Bills 21, Dolphins 14

I find myself this morning almost as excited about a 1pm Sunday start for the Bills next game as I am about the fact that the team claimed the number two seed in the AFC playoffs. Despite a sense of relief coming after the Tennessee Titans held on to defeat and eliminate the Jacksonville Jaguars earlier in the day, guaranteeing the Bills a playoff spot, last night’s game in south Florida was a stressful as any have been this season with the game’s outcome in doubt until the final minute of play. These late games leave me feeling completely wired at 11.45pm which is already a good couple of hours past the time I usually retire for the night. I’m off to a bit of a late start this morning trying, without much success, to get more information on some of the injuries the Bills suffered in the slugfest.

As Josh Allen said after, last night’s game was a microcosm of the Bills season: some good things early, then injuries, turnovers and missed opportunities, followed up by a key special teams play, a swift recovery and a hard-earned, razor-thin win. Allen also said that on the drive which produced the game-winning touchdown pass to Dawson Knox, the ball was coming out of his hand better than it had all season. It was certainly enough to overcome another turnover-plagued first half where he threw two interceptions in the redzone (the team’s first redzone turnovers of the season) and also fumbled the ball away on a strip-sack. We saw bad Josh Allen turn to good Josh Allen over the course of the game and good Josh Allen is usually good enough to win. It certainly was last night.

The boxscore from last night reads like a blowout game with the Bills dominating most key statistical categories: They posted 26 first downs to the Dolphins 16, 473 yards of total offence to the Dolphins 275 and held the ball for just over 38 minutes to the Dolphins 22. The two quarterbacks both threw two interceptions each with Tua Tagovailoa’s final one to Bills safety Taylor Rapp sealing the win. Allen earned a passer rating of 101.6 completing 30 passes on 38 attempts for 359 yards with two touchdowns and the two picks. Tua’s passer rating was a lowly 62.7 as he reached only 173 yards.

There are new injury concerns for the Buffalo sports radio talking heads to pour over this coming week. Gabe Davis watched most of the game from the sidelines after suffering what appeared to be another “non-contact” injury and Rasul Douglas and Tyrel Dodson both left and did not return. Dion Dawkins somehow lacerated his hand but did return to the game. The fact that the Bills seems to be able to maintain such a high level of defensive play no matter how many starters go down is, in my view, a testament to Sean McDermott and the job he has done as defensive coordinator this season. We will know more about the seriousness of these injuries in the next couple of days.

The Miami Dolphins, clearly a Superbowl contender for much of the season, now find themselves the AFC’s sixth seed with a game in Kansas City next Saturday night where winter weather is forecast to have arrived with a vengeance. The Dolphins needed this game arguably more the Bills did – and they looked well-positioned to claim the Division title and the second seed with its two home playoff games until Deonte Harty’s brilliant 96-yard punt return tied the game and completely changed its trajectory early in the fourth quarter. The Dolphins went three-and-out on their next series and the Bills scored the winning touchdown on the ensuing drive. “All Three Phases” is a term we hear often enough and certainly it rang true for the Bills last night. I can not see the Dolphins having much success on a cold dark night in Missouri five days from now. What a fall it has been for these Fish: from the high-flying early season juggernaut which raced up and down the field at will (admittedly mostly against weaker teams) and scored ten touchdowns against the Broncos in late September. As a division rival and long-time nemesis, the Miami Dolphins get no sympathy from me but it must be a tough morning to be a fan of theirs.

Next up for the Bills are the Pittsburgh Steelers who ground out a win on Saturday at a saturated PSI.net stadium (as I still like to call it) in Baltimore against the Ravens back-ups. The Bills are early 9.5 point favourites. Home playoff games are what NFL teams play for all season and the Bills have definitely earned theirs. But the Steelers will not be intimidated by cold weather or the hostile environment. There will not be as many Steeler fans in Orchard Park on Sunday as there were Bills fans in Miami Gardens last night but Steeler Nation is known as perhaps the best travelling fan base in the league and plenty of them will make the short trip north then east along the south shore of Lake Erie for this game. This bodes well for those of us who may be looking to unload tickets on the secondary market.       

