Although the Buffalo Bills undoubtedly spent a good portion of their Christmases wondering what could have been after Sunday’s stunning second half collapse against the New England Patriots, they will need to have quick memories and put their efforts towards a crucial matchup against the Miami Dolphins next week.
The NFL decided to have all four teams battling for the AFC Wild Card slots–Bills, Chargers, Ravens, and Titans– start at 4:25 next Sunday. I love the idea, as it creates maximum drama for fans and also keeps all four of those teams alive for as long as possible. For the Bills, their path to the playoffs is now abundantly clear: if Baltimore loses to Cincy, and the Bills beat Miami, Buffalo is in for the first time in 17 years. If that scenario doesn’t happen, Buffalo still has a shot for that other wild card spot. The Bills would again have to beat Miami, and then have the Titans lose to the Jaguars and the Chargers losing to the Oakland Raiders. With Oakland struggling throughout most of this season, and the Jaguars poised to rest most of their starters, this is the far less likely scenario. As for Baltimore-Cincinnati, the Bengals are fresh off a 26-17 upset over the Detroit Lions. The team has been a huge disappointment this year, but I think they have a real shot to beat the Ravens. Baltimore has no weapons on offense, and struggled to even beat the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday night. Regardless of who gets in, it’s going to be the wildest final NFL Sunday in recent memory. Get your popcorn and remote ready.
As for the actual game between the Bills and Patriots on Sunday, everything Buffalo was able to do well in the first half, completely disappeared in the second. Although it is easy to say that the Bills lost all of their momentum when Kelvin Benjamin’s touchdown grab at the end of the first half was overturned, it really evaporated on Buffalo’s first drive in the second half. The Bills were swiftly moving the ball down the field, and led by a 38-yard reception from LeSean McCoy the Bills got all the way to the New England 10-yard line. However, they ran a fullback screen to Patrick DiMarco and then a run to backup running back Mike Tolbert that moved them backwards. When the dust settled, the Bills were forced to kick a 30-yard field goal. It gave Buffalo a 16-13 lead, but you could tell that the team was deflated. New England went on to score 24 unanswered points and cruised to yet another win over the Bills. Sure, the officiating certainly titled the game in New England’s favor, but Buffalo’s inability to move the ball and to stop the un on the other end of the field had a lot more to do with the team losing their seventh game of the season.
The Steelers had a much merrier Christmas, as they easily handled the lowly Houston Texans on Monday afternoon. By taking care of business against those T.J. Yates-led Texans, the Steelers remain in the race for home field advantage throughout the duration of the AFC playoffs. As last weekend evidenced, the Patriots and Steelers are pretty equal talent-wise, so the x-factor in any future AFC Championship matchup may just be that home field advantage. The Patriots and Steelers both sit at 12-3. The Steelers play the winless Browns, while New England face the slumping Jets. Both teams should win handily next Sunday, but the Pats hold the tiebreaker over Pittsburgh, so if New England takes care of business they will be the number one seed.
Even without Antonio Brown, the Steelers didn’t miss a beat against Houston. Although they didn’t have too many explosive plays, Pittsburgh was able to methodically move the ball down the field. Ben Roethlisberger completed passes to six different receivers, and JuJu Smith-Schuster led the receiving corps with six catches for 75 yards in Brown’s absence. Le’Veon Bell was given a light workload with just 14 carries, but still finished with five yards per carry, and keeping his legs fresh for the postseason run is a smarter move than playing him in a blowout. Without Brown, the Steelers still dominated. With Brown, and a team eager for revenge against the Pats, it’s hard to imagine another team but the Steelers representing the AFC in this year’s Super Bowl.
