Bills 56, Dolphins 26

28 years ago yesterday, on January 3, 1993, the game which featured the greatest comeback in NFL history was played at what was then called Rich Stadium in Orchard Park, NY. The Bills trailed the Houston Oilers 28-3 at halftime and prospects for a return to a third consecutive Superbowl did not look good for the 75,000+ on hand, including me. My friend and I agreed that we would stick it out until the end of the third quarter and then try to beat the stadium traffic if the Bills hadn't mounted a comeback by then. On the opening series of the second half, the Oilers intercepted an errant pass and returned it for a touchdown. The rout was clearly on at 35-3. We stuck to our plan of staying until the start of the fourth quarter but many thousands did not. NFL rules did not allow re-entry to the stadium which meant that those who left could only listen in their cars even if they lived close to the stadium because the game was blacked out on local television, having not sold out by the requisite 72 hours prior to kick-off. The Bills then proceeded to score back-to-back-to-back touchdowns in the third quarter, making the score 35-24. They completed the comeback and took the lead late in the fourth quarter before the Oilers tied the game with a late field goal. The Bills won the game in overtime 41-38. That day, Jim Kelly was injured and the Bills quarterback was back-up Frank Reich. Coincidentally, Reich had led his Maryland Terapins to what was then the largest comeback in college football history in November, 1984, leading his team to to a 42-40 win over the Miami Hurricanes, after trailing 31-0 at halftime.

This coming Saturday, Reich returns to Orchard Park as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts for the first game of the NFL's expanded Wildcard Round which features six games over the course of the weekend. The NFL should change the name of its opening playoff weekend because six of the 12 teams playing in the round are division winners. When the Bills played the Oilers in 1993, both actually were Wildcard teams. Reich obviously holds a special place in NFL and Buffalo sports history but we hope that he and his team's success this season ends on Saturday which would earn the Bills their first playoff win in 25 years. And, looking on at Bills Stadium will be 6,700 fans, including New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo who may be considering a run at the White House in 2024. 

The Bills presented a plan for limited fan attendance at their home playoff games to the State government immediately after clinching the AFC East division title in Denver a couple of weeks ago. It included a sparse sprinkling of fans, representing about 9% of the stadium's capacity, no tailgating, staggered and specific entry times and mandatory COVID tests three days before each game for everyone planning to attend. The plan was approved by the New York State government as submitted. My seniority as a season ticket holder qualified me to apply for tickets but because of the border being closed to vehicle traffic (and the tickets not being transferable or eligible for third party sale), I passed. The 6,700 tickets were snapped up quickly and team officials are warning that the numerous online re-sale ticket listings which have popped up in the last couple of days are entirely fraudulent as no re-selling is permitted (enforced by verification by photo ID which must match the season ticket holder). All those attending the game will be seated outside as the enclosed and heated suites are off limits. Andrew Cuomo will be seated in the open air and in full view of the CBS cameras which, if he plans to run for President, suits him perfectly. My cynical instinct tells me that Cuomo, as part of his decision process, must have made a political calculation about support to be lost or gained in the Western New York area by whatever decision he made. I am confident that he made the right decision politically. Let's hope that it's not the wrong one for public health.

After Josh Allen lit up the Dolphins in the first half, Sean McDermott rested most of the team's starters in the second half. We got a chance to see some of the second and third string players in live game action. The one who stood out for me was running back Antonio Williams, a rookie undrafted free agent from North Carolina who had been on the Bills practice squad for the entire season. Yesterday was his first NFL game and, although the Dolphin defence was deflated by the time he entered, he ran powerfully and with a tenacity and determination which impressed me. For the day, he had 12 carries for 63 yards and two touchdowns, with a 5.3 yards per carry average. Possibly most important for him was the first NFL game cheque he has ever earned - in the amount of $30,000 - representing one sixteenth of the NFL rookie minimum salary of $480,000. For him, I am sure that it's a welcome holiday season bonus and I hope it is the first of many game cheques he earns in his career but, barring injuries to Devin Singletary and Zack Moss, it will be the only one for him this NFL season.

