Jerry Sullivan was the lead sports columnist for the Buffalo News for 16 years before he was unceremoniously punted by the newspaper in May because his "voice was becoming bad for business". That was the reason given to Sullivan, now an independent Buffalo-based journalist, by the paper. Were his columns, particularly about the Bills (and especially during the post-2000 playoff drought and before Ralph Wilson's death), often quite negative? Yes they were. But for good reason in my opinion. A cheerleader he was not. Sullivan was critical of Wilson's cheapskate management and coaching hiring practices after the departure of the triumvirate of GM Bill Polian, coach Marv Levy and quarterback Jim Kelly. It was my impression that Sullivan had a large following of readers among Buffalo sports fans - those who agreed with him and those who didn't. The Buffalo News obviously saw it differently. I always loved his description of how he approached his job with the paper in terms of not being a homer: "I column as I see 'em".
I have no idea how Sullivan earns a living theses days. I follow him on Twitter and I read his columns after every Bills game (which he posts to his Twitter account). Maybe there are advertisements for Tops Friendly Markets or Dunn Tire embedded somewhere in his column that I subconsciously see but I certainly don't pay to read what he posts. Not to say that I necessarily wouldn't pay if it came to that but, for me, either way, he is a go-to source after every Bills game. Yesterday, Sullivan referred to the Bills win over the Detroit Lions as a key part of the equation in their "epic race to 7-9". It reminded me of something he said about Dick Jauron who coached the Bills from 2006 through November of 2009. The Bills finished 7-9 in 2006, 2007 and 2008 under Jauron. In a sarcastic reference to his pursuit of mediocrity, Sullivan wrote that "Jauron strings up 7-9 seasons like Christmas lights on his house".
Yesterday, Sullivan described the Bills v. Lions game at Ralph Wilson Stadium as "having an August feel to it". I'm quite sure that he wasn't referring to the weather - rather to the fact that the game felt much like it was taking place in the pre-season with little for either team to play for in terms of the importance of a win or a loss. The Bills and Lions do play every year in week four of the pre-season - usually the least relevant of the NFL's four-game season ticket holder punishment program before the real games start.
Another thought that Sullivan had yesterday was about the emergence of Robert Foster as a legitimate NFL wide-receiver. Foster, who played his college football at Alabama, was signed by the Bills as an undrafted free agent in May. This reunited him with Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll who was Foster's coordinator in Tuscaloosa. At last winter's combine, Foster's 4.41 in the 40 yard dash ranked him fifth among receivers but was not quite enough for any team to draft him. He was called up to the Bills from the practice squad last month and yesterday, he recorded four catches for 108 yards - his third 100 yard receiving game this year. Yesterday;s effort included catching the game-winning 42 yard touchdown pass from Josh Allen in the fourth quarter. Presumably the Bills will have a fresh new cohort of receivers on the team in 2019 but Foster has shown enough to deserve a chance to compete for the number one receiver position in training camp.
As for the Bills epic race to 7-9, it may prove to be too tall an order as they travel to Foxborough next week to face the Patriots who have now lost two consecutive games. They still lead the AFC East but currently occupy the third seed which means a home playoff game but no first round bye and road games in the second and third rounds. They would obviously like to move up to the second seed which would earn them a week off followed by a home game. If Josh Allen and Robert Foster can lead the Bills to a win, it would be truly epic.
Oh, and the winner of this week's Vontae Davis Halftime Retirement Award is.......Bills running back Marcus Murphy who left the game in the second quarter with an apparent broken arm. He's done for the season and may be done withe the Bills altogether. I wish him well.
Commentary on the Buffalo Bills, politics and whatever else is on my mind
Monday, 17 December 2018
Monday, 10 December 2018
Jets 27, Bils 23
Last week, I did feel some measure of redemption for my latest Vontae Davis Halftime Retirement Award winner. After last week's game in Miami, I gave the award to Kelvin Benjamin, who had been posing in a Bills uniform as an NFL No. 1 wide receiver for over a year. Last Tuesday, the Bills released him, along with another receiver, Andre Holmes. In a puzzling move, the Chiefs then proceeded to sign Benjamin to a one-year deal. As injury back-up I presume. Benjamin was not active in yesterday's Chiefs overtime win over Baltimore.
As for this week's winner, I'm afraid that it's going to be LeSean McCoy who injured a hamstring in the first half yesterday and did not return. The sand has run out of the hour-glass for McCoy this season - his 10th in the league and his fourth with the Bills. Until this year, McCoy has been excellent for the most part with an instinct for finding seams when none appear to be open and a unique ability to evade tacklers in space. As with many backs who turn 30 (like he did this year), the half step of speed he has lost seems to have made the difference between success and being ready to retire. He is averaging 3.3 yards per carry this season - not good enough for a featured running back. I expect that McCoy will not be on the Bills roster next season but he may be a useful third down back for a contending team in the future. His days of getting 25 touches per game are probably over.
Yesterday's game in Orchard Park was billed as the battle of the two first-round quarterbacks in the AFC East. With the Bills coming into the game at 4-8 and the Jets stuck at 3-9, the game was really part two of the AFC East Consolation Bowl. The Bills easily won the first round of it four weeks ago in the Meadowlands and yesterday was the Jets chance to end a six game losing streak and even the season series with their division rivals. More than 59,000 fans turned out on a sunny but cool day to see which of the two rookie quarterbacks would step up.
