By CHUCK POLLOCK, Wellsville Sun Senior Sports Columnist
It’s out of the Bills’ hands.
Nothing they do Sunday afternoon at Foxboro’s Gillette Stadium against the New England Patriots (1 o’clock CBS-TV, Bills Radio Network) will affect what happens to Buffalo next weekend in the NFL’s wild-card schedule of six playoff games.
The Bills (13-3), the American Football Conferences No. 2 seed, are merely awaiting an opponent to fill that seventh seed to face next week at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park.
Right now that’s a three-team race among Denver (9-7), Miami and Cincinnati (both 8-8).
But the odds aren’t quite even.
Oddsmakers give the Broncos an 83% chance of earning the spot even hosting the AFC’s top seed, Kansas City (15-1). Opening odds favored the Chiefs by four points, but once it was clear that KC had nothing to play for, the line shifted to Denver by 10 1/2 points.
Miami’s odds of becoming the seventh seed are 12% as they face the Jets late Sunday afternoon at the Meadowlands favored by a point.
Finally, there are the Bengals, which no playoff team is in any hurry to face. Cincy’s offense is elite with Joe Burrow at quarterback, wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higins, and Andrei Iosivas and a solid running game. Unfortunately, the Bengals ‘D’ is ‘D’eplorable.
We’ll likely know their fate tonight when they play the Steelers (10-6) in Pittsburgh and if the Bengals, favored by two points, win it amps up the pressure on the Broncos and Dolphins, playing the next day at the same time.
MEANWHILE, though the Bills are mere observers, the Patriots (3-13) are immersed in an age-old NFL question: Do you tank a game to get the overall first draft pick.
That’s where New England stands right now, the worst team among four other NFL franchises with 3-13 records: Browns, Titans and Giants. And it’s not a stretch to suggest that Pats’ coach Jerod Mayo, Cleveland’s Kevin Stefanski, Tennessee’s Brian Callahan and New York’s Brian Daboll, the former Bills offensive coordinator, are playing for their jobs. Indeed the four general managers of those teams are feeling the heat in their seats as well.
Why would any of those coaches want to intentionally lose their final games to earn the right to the No. 1 draft pick that somebody else will inherit?
AT THE same time, Buffalo’s Sean McDermott has different stresses.
He knows for sure that quarterback Josh Allen will see a bit of action to keep alive his streak of 114 consecutive starts, including playoffs, dating back to his rookie season.
But McDermott must also decide who to rest and which players he can get a final look at.
Indeed, he’s frustrated at the NFL rule that permits only two players to be elevated from the practice squad to the active roster, even in the last game of the regular season.
Given his druthers, he’d prefer to use all 17 if the game was otherwise meaningless.
“They bust their butts … they work extremely hard and they’ve earned the right, all of them, to play this week,” he said. “It’s a shame (the league) can’t do that to the number counts (in the season finale).”
BUFFALO got good news from its injury report as linebacker Terrel Bernard won’t play Sunday with a quad injury but will be back for the playoff game. Meanwhile, wide receiver Curtis Samuel (ribs) is questionable but all three injured safeties — Damar Hamlin (ribs), Taylor Rapp (neck) and Cam Lewis (shoulder) are expected to face the Patriots for at least part of the game.
New England wasn’t so lucky as cornerback Christian Gonzalez and center Ben Brown are both out with concussions as are wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk (shoulder) and safety Jabrill Peppers (hamstring).
Also questionable are quarterback Drake Maye (right, throwing hand), tight end Hunter Henry (foot), safety Kyle Dugger (ankle/quad) and linebackers Anfenee Jennings (knee), Titus Leo (ankle) and Sione Takitaki (knee).
During his mid-week press conference, McDermott was asked an interesting question.
A member of the press wondered whether he considered this year his best coaching job.
His resume is interesting.
In eight seasons, McDermott won at least 10 games in six of them with seven trips to the playoffs and only one losing campaign.
But, in the process, he’s become like his mentor, Andy Reid. They’ve won so much it’s become expected and come Coach of the Year voting, both are now afterthoughts.
However, this year, for McDermott, with major personnel losses to free agency and a dearth of experienced wide receivers, Buffalo still won 13 games and collected a fifth straight AFC East title.
Hence the question.
“Going into the season, what are the Bills are going to be?” he asked rhetorically. “Is this going to be a kind of a rebuild year? What have you and our coaching staff done? A phenomenal job of developing and getting the players to fit into the systems and the systems being built around the players strengths and week-to-week, managing some of the injuries as well. So I give the credit to them, more so than anything.”
POLLOCK’S PICK: Bills 23, Patriots 17