Expectations for playoff success are running high in Bills Nation (as a friend recently pointed out, the term "mafia" seems curious and I choose not to use it). If they can not beat the Colts on Saturday, the season will be considered a disappointment despite a 13-3 record achieved with a difficult schedule, playing against the NFC West and the AFC West, with the strong teams in those divisions and the heavier travel burden. Opening lines have the Bills as early 6.5 point favourites. If they win, I may apply for tickets to the Divisional Round game and find a way to fly to Buffalo which is, for some reason, still allowed.   

    

Bills 38, Patriots 9

Apart from watching Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs continue their season-long game of pitch and catch, my favourite image from ESPN's coverage of last night's blowout football game in Foxborough was Bill Belichick angrily (almost violently) throwing what appeared to be an 80s style cordless telephone after presumably speaking to whoever recommended that he throw the red challenge flag on a sideline catch by Bills tight end Dawson Knox. Not because I dislike him because I really don't dislike him. I just think that he is a bit of a sore loser. Think back to Superbowl XLII when, after posting a 16-0 regular season record, his team lost the championship game 17-14 to the NY Giants, ruining what would have been only the second perfect season in NFL history. After the clock ran out, he stormed off to the locker room without walking toward the centre of the field to shake the hand of Giants coach Tom Coughlin. That stuck with me because I don't think I've ever seen an NFL coach fail to perform that particular post-game ritual before or after that game. 

As I was drifting off to sleep after the game last night - or trying to - WGR's post-game coverage included the virtual press conferences from each head coach. Bills coach Sean McDermott was asked repeatedly to comment on the significance of the win for the Buffalo Bills franchise and fan base. "Was this win a changing of the guard - a declaration by your team that the Patriots have finally been ousted from their 20 year run of domination in the AFC East?" McDermott, never one to create "bulletin board" material for any other team (even if wouldn't be used until next season), wouldn't take the bait and literally said that. "Nice try but this was just a big win for our football team and we have more work to do to reach our goal as an organization". I'm not worried about the bulletin board consideration so I'll offer my own answer: Yes it was. In many ways. Amazingly, 2020 was the first season since 2000 which saw any of the Patriots three division rivals sweep both games in one season. This is also the Patriots first losing season in 20 years. The Bills division title comes after the Patriots claimed the crown for the past 11 consecutive years. And to win this particular game in such an emphatic style is what Bills Nation was hoping for going in while most prognosticators (including me) predicted that Belichick would find a way to keep the game close. 

As for Belichick's press conference, he made the appropriate deferential comments about the team he just lost to, saying in his customary monotone style that they played better than his team did in all three phases and are well-coached etc etc. He was then specifically asked about the telephone throwing incident. After a long pause where even in my half-asleep state I could feel his slow burn, all he offered was that the Bills receiver made a good catch and that his challenge was unsuccessful as it should have been. He was asked again why the play was challenged - and at the time I also wondered why as all replays clearly showed Knox with full control of the ball with both feet touching well inside the white line - and he simply repeated his first answer about the catch being good. Whoever suggested to Belichick that he challenge the call was probably on the other end of that phone call and deserves full criticism for costing the Patriots a time-out. Belichick will probably insist that he personally pay for a replacement telephone for the bench. I actually have one in a drawer somewhere which worked well before I disconnected my landline, although the battery pack may be dead. Dead like the 2020 Patriots.

In September, 2013, the Carolina Panthers came to Orchard Park and lost a one-point game on a late game comeback engineered by Bills rookie quarterback EJ Manuel. I attended the game and I distinctly remember carefully watching Panthers quarterback Cam Newton, in his third year in the league, display his other-worldly athleticism and strong and accurate throwing arm. He was then and remains an impressive physical specimen and now at age 31, he should be in his prime - if not at his peak - as an NFL quarterback in his 10th year in the league. Following the 2019 season, after injuries plagued him for his last two seasons in Charlotte, the Panthers gave up on him. When the Patriots signed Newton this past off-season, I predicted a full revival for him in Belichick's system with years of tormenting the Bills lying ahead. But, despite retaining his athletic ability (seen clearly on the Patriots only touchdown last night), the man, for whatever reason, has lost his ability to throw a football. The ESPN crew kept referring to the Patriots passing game posing no real downfield threat and, trailing by double digits in the third quarter when it was most needed, they didn't even try to throw deep. Josh Allen, be thankful for what you have. In the NFL, it can be fleeting.

