JACKSONVILLE — Bills fans, please don’t take this the wrong way.
But the reality is, Buffalo’s presence in the NFL playoffs for the first time since the 1999 season does not necessarily indicate this franchise has taken a major step forward.
Start with the fact the Bills were extraordinarily lucky to even make the postseason.
Yeah, at 9-7, they tied for the team’s best record in the last 18 years.
But the reason they’re one of the two AFC teams that edged into the playoffs, of the four with that record, is a single long-odds miracle play.
If somebody had told Ravens coach John Harbaugh that all he had to do to make the playoffs was get a stop on 4th-and-12 from Baltimore’s 49-yard line in the game’s final minute, clinging to a 27-24 lead, he’d have undoubtedly thought, “We’ve got this covered.”
However, Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton, a journeyman in the eyes of most NFL observers, had other ideas. The Ravens secondary violated the most basic defensive tenet in that situation by letting Cincy wide receiver Tyler Boyd run past it, cradle Dalton’s perfect pass and carry the ball and Buffalo’s playoff hopes into the end zone.
The chances of completing that connection, in that situation and in those freezing weather conditions, were bleak, at best.
But it happened.
And the NFL’s myriad tiebreakers actually favored Buffalo over both the Ravens and Chargers.
The point is this … enjoy tomorrow’s game against the Jaguars, win or lose, for what it is, the end of an agonizing era, but not necessarily the beginning of a bright new future.
If you doubt it, consider recent history.
Of the 12 teams that made the playoffs last season, only four — New England, Pittsburgh, Kansas City and Atlanta returned this year. And the Falcons, who blew a 28-3 Super Bowl lead in losing to the Patriots, needed a win last Sunday to snatch the final NFC wild card.
Houston, Dallas, Green Bay and Seattle, all division winners in 2016, didn’t make it back, nor did Miami, Oakland, Detroit or the Giants.
In the NFL, all glory is fleeting.
Bills fans should embrace the myriad circumstances that propelled their team into the postseason for the first time in this millennium and hope the franchise makes the best of it, for there’s no guarantee when Buffalo might return.
And nobody knows that better than the Bills’ first-year coach, Sean McDermott.
“You see teams make it one year and don’t make it the next,” said the former Panthers defensive coordinator whose team went from winning the NFC South championship with a 15-1 record in 2015 to 6-10 last season. “One of the great lessons I learned from the Super Bowl year (at) Carolina, going into the next season, was that culture from one year to another (and) teams from one year to another are almost separate entities.
“Even though you’d like to be able to say that there’s carryover — you want there to be — it’s not guaranteed that there’s carryover from a culture standpoint (and) from a performance standpoint. That’s why what we do in the offseason with the roster moves we make or don’t make are so important to our future success in building upon what we did in this first year. That’s kind of a science in and of itself.”
But he did admit of his initial season, “Building this team the right way, (and making the playoffs) is a step toward changing the culture and changing (to) the belief that we’re heading in the right direction.
“More important, really, is what’s your plan between Year 1 and Year 2? That’s something we spend a lot of time — Brandon (Beane, general manager) and myself — talking about, researching, putting in the due diligence, and carrying forward all of the lessons we’ve learned over the years.”
But McDermott admitted, “It’s probably true of a lot of businesses, where sustaining success is hard from one year to the next. Why that is? I’ve got my own reasons. I think to try to sustain success, part of it is human nature where you taste it a little bit and sometimes the relaxation syndrome sets in.
“That’s a challenge for young players in this league where at times (they think), ‘I know what this league is all about.’ No, you don’t. That edge is important and it starts at the top with leadership and that’s myself and the other leaders in our organization – that we set the right tone and create the right mindset that’s an all-the-time thing.”
He concluded, “Winning is not a (guarantee), we take that approach (and) talk about it as a team. It’s not a sometime thing, it’s the habits.”
And the Bills hope to create a new one tomorrow afternoon at EverBank Field.
(Chuck Pollock, a Times Herald sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)