The answer is that it was Sam Darnold who came through for his team when it counted, leading his team for the game-winning touchdown late in the fourth quarter. As for Josh Allen, he showed a few more signs of developing into the franchise quarterback that Bills fans hope he will be but, in the end, he did not throw the ball well enough to win the game or as well as Darnold did. Yes, he ran the ball very well again yesterday and did hit some passes but his issues with inaccuracy cost him two interceptions, including on the potential game-winning drive in the final minute. In fairness to Allen, despite his risking injury with continued scrambling, I am starting to feel ever-so-slightly more confident with him under centre. Could just be familiarity.
The geniuses who create the NFL schedule gave the Bills three December home games this season - all, as it turns out, against losing teams. Two of those remain, including next week's tilt against the Detroit Lions. The Lions won in Arizona yesterday to improve to 5-8 on the season but the game offers virtually no compelling reason to attend, other than to see Josh Allen continue his evolution.
As I pointed out after their week one loss at Baltimore, the Bills have plenty of cap space going into next year. I think that the 2019 roster will look quite different from the current one, particularly in the offensive skilled positions. As nice a job as former practice squad players Robert Foster and Isaiah McKenzie have done late this season, the Bills need more play-makers to help Josh Allen along.
As for this week's winner, I'm afraid that it's going to be LeSean McCoy who injured a hamstring in the first half yesterday and did not return. The sand has run out of the hour-glass for McCoy this season - his 10th in the league and his fourth with the Bills. Until this year, McCoy has been excellent for the most part with an instinct for finding seams when none appear to be open and a unique ability to evade tacklers in space. As with many backs who turn 30 (like he did this year), the half step of speed he has lost seems to have made the difference between success and being ready to retire. He is averaging 3.3 yards per carry this season - not good enough for a featured running back. I expect that McCoy will not be on the Bills roster next season but he may be a useful third down back for a contending team in the future. His days of getting 25 touches per game are probably over.
Yesterday's game in Orchard Park was billed as the battle of the two first-round quarterbacks in the AFC East. With the Bills coming into the game at 4-8 and the Jets stuck at 3-9, the game was really part two of the AFC East Consolation Bowl. The Bills easily won the first round of it four weeks ago in the Meadowlands and yesterday was the Jets chance to end a six game losing streak and even the season series with their division rivals. More than 59,000 fans turned out on a sunny but cool day to see which of the two rookie quarterbacks would step up.
The answer is that it was Sam Darnold who came through for his team when it counted, leading his team for the game-winning touchdown late in the fourth quarter. As for Josh Allen, he showed a few more signs of developing into the franchise quarterback that Bills fans hope he will be but, in the end, he did not throw the ball well enough to win the game or as well as Darnold did. Yes, he ran the ball very well again yesterday and did hit some passes but his issues with inaccuracy cost him two interceptions, including on the potential game-winning drive in the final minute. In fairness to Allen, despite his risking injury with continued scrambling, I am starting to feel ever-so-slightly more confident with him under centre. Could just be familiarity.
The geniuses who create the NFL schedule gave the Bills three December home games this season - all, as it turns out, against losing teams. Two of those remain, including next week's tilt against the Detroit Lions. The Lions won in Arizona yesterday to improve to 5-8 on the season but the game offers virtually no compelling reason to attend, other than to see Josh Allen continue his evolution.
As I pointed out after their week one loss at Baltimore, the Bills have plenty of cap space going into next year. I think that the 2019 roster will look quite different from the current one, particularly in the offensive skilled positions. As nice a job as former practice squad players Robert Foster and Isaiah McKenzie have done late this season, the Bills need more play-makers to help Josh Allen along.
Monday, 3 December 2018
Dolphins 21, Bills 17
This photo was taken about 10 days ago at the top of Kala Patthar, the highest point we reached on our recent Everest Base Camp trek in northeastern Nepal - elevation 5,545 metres or about 18,500 feet above sea level. The top of Everest is above my head (where it shall always remain). Our entire team made it to this point but as illness took its course (in the form of either GI issues or chest colds - or both), two were evacuated by helicopter on the descent. The team was fully re-united in Lukla. By dumb luck, I was the only one who suffered no illness on the trek.
We generally had spectacular weather throughout the 12 day trek with deep blue skies every day offering us clear views of the Himalayan alpine peaks and the valleys we ascended. My small digital camera recorded about 650 images and I am starting the process of vetting them to come up with about 25 of the best ones. There are many images of animals - yaks, donkeys, goats, dogs - and some irresistible images of Sherpa children to choose from as well as all of the breath-taking shots of the various snow-capped sets of incisors which are the Himalayas. John Krakauer used the term "incisors" to describe the mountains in Into Thin Air and when I first saw them on the flight from Khatmandu to Lukla, it was clear why.
Our journey not only took us up the Khumbu valley toward the world's highest mountain, but also through the rich history of the region with our Sherpa guides providing an ongoing and thorough context for us which connected the ancient world of subsistence farming and animal husbandry with the rapidly growing tourism industry which is now the backbone of the local economy. Nepal is a desperately poor country with an annual average per capita income of about $400 USD. Licensed trekking and mountain guides earn enough to place them in the top 1% of the Nepalese income scale. Porters, many of whom carry unimaginably heavy loads of supplies to the teahouses where trekkers eat and sleep (not to mention loads of lumber, building materials, rolls of flooring and carpets etc), earn less than guides do but still more than most others in Nepal.
