Olean Times Herald

‘Buffalo played, inarguably, its best game in the McDermott era.’

‘The Bills have now won all three home playoff games under coach Sean McDermott — 0-3 on the road.’

‘“They do so many great things, especially on the defensive side of the ball,” Allen said of Belichick’s specialty. “They’ve got a lot of smart, savvy veteran players. They play to their strengths and they’re extremely well-coached. When you have that type of defense, they’re relying on the offense to make mistakes because they’re so sound fundamentally.”’

‘No precipitation is expected, but temperatures will be in the low single digits and even light breezes could drop wind chills to between 5-and-10 below zero.’

‘“We played them toward the end of the season (barely two weeks ago) in a short time frame,” Buffalo’s offensive coordinator Brian Daboll said. “Obviously we’re going to be matched up against them Saturday night so there’s some familiarity with the players and the matchups, but schemes change and each game is its own game particularly against a team like (the Patriots).”’

‘Remember the embarrassment the team and fans felt when the Bills went to Jacksonville and lost to the then 1-6 Jaguars, 9-6 in November? Imagine how the Colts feel.’

‘For the record, with under 8½ minutes to play, New York trailed by a mere 13-10. That seems incongruous as, at game’s end, the Bills had the edge in first downs, 25-4, the latter figure the fewest surrendered in franchise history, plays (79-46), offensive yardage (424-53), rushing yards (170-48), passing yards (254-5, the latter minus the yardage of nine sacks) and 37-22 in time of possession minutes.’

‘With the Bills clinching the AFC East title, their 2022 opponents are locked in. Besides home-and-home with the division foes (Patriots, Jets and Dolphins), visiting Highmark Stadium will be the Steelers, Browns, Titans, Packers and Vikings.’

‘The AFC’s lone first-round playoff bye is out of reach for Buffalo, but of near-equal importance is the reward of a home game.’

‘“As you get further and further out from 2017 and that transition (from 2016) not a lot of those players are here with us now, especially these younger players (of the past three years),” he said. “They think it’s the same every year, and this just happens, so a critical piece of that going forward is to make sure those guys don’t take it for granted and know, because they’ll eventually become the leaders, they will have to educate and influence the younger guys that come in.”‘

‘Thus, the division title is still undecided and, if the Patriots win at Miami (8-8) and the Bills were to conjure a loss to the Jets (4-12), New England would be the AFC East champion. And, get this, while Buffalo can’t do it by winning the division, the Pats, should they claim the East, could leap-frog Tennessee, Cincinnati and Kansas City (if they all lost) and actually finish with the AFC’s best record, via tie-breakers, and draw a first-round playoff bye.’

‘In talking about the Bills’ ground game, Allen allowed, “Especially with the elements that we play with here in Buffalo, we’ve got to be able to run the ball and there were a lot of situations where they knew we were going to run the ball and we did. When you can run it when they know you’re going to run it, that’s typically a sign of a good offense. And we did a good job with that today.”’

‘Coach Arthur Smith’s defense, plus Western New York’s January weather, helped conjure Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen’s worst passing day in his four-year pro career.’

‘With the win, besides clinching a playoff berth (thanks to the loss by Baltimore to the Rams) for the fourth time in coach Sean McDermott’s fifth season, it marked the first time Buffalo has strung three consecutive seasons of at least 10 wins since the Super Bowl era (1990-93).’

‘If they beat Atlanta, a loss by Baltimore (home against the Rams) or a loss or a tie by either the Chargers (home against Denver) or Raiders (at Indianapolis) would put them in.’