Niagara Gazette

‘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.’

‘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?’