In May of 1953, Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary became the first humans to reach the summit of Mount Everest. After his famous ascent of the mountain, Hillary made it his life's work, through his foundation which carries on today (some 10 years after his death), to help build infrastructure in the Khumbu, including schools, hospitals and bridges. He is rightfully a revered figure whose legacy will endure. Our lead Sherpa guide attended one of the schools which Hillary built in 1962 (and which we toured). He was the only one of his 12 siblings to attend a proper school - and this enabled him to learn sufficient English to become a trekking guide. He hopes to be able to move with his wife to either the US or Canada within the next couple of years.
I last named a winner of the Vontae Davis Halftime Retirement Award in my post on November 5th. The winner that week was Nathan Peterman who claimed his third such honour. For the period since then, which includes two Bills wins and a bye week, I have decided to claim the award myself since I obviously abandoned the team by leaving the country. As for this week, I've decided to give it to Bills wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin who has been pretending to be a No. 1 NFL receiver for a season and a half. He isn't and should have retired weeks ago.
Yesterday in South Florida, Josh Allen took another step in his evolution to a No. 1 quarterback. In fact, had the ball not slipped from his hands on the Bills final offensive play from scrimmage, Charles Clay would have easily caught the go-ahead touchdown and the Bills could have found themselves at 5-7 this morning. Allen has shown that he is an accomplished runner with impressive pocket awareness and deceptive speed. This is all fine except the team also still employs LeSean McCoy and Chris Ivory in the running back position and, as has happened to so many mobile quarterbacks in the NFL, Allen's running - however prolific - will eventually lead to injury.
The New York Jets travel to Orchard Park next Sunday for an irrelevant game but one which will offer Josh Allen another opportunity to work on his throwing accuracy. I hope he focuses on that and tries to leave the business of running to the running backs. If anyone wants to go to the game, my tickets are available and at this point, I'm a pretty motivated seller. The Jets are ranked 32nd - or dead last - in the most recent NFL Power Rankings. Let me know.
We generally had spectacular weather throughout the 12 day trek with deep blue skies every day offering us clear views of the Himalayan alpine peaks and the valleys we ascended. My small digital camera recorded about 650 images and I am starting the process of vetting them to come up with about 25 of the best ones. There are many images of animals - yaks, donkeys, goats, dogs - and some irresistible images of Sherpa children to choose from as well as all of the breath-taking shots of the various snow-capped sets of incisors which are the Himalayas. John Krakauer used the term "incisors" to describe the mountains in Into Thin Air and when I first saw them on the flight from Khatmandu to Lukla, it was clear why.
Our journey not only took us up the Khumbu valley toward the world's highest mountain, but also through the rich history of the region with our Sherpa guides providing an ongoing and thorough context for us which connected the ancient world of subsistence farming and animal husbandry with the rapidly growing tourism industry which is now the backbone of the local economy. Nepal is a desperately poor country with an annual average per capita income of about $400 USD. Licensed trekking and mountain guides earn enough to place them in the top 1% of the Nepalese income scale. Porters, many of whom carry unimaginably heavy loads of supplies to the teahouses where trekkers eat and sleep (not to mention loads of lumber, building materials, rolls of flooring and carpets etc), earn less than guides do but still more than most others in Nepal.
In May of 1953, Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary became the first humans to reach the summit of Mount Everest. After his famous ascent of the mountain, Hillary made it his life's work, through his foundation which carries on today (some 10 years after his death), to help build infrastructure in the Khumbu, including schools, hospitals and bridges. He is rightfully a revered figure whose legacy will endure. Our lead Sherpa guide attended one of the schools which Hillary built in 1962 (and which we toured). He was the only one of his 12 siblings to attend a proper school - and this enabled him to learn sufficient English to become a trekking guide. He hopes to be able to move with his wife to either the US or Canada within the next couple of years.
I last named a winner of the Vontae Davis Halftime Retirement Award in my post on November 5th. The winner that week was Nathan Peterman who claimed his third such honour. For the period since then, which includes two Bills wins and a bye week, I have decided to claim the award myself since I obviously abandoned the team by leaving the country. As for this week, I've decided to give it to Bills wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin who has been pretending to be a No. 1 NFL receiver for a season and a half. He isn't and should have retired weeks ago.
Yesterday in South Florida, Josh Allen took another step in his evolution to a No. 1 quarterback. In fact, had the ball not slipped from his hands on the Bills final offensive play from scrimmage, Charles Clay would have easily caught the go-ahead touchdown and the Bills could have found themselves at 5-7 this morning. Allen has shown that he is an accomplished runner with impressive pocket awareness and deceptive speed. This is all fine except the team also still employs LeSean McCoy and Chris Ivory in the running back position and, as has happened to so many mobile quarterbacks in the NFL, Allen's running - however prolific - will eventually lead to injury.
The New York Jets travel to Orchard Park next Sunday for an irrelevant game but one which will offer Josh Allen another opportunity to work on his throwing accuracy. I hope he focuses on that and tries to leave the business of running to the running backs. If anyone wants to go to the game, my tickets are available and at this point, I'm a pretty motivated seller. The Jets are ranked 32nd - or dead last - in the most recent NFL Power Rankings. Let me know.
Sunday, 11 November 2018
Bills 41, Jets 10
In Nepal, it is known as Sagarmatha. In Tibet, the name is Chomolungma. In 1865, Andrew Waugh of the Royal Geographic Society, who held the post of British Surveyor General of India, decided to "re-name" the world's highest mountain after his predecessor and the man who hired him, Welshman George Everest. Everest, who had never seen the mountain himself, apparently objected to his name being used in this case because, among other reasons, it was not easily pronounced in or translated to Hindi. The Society went ahead anyway and the name has obviously stuck.