 

Bills 27, Patriots 21

New Year’s greetings from Muskoka where our lake remains mostly open and we have no snow whatsoever on the ground. I feel for those businesses in the north and the “near north” who rely on good skiing, ice fishing and snowmobiling conditions for their livelihoods. This holiday season has been a bust but maybe things will turn around this month. For now, November-like conditions are stretching into a third month. Like Mark Maron sarcastically said recently, we have probably passed the tipping point in terms of irreversible and disastrous climate change but we should take comfort in knowing that we have done absolutely everything we could have to avoid it and it’s clearly not our fault.

Bills fans would have to describe their relationship will Bill Belichick as tortured. For the last 25 years or so, he has been the mastermind of many of the Bills most painful losses. Yesterday probably marked his last trip to Orchard Park as Patriots head coach so I’d like to pay tribute to him and suggest a new angle he could take if he wants to continue coaching. Pundits have suggested that some owner somewhere – Carolina, Arizona, Los Angeles (Chargers), perhaps even the Jets if they decide to move on from Robert Saleh – will want to bring him in as head coach next season. His name carries as much coaching cache as anyone’s and his hiring would surely advance (or at least shore up) ticket sales and general fan engagement in any market in the league.

My view is that hiring Bill Belichick as head coach would not be a smart move in terms of a team’s long term football interests. The correlation between the departure of Tom Brady and the Patriots offensive anemia is quite clear. Add to that the recent history of his drafting misses (as he is currently the Patriots defacto general manager as well) and Belichick’s resume on the offensive side of things is sliding badly. But – and this is the gist of where I’m going with this – he remains a defensive genius. Yesterday, his team’s defensive performance would have been enough to register a significant upset (similar to last week’s win in Denver) but his offence coughed up the ball too many times for his defence to overcome. The Bills had just enough success on third down late in the game to hang on for the win but their explosive offence never really got comfortable; the Patriot offence kept giving them short fields to work with and they converted just enough of these opportunities. It was another defensive gem for Belichick but another loss for his team.

If he would be willing – and if I had to guess, I’d say that he would probably not be – to take a position as defensive coordinator somewhere in the league, teams should be lining up to hire him. Throw in “Associate Head Coach” to sweeten the pot and maybe he’d be interested in the right situation. Call it a sort of phased retirement if you like. The combination of a young offensively creative head coach (like the Dolphins Mike McDaniel for example) and Belichick running the defence would make a formidable force to reckon with. No drafting or offensive responsibilities at all for Bill – just defence. His presence in this role would bring instant credibility to any organization and I honestly think this is the highest and best use of his skills and experience in the NFL. Wherever he lands later this year, I wish him all the best. Except against the Bills.

The stars aligned perfectly yesterday for the Bills in terms of preserving a shot at the division title but they didn’t get the help they needed to clinch a playoff spot just yet. The New York Times playoff chance simulator still gives them a 97% chance to make the playoffs going into week 18. A win over the Dolphins gets them the second seed in the AFC (which would mean a second home playoff game if they win their first one) but if they lose to the Dolphins, they will need help next week in the form of any one of (1) a Steelers loss, (2) a Jaguars loss or (3) a tie between the Texans and Colts.

The NFL released the times for the full slate of week 18 games last night and to no one’s surprise, the Bills v. Dolphins game will be final regular season game of the 2023 season – the Sunday Nighter on NBC. They will obviously know before kick-off whether or not any of these three results above became reality. It’s like the home team batting in the bottom of the ninth knowing exactly what they need to do. The NFL has enjoyed many individual game television ratings bonanzas this season and it seems reasonable to think that the game next Sunday night might generate the highest ratings of any regular season game in a long time. NBC and its sponsors must feel like they’ve hit the jackpot this time. I’ll start adjusting my sleep patterns mid-week for yet another late-night game. As Steve Tasker likes to say, late in the season, if you win a big game, it always leads to another even bigger game next week.  

