Niagara Gazette

‘Next week, the Bills will play a home playoff game in front of a full house for the first time in a quarter century — to be specific, since Jim Kelly played his final game in a wild-card upset loss to the Jaguars at the end of the 1996 season.’

‘When Buffalo wins it wins big — it’s average margin of victory this season is 22.6 points per game — and when it loses, there are a few plays it can point to that were the difference in the game. The key in the playoffs is avoiding the mistakes that result in those few plays being the difference in a win or a loss.’

‘Allen had a dreadful passing day in the snow at Highmark Stadium. He was 11 for 26 for 120 yards and no touchdowns. He threw interceptions on three consecutive possessions. His 17.0 passer rating was the lowest of his four-year career.’

‘“I just thought it would be something cool for me to do – I didn’t really expect to get any sort of blow up over the whole thing,” Dusza said. “But it’s a beneficial collaboration. I don’t mind a little bit of attention, especially if it’s based off my art because it’s the one thing I absolutely love to do. It’s combining two of my favorite things – Bills Mafia and my artwork.”’

‘Sean McDermott, bashed for being outcoached and outclassed by Belichick in the first meeting, opted not to cower by the benches next to the playground and put up a fight. McDermott ditched his punt-happy style and put trust in Allen. Opting to decline a field goal attempt on the opening possession and allowing Allen to rifle a touchdown pass to McKenzie on fourth down set the tone for the game.’

‘Two weeks ago, the Bills were two games back of the Pats and stuck in the conference’s cluttered wild-card race. Everything was in question — their physical toughness, their coaching, their offensive line, the very construction of their roster. But in the end, it gets back to the guy throwing the football.’

‘If Buffalo wants to stop hearing about the Patriots and Sean McDermott wants to stop hearing about being out-coached by Bill Belichick, then just win. Beating New England likely secures the division with two extremely winnable games to close the season. Sure, many assumed the Bills would run away with the AFC East again, but beating the Patriots for the division in Foxborough is a scenario many have dreamed of since 2001.’

‘The question is why he hasn’t been on the field more often. The Bills signed the veteran Sanders in the offseason to be their nominal No. 2 wideout, presumably because they didn’t feel the 22-year-old Davis was quite ready to step into such a demanding role for a Super Bowl contender.’

‘It was the third time this season the Bills offense had the ball with a chance to win the game in the final two minutes of regulation or overtime and came up empty, and they have not won a game in which they trailed in the second half.’

‘That’s easy to say, but what about the guys who wandered around like drunken elves before halftime? Coming in, they led the league in total defense at 272 yards per game. The Bucs had 303 yards of offense in the first half alone. They had 18 first downs.’

‘The Bills weren’t up to it. Again. They lived down to their creeping reputation as a crepe paper team that can’t adjust to a physical game, one that is overly reliant on Josh Allen and the passing game and their resourceful pass defense.’

‘Utilizing Allen on designed runs has been the closest to a go-to play, but he was used once on such plays Monday and never in the red zone.’

‘After starting his career at WLVL radio in Lockport, Murphy got a job at WBEN. In 1984, Stan Barron was diagnosed with cancer and Murphy was thrust into the color analyst role for Bills games. Despite being a mainstay on Bills broadcasts — including succeeding Miller on play-by-play in 2003 — Murphy has never called a Super Bowl.’

‘But this has been a maddening team to judge. I picked them to reach the Super Bowl this season. When they ripped the Chiefs at Arrowhead to get to 4-1, they looked like a team that would be favored in all but one of their remaining games and go 13-4 at the very least.’

‘This is no cause for panic, as Micah Hyde would tell us, but it certainly has the look of a crisis. It’s not so much that the Bills lost, but that once again they were physically beaten at the point of attack on both sides of the ball, that they lost the battle in the proverbial trenches.’