Mount Everest rises 12,000 feet from its base which sits at about 17,000 feet above sea level. Its peak is measured at 29,028 feet or 8,848 metres. In other words, the top of the world's highest mountain stands almost nine kilometres above sea level. By comparison, the deepest part of the ocean lies south of Japan and east of the Philippines in a part of the Mariana Trench known as Challenger Deep. That clocks in at just short of 11,000 metres (or 11km) deep.
One day, I plan to dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, swim to India and then climb Mount Everest. But I will start by going to Nepal and trekking to Everest Base Camp - something which I am on my way to do right now. I have received more that $500 of vaccinations, filled prescriptions for Diamox (to prevent or minimize altitude sickness) and a powerful anti-biotic in case of intestinal infection and I have been climbing the stairs in my 12 floor building for a few weeks.
Am I ready? We'll see. This trip could make wilderness canoe tripping seem like 5-star luxury. Our guides tell us that Nepal is a mystical and spiritual place with wonderful warm people who rely largely on whatever income they can generate from the thousands of trekkers and others who come to see the world's most spectacular mountains. Everest Base Camp alone sees about 40,000 trekkers every year.
As you read this, I will be on a 15 hour flight to Hong Kong. We left Sunday evening and will arrive on Tuesday. Crossing the International Date Line in a west-bound direction means we will not experience Monday this week, although I understand that the Giants v. 49ers Monday Night Football game will take place anyway. On the way back, we will endure Thursday November 29th for a couple of days. The Saints play at Dallas that day.
Meanwhile, yesterday in the Meadowlands, the NFL dialed up another entirely unpredictable outcome as the Bills dominated the home team in all three phases of the game with Matt Barkley looking decidedly above average at least in terms of his ranking among the team's 2018 class of quarterbacks through ten weeks of play. I'm sure that Barkley jersey sales came close to crashing the Bills merchandise site when they went up 31-0 late in the second quarter. I have a feeling that I may be seeing soon-to-be former Jets coach Tod Bowles within the next few days. If I were him, I would seriously consider immediately going trekking in Nepal.
I scheduled the trip in order miss only one Bills game - the November 25th home game against the Jaguars. The bye week is next week so there will be no blog posts from me until Monday December 3rd, after the Bills play the Dolphins in south Florida.
Mount Everest rises 12,000 feet from its base which sits at about 17,000 feet above sea level. Its peak is measured at 29,028 feet or 8,848 metres. In other words, the top of the world's highest mountain stands almost nine kilometres above sea level. By comparison, the deepest part of the ocean lies south of Japan and east of the Philippines in a part of the Mariana Trench known as Challenger Deep. That clocks in at just short of 11,000 metres (or 11km) deep.
One day, I plan to dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, swim to India and then climb Mount Everest. But I will start by going to Nepal and trekking to Everest Base Camp - something which I am on my way to do right now. I have received more that $500 of vaccinations, filled prescriptions for Diamox (to prevent or minimize altitude sickness) and a powerful anti-biotic in case of intestinal infection and I have been climbing the stairs in my 12 floor building for a few weeks.
Am I ready? We'll see. This trip could make wilderness canoe tripping seem like 5-star luxury. Our guides tell us that Nepal is a mystical and spiritual place with wonderful warm people who rely largely on whatever income they can generate from the thousands of trekkers and others who come to see the world's most spectacular mountains. Everest Base Camp alone sees about 40,000 trekkers every year.
As you read this, I will be on a 15 hour flight to Hong Kong. We left Sunday evening and will arrive on Tuesday. Crossing the International Date Line in a west-bound direction means we will not experience Monday this week, although I understand that the Giants v. 49ers Monday Night Football game will take place anyway. On the way back, we will endure Thursday November 29th for a couple of days. The Saints play at Dallas that day.
Meanwhile, yesterday in the Meadowlands, the NFL dialed up another entirely unpredictable outcome as the Bills dominated the home team in all three phases of the game with Matt Barkley looking decidedly above average at least in terms of his ranking among the team's 2018 class of quarterbacks through ten weeks of play. I'm sure that Barkley jersey sales came close to crashing the Bills merchandise site when they went up 31-0 late in the second quarter. I have a feeling that I may be seeing soon-to-be former Jets coach Tod Bowles within the next few days. If I were him, I would seriously consider immediately going trekking in Nepal.
I scheduled the trip in order miss only one Bills game - the November 25th home game against the Jaguars. The bye week is next week so there will be no blog posts from me until Monday December 3rd, after the Bills play the Dolphins in south Florida.
Monday, 5 November 2018
Bears 41, Bills 9
Nathan Peterman's great grandfather, Nathaniel Jeremiah Peterman, established the family tradition of interception throwing way back in the early 20th century when he played college football somewhere in Florida at a time when passing in football was only beginning to find its way into offensive playbooks. Three generations later, Nathan Peterman proudly carries on the family tradition in a Buffalo Bills uniform. His relationship with interceptions is complex and deep. They are a fundamental part of who he is as a football player and as a man. And he is committed to the practice: his career NFL statistics show that he throws an interception on every tenth pass attempt. Even when they are not his fault, the interceptions just seem to pile up when he is under centre. But that didn't stop the Bills from taking him in the fifth round of last year's draft and naming him as their starting quarterback going into week one this season. He got another start yesterday - the third of his NFL career - as he was clearly the best quarterback on the roster not suffering from an injured elbow or a concussion.