 

Bills 24, Chargers 22

Christmas Greetings from Moncton, New Brunswick. There’s no snow here either which is much more unusual than green Christmases are in southern Ontario. Yesterday we drove four hours or so from Edmundston on deserted roads through a series of unpopulated valleys with Irving gas stations sprinkled every 50km or so. It’s like driving in northern Ontario but with major rivers taking the place of small lakes. This is Canada’s only truly bilingual province where the young people working in service jobs pivot effortlessly between English and French. We tried ordering in French at a Tim Horton’s drive-through (because we were greeted in French) but the young woman recognized my weak accent and switched to English. What remains of my high-school French is embarrassingly poor but probably not as bad as New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs whose French accent and vocabulary makes John Diefenbaker sound like Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet.

The Saturday night Bills game was on television in our Edmundston hotel room on CTV 2 which, for whatever reason, was only available in standard definition. At first, it made me realize that I watched every hockey and football game without HD for the first few decades of my life and that I managed this just fine. But when Josh Allen heaved a long bomb to Gabe Davis for the Bills first touchdown of the game, I thought that the ball had slipped through his hands…..until I saw him dragging a defender into the endzone clutching what appeared to be a football. It was a spectacular catch by Davis who decided to have a “number one wide receiver” game with four catches on six targets for 130 yards and that important first touchdown which cut an early ten-point deficit to three. As Chris Collinsworth pointed out, Davis seems to have two speeds: he either goes off for more than 100 receiving yards or he focuses on blocking (at which he is very good) and is not targeted at all in the passing game.

I can’t quote the percentages but generally in the NFL a team that loses the turnover count also loses the game. But obviously not always. Teams that lose the turnover count by three surely have an even worse record. The Bills handed the Chargers three turnovers on two fumbles – one by Deonte Harty on a punt return and one by James Cook (who thankfully was not benched afterward) - and a Josh Allen interception. The Chargers did not record a turnover and certainly played well enough to win anyway. But the Bills defence stiffened when it was most needed: Ed Oliver, a rare example of a player who responded to a lucrative second contract by significantly improving his play, recorded a crucial sack in the last minute of the game which mostly sealed it for the Bills who briefly looked like they may have found a way to lose another last-second heart-breaker. The final play of the game for the Chargers featured the obligatory series of laterals which might just have worked if one of them had not been an illegal forward pass.

Yesterday, Bills fans became Dallas Cowboys fans for three hours but they were not able to close out the Dolphins who clinched a playoff spot with their last-second 22-20 win in south Florida. I was surreptitiously following the game on my Score app through Christmas Eve dinner (which was tourtiere from an Acadian family recipe passed on through many generations) but I managed to slip away to catch the last ten minutes on television. The Cowboys remain a good team but they will have to figure out how to win away from Jerry Jones’s palatial AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The road to the Superbowl, on the NFC side of the draw, will very likely go through Santa Clara, California and the Cowboys will be in tough if they even make it far enough to face the 49ers.

Although the Patriots came up big in Denver last night for only their fourth win of the season, the Bills should be able to handle them next week in Orchard Park to go to 10-6 on the season. Hopes for another AFC Division title for Buffalo are now in the hands of the Baltimore Ravens who face the Dolphins next week at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. I love the story of the naming history of that stadium which was called PSI.Net Stadium between 1999 and 2001. PSI.Net filed for bankruptcy in June, 2001 but since the company had pre-paid the stadium naming rights through 2001, the stadium carried that name throughout the 2001 season despite the company having ceased operations before the season began. I’m sure that PSI.Net shareholders took a special kind of comfort in the stadium continuing to bear the company name during the 2001 season after its stock was delisted and while the liquidation process played out. If the Dolphins can win next week (or if the Bills were to fall to the Patriots), the AFC East title is theirs despite what may happen in week 18.

Week 17 brings Bills fans a rare 1pm (Eastern) Sunday game on New Year’s Eve. The out-of-town scoreboard will be closely watched as the Ravens and Dolphins kick-off at the same time. Ironically, New Year’s Eve is really the only night of the year where I actually try to stay up until midnight (I usually don’t succeed) so I would welcome having a late-night football game as extra motivation. I’m glad I don’t live here in the Atlantic time zone where night NFL games start at 9.15pm. Maybe I should try the west coast where they start at 5.15pm and the regular Sunday slate begins at 10am. Go Bills! And equally importantly, Go Ravens!   