The NFL has managed to steer its ship, listing at times but always recovering, nearly to the finish line as week 17 of the regular season approaches. No week 18 will be needed and the playoffs and Superbowl are set to proceed on schedule. In September, I would have bet against this. Sure, the league has its retractors and for good reasons. But what it has managed to pull off in 2020 deserves to be applauded. The only complaint that comes to mind about the NFL this season, for me, is that game officials seem to have completely forgotten to call "helmet to helmet" hit infractions. There were two obvious incidents last night: one against Bills running back Devin Singletary and a second initiated by Bills safety Jordan Poyer against Cam Newton. Neither infraction was called but Poyer was taken off the field afterward for concussion evaluation and did not return. It was obviously a league initiated decision to remove him from the game after the violent hit. More credit to the NFL for this I guess but they have to call penalties on those hits if they are ever going to stop them.  

 

Bills 48, Broncos 19

Near the end of regulation time in the first game I ever attended at Rich Stadium in Orchard Park, NY, Fred Smerlas was able to get a big paw up and block a field goal attempt to send the game into overtime tied at 6-6. It was November 20, 1988 - week 13 of the NFL season which had no bye weeks. Linebacker Cornelius Bennett recovered a NY Jets fumble in overtime which set up the winning field goal by Scott Norwood who would become a household name across the football world a couple of years later. The fans, releasing pent-up frustration since 1980 which turned to euphoria, pulled down the goalposts in the post-game celebration. With the win, the Bills, now at 12-1, had clinched their first AFC East division title since the days of Joe Ferguson, Frank Lewis and Lou Piccone. The eight years which had passed since their last division title seemed longer than that as the team had sunk to the bottom of the league with consecutive 2-14 seasons in 1984 and 1985 under the entirely forgettable head coaching of Kay Stephenson who was fired four games into the 1986 season.

Taking Stephenson's place in October, 1986 was one Marv Levy who had been coaching football for almost 40 years already but had been out of the game for almost two seasons, most recently coaching the Chicago Blitz of the USFL. Levy's NFL coaching career began as a special teams assistant with George Allen in Washington but his only previous NFL head coaching experience was five seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs from 1978 to 1982. That 1988 AFC East division championship was to be the first of a run of six division titles over the next eight years, with the most recent one coming in 1995. Sean McDermott reported that he received a congratulatory email from Marv Levy, now 95 years old and living in his home-town of Chicago, on Saturday evening after the Bills had clinched their first division title in 25 years. McDermott apparently did not hear from Kay Stephenson. 

Josh Allen's was born on May 21, 1996. It has been erroneously reported that he had not been born when the Bills played their last home playoff game but he was actually about seven months old when the Bills lost the wildcard game at Rich Stadium to Jacksonville on December 28, 1996. The Jaguars sacked Jim Kelly late in the game and knocked him out - out of the game and out of football for the rest of his life - then recovered his fumble before kicking the winning field goal for 30-27 win. Yes, the Bills have not played a playoff game in Orchard Park since Jim Kelly was under centre. Levy went on to coach one more season before giving way to Wade Phillips who guided the team to two playoff appearances in 1998 and 1999. 

Sean McDermott's record in Buffalo over the last four season has been massively impressive. After a stretch of 17 seasons with no playoffs, McDermott has steered his team to the post-season in three of his four years. And with the wholesale changes in New England this season which released Bill Belichick's iron grip on the AFC East, the coveted division championship and the home playoff game which goes with it, have now too been achieved. What Bills fans are looking for now is for the team to win playoff games and the chances of that seem pretty good.