The Chicago Bears had 11 first downs yesterday in Orchard Park. The Bills had 22. The Bears gained only 190 total yards compared to the Bills 264. Buffalo won the time of possession battle by eight minutes. These statistics usually lead to a win but the Bills engineered their own blow-out by handing the game to the Bears with three turnovers in six offensive plays in the second quarter. Two of these were returned for touchdowns. Peterman did achieve a couple of irrelevant milestones yesterday: first, he played a complete game for the first time in his career and second, he led the team on a touchdown drive (and scored the touchdown himself) which began on their side of mid-field for the first time in 25 quarters, or almost 40% of an entire NFL season. Albeit, that was in garbage time. I had long since taken the dog for a walk at that point and didn't see it but I'm sure that NFL Films will feature it one day as part of its deep dive on Nathan Peterman as the only player to win the Vontae Davis Halftime Retirement Award three times in one season. And there are still seven games to go. If he wins it again, that record will likely stand until climate change consumes the earth in fire.
On Saturday, I caught most of the second half of the game in Austin, Texas where the No. 7 West Virginia Mountaineers stole a 42-41 win over the Longhorns. After scoring a late touchdown which brought them to within a point of tying the game, the Mountaineers rolled the dice and went for the win by going for a two-point convert which was successful. I admire that kind of aggressive approach and it helped make that the game of the day in College football. Going into yesterday's NFL action, the game of the day was either going to be the Saints and the Rams (the league's only undefeated team) or the Patriots and Packers. The saints ended up handing the Rams their first loss of the season in a very entertaining game, thereby prompting the 1972 Miami Dolphins to uncork their champagne knowing that their record of an undefeated season, including the playoffs and the Superbowl, will stand for another year.
The US mid-term elections take place tomorrow. I saw some eye-popping numbers from the advance polls over the weekend which point to a high turnout and renewed engagement on the part of voters aged 18 to 29. These numbers may not carry through to the final results but in some states, the early voting numbers for that cohort are quite impressive: in North Dakota, turn-out in advance polls among 18-29 year-olds was up 2,400%, in Wisconsin, it was up 758%, Tennessee 666% and over 400% in Texas and in Georgia. I read some analysis which predicted that this mid-term round will probably have the highest voter turn-out since 1966 when about 49% of eligible voters exercised their right. The last few mid-term rounds have averaged at or below 40%. High turn-out and an engaged pool of younger voters probably spells bad news for the GOP but engagement on both sides appears to be strong, thanks to inflamed rhetoric and the unprecedented political divide in the US right now.
The Democrats are on a path to re-take the House of Representatives as all of its 435 seats are up for grabs tomorrow. The Senate is another story with only 35 seats being contested, 26 of which are held by Democrats. They will need to hold all of these and gain another two seats if they are to take over control of the Senate. Or, if they lose one (as seems likely in North Dakota), they will need to take away three seats from the Republicans. The most likely states where the Dems have a chance to unseat Republican Senators are Texas, Tennessee, Arizona and Nevada. The party which occupies the White House is almost always dealt a set-back in mid-term elections. Tomorrow night, we'll learn how big that set-back is.
For those who might care, the Bills play the Jets next week at the Meadowlands of New Jersey.
The Chicago Bears had 11 first downs yesterday in Orchard Park. The Bills had 22. The Bears gained only 190 total yards compared to the Bills 264. Buffalo won the time of possession battle by eight minutes. These statistics usually lead to a win but the Bills engineered their own blow-out by handing the game to the Bears with three turnovers in six offensive plays in the second quarter. Two of these were returned for touchdowns. Peterman did achieve a couple of irrelevant milestones yesterday: first, he played a complete game for the first time in his career and second, he led the team on a touchdown drive (and scored the touchdown himself) which began on their side of mid-field for the first time in 25 quarters, or almost 40% of an entire NFL season. Albeit, that was in garbage time. I had long since taken the dog for a walk at that point and didn't see it but I'm sure that NFL Films will feature it one day as part of its deep dive on Nathan Peterman as the only player to win the Vontae Davis Halftime Retirement Award three times in one season. And there are still seven games to go. If he wins it again, that record will likely stand until climate change consumes the earth in fire.
On Saturday, I caught most of the second half of the game in Austin, Texas where the No. 7 West Virginia Mountaineers stole a 42-41 win over the Longhorns. After scoring a late touchdown which brought them to within a point of tying the game, the Mountaineers rolled the dice and went for the win by going for a two-point convert which was successful. I admire that kind of aggressive approach and it helped make that the game of the day in College football. Going into yesterday's NFL action, the game of the day was either going to be the Saints and the Rams (the league's only undefeated team) or the Patriots and Packers. The saints ended up handing the Rams their first loss of the season in a very entertaining game, thereby prompting the 1972 Miami Dolphins to uncork their champagne knowing that their record of an undefeated season, including the playoffs and the Superbowl, will stand for another year.