Bills 31, Cowboys 10

Former Bills offensive lineman and nine-time Pro Bowler Rueben Brown was a guest on WGR 550 Sports Radio in Buffalo a few years ago talking about, among other things, what makes NFL offensive linemen tick. He explained that while today’s pass-happy style of play values the pass-protection abilities of offensive linemen, what they really love doing – what makes them feel complete as football players – is run blocking. The offensive lineman’s task in pass protection is to fend off, impede, hold up and misdirect defensive pass rushers (whose job seems more offensive than defensive) for long enough to allow their quarterback time to find open receivers downfield. On the other hand, with run blocking, the offensive line is in proactive mode, creating gaps for running backs to dart through then moving second level linebackers and safeties out of the way down the field. They need not worry about the dreaded offence of being “illegally downfield” which only applies on passing plays. Ask any NFL offensive lineman what plays they like to run and they will all provide the same answer: running plays. The Bills ran the ball yesterday in Orchard Park as effectively as they have in years. They won the game easily despite Josh Allen completing only seven passes for 94 yards. After the game, he said that he felt like the kid who contributed almost nothing to the class project but still got an A.  

In his post-game locker room speech yesterday, Bills head coach Sean McDermott started by acknowledging the play of his offensive line which created enough gaps and made the right blocks to enable the Bills offence to rack up 266 yards on the ground with James Cook accounting for 179 of those while adding another 42 yards on two catches with two touchdowns. Cook’s outstanding rushing day was almost 100 yards short of the single-game franchise record of 273 yards set in 1976 by one Orenthal James Simpson. Yesterday belonged to the Bills offensive line - a five-man unit which has remained healthy and has started every game this season. The Bills yesterday demonstrated that In this current era of “chunk plays” and speedy wide receivers “taking the top off the defence”, an old-fashioned running attack can still win football games. The Cowboys defence, on the field for a full ten minutes longer than their offence was, looked tired and demoralized as the game ground on. They are a unit built to defend against the pass, often this season playing with a big lead and letting their dominant pass rush quickly turn games into blow-outs.

The Bills sent their fans home brimming with optimism about the final three games of the season and the prospect of a playoff berth and maybe even a division title and the coveted home playoff game which comes with it. There is much work to do to get there and the Bills will need help from others to challenge for the division. The Dolphins moved to 10-4 with their 30-0 shellacking of the Jets yesterday but their schedule becomes considerably tougher over the next two weeks. First up for the Dolphins is a home game next week against these same Dallas Cowboys who are battling the Eagles for the NFC East division title and still have their sights on home field advantage in the NFC. After that, the Dolphins travel to Baltimore to face the Ravens who will be trying to shore-up their hold on the top seed in the AFC. Should the Dolphins lose one of these games and if the Bills were win their next two, the week 18 game in south Florida will decide the winner of the AFC East. If this happens, expect the Bills v. Dolphins to be the Sunday Night Football match-up and the final game of the NFL regular season.

Before Bills fans start shopping for February package deals to Las Vegas (the site of Superbowl LVIII), they have a short week to prepare for a team which will have had three full days of extra rest and preparation and have just fired their head coach and general manager after an embarrassing loss on Thursday to the Raiders who hung 63 points on them. The Los Angeles Chargers have had a very disappointing season to say the least but teams coming off a head coach firing can be dangerous for a few intangible reasons: professional pride, players looking ahead to their next contracts, the naturally injected energy of a new coach (interim head coach Giff Smith has been a defensive coach on the Chargers staff since 2016) and, if they felt any contempt toward the fired coach, an instinct to show the team owner that he made the right move. Add in a cross-continent trip to the west coast for a Saturday night game and this is certainly an opportunity for the Bills to stumble. I don’t think they will.

Saturday’s game will be carried on Peacock, an NBC-owned streaming service which I gather is not available in Canada – at least not legally. I assume then (but have not been able to confirm) that it will be available on TSN or CTV in Canada. I’ll be watching the game from a hotel in Edmundston, New Brunswick, a popular stopover point on the drive from Ontario to Atlantic Canada. On Christmas Eve, we drive to Moncton to spend Christmas with family there. We are booked in for three nights. Second prize was five nights in Moncton.        

