Commentary

Playing for the Weekend With the Buffalo Bills

Featured Photo Credit: © Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports via Imagn.com, LLC.

Frittering weekdays is just another sacrifice Buffalo Bills fans make to express dedication.  We don’t have to dread precious family time following this Thursday’s outing: the evening is set to finish simultaneously with the game clock.  That team we’ll watch any day needs to overcome early frazzling late tomorrow.

Coordinators not changing may change the season.  The only thing tougher than learning on the job is not learning.  The sense resources are going underused even permeates wins.  Large portions of recent games feel like Fred Ward’s awesome acting skills never really getting put to use.  Refusing to lean coverage toward the biggest threats shows commitment may not be a virtue.  Leslie Frazier still listens to 8-tracks.

Waiting to unveil their biggest threat creates a bit too much drama.  Stefon Diggs finally outscored Ed Oliver at the most opportune moment.  The top option’s pleading for more targets during the Browns game should hold over for the rest of his career.  Both his spectacular touchdown and field goal setup illustrate that Diggs does what he wants even when defenses know what that is.

Photo by © Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports via Imagn.com, LLC.

Going to whoever’s presently thriving is the most welcoming trend among concerning ones.  Isaiah McKenzie had a magical day even after his contributions to the ground attack.  A rusher throwing to the same shows a diverse range of individual skills.

FTX is in the news, but prominence might not reflect longterm value.  If you’re selling high, it might be best to anticipate a different player will shine next.  How about a recent throwback?  Bringing back John Brown wasn’t just a social media fantasy.  He’d have to make the active roster first.  But re-signing him didn’t seem likely a few weeks ago, either.

You’ll never convince me Josh Allen didn’t fumble on purpose to throw off defensive timing.  You have your conspiracies and I have mine.  I happen to believe ones based in pondering whether this quarterback has a secret identity.  We won’t tell anyone. 

The Bills aren’t always going to be helped by playing teams beating themselves.  The long weekend was the last time they will be able to rely on Lions-style foibles.  The eternally tragic franchise used play calls that the other team’s fans may as well have chosen, missed kicks at poetically bad times, and committed a roughing the passer penalty that we ended up being glad the dastard committed.

Exceptions to normal scheduling are now themselves normal.  The latest trend sees the Bills transitioning from Detroit to Thursday.  Excessively optimistic fans might have hoped this team would be exempt from Amazon games by virtue of participating on America’s football holiday.  But simply treat another late-week primetime affair as second Thanksgiving.  The traditional dish to serve is Pizza Logs.

Photo from pizzalogs.com.

Perspective might lessen the impact of problems.  Or it could lead to dodging them.  This side’s record without context impresses.  But the pessimist who claims to be merely realistic notes the Bills have been getting away with languid starts.  Presuming they’ll figure a way to pay rent neglects how much saving might be necessary in the month’s last couple days.  Early profligacy leads to ramen week.

It’s not to compile imaginary style points in a results-oriented business.  But the one thing more incredible than Allen and Diggs turning a miraculous connection into reality would be pulling off the feat in an earlier quarter.  There must be a German word for feeling glad they’re pulling it off while fretting they won’t be able to keep squeaking by foes.

That’s one way to prove they can win by a little.  Adding one to the one-score game win tally silences a common criticism about their inability to pull off close affairs.  Now, please get back to blowouts.

There’s only so much room for griping even as the conference race gets cutthroat like a salon that had a hairdresser leave.  Don’t even bother calling to ask where your favorite stylist works now.  Buffalo still overcame back-to-back losses that were each brutal in their own respective ways.  Both ensuing wins wracked nerves in a sort-of reverse.  Accumulating statistics when they matter leads to the most useful sort of domination.

Keeping games maddeningly competitive isn’t the club’s only issue.  The Bills remain haunted by the lack of divisional wins.  I can think of a good way to remedy the concern.  Three chances in a row to illustrate their ability to adjust to circumstances constitute a blessing.  The league realized scheduling two-thirds of the intramural affairs in December and January would create thrills, and we should be proud of them for finally getting something obvious correct.  Stress increases with every postponement, and this team should be glad to cope with more of it.

Editor’s babble: No one expresses the angst of a Buffalo Bill’s fan in a more unique way than Anthony Bialy. We are grateful for his posts. You can also find Anthony on Twitter @AnthonyBialy.

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