The US mid-term elections take place tomorrow. I saw some eye-popping numbers from the advance polls over the weekend which point to a high turnout and renewed engagement on the part of voters aged 18 to 29. These numbers may not carry through to the final results but in some states, the early voting numbers for that cohort are quite impressive: in North Dakota, turn-out in advance polls among 18-29 year-olds was up 2,400%, in Wisconsin, it was up 758%, Tennessee 666% and over 400% in Texas and in Georgia. I read some analysis which predicted that this mid-term round will probably have the highest voter turn-out since 1966 when about 49% of eligible voters exercised their right. The last few mid-term rounds have averaged at or below 40%. High turn-out and an engaged pool of younger voters probably spells bad news for the GOP but engagement on both sides appears to be strong, thanks to inflamed rhetoric and the unprecedented political divide in the US right now.
The Democrats are on a path to re-take the House of Representatives as all of its 435 seats are up for grabs tomorrow. The Senate is another story with only 35 seats being contested, 26 of which are held by Democrats. They will need to hold all of these and gain another two seats if they are to take over control of the Senate. Or, if they lose one (as seems likely in North Dakota), they will need to take away three seats from the Republicans. The most likely states where the Dems have a chance to unseat Republican Senators are Texas, Tennessee, Arizona and Nevada. The party which occupies the White House is almost always dealt a set-back in mid-term elections. Tomorrow night, we'll learn how big that set-back is.
For those who might care, the Bills play the Jets next week at the Meadowlands of New Jersey.
Tuesday, 30 October 2018
Patriots 25, Bills 6
A hastily arranged gathering of the clan took place last night. The clan being a small group of men in their mid-fifties and the gathering being a get-together focused on watching televised professional sports. Late October clearly is the very best time of year for North American sports fans with every team sport operating on some level. If the World Series had been even a bit more interesting than it was this year, game six would be tonight. Hockey and basketball regular seasons are well under way. The CFL is entering the final week of its regular season while the NFL is half way through theirs. There isn't a late October night that goes by without some solid sports viewing to be had and last night was obviously no exception with the Maple Leafs at home against Calgary, the undefeated Raptors visiting the undefeated Milwaukee Bucks and the Bills playing a home game on Monday night. So, the clan gathered, aided by the best multiple picture feature that Bell Fibe has to offer as all three relevant games were on concurrently.
The Leafs fell first, giving up two quick early third period goals before losing 3-1, then the Raptors hopes of an 82-0 season were dashed as they fell to the Bucks whose similar hopes remains alive for now. Not a good start for our Toronto based teams but down the road and across the river in Orchard Park, the Bills were hanging tough against their nemesis, the New England Patriots, trailing only 9-3 at halftime. The Bills were doing ESPN a solid by keeping the national football television audience tuned in for longer than most pundits (and me) expected. The second half of the game in Orchard Park earned the clan's full attention - and for good reason. There would be no early to bed on this night.
As Bills fans have seen so many times over the past 20 or more years (after Jim Kelly retired), their team's defence put in another inspired performance, keeping the Patriots out of the endzone until the fourth quarter while the offence coughed, sputtered and stopped possession after possession. But the home team and its fired-up fans trailed by a manageable score of 12-6 after the third quarter. A touchdown, if it ever came (and it obviously didn't), could win the game and upset the heavily favoured visitors. Matt Milano, the second-year fifth-rounder from Boston College looked strong again at linebacker as he and his defensive teammates played hard, hit hard and kept their team in the game until well into the fourth quarter. Tremaine Edmunds, the promising rookie linebacker who the Bills took at 16th overall from Virginia Tech, suffered a concussion in the second quarter and did not return. He earns this week's Vontae Davis Halftime Retirement Award - not because he should or will retire - just because he missed the second half and someone has to win the award each and every week of this 2018 season. His tackling is excellent and I hope to see him play many playoff games in a Bills uniform starting round about the 2020 season and beyond.
With the score 18-6, Bills tight end Jason Croom fooled us for a few seconds with what looked from the television angle like a spectacular one-handed 25 yard touchdown catch which would have made the game a one-score affair with six minutes left. But the replay clearly showed that he didn't actually make the catch and then two plays later, the Bills dialed up the old and always reliable interception-returned-for-a-touchdown play which sealed the game and sent us all home for the night. The Patriots would like to play the Bills more than twice every year as they are 32-5 in their last 37 games against them. Watching Brady playing and Belichick coaching last night made me feel that us Bills fans are caught in a never-ending feedback loop which just keeps playing losses to the Patriots over and over again. When will they leave and let us have a sniff at winning the AFC East and earning the coveted home playoff game which goes with it?
At 2-6, the season is now a write-off and if this were English Premier League football, the Bills would stand a good chance of relegation. The remaining competition is for player evaluation and draft order. The Chicago Bears make their first visit to Orchard Park in 16 years on Sunday. Last time they played "at Buffalo", in November, 2010, the game was played in the subdued and quiet confines of the Rogers Centre, a few minutes walk from where we watched last night's games. The Bears, at 4-3, look to have a decent team this year after picking up former UB Bull Kahlil Mack from the Raiders. Their fans also travel well so there should be a good crowd back at New Era Field in five days time.
The Leafs fell first, giving up two quick early third period goals before losing 3-1, then the Raptors hopes of an 82-0 season were dashed as they fell to the Bucks whose similar hopes remains alive for now. Not a good start for our Toronto based teams but down the road and across the river in Orchard Park, the Bills were hanging tough against their nemesis, the New England Patriots, trailing only 9-3 at halftime. The Bills were doing ESPN a solid by keeping the national football television audience tuned in for longer than most pundits (and me) expected. The second half of the game in Orchard Park earned the clan's full attention - and for good reason. There would be no early to bed on this night.