Bills 20, Chiefs 17

With unlimited pre-snap motion which allows all receivers and backfield personnel to charge the line of scrimmage with a running start, on almost any play in a typical CFL game, it looks to me like at least one offensive player is offside, crossing the line before the ball is snapped. I have never seen it called. In American football which limits pre-snap motion to one player, the other ten players must be lined up and set for one second before the snap. Receivers must not line up ahead of where the ball lies. It’s pretty simple. I don’t think I’ve ever seen offensive offside called in an NFL game – until yesterday. As Gene Staratore, former NFL referee and CBS in-house officiating commentator posted on his Twitter account last night, it is almost never called because offensive players almost never line up ahead of where the ball is spotted. But when they do, shouldn’t it be called?

I watched Patrick Mahomes post-game press conference last night. When the game ended, he was visibly upset, slamming his helmet and screaming at someone on the Chiefs sideline. He explained that he was upset at the call which negated a “hall of fame play by a hall of fame player”. And it also happened to be what could have been the game-winning touchdown. He explained that playing organized football going back as far as he could remember, this isn’t called before multiple warnings are issued by officials. As kids playing football, receivers would take their place at the line of scrimmage and look at the line judge who would then indicate that they were positioned correctly or motion them to move back as needed. Last night, no such warnings were issued (probably because there were no infractions) but as referee Carl Jeffers said afterward, “if it’s egregious enough, it would be beyond a warning”. Chiefs coach Andy Reid corroborated his quarterback’s analysis after the game saying that he would typically be given a warning before a call is made and that “it’s a bit embarrassing for the National Football League for that to take place”. There is no question that Chiefs receiver Kadarius Toney was lined up forward of the ball on the fateful play. The camera angles showed very clearly that he was lined well forward of the ball. Mahomes said that when he saw the flag fly before he made his throw to Kelce, he assumed that it was for defensive offside (sometimes called a “neutral zone infraction”).    

It seems clear to me that the real issue was that the penalty call – which was correct by any standard – negated a brilliant play by Travis Kelce which could have and probably would have been the game-winning touchdown. Had the call been made on a three yard run or a short pass to Kelce, it would not be the subject of such scrutiny this morning. Successful offensive plays are regularly called back in football games – for holding penalties, for players illegally downfield, for offensive pass interference, etc. It’s part of the game and always will be. The play by Kelce where he made the catch 25 yards downfield then turned and threw a perfect lateral to (ironically) Kadarius Toney who streaked down the left sideline and into the endzone was a highlight reel play for sure and had it stood as the game-winning play, would surely have been in the season’s top ten plays. But it doesn’t appear in the boxscore this morning and basically never happened.

Were I a Chiefs fan this morning looking back at the plays which changed the trajectory of the game, I would be focused on the Josh Allen “completion” to Latavius Murray which kept the Bills drive alive and allowed them to kick the what became the game-winning field goal. As he fell out of bounds, Allen floated a pass to Murray who got his hands on it and as Gene Steratore explained, appeared to complete the requisite three steps needed to make it a completion before fumbling. The ball was then pushed out of bounds on the ensuing scramble and the Bills maintained possession. When CBS went to commercial for the replay review, I was convinced that the ruling would be overturned based on the angles shown. I am equally convinced this morning that had the pass been ruled incomplete on the field, that would have been upheld.

The Bills find themselves still in the AFC playoff contention, although just barely because at 7-6, they are tied with five other teams all pursuing two wildcard playoff spots. Since all but one of the Bills losses this year have been to AFC teams, the Bills would lose most tie-breaker scenarios so a prolonged winning streak will be required and still might not be enough.

Up next: The Dallas Cowboys make their once-every-eight-years trip to Orchard Park next Sunday for another 4.25pm start. The Bills are early two point favourites.

Eagles 37, Bills 34, OT

"To Davis for the win''..... Jim Nantz has a flare for the dramatic call. After all, he is the lead play-by-play voice of CBS television sports for good reason. And if Gabe Davis had turned to his right in the endzone early in overtime at a wet and cold Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia yesterday evening rather than to his left as he did, Nantz's call would have been perfect. But the pass fell incomplete, the Bills settled for a field goal and went on to lose their sixth game of the season to once again even their record at .500. Since the NFL changed the regular season overtime rules from "first score wins" to "each team will have a chance to possess the ball unless there is a touchdown or a defensive score", I can't recall a game where a field goal by one team was surpassed with a touchdown by the other. It's probably happened but not in a game involving the Bills. 