Going into Saturday's late afternoon game in Denver, I was feeling pretty good. Cross-country skiing in the morning, skating on the lake in the afternoon, a pot roast in the oven, plenty of firewood inside and we were all set. And the Bills did not disappoint. The 48 points they put up were the most the team had scored in ten years and Josh Allen had another outstanding game, going 28 of 40 for 359 yards and two running touchdowns, two touchdown passes and, once again, no interceptions or fumbles. His best throw might have been the laser touchdown pass to heretofore unknown receiver Jake Kumerow who, like so many NFL players who toil in anonymity, was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Bengals after playing for the Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawks, a Division III school. He bounced around the practice squads of the Bengals, Patriots and Packers before coming to Buffalo in September. It was his first catch of the season.

Looking at playoff seeding scenarios, the Chiefs are closing in on number one but if the Steelers find a way to lose to the Bengals tonight, they would be tied with the Bills at 11-3 with the Bills holding the tie-breaker, having won their head-to-head game last week. The Titans and Colts are both a game behind the Bills at 10-4. After having only six days to prepare for each of the last two games, the Bills now have a luxurious nine days to get ready for a trip to New England for their second official Monday Night game of 2020.       

Bills 26, Steelers 15

Like Carrie Underwood, I waited all day for Sunday Night - quite patiently too - but for most of the first half of last night's big game on NBC, the wait didn't really seem worthwhile as the Bills and Steelers treated viewers to a plodding defensive punt-fest. My dad used to say that he liked watching prolific defences ply their trade in football and he said that he didn't like the US college game very much because the defences just weren't very good. Both defences were certainly good in the first half last night but I found it frustrating to watch. That is, until things opened up for both offences - especially for Josh Allen and the Bills - in the second half.  

With the Bills trailing 7-3 late in the first half, safety Taron Johnson stepped in front of Steelers receiver Jo Jo Smith-Shuster, grabbed the pass thrown his way by Ben Roethlisberger and streaked into the endzone to give the Bills a 9-7 lead at the break. That was the game's turning point as the Bills then scored touchdowns on each of their first two possessions of the second half to open a 23-7 lead which the Steelers would not overcome. As much as Josh Allen struggled with the Steelers relentless blitzing in the first half, he and his offensive line found a way to overcome the pressure after the break and show the prime time television audience that his performance six days earlier against the 49ers was no fluke.  

Al Michaels, the ageless play-by-play man who looks almost the same now as he did when he called the Miracle On Ice in 1980, sat out the trip to Buffalo and this upset some Bills fans calling in to WGR 550 last week. Michaels, now 76, is one of the most iconic American sports broadcasters of all-time and fully deserving of a weekend or two off in this 2020 season. Enter Mike Tirico, formerly of ESPN, who took his place in the booth with Chris Collinsworth last night. Tirico, although his resume isn't as long as Michaels, is an outstanding sportscaster in his own right and that showed as I thought that he and Collinsworth (who can be a bit fawning at times) delivered excellent play-by-play and colour commentary respectively. As they remarked, last night's game would have been a great one for live fans and the repeated aerial shots of an empty Bills Stadium still seemed surreal to me even this late in the season.

And the Dolphins lost yesterday too. I watched most of their game as they hung in with the Chiefs but came up short and, with the Bills big win later on, fell two games behind them with three games to go. The Bills had only six days to prepare for the game (after playing on Monday night) and they will have another six days once again to prepare for their next game on Saturday in Denver. The 4.30pm game against the Broncos will be the Bills third of four consecutive games on national television with the possibility of a fifth to end the season if the week 17 game against the Dolphins is flexed to Sunday Night. As much as I'm sure that Al Michaels would love to finally make it to Orchard Park this season, I hope it doesn't happen because it will mean that the Dolphins will have closed the gap with a chance to challenge for the division with a win. At 10-3, I don't think that it's a stretch to say that the Bills are now legitimate Superbowl contenders. The Chiefs now have the inside track on the first seed overall and the road to the Superbowl will probably go through Kansas City. As things stand now, the Bills clearly have a very good shot at making it to the AFC Championship game.   