As Bills fans have seen so many times over the past 20 or more years (after Jim Kelly retired), their team's defence put in another inspired performance, keeping the Patriots out of the endzone until the fourth quarter while the offence coughed, sputtered and stopped possession after possession. But the home team and its fired-up fans trailed by a manageable score of 12-6 after the third quarter. A touchdown, if it ever came (and it obviously didn't), could win the game and upset the heavily favoured visitors. Matt Milano, the second-year fifth-rounder from Boston College looked strong again at linebacker as he and his defensive teammates played hard, hit hard and kept their team in the game until well into the fourth quarter. Tremaine Edmunds, the promising rookie linebacker who the Bills took at 16th overall from Virginia Tech, suffered a concussion in the second quarter and did not return. He earns this week's Vontae Davis Halftime Retirement Award - not because he should or will retire - just because he missed the second half and someone has to win the award each and every week of this 2018 season. His tackling is excellent and I hope to see him play many playoff games in a Bills uniform starting round about the 2020 season and beyond.
With the score 18-6, Bills tight end Jason Croom fooled us for a few seconds with what looked from the television angle like a spectacular one-handed 25 yard touchdown catch which would have made the game a one-score affair with six minutes left. But the replay clearly showed that he didn't actually make the catch and then two plays later, the Bills dialed up the old and always reliable interception-returned-for-a-touchdown play which sealed the game and sent us all home for the night. The Patriots would like to play the Bills more than twice every year as they are 32-5 in their last 37 games against them. Watching Brady playing and Belichick coaching last night made me feel that us Bills fans are caught in a never-ending feedback loop which just keeps playing losses to the Patriots over and over again. When will they leave and let us have a sniff at winning the AFC East and earning the coveted home playoff game which goes with it?
At 2-6, the season is now a write-off and if this were English Premier League football, the Bills would stand a good chance of relegation. The remaining competition is for player evaluation and draft order. The Chicago Bears make their first visit to Orchard Park in 16 years on Sunday. Last time they played "at Buffalo", in November, 2010, the game was played in the subdued and quiet confines of the Rogers Centre, a few minutes walk from where we watched last night's games. The Bears, at 4-3, look to have a decent team this year after picking up former UB Bull Kahlil Mack from the Raiders. Their fans also travel well so there should be a good crowd back at New Era Field in five days time.
Monday, 22 October 2018
Colts 38, Bills 5
I can't decide whether yesterday's game was worse for Bills fans than week one at Baltimore was when the Bills were crushed 47-3. I am certain that it doesn't matter at all as either game provided clear evidence that the Bills are one of the worst two or three teams in the NFL in 2018. They are in contention for the first overall draft pick in 2019 along with the Cardinals, the Raiders and the 49ers. It seems hard to believe but going into week seven, some NFL pundits actually placed the Colts below the Bills in their power rankings. I expect that will change.
The game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis yesterday was scoreless through the first quarter but the Colts and their blue chip quarterback Andrew Luck came alive in the second quarter with 24 points. The Bills defence, which had played surprisingly well over the past four weeks, delivered a decidedly uninspired performance. On the other side of the ball, journeyman quarterback Derek Anderson, who was on vacation with his family two weeks ago when he got the call from Bills GM Brandon Beane, looked almost serviceable in the early going but faded as the game went on. He earns the Vontae Davis Halftime Retirement Award this week. For not staying retired. I suspect that this morning, he wishes that his vacation had taken him well out of cell range. Nathan Peterman probably watched the game from the sidelines with a feeling of relief that at least he would not be the scapegoat this week.
I caught some of the post-game commiseration on WGR yesterday. The mood fluctuated between somber and outraged as callers seemed particularly nonsensical and Mike Schop and the Bulldog gave them little leeway. They wondered if Bills coach Sean McDermott, now a season and a half into his head-coaching tenure, had, for the first time, "lost his team" yesterday. Did the defence simply lose motivation knowing that two weeks ago their starting quarterback was on vacation from his aluminum siding sales job? McDermott had been able to get his defence dialed-in for the last month but not yesterday. Will they end up at 2-14 and claim that first overall pick, they asked.
They then turned their attention to week eight. A Monday night home game. The first one in ten years. Wow! With the Patriots coming to Orchard Park in prime time, how should Bills fans be feeling about this game, they asked. What would the opening line be? The answer to that question is 13 points. As for how the fan base should be feeling, well, that's a tough one.
NBC took over the broadcast rights to Sunday Night Football from ESPN (which had the rights to the Sunday prime time games since they began in 1987) in 2006. ESPN took Monday Night Football from its related company ABC the same year. Ratings for SNF soon surged and is now consistently the most watched NFL game each week. Between 1970 and 2006, MNF was the league's prime time jewel. Since I became a dedicated Bills fan in the late 1970s, some of the most memorable Bills games took place on MNF. Among them are: (1) a game on November 14, 1988 when the Bills went into Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami and throttled the Dolphins 31-6 on their way to winning the AFC East before going all the way to the AFC Championship Game that season and starting their run of dominance which lasted until Jim Kelly retired after the 1996 season, (2) the October 8, 2007 home game against the heavily favoured Dallas Cowboys which the Bills should have won but lost 25-24 on a long field goal as time ran out, and (3) another 25-24 loss on opening week of the 2009 season at New England when Leodis McKelvin fumbled the game away on a kick-off return. Fans spray-painted messages on the front lawn of McKelvin's house later that night. Maybe this week's game will remind us of the 2007 game with a cranked-up crowd supporting the underdog. And maybe the kicker will miss as time runs out.