The game was highly entertaining for those with no rooting interest and was easily the best game on the NFL's week 12 slate. Sean McDermott's Bills seem to have developed a knack for finding themselves in these "instant classic" games but seem never to come out on the winning end of any of them. "Another devastating loss for Buffalo" is a recurring post-game comment which I have grown weary of - literally and figuratively. Not that I would have felt better had they lost 37-10 but as these razor-thin losses in critical games pile up, it can be a bit disheartening. Maybe they can lose another overtime in Kansas City in two weeks time.

I can not recall a four day period where I watched more football games (or parts of games) than I did this past American Thanksgiving weekend. Not that they were all good close games but I did see parts of each of the three games on Thursday, the Friday game where the Jets offence looked even worse than it did a week ago, a full state of very important college games on Saturday, the Vanier Cup also on Saturday (but not until the Michigan v. Ohio State game was over), yesterday's early games, the Bills nearly four hour game and then the Ravens and Chargers which I only managed to stick with through the first quarter. Football overdose is what I think I'm feeling the effects of this morning.

Montreal finds itself firmly on top of what remains of the world of Canadian football in 2023. After the Alouettes captured the Grey Cup last weekend, the Universite de Montreal Carabins outlasted the UBC Thunderbirds in the Vanier Cup played at Queens University in Kingston. I saw only the last few minutes. The contrast between Michigan Stadium with more than 110,000 on hand and Richardson Memorial Stadium in Kingston with an announced attendance of 7,109 for the championship game of Canadian University football is pretty stark. I would have watched the Vanier Cup from the beginning had the Michigan game not also been on. Canadian football has experienced a bit of a renaissance in Quebec over the past decade so for Montreal to capture both the Grey and Vanier Cups this month seems fitting.

In Ann Arbor, the game was competitive and close with the Wolverines outlasting the Buckeyes for the third consecutive year. This was the 116th meeting between the schools and the pre-game hype on FOX about how this rivalry game was the most important thing in the world was a bit much especially considering the one or two other events unfolding in the world today. The ad featuring former Wolverine Charles Woodson and former Buckeye Eddie George about how Michigan has never had a live mascot was quite amusing. Reminded me of David Letterman often saying that, pound-for-pound, the wolverine is the toughest and fiercest animal in the world. I don't know why Dave liked to say this but he did. On to the Big Ten Championship Game for the Wolverines against the Iowa Hawkeyes in Indianapolis next Saturday. Michigan is favoured by 23 points. Should they not stumble, they will earn a spot in the four-team college football playoff for the third straight year. Ohio State will probably not get a spot in the playoff as they did a year ago, even after losing to Michigan. Georgia, Washington and Florida State will likely be the other three teams. Both semi-final games will be played on New Year's Eve and the National Championship Game is set for January 8th in Houston. The first Bowl Game of the season is the Myrtle Beach Bowl on December 16th. As Stephen Brunt once said, "I'll watch any football game which they bother to broadcast". It will be a busy next five weeks for him. And for me too.

For the Bills, their bye week comes quite late in the season but it is finally here. Most of the key injured players are out for the season but the opportunity for the others to rest and re-energize is surely welcome after 12 straight weeks of games. At 6-6, they are not out of playoff contention but they are headed in that direction. Yesterday's game showed that they are still a good team which could have and probably should have beaten an Eagles team which is now 10-1. It doesn't get any easier with a trip to Kansas City on December 10th, once again in the late afternoon time slot. Time for another instant classic but the Bills need to make it up to Jim Nantz by executing the way he calls it.    

     

Bills 32, Jets 6

Jets quarterback Zach Wilson unwittingly created a meme last night at Highmark Stadium which encapsulated his team's season in one unassisted stumble. Wilson, jogging backwards from the sideline to to the huddle and receiving last-second instructions from the coaching staff in the third quarter, somehow went ass-over-tea-kettle and landed on his back with no other player within ten feet of him. The video clip was making the rounds last night as a perfect example of the ineptitude of the Jets quarterbacking in 2023. Coach Robert Saleh finally benched Wilson in favour of someone named Tim Boyle whose bust will certainly not end up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. 