Michigan and Ohio State were scheduled to play on Saturday, about three weeks later than usual, as part of the Big Ten's truncated football season. But, last Tuesday, the Wolverine football program reportedly registered more than 40 positive COVID tests and Michigan Athletic Director Warde Manuel appropriately informed the Buckeyes and the Big Ten that the annual game between the two rivals would not be played for the first time since 1917. At 5-0, the Buckeyes will still earn a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game against Northwestern after the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors changed the rules, for the second time in a month, reducing the minimum number of games played to qualify the Buckeyes to play for the conference title. This has been the strangest of college football seasons where many games have been postponed or cancelled altogether due to COVID outbreaks and some programs have not taken the field at all. After all, a school called Coastal Carolina of the Sunbelt Conference, at 10-0, is currently ranked 11th in the AP top 25 poll and the closest Division I team to Toronto, the University of Buffalo Bulls of the Mid-American Conference, sits 24th in the same poll. But, when the four schools who will participate in the National Championship playoff are announced next Sunday, four quite familiar names will probably be on the list: Alabama, Notre Dame, Clemson and Ohio State. Sorry, Coastal Carolina and UB, maybe you've had your dream seasons but its time for the dominant programs to dominate once again. Maybe the world is returning to a semblance of normalcy after all.

Bills 34, 49ers 24

Was I ready for some football, as Hank Williams, Jr. would have asked. A Monday night party? All his rowdy friends were there for Monday night - or so he used to say. Williams, a well-known Republican, lost his Monday Night Football musical gig after comments he made about a 2011 golf game involving Barack Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner. He disapproved of Boehner agreeing to play with the President, saying that it was like Benjamin Netanyahu agreeing to play golf with Hitler.  But anyway, yes I was ready. No rowdy friends - just Sophie and I but we were both fully prepared after a beautiful sunny day of frolicking in the Muskoka snow. I began adjusting my sleep patterns last week in anticipation of a late night and a short sleep, what with the pressure of writing this blog at my usual early hour. 11.30pm now feels like the middle of the night for me but the game kept me awake and a bit tense until near its end. Sophie decided to re-energize for another day of chasing tennis balls in the snow and slept through the entire game.

Before last night, the Bills last win in an official Monday Night Football game came 21 years ago in Miami (not counting their 2014 win in a "home" game in Detroit which was originally scheduled for the day before but more than a metre of lake effect snow in Orchard Park led to its postponement and change of venue.) Doug Flutie hit Eric Moulds with a perfect back-shoulder fade pass to the endzone to seal the win. I remember the game very well - watched it with a work colleague at our bosses house in Etobicoke. The Bills have not fared well in prime time in recent years, going 8-22 since 2000. 

But they have enjoyed recent success in nationally televised games as Josh Allen seems to excel on the big stage with two big wins last year - at Dallas on Thanksgiving and at Pittsburgh on a late-season Sunday night. Last night's performance was easily his best in a Bills uniform. He went 32 of 40 for 375 yards, no interceptions and four touchdowns. He looked calm and collected - in total control of the Bills offence. Good thing he was because the running game never materialized, posting only 81 yards. The defence continued its improved play in recent weeks with a "bend but don't break" approach which saw the 49ers rack up 402 yards and 24 first downs. By comparison, the Bills had 449 yards and 31 first downs. 

The game started with two consecutive four-down goal-line stands - one by each team - before Zack Moss fumbled on his own two yard line, giving San Francisco its first score. With the win last night, the Bills took a 7-6 lead in the all-time series between the teams. Their first meeting, a 27-20 Buffalo win, was in 1972 at the Rockpile. Chris Berman is one of my favourite NFL broadcasters ever, with his trademark middle name insertions like baseball catcher Tony "what are they" Pena, pitcher Rich "280 ZX" Dotson and quarterback Jake "daylight come and you wanna" Delhomme (possibly his best one was "fettuccini" Alfredo Griffin). The MNF broadcast made reference to Berman's prediction of a Bills v. 49ers Superbowl for many consecutive years starting in 1988. Although one of the two teams did make it to the big game in many of those years, they have never met outside the 13 regular season games. The best known game in the series took place in September, 1992 with the Bills posting a 34-31 win in a back-and-forth contest between two prolific offences which became known as the "no punt" game.