Today, in Ontario, we vote. I'm not sure who is running for dog-catcher in my ward but I will make it my business to find out before I walk up to Glenview Presbyterian Church this evening. I have been thinking that it may be time to make some changes to municipal government structure in Ontario - in two areas in particular: the "weak mayor" system and the prohibition of political parties. Maybe these changes should apply only to Toronto (or to Toronto and perhaps four or five other large Ontario cities). Whoever wins the Toronto mayoralty tonight will have earned more direct votes than any other politician in Canada - in the hundreds of thousands at least - and in return, they will hold one vote of 26 on the new council. That's it. To move their agenda forward, they will have to earn the support of a majority of their council colleagues. This is something that Rob Ford never quite understood or accepted and, honestly, I think he may have had a valid point. As for political parties, I have collected the campaign brochures of those running for council and school trustee in my ward. Everyone seems to be in favour of better transit, reduced traffic gridlock, affordable housing, more efficient municipal services and smaller class sizes. I have also met and spoken with some of the candidates and I think I know how I'm going to vote. But for most people in this major urban centre where they are very unlikely to know any of the candidates personally, how would they possibly decide? If candidates in municipal elections were permitted to affiliate themselves with political parties, those affiliations alone would help guide voters in some way. I just wish I could vote for an NDP dog-catcher.
The game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis yesterday was scoreless through the first quarter but the Colts and their blue chip quarterback Andrew Luck came alive in the second quarter with 24 points. The Bills defence, which had played surprisingly well over the past four weeks, delivered a decidedly uninspired performance. On the other side of the ball, journeyman quarterback Derek Anderson, who was on vacation with his family two weeks ago when he got the call from Bills GM Brandon Beane, looked almost serviceable in the early going but faded as the game went on. He earns the Vontae Davis Halftime Retirement Award this week. For not staying retired. I suspect that this morning, he wishes that his vacation had taken him well out of cell range. Nathan Peterman probably watched the game from the sidelines with a feeling of relief that at least he would not be the scapegoat this week.
I caught some of the post-game commiseration on WGR yesterday. The mood fluctuated between somber and outraged as callers seemed particularly nonsensical and Mike Schop and the Bulldog gave them little leeway. They wondered if Bills coach Sean McDermott, now a season and a half into his head-coaching tenure, had, for the first time, "lost his team" yesterday. Did the defence simply lose motivation knowing that two weeks ago their starting quarterback was on vacation from his aluminum siding sales job? McDermott had been able to get his defence dialed-in for the last month but not yesterday. Will they end up at 2-14 and claim that first overall pick, they asked.
They then turned their attention to week eight. A Monday night home game. The first one in ten years. Wow! With the Patriots coming to Orchard Park in prime time, how should Bills fans be feeling about this game, they asked. What would the opening line be? The answer to that question is 13 points. As for how the fan base should be feeling, well, that's a tough one.
NBC took over the broadcast rights to Sunday Night Football from ESPN (which had the rights to the Sunday prime time games since they began in 1987) in 2006. ESPN took Monday Night Football from its related company ABC the same year. Ratings for SNF soon surged and is now consistently the most watched NFL game each week. Between 1970 and 2006, MNF was the league's prime time jewel. Since I became a dedicated Bills fan in the late 1970s, some of the most memorable Bills games took place on MNF. Among them are: (1) a game on November 14, 1988 when the Bills went into Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami and throttled the Dolphins 31-6 on their way to winning the AFC East before going all the way to the AFC Championship Game that season and starting their run of dominance which lasted until Jim Kelly retired after the 1996 season, (2) the October 8, 2007 home game against the heavily favoured Dallas Cowboys which the Bills should have won but lost 25-24 on a long field goal as time ran out, and (3) another 25-24 loss on opening week of the 2009 season at New England when Leodis McKelvin fumbled the game away on a kick-off return. Fans spray-painted messages on the front lawn of McKelvin's house later that night. Maybe this week's game will remind us of the 2007 game with a cranked-up crowd supporting the underdog. And maybe the kicker will miss as time runs out.
Today, in Ontario, we vote. I'm not sure who is running for dog-catcher in my ward but I will make it my business to find out before I walk up to Glenview Presbyterian Church this evening. I have been thinking that it may be time to make some changes to municipal government structure in Ontario - in two areas in particular: the "weak mayor" system and the prohibition of political parties. Maybe these changes should apply only to Toronto (or to Toronto and perhaps four or five other large Ontario cities). Whoever wins the Toronto mayoralty tonight will have earned more direct votes than any other politician in Canada - in the hundreds of thousands at least - and in return, they will hold one vote of 26 on the new council. That's it. To move their agenda forward, they will have to earn the support of a majority of their council colleagues. This is something that Rob Ford never quite understood or accepted and, honestly, I think he may have had a valid point. As for political parties, I have collected the campaign brochures of those running for council and school trustee in my ward. Everyone seems to be in favour of better transit, reduced traffic gridlock, affordable housing, more efficient municipal services and smaller class sizes. I have also met and spoken with some of the candidates and I think I know how I'm going to vote. But for most people in this major urban centre where they are very unlikely to know any of the candidates personally, how would they possibly decide? If candidates in municipal elections were permitted to affiliate themselves with political parties, those affiliations alone would help guide voters in some way. I just wish I could vote for an NDP dog-catcher.
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