Buffalo Bills Cruise to Victory in the Wrong Way
Who do the Bills think they are: the Sabres? The difference is Buffalo’s football gang plays like they’ll win just by showing up, unlike the hockey faction which legally arrives then doesn’t care about anything like contending in some game. James Cook’s decisiveness is the difference between winning despite it all and losing because of it.
You can tell what decade this is because the Bills dodged an unimaginably cataclysmic result that once would’ve been standard. Letting the erstwhile bullies briefly do as they please inspired horrifying flashbacks. The Bills will always have trailed to the Patriots by two touchdowns. The visitors had the ball for 12:12 of the first quarter, which is not the sort of numerological coincidence that inspires confidence that they’re on the right cosmic path.
A game plan for neutralizing Buffalo that might’ve worked were it not being implemented by delinquents. Ball control was just the start. The Bills were somehow not prepared for a desperate team to fake a punt. A gutsy future playoff adversary might have noticed. Many staffs watch games of teams they don’t coach. I know that seems crazy for fans, but the rooting interest for professionals is locating winning strategies to steal that will keep them out of fields involving their college majors.
The best passing offense strategy is to play terrible defenders. Kaiir Elam is a 3–12 cornerback on an 12–3 team. The Naked Gun 2 1/2-level bust’s laughable efforts helped a team with the former record remain hopeful. Brandon Beane’s most egregious miss can only make the field due to injury of better players and shows why when he unfortunately does.
It can be tough to notice who’s absent from the party unless the crasher in the invited guest’s place acts regrettably. The defense missed Dorian Williams while he stood right there. The linebacker’s energetic play is even more noticeable when he’s relegated to the sideline by a bafflingly stubborn staff. He demonstrated his attributes
on his second-half fumble recovery, which is why he should’ve been playing the whole first half. By contrast, his alleged depth chart superior Baylon Spector plays like he’s related to the quarterback. Bronny James is cruelly denied his NFL dream by not being born into the right sport.
There are only so many chances to be unprepared, and the Bills seize many of them. Mocking questions about Sean McDermott’s job status is for fans who watch the record and not games. It’s uncanny how often an ostensibly elite team plays down to the level of its remedial matchups. Fans need to be reminded he’s a defensive coach. Sunday offered an obvious reminder than he’s not an offensive specialist.
Bills coaches rely on the brilliant scheme of letting Josh Allen do something magical. Anyone familiar with football understands why they would. But there’s no plan B when the timing is slightly off. Waiting for him to improvise something amazing is their sole idea.
Every opponent is professional. They even technically includes the Giants. Even those effectively eliminated around Halloween are trying to make Christmas marginally brighter. Clichés about the perils divisional gang rumbles are based in truth. Acting like any week will be easy makes it hard. There are better self-fulfilling prophecies for top squads to create.
Realists recognize that not every division valedictorian will dominate every moment against one of the dregs. But the Bills entered the game with the attitude that they would do just that. They can say otherwise and pretend that contradicts what viewers saw.
Scoring twice as much a week ago was fun, wasn’t it? The arena football-level points accumulation spurs nostalgia for a moment that’s barely out of our short-term memory. That’s what happens when the 2024 Patriots restrain them in the most recent outing. The McDermott-era Bills have featured an unnerving number of games where they played down to the level of ostensibly inferior foes. Superior talent overcomes uninspiring efforts in a story that won’t be made into a Christmas song.
Underachievers think they’re entitled to make the honor roll. Another one-score divisional triumph against a draft order competitor is brought by loafers who think they can do their science project on the bus to school the day it’s due and ace it. But they don’t anticipate potholes. Creating their own obstacles mars the easy road they were certain stretched ahead.
Waiting for New England to not retain the ball worked, I suppose. Drake Maye’s baffling interception looked like he thought the Bills were wearing Patriots throwbacks. But they’re not going to face quarterbacks who turn into pumpkins this postseason. And I doubt you can expect even a wild card team to drop an overhand lateral within a short reach of the goal line. Buffalo’s best offense was New England’s inept offense.
It sure didn’t look like the Patriots had given up on their season. Credit Buffalo for keeping it close. Even the most persistent pessimists are glad they pulled off a victory that counts the same as a convincing one. But fans are left wondering whether future outings will be more challenging. Having to strategize on the last snap against New England seized a win with some losses.
