Some observations from a Sunday of watching the NFL’s Red Zone Channel, plus the Broncos/Chiefs last night:
— If the Bills needed any further reason for inspiration tonight against the 49ers in Arizona, Miami provided it. The Dolphins’ 19-7 home win over the Bengals improved them to 8-4 on the season, a half-game behind Buffalo (8-3).
With a win this evening, the Bills will retain their one-game edge, but should they lose to San Francisco, they would be tied and the margin would be the head-to-head victory over the Dolphins in September. However, Miami could offset that with a win at Orchard Park in the season finale.
What’s interesting is how the Dolphins are winning.
Their offense is pedestrian, ranking in the middle of the league in points scored. But Miami’s defense ranks second in the NFL in fewest points surrendered and its highly proficient special teams have been the key to an unexpected eight victories.
— The NFL mantra is that Gregg Williams is one of the league’s elite defensive coordinators, but sometimes you wonder.
To be sure, he had moments as DC for the Oilers/Titans, Washington, Jaguars, Saints, Rams, Browns and even his current employer, the Jets.
And, yet …
On Sunday, the Jets rallied from a 24-13 deficit to the Raiders midway in the third quarter and were leading 28-24 in the closing seconds at the Meadowlands. On third down, with 13 ticks left, quarterback Derek Carr lofted a pass to the inexplicably single-covered Henry Ruggs, who completed a 46-yard game-winning touchdown connection.
How in the name of Leodis McKelvin could Las Vegas’ most dangerous deep receiver be left in single coverage with the game on the line and the only way to lose it was by a long bomb?
Admittedly, this isn’t the most talented unit Williams has ever coached, but what happened Sunday wasn’t strategy, it was simple. Instead of putting the defensive backfield on the goal line and having it come up to make the tackle, he called for a full blitz and left the receivers single-covered.
Under no circumstances do you give a receiver a chance to run past his defender without so much as a shove. And if the Jets, four more losses from finishing 0-16, end up with the No. 1 overall draft pick, they’ll thank Lamar Jackson, the luckless cornerback who let Ruggs race past him for a pitch-and-catch TD.
But that loss is really on the man who, despite his “defensive genius” reputation, absurdly called an all-out blitz and left his secondary on an island. Williams coached the Bills to a 17-31 record in the early 2000s before beginning his current streak of six different defensive coordinator positions. But, after what happened yesterday, it will be lucky if he and head coach Adam Gase still have a job come Tuesday.
— If any Browns fans turned off the TV with Cleveland up 38-7 at halftime in Nashville, they did their nervous systems a favor. After intermission, a different team put on the brown, orange and white uniforms.
The Titans outscored Cleveland 28-3, leaving the Browns with a 41-35 victory, but needing to cover an onside kick in the final 30 seconds to preserve it.
So which Browns are they, the ones in the first 30 minutes when QB Baker Mayfield looked like the second coming of Drew Brees, or the ones in the second half which could neither move the ball nor stop the Titans?
And, like the Bills’ faithful, who recently waited 17 years between playoff appearances, that’s where Cleveland fans are, though, at 9-3, are on the cusp of ending the streak … if they don’t revert to yesterday’s second half.
— Meanwhile, the Patriots, who seemed dead when they slipped to 2-5 after losing to the Bills, have since won four of their last five and, after yesterday’s 45-0 evisceration of the Chargers, are 6-6. And if Buffalo loses tonight, New England would be two games behind both the Bills and Dolphins, but remain alive, at least for a Wild Card. The Pats still have a game against Miami, which it has already beaten, and one versus Buffalo, to which it has lost, but played tough.
(Chuck Pollock, a Times Herald senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)