It made me wonder how much better the trainwreck which is the Jets offence would have been this season with Aaron Rodgers under centre as planned. There can be little doubt that things would not have played out as poorly as they have for Gang-Green but the question which will never have an answer is how much of an improvement would Rodgers presence have made? Persistent issues with the offensive line, as Tony Romo pointed repeatedly last night, would obviously not have been solved by Rodgers, nor would the weak wide receiver play or the lack of creativity in passing schemes (where have we heard that before?). But it seems safe to say that Rodgers would have lifted the Jets offensive production, limited the devastating turnovers (where have we heard that before?) and generally willed his team-mates to a better showing than Wilson, and now maybe Boyle, have been able to deliver. The Jets have built one of the best defences in the league and they have somehow managed to squeeze out four wins with a historically anemic offensive output. Rodgers recovery and rehab has been going well buy all accounts and he has a theoretical chance to return late next month. But why would he if the team has no shot at the playoffs? 

Speaking of maybe or maybe not having a shot at the playoffs, the Bills finally got the "re-set" game they have needed since things went off the rails in north London six weeks ago. Whether new offensive coordinator Joe Brady"s approach at scheming the offence made the difference or not, the production was obviously there last night and against a very good defence which has stifled the Bills for the last few games they have faced them. As Tony Romo pointed out, Josh Allen's clean and turnover-free game (he did have an interception on a Hail Mary at the end of the first half) was as much a product of the desperation throws which he didn't make as it was anything else. After the Miami game in week five, it has seemed like Josh Allen felt like he had to turn every busted play into a high stakes roulette wheel of forced and ill-conceived passes. James Cook ran well, Dalton Kincaid's production continues to ramp up and Khalil Shakir had the longest play from scrimmage this season for the Bills, an 81-yard touchdown catch and run which sealed the game. Rasul Douglas has a good shot at earning defensive player of the week honours as he recorded two interceptions, one fumble recovery, three pass break-ups and four tackles. With injuries in the defensive backfield continuing to pile up, adding him at the trade deadline was as fortuitous a mid-season move as the Bills have made possibly ever.

Yesterday's 110th Grey Cup game was reported to be a sellout with more than 28,000 in attendance at Tim Horton's Field in Hamilton. I regret to say that I saw not one second of the game live but, in typical CFL fashion, the game ended with a last-second touchdown to earn the Alouettes their championship rings. Also in typical CFL fashion, the league scrambled late in the week to add some French signage inside the stadium after a few Montreal reporters (and others) pointed out that with a Quebec-based team playing in the big game, it might be a good idea. Since my dad was a follower of the CFL (he was a high school class-mate of Danny Nykoluk who played for the Argos from 1955 to 1971), I try to follow it, try to watch it (without much success) and I generally hope that it finds a way to continue. It's dwindling fan base of old-stock Canadians won't be around forever but reports of the demise of the CFL have been around literally for decades - yet it endures. Good attendance at last week's Eastern Final in Toronto and yesterday in Hamilton is certainly encouraging. Too bad that Winnipeg, whose fan base remains strong and loyal, couldn't pull it out. 

In College Park, MD, the Michigan Wolverines held on to beat the Terrapins and finish the exhibition portion of their schedule at 11-0. It all comes down to Saturday's game in Ann Arbor against the Ohio State Buckeys who also finished their exhibition schedule at 11-0. This annual end-of-season match between these two has become known as "The Game" and I will be watching. The winner is pretty much guaranteed a spot in the four-team college football playoff.

Up next for the Bills is a trip to Philadelphia next week for another late afternoon game. The Eagles are the class of the NFC and will be favoured. I see two reasons why the Bills may have a better chance than the pundits and the point spread may indicate. The first is that the Eagles play their week 11 game tonight against the Chiefs in Kansas City and then, after playing the Bills, they face the 49ers at home. The combination of a short week to prepare (although the Bills themselves had no issue with that yesterday) after a tough road game and a big conference game the following week could make this a classic "trap game" for the Eagles.