Chiefs 38, Bills 24

I’ll admit to listening to far too much of WGR’s eight-day pre-game show which started immediately following the Bills win over the Ravens. One of the more interesting segments on One Bills Live last week was on the subject of superstitions – both the ones followed by NFL players, as described in some detail by Steve Tasker, and those practiced by fans who were invited to call in and share their strategies. All of them could be considered manifestations of obsessive compulsive disorder. A common theme is the idea that if the team wins, then the various actions and steps (in a specific order) employed before or during games which yielded the win must continue to be followed, in every detail.  It follows then that players and fans of winning teams feel that their ridiculous and well-tested superstitions are provably successful.  

Tasker explained that the most superstitious team-mate he ever had was Jim Kelly. Tasker himself claims to have had no superstitions as a player and if he was noticed to have donned his equipment in a certain order more than once, it was the product not of superstition but simply of finding an efficient way to dress. Kelly, on the other hand, created numerous elaborate superstitious routines with his team-mates which would start on Wednesdays and carry through to kick-off. Tasker remembers thinking (but not saying) that if the team were to win on Sunday, the win would not come about because Jim Kelly had come to him and tapped his helmet three times with his left index finger after the Saturday walk-through practice. And it also seemed like a lot to remember, in addition to the play-book.

Going into last night’s game in Kansas City, the Bills were 2-0 in this year’s playoffs with Siobhan and Sophie in attendance at my north Toronto apartment and with me wearing the same clothing each time. And with my three Bills-branded winter hats laid out with the logos showing. So, to assist the team in achieving a 5^th Superbowl birth, we of course repeated all of this. Believe me, it wasn’t anywhere near the effort put in by the fanatics who called in to WGR to describe their rituals. Watching in the same location with the same group (or alone) while wearing the same clothing are all popular strategies but many of the more committed Bills fans employ in-game adjustment moves such as switching seats, turning hats inside out or backwards, changing clothing or beer glasses – whatever it takes to get the team going. But sometimes, as was confirmed last night, nothing works and your team loses.

So now I can retire my Bills gear for a few months. It was a great run through the 2020 season and I retire it with great optimism for the future. As every team has, the Bills have some difficult personnel decisions to make with the extension of Josh Allen chief among them. Despite a rough first half last night where Allen’s throwing accuracy escaped him a little, the team needs to give him the contract he deserves which should make him among the highest paid players in the league. Among others, Boston College product Matt Milano will also need a new contract. With the league’s salary cap expected to decline after the loss of gate revenue this season, the decisions will become even more difficult. Successful teams retain their key players and hope to find late-round gems in the draft and role players in free agency to fill out their rosters.

Tom Brady will play in his 10^th Superbowl in a couple of weeks. I was hoping for a Buffalo v. Green Bay game which would have matched-up two of the league’s smallest markets. The Buccaneers now become the first team in the game’s 55 year history to play “at home” in the Superbowl. With the number of fans limited to 22,000 (including 7,500 vaccinated front health care workers invited to attend the game, courtesy of the NFL), it will probably not be the home field advantage it would be in any other year. I’ll be rooting for the Chiefs.  

Bills 17, Ravens 3

It was hardly a classic game that we’ll see on NFL Films two or three decades from now. A windblown defensive struggle with one offensive touchdown and less than 600 combined yards gained but, for Bills fans, the biggest game in 27 years will be well-remembered anyway. An efficient drive to start the second half broke the 3-3 halftime tie as Stefon Diggs found the endzone - part of another productive outing for the former Viking who continues to make Brandon Beane look like a genius for trading Buffalo’s first round pick last year to get him. Then Taron Johnson caught lightening in a bottle and that was more than enough.

As long as the Bills keep winning, I guess I’ll have to keep writing this blog. I’m not looking for sympathy but this weekly task has been taking me longer than usual the last three weeks as I’ve been a one-handed keyboard operator. I fell awkwardly off my bike in late December, badly broke the pinky finger on my dominant hand and had it surgically repaired a few days later by a top hand surgeon at Sunnybrook. K-wires come out on January 26^th. Although my direct experiences with our healthcare system thankfully remain rare, they continue to be positive – even in 2021. Despite COVID and the resulting well-documented strains on the already over-loaded system, I received timely and expert treatment, for which I am grateful. Yes, they are busy and stressed but each and every person I interacted with at Sunnybrook – even the nurse who administered my assembly line style COVID test – was equal parts pleasant, efficient and professional. It was all very impressive which is the only reason I mention it at all.    

Back to Taron Johnson. His 101-yard pick-6 is already an instant classic in Bills playoff lore. In real time, I could tell that the ball had been caught by someone and for a very brief and fleeting moment, I accepted and processed the reality that the game was tied. But, it was the Bills nickel cornerback in whose hands it landed. While some defensive backs would surely have gone to the ground in the endzone, happy to give their team the ball on the 20, Johnson saw a wide open field ahead of him, brought it out and quite easily went ALL THE WAY. Nothing like a 14 point swing on one play to permanently change the course of a game. Bills fans can relate: How many times did we see Drew Bledsoe or JP Losman, late in the game, trailing by a touchdown and driving for the tie, get sacked, fumble the ball which the defence then returned for a touchdown? I know for sure that they each did it at least once. Taron Johnson has two key pick-6’s this season. Most defensive players go years in the league and never get one.

