ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. – It’s a tad early to be making those plans to be at Minneapolis’ U.S. Bank Stadium on Feb. 4.
After all, the current odds for the Bills to make it to Super Bowl LII on the Vikings home field are 150-1.
But, after the first week of this NFL season, Buffalo stands alone atop the AFC East … at least until next Sunday. It’s the first time that’s happened since Week 2 of 2014 when they were 2-0.
Yeah, it’s totally circumstance.
The Patriots, who have won the division 14 of the past 16 years, were handled at home on Thursday night by Kansas City.
Miami, thanks to the incursion of Hurricane Irma, had its opener against Tampa Bay moved to Week 11.
And the Bills, courtesy of yesterday’s 21-12 victory over the Jets at New Era Field, lead their division at 1-0, but are stepping up in class next week with a game against the Panthers at Bank of America Stadium.
Coach Sean McDermott, Carolina’s defensive coordinator for the previous six seasons, will revisit his former home turf for the first time on the opposite sideline, a franchise he helped lead to the Super Bowl two years ago.
Now he comes back with a team whose current legacy is a failure to make the playoffs for 17 straight years.
Small wonder, after getting his first NFL head-coaching victory over a Jets team many members of the New York pro football media feel will go 0-16, McDermott repeatedly pointed out, “It’s just one win … let’s keep things in perspective.”
Still, it can be argued that, of all times, even a Jets team with a severely compromised roster, would give its best effort in the season opener.
And, in a game in which they were favored by eight points — a figure unlikely to be duplicated on the Buffalo side for the rest of the season — this was not a performance in which the Bills appeared complacent.
Their numbers were in order, out-gaining the Jets in offensive yardage nearly 2-1 (408-214), winning the turnover battle, 2-1, and dominating the time of possession by over six minutes.
As McDermott noted, “We want to win and we got that done today. The important part was we came out and played good, solid football … fundamentally sound, aggressive, tough football.
“What we’re looking to do is create that type of identity and we put ourselves in position to do that in all three phases. It’s a team win and I’m extremely proud of that.”
He added, “Thank Terry and Kim (Pegula) for giving us the resources they gave us. It’s never easy to win in this league and we played hard for four quarters … I certainly appreciate that.”
McDermott won’t announce the players who got game balls until film review, though running back LeSean McCoy (22 carries 110 yards; 5 receptions for 49) is an obvious choice as well as safety Jordan Poyer (interception, sack, 3 tackles and 2 defensed passes).
But the players immediately voted one to McDermott.
As defensive tackle Kyle Williams, a team captain, noted, “It’s always special, (but) I would think, first head-coaching game, to win it, to win it against a division opponent … it doesn’t really get much better than that.”
To which guard Richie Incognito added, “We’re excited. It’s the first chapter of the 2017 Bills … coach McDermott and the new staff. But we also know we’ve got 15 more opportunities to go out and earn as many victories as possible.
“We’ve been preparing for this … preparing to win. It was a whole new energy and I’m really excited just taking a step back and looking at what we’re building.”
(Chuck Pollock, a Times Herald sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)
