Niagara Gazette

‘It wasn’t just that they beat a Seattle team that has been among the league’s elite for a decade and entered with the best record in the NFC. It was the way they attacked from the start on both sides of the football, playing the aggressor and forcing their will on the Seahawks.’

‘OK, a victory over the Pats is a big deal, regardless. But they’re a bad team right now. If it was anyone but New England, it would have been approached like the Jets game a week earlier: You figured they would win, but you wanted them to make a statement doing it.’

‘So what do you say about a dreary, 18-10 win, a game in which the Bills couldn’t score a single touchdown against a winless team that had allowed at least three TDs in each of its other six contests?’

‘Instead, for the second week in a row, they played like a team that didn’t truly believe it could compete with the best. They were outplayed, outcoached and out-hit. From the coaching staff on down to the subs, they came off as soft, stupid and scared.’

‘Where they’re lacking is up front, on both sides of the ball. They’ve been pushed around two weeks in a row. They haven’t shown the ability to both stop the run and rush the passer in a single game, save for the second half against the Raiders. Their top running back, Devin Singletary, is averaging 2.9 yards per carry over the last three games.’

‘The Bills were beaten in every conceivable way. The Titans were better on both sides of the ball and on special teams. The Bills were outclassed, out-hit (including one memorable Derrick Henry stiff-arm on Josh Norman) and out-coached. They seemed unready and overconfident.’

‘Couldn’t it simply be that young quarterbacks are coming on the scene and hitting their stride? Allen is a prime example. He has made remarkable progress in his third NFL season, and I suspect he’d still be on pace to break most of the team passing records if there hadn’t been a pandemic.’

‘The Bills are good enough to reach the Super Bowl. There, I said it.’

‘In fact, the Bills were on the brink of the worst collapse in franchise history, and the fourth-worst blown lead in the annals of the NFL. But really, has it ever been easy with this bunch? Is any game complete without them torturing their fans in some way?’

‘It was a test that Allen had failed last season in Houston, when he came unraveled late in his first playoff game. Now it was time to find out if he and the rest of the Bills were truly worthy of their reputation as a team on the rise, a squad ready to compete for the Super Bowl. Allen was ready.’

‘But as that tweet acknowledges, this was the Jets. The Bills were supposed to throttle Gang Green. That’s what comes with the burden of high expectations. It’s no longer sufficient to beat these bottom-feeders; you have to step on their necks and crush them.’

‘Season prediction: 10-6.’

‘McDermott is 25-23 in three seasons, 25-25 if you count two distressing playoff losses. He inherited a difficult situation, but it’s his show now. It’s no longer good enough to not be Rex Ryan, Doug Marrone or Chan Gailey. He needs to win, and win in a big way.’

‘White is scheduled to make $10.2 million in 2021 in the fifth year of his rookie deal. If he had opted out, his raise would have been pushed back a year and his base salary set at $1.7 million. It also would have reduced his cap hit by $7.2 million in ’21, helping the Bills in a year when the cap is expected to go down.’

‘It would be nice to have one of our sports venues get a name that lasts forever. I can’t keep up with the baseball park. It’s still Pilot Field to me. I still call the football stadium “The Ralph.” I hesitate whenever I try to remember where the Sabres play. Frankly, I’d rather not think about the hockey team.’