Next Sunday will mark the Bills sixth AFC Championship Game since the 1970 NFL – AFL merger. They enjoy a 4-1 record (3-0 at home) in these games, winning four straight between the 1990 and 1993 seasons. Their only loss came in January, 1989 in Cincinnati – a game which I watched with a group of drunken obnoxious Bengal fans in a straw-roofed “sports bar” in Peurto Escondido, Mexico. Their only road win was in Miami in January, 1993. A win at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday will send the Bills to their 5th Superbowl in Tampa on February 7^th.

The NFL Concussion Protocol came into existence in 2009. A team of league-employed spotters, some on the sidelines and some in a booth high above the field, along with team-employed neurologists on each sideline, are charged with watching players for signs of loss of balance, disorientation, head-clutching, etc. These officials have the authority to call time-out on the field and remove a player from the game who exhibits any of these symptoms. We saw this happen twice over the weekend – each time involving one of the NFL’s marquee players: Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson and Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Neither returned to their respective games. Enter rookie Tyler Huntley for the Ravens who was actually quite impressive in playing out the rest of the game in Orchard Park and veteran back-up Chad Henne for the Chiefs who made a couple of key plays in finishing their game and helping his team get past the pesky Cleveland Browns for a chance to meet the juggernaut Buffalo Bills. Let’s hope that Mahomes progresses quickly through the four stages of the protocol this week and can play on Sunday.             

Bills 27, Colts 24

Any NFL game which comes down to the very last snap with the outcome still in question always has a handful of plays over the course of the game which, had any one of them turned out even slightly differently, would have altered the final outcome. Saturday’s AFC playoff game in Orchard Park is a case in point and examples come easily to mind: The Bills were the beneficiaries on three of four key replay reviews, with the fourth and last unsuccessful one looming large until the final Hail Mary was knocked to the ground. A little earlier, Josh Allen fumbled the ball trying to wrestle his way out of a sack which had already become inevitable (and ended up costing 23 yards as the ball squirted backwards after leaving his hands) but Bills offensive lineman Daryl Williams recovered the bouncing ball. But I look to two second half special teams plays which, since we can all count, clearly determined the final score: a made 54 yard field goal by Buffalo’s Tyler “bass-o-matic” Bass and a missed 33 yard field goal by the Colts’ uniquely bi-spectacled kicker, Rod Blankenship. In a game decided by three points, why would more analysis be required?

Going into Saturday’s game, the Bills has lost their last six consecutive playoff games, with their most recent post-season win coming in December, 1995. Throughout Saturday’s game, it felt like for the team to win, it needed to lift up and cast away the collective weight of those six losses and this was going to be neither quick or easy to do. Bills Nation sweated and fretted for nearly three-and-a-half hours, even having to endure the added stress of a potential Deja vu Hail Mary pass attempt by Philip Rivers before Sean McDermott could finally cast a gaze skyward, first in relief, then in celebration. Immediately after Micah Hyde drove the final pass to the ground, we took a brisk 60 minute walk just to relieve the tension. We, and our dog who had clearly sensed our angst as the afternoon played out, needed it badly. Pro sports are supposed to be an enjoyable diversion, aren't they?  

Statistically, the Colts probably fared about as well as they could have hoped to. A glance at the box score shows them notching 27 first downs, 472 total yards, no turnovers and more than an eight minute advantage in time of possession. They certainly played well enough to win but the Bills did too. In the intense pre-game analysis on WGR last week, most of the pundits pointed to the challenge that the Bills run defence would face stopping Jonathan Taylor but, in the end, he carried 21 times for 78 yards – hardly the shredding we feared. And Josh Allen continued to look masterful passing the ball, going 26 of 35 for 324 yards, 2 TDs and no turnovers. Rookie kicker Tyler Bass has not missed a field goal or an extra point attempt since week 9.

Last night, as I sat stunned by the first quarter explosion by the Cleveland Browns in Pittsburgh, my theory that the Ravens stood a decent chance of knocking off the Chiefs in Kansas City next weekend, thereby setting up a Ravens v. Bills AFC Championship Game in Buffalo (assuming another home win against the Steelers next weekend), fell apart. So, the Bills will now have to knock off the Ravens a week earlier. As for the Browns chances of winning in Kansas City? I’d say they are about as likely as them winning in Pittsburgh. Ok, maybe not quite as good.

When the Sunday Night Football crew came to Orchard Park a few weeks ago, Al Michaels had the week off. No such luck this Saturday night for Michaels. The Bills, who played the Ravens tough last season but came up short, will need a special game plan to contain Lamar Jackson who yesterday in Nashville made what his coach said was the best running touchdown by a quarterback in NFL history. Maybe the best approach will be to put up 40 points and hope that it’s enough. 

For North American sports fans, and for Bills fans in particular, this NFL season has been a welcome distraction from the pandemic and from the political turmoil playing out in the United States. I hope the Bills can maintain their playoff run at least through inauguration day on the 20th.   

 

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.