The Bills continue their late-season string of prime-time games next week with a match-up against the no longer undefeated Pittsburgh Steelers. Of all the Bills home games this season, having fans at this one would have generated an electric atmosphere in Orchard Park. With only a three-hour drive between the two rust-belt cities and with Steeler Nation being one of the best travelling fan bases in the NFL, this would have been the game to attend in 2020. The Steelers, losers to Washington in the 5pm game yesterday, are now tied with the Chiefs at 11-1 and will be highly motivated to avenge their first loss of the season. The Bills need another prime-time win to stay a game ahead of the Dolphins. Sunday Night Football surpassed Monday Night Football in viewership several years ago and next week's game will surely attract another huge television audience. Just what Josh Allen ordered.  

 

Bills 27, Chargers 17

Chargers coach Anthony Lynn, former Bills quarterback coach and one of the contenders to replace Rex Ryan after the 2016 season, faced heavy criticism for calling a running play on the goal-line with 25 seconds remaining in yesterday's game. With no time-outs remaining and trailing by 10 points, the Chargers needed a score on that play and the Bills run defence denied them by stopping Austin Ekeler at the one yard line. As the offence scrambled to the line, the clock ticked all the way down to six seconds before the next snap, an incomplete pass which removed another three seconds from the clock,  The game then ended with quarterback Justin Herbert tackled on a keeper which may have been a broken play. How could Lynn be so incompetent as to call a run play up the middle in that situation? "Inexplicable" said CBS colour man Rich Gannon. "He should be fired for that decision alone" said another talking head later in the day. Well, had it worked and resulted in a touchdown, Lynn would have been praised for his innovative and gutsy play calling. Isn't one of the most important elements in offensive play calling to do what the defence isn't expecting? Sure it is but when the risk of the play being unsuccessful could easily foreclose any chances, however slim, that the Chargers had, it was tough for Lynn to defend afterward. I still compliment Lynn, whose team fell to 3-8, for taking the kind of risk that only a long-established head coach whose job isn't in jeopardy might take. He may not last the week and if this was his last game, I hope that he can sleep peacefully knowing that he truly believed Ekeler would score on that running play.

The Bills found a way to hang on for the win in a game which, for much of the second half, felt closer than the score made it look. After turning the ball over on three consecutive fourth quarter possessions, Tre'Davious White intercepted Herbert which led to a Tyler Bass field goal and a ten point lead. Shaking off the two week hangover from the "Hail Murray" loss in Phoenix to improve to 8-3, the Bills, amazingly, gave up another Hail Mary style pass which took the Chargers inside the five with a chance for a quick score and an onside kick attempt. We, and Anthony Lynn, know what happened after that. 

The Bills looked good in the first half with a re-established running attack and better run defence too. Although neither Devin Simgletary nor Zack Moss went over 100 yards rushing, together, they helped the team rack up 172 yards on the ground. And they needed it too as Josh Allen played on of his weaker games of the season, throwing erratically at times and personally causing two turnovers which could have been costly. I'll still take him over Baker Mayfield or Sam Darnold any day. 

The Bills next game, a Monday Night Football contest against the San Francisco 49ers, is just as likely to be played at Lawrence Park High School in North Toronto as it is anywhere else. In an effort to curb the rapid spread of COVID, on Saturday, Santa Clara County, California (where the 49ers Levi's Stadium is located) imposed a temporary ban on all contact sports within its boundaries. In addition to the MNF game against Buffalo, the 49ers have another scheduled home game the following week. The team will also have to find another facility in which to practice. According to The Sporting News, the most likely places for the 49ers to play their next two games are State Farm Stadium in Glendale, AZ (home of the Cardinals and the site of last week's Hail Murray game), the Oakland Coliseum (former home of the Raiders) which is in Alameda County or California Memorial Stadium (home of the PAC 10's Golden Bears) which is also in Alameda County. If Alameda County follows the lead of Santa Clara County with a similar ban on contact sports, that leaves only the Cardinals home field as a viable option right now. So, the Bills will be travelling somewhere, probably westward, next Sunday to play the 49ers on Monday Night. 

