Niagara Gazette

‘But on Sunday night, the 2020 Bills went out in a manner sadly reminiscent of the Super Bowl squads, playing their worst game at the biggest moment of the season, getting outclassed, outplayed and outcoached in a 38-24 loss to the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs.’

‘“We had a target to get him home for the playoffs,” said Memorial chief hospitalist Zubair Shaikh, M.D. “The first home playoff game he was not ready but he worked for it.”‘

‘“We did it the first couple weeks of the playoffs, the first two games that they won, and each week, sales rose a little bit,” Hotchkiss said. “Once they made it to the AFC Championship, I started reaching out to news outlets and things like that. I wasn’t quite expecting what we’ve received but I did think people would like the idea.”’

‘Frazier and McDermott were ready, and it shouldn’t have been any surprise. Since late October, the Bills’ defense has been as good as any in the league. They give up running yardage, but the secondary does not get beat deep. They’ve held down some of the best passers in the NFL over the last 12 games, dominating most of them in first halves.’

‘In 1993, The Bills temporarily changed their celebration song from “Shout!” to “Shout! Shout! (Knock Yourself Out),” a 1962 hit by Ernie Maresca. Needless to say, fans were less than enthusiastic about the change, and one fan formed a protest group to force the Bills to bring the song back. It worked, and “Shout!” has been a staple at the stadium for generations of fans, even in years when Bills fans did not have much to shout about.’

‘If the Bills can produce 27 points under those circumstances, they’ll be hard to beat. They’re averaging 37 points a game over their last nine, so holding them to 27 seems like an achievement at this point. You’d better put up 30 or more if you want to beat them.’

‘“They will meet with me two to three days and we exchange ideas about what their cause is and I try to use my skills to give them what they want,” he said.’

‘But when an offense is rolling the way the Bills have been over the last 10 weeks, it must be hard to shut it down. For much of the season, it seemed no one could stop this offense, which had the fewest punts in the NFL and shattered the team scoring record with 501 points, becoming the 24th team in NFL history to reach 500.’

‘There’s a merciless quality to the Bills these days, an audacity that you see when a team is approaching its peak and having loads of fun doing it. They’re a deep, talented and confident bunch, one that seems to be getting better with each passing week.’

‘Saturday was the first time in years that I felt absolutely certain that the Bills were going to win a game. It’s the sort of feeling that was commonplace in the Super Bowl years, when you knew they were simply better than the other team, that their talent would win out.’

‘In essence, that was your ballgame. Over a stunning stretch of 8:50, the Bills had scored 20 points against an 11-1 Pittsburgh team that came in leading the NFL in scoring defense at 17.5 points a game. The Bills beat that figure in less than nine minutes of clock.’

‘The offense looked the way it had in September — like a unit that couldn’t be stopped and never seemed to punt. In fact, they didn’t punt until 3:35 remained in the game. They’ve punted the fewest times of any team in the NFL, and you could see why when Allen was carving up the Niners.’

‘Yeah, the standard has been raised with this team, as I’ve been saying all year. Even in victory, the Bills do things that make you wonder if they’re capable of a serious run in January, or if they’re a fatally flawed squad that will break your heart in the end.’

‘Nothing is guaranteed with six weeks to go. Even with the addition of a seventh playoff team, it might take 11 wins to be sure of a spot. It might take until the final week to break the logjam, and there could be a tie for the final spot (or spots) at 10 victories.’

‘Then it happened again. The Bills lost a game in a fashion so bizarre and unlikely that it had to revive the fatalistic impulses of long-suffering fans, leaving them to wonder if things will ever truly change.’