild fantasy than it did a month ago. There's still plenty of time for the team to come back to earth with a schedule which still includes a trip to Kansas City and two games against the Patriots. But the schedule looks quite manageable otherwise and I see no reason to think that the team can't stay competitive at least through November.
Up next is a trip to Cincinnati this Sunday before the bye week. The Bengals throttled the Browns in Cleveland yesterday for their first win of the season. Their anemic offence has looked much better the past two weeks after firing their offensive coordinator after following a week two loss.
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