Although the NFL has managed to navigate almost all of the COVID roadblocks so far this season and has executed its schedule in full, yesterday featured the Denver Broncos having to resort to their 5th string option at quarterback after all four quarterbacks on the active roster were ruled out for either testing positive or having been in close, unmasked contact with a player who did. That meant that practice squad receiver and sometimes college quarterback Kendall Hinton got the nod under centre against the Saints yesterday. Hinton won't be hearing from his agent this morning about interest from other teams in his quarterbacking as he went one for nine, passing for 13 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions. The Broncos pulled out a 1930's era NFL playbook and ran the ball on almost every snap in a 31-3 home loss. Tomorrow's game between the Ravens and Steelers, originally scheduled to be the Thanksgiving night game, is still a go.   

Cardinals 32, Bills 30

The term "Hail Mary" pass came into the popular NFL vernacular after a playoff game which took place on December 28, 1975 in Minneapolis, MN. With his team trailing 14-10 in the game's dying seconds, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach launched a desperation pass toward the endzone which was caught by Drew Pearson at the two yard line as a Minnesota Vikings defender fell to the ground, allowing Pearson to walk into the endzone for the winning score. After the game, Staubach, a Catholic, told a reporter "I just closed my eyes and said a Hail Mary". The term had apparently been used as early as the 1930s by coaches and players at Notre Dame University and other Catholic schools to describe a low probability long passing play which would require Devine intervention to succeed. Although there are many examples of successful Hail Mary passes in recent NFL history (Aaron Rodgers has had a couple of them in his career), probably the most famous one comes from a college game the day after Thanksgiving in 1984. It was thrown by Doug Flutie of Boston College against the Miami Hurricanes and became known as "Hail Flutie". I can not recall a successful Hail Mary pass in Buffalo Bills history - either for or against - until yesterday.  

A successful Hail Mary pass requires Devine intervention. Or DeAndre Hopkins. Hopkins, one of the top receivers in the league and playing his first season with the Cardinals, leaped high in the air on the left side of the endzone and somehow plucked the ball away from three Buffalo defenders who surrounded him. It gave quarterback Kyler Murray and the Cardinals a miraculous win and crushed the spirit of Bills Nation after Buffalo had scored what looked to be the winning touchdown to take a four point lead with 34 seconds left in the game. Lost in the aftermath of the Hail Mary will be the drive which Josh Allen engineered, including the 21 yard touchdown pass which was an excellent throw by Allen and a spectacular catch by Stefon Diggs. Allen and the Bills played poorly at times over the course of the game but appeared to have pulled it out at the end as the team heads into the bye week after 10 games. Instead of an 8-2 record, the Bills sit at 7-3, with the 6-3 Dolphins in hot pursuit. As the weeks roll by, the Dolphins week 17 game in Orchard Park looms larger and larger. 

The bye week for the Bills comes with six games remaining. Three of the those games will be in prime time - at San Francisco, home to the undefeated Steelers and at New England. The other games see the Chargers come to Buffalo in two weeks and the Bills travel to Denver before Christmas before the week 17 Dolphins game on January 3rd. Through 10 games, the offense had generally been very good with the addition of Diggs and the defence has been disappointing overall. Special teams have been surprisingly good: Cory Bojorquez (yesterday's shank notwithstanding) has punted well if not infrequently, place kicker Tyler Bass has settled in very well with another strong game yesterday and return specialist Andre Roberts has been nothing short of outstanding. Recognizing that this may be a result of recency bias, I would still say that he is the Bills best kick-off and punt returner I can remember. He has sure hands, good speed and usually chooses the right return path.

I gave up a long time ago trying to understand the political strategy of Donald Trump. His continued delusional claim of massive electoral fraud which he surely knows will not succeed is just the latest inexplicable tactic. But it is the most destructive one yet. As President Obama said on 60 Minutes last night, Trump's ego and refusal to accept legitimate defeat by a clear (but certainly not overwhelming) majority of American voters is understandable to those who know him but the ongoing complicity of most other senior Republicans who "should know better" is not. They obviously fear retribution from him if they break ranks but as the transition to the Biden Administration moves forward and Trump's voice recedes to the far-right shadows of the internet, they will have to recognize reality sooner or later. History will not look kindly on them. Or on Donald Trump. I guess I would say that if American democracy can survive this, it can survive anything.