By CHUCK POLLOCK, Wellsville Sun and Olean Star Senior Sports Columnist
After the Bills’ stunning 31-10 evisceration of the Dolphins, Thursday night at Hard Rock Stadium, Buffalo coach Sean McDermott tried to downplay his delight.
When asked about the heavy presence of Bills fans, he blurted, “What else is there to say? I actually had someone come over during the game and ask me if this was a home game … which was pretty cool because there are so many Bills fans here. Love it. Great environment for the Bills, I appreciate all the fans making the trip down here.”
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Then, assessing Buffalo’s high level of play, he added, “We’ve got a lot of new players and you’re never really sure (how things will play out) … there are so many unknowns starting a season.
“We come back the first week of the season and win and that was a step for us to be able to say that you can do that … you can play in close games. Then, this game, being able to come down here on a short week, at their place, and play like we did …”
IN HIS post-game interview, quarterback Josh Allen was incredulous. “You look at the stat sheet,” he said. “We were really low in time of possession (Dolphins had a 12½-minute edge) and really low in total yards (only 247), but still managed to put up 31 points and that means your defense is doing something right. They had our back tonight and we’re going to need them going forward.
“Guys are stepping up and making plays when their numbers are called. It’s not going to be eye-popping numbers on the stat sheet, but when you can put up those type of numbers on the scoreboard that’s all you care about.”
Edge rusher Von Miller, who followed a 14-game sackless streak by notching one in each of the last two weeks, was particularly impressed with Buffalo’s ‘D’ after losing middle linebacker Terrel Bernard to a pectoral injury early in the game.
“That’s our captain … the heartbeat of this defense,” he said. “We already lost Matt Milano, so it’s going to be tough to try to fill that void, but those young guys, (you’ve) got to give it to them. Baylon Spector (tied for the team high with 10 tackles) came in and he made it work … kept the defense together. He did a great job leading the guys.”
As for the win, Miller added, “The confidence was flowing from that second half last week (rally from two TDs down to beat the Cardinals) and we believed in ourself. We gave Miami all the respect … they’ve got all type of stars, all types of explosive players, some of the best players in the league. But we just believed in the type of football that we play and that we’ve been playing.”
MEETING with the media Friday afternoon via Zoom, McDermott’s first question was about Bernard’s prognosis.
“Unfortunately he’s gonna be out multiple weeks,” he said. “We’re talking about whether or not it’s an (injured reserve) conducive situation. We’ve still got some internal conversations to determine if it’s gonna end up in IR or not.”
McDermott was much happier to talk about the performance of his coaching staff and its impact on the win, particularly defensive coordinator Bobby Babich and his offensive coordinator Joe Brady.
“It was a strong night for the coaching staff, again, on a short week,” he said. “A lot of people don’t see that we’re in the hotel and all three of those guys (including special teams coordinator Matt Smiley) are grinding the film on their own in the meeting rooms in the dark hours of the night and early hours of the morning to get themselves ready to go to put the players in a good position … and they did that (against Miami).”
The Bills now are in a 10-day break before hosting Jacksonville at Highmark Stadium in a Monday night game.
This coming week there will be features on Babich and Brady and their assessments of Buffalo’s performance in the blowout in Miami Gardens.
(Chuck Pollock, a Wellsville Sun senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@wnynet.net.)
