Is This Bills Team Finally The ONE?

It’s been awhile since I was this excited and nervous about a Bills game, but here we are. The Bills, despite being 9-0 at home this season, are a one point home ‘dog in Sunday’s AFC Divisional playoff game against the Baltimore Ravens. Expect the weather to suck.

The main reason for my hope/concern, is that THIS Bills team is different. This isn’t the same Bills team that was blown up at home by the Bengals 2 years ago, or the Bills team losing a 3 point heartbreaker against the Chiefs a year ago. Josh Allen is better. His offensive line is better. His overall receiving corps is better. James Cook and the running game is better. The D, now healthy again, is better with Matt Milano and even Von Miller making a difference.

Most importantly, the team chemistry is better. GM Brandon Beane has put a nice team together, and some of the early seeds are now starting to grow. HC Sean McDermott has grown as a leader. He listens to his team and communicates with them. Going for it on 4th and one against the Broncos, leading to Allen’s unbelievable scramble and throw to Ty Johnson for a game breaking TD, an example.

This isn’t to throw stones at Stefon Diggs, who was great for awhile, but his absence is now a plus. Curtis Samuel is becoming the threat the Bills paid for. Ty Johnson is becoming a huge threat. Khalil Shakir is probably the most underrated star in the NFL. Mack ‘barefootin’ Hollins is leading the receivers with 6 touchdowns. They’re all hungry and Allen is keeping them fed. Joe Brady’s heavy formations bring out the best in TE’s Dalton Kincaid and Dawson Knox. Amari Cooper is contributing and still adapting.

Because of all these things, I’m expecting more, and nervous my expectations will fall short.

If the Bills are looking for motivation, there’s a lot of it out there, with the underdog tag just one example.

There’s the AP All Pro team. Not a single Bills player on the first team. Not one – not even Josh. No, that spot is taken by the Ravens Lamar Jackson, and he is having a tremendous year. Inarguable. But Jackson is now the favorite to be named NFL MVP, even though it’s hard to argue which is more valuable to his TEAM.

Put it like this: give me Allen all day long if I can pick a QB for this game.

The 31-7 spanking the Bills gave the Denver Broncos reassured me this Bills team could well finally be the ONE.

Admit it though. When Bo Nix hit a TD bomb on the Broncos opening possession, that old defense mechanism started creeping in. Just for a minute or two. The Broncos have an elite defense, leading the NFL in sacks while stuffing the run. They’re an effective blitz team. Well, the Bills unstuffed the run and kept Allen upright all but a couple times. He was almost perfect, hitting 20-26 for 272 yards and 2 TD’s, with another 46 rushing with NO turnovers. He beat the blitz time after time.

Cook just keeps getting better. Slashing through some gaping holes, he racked up 120 yards and a TD on 23 carries, and the Bills rushed for 210 yards in total. Cook now has 16 rushing and 2 passing TD’s. Are the Bills gonna have to pay him, with a year left on his rookie deal? He’s clearly stronger now than ever, without losing any speed.

We’ll deal with that later!

That the Bills could run on them was something the confident Broncos didn’t expect. The Bills up front dominance really took control after a close first half, as they controlled the time of possession (TOP) 41:43 minutes to just 18:17 for the Broncos. Yardage? 471-224.

Back to the Bills reasons for having a laser focus on this game, they certainly remember September 29th. The Bills suffered their worst defeat of the past few seasons at Baltimore, as the Ravens literally ran over the Bills 35-10. The Bills were 3-0 coming in, and this loss stopped an NFL record of 43 consecutive regular season games without a loss by 6 or more points. Derrick Henry was the guy – not Lamar Jackson. Henry broke an 87 yard TD run on the Ravens first play to set the tone in the first quarter, and the big guy finished with 199 yards on 24 carries, which comes out to 8.3 yards a pop.

He even knocked Bills safety Taylor Rapp out of the game with a concussion.

Allen and the offense just couldn’t get going either. He was held under 200 yards passing and didn’t throw or score any TD’s. He also lost a fumble, although he didn’t throw any picks. Jackson was also under 200 yards passing, but he didn’t need to be the hero in this one.

Yes, the Bills had some injuries back then. Matt Milano, Terrel Bernard, Taron Johnson and Von Miller all missed this game. Did it matter? In the Denver win, Miller had the highest grade in the NFL even though he didn’t record a sack against his old team. He’s a force again. Milano, Bernard and Johnson were the leading tacklers against the Broncos. They’re healthy now.

Are the Ravens feeling good about their chances Sunday night? No question. They said all the right things after that September Bills stomp, but they believe to their core they’re better.

The Baltimore media is trying, as one radio station claimed Milano said the Ravens were having “an ok season”.

Milano says he never talked to anybody in Baltimore, and the station admitted they made it up. A local beat writer, whose name isn’t worth mentioning, called Buffalo a “city of losers” a couple years ago and seems proud of it even now.

So what’s gonna happen?

I’m biased. I’ve been watching the Bills play since they opened what was then known as Rich Stadium.

Barring bad luck or some uncharacteristic mistakes, the Bills are gonna win this game. This happens whether its a dry track or a snowy field, and right now we don’t know for sure.

Bills win it 26-24.

Editor’s babble: This is a very interesting read because I haven’t chatted with Ed, but share many of the same sentiments. We thank Ed Kilgore for his contributions to our blog. You can also find Ed on Xwitter @Kilgore2Ed.