The Buffalo Bills haven't made the playoffs since 1999. They lost to the Tennessee Titans during a play that's since been dubbed the Music City Miracle. They had a legal voting age's worth of postseason drought built up, with plenty of additional frustrating moments along the way.
Tonight, the Bills got back into the playoffs. And for that, they can thank...Andy Dalton, of all people.
Buffalo needed a couple of things to go their way to sneak in as a wild card. First, they needed to defeat the Miami Dolphins on the road. The Dolphins are a terrible team, yet they always seem to win two or three games each year that they shouldn't, so who really knows. Buffalo took care of business, though, knocking off the Phins, 22-16.
Next, the Bills were rooting for the Ravens to lose. They could also have gotten in if both the Titans and Chargers lost, but neither of those things happened. So, the entire city of Buffalo was rooting for the old Red Rocket, as Dalton took over from Cincinnati's own 10-yard line.
The Bengals quarterback did not disappoint, leading an impressive 90-yard drive. Dalton connected with Tyler Boyd for a 49-yard touchdown with 44 seconds remaining. The Ravens had a chance to tie but turned it over on downs. And the longest playoff drought in professional sports came to an end.
Guess what, kiddos? Week 11 is going to be the last thoughts you're getting for a couple of weeks, since I'll be out of the country all of Week 12, and traveling during the Sunday of Week 13. But we'll still try to get something in then. My only prediction for Week 12 is that I'll hate the Jets and either the Lions, Steelers, Chargers, Cowboys or Bengals will lose a game common sense says they should win.
-You know what's more fun than a rain delay? Being in the city as it's happening. Chicago had some crazy weather this afternoon, and was reaching halftime as all the other early games were ending. It was fun watching punts and passes just get tossed around like a rival Pikachu after you use Earthquake. After about five and a half hours, the Bears escaped with a 23-20 win in overtime. Boo-yah!
-The Lions and Steelers combined for 605 total yards in the first half. That's a high for the NFL this season. Calvin Johnson and Antonio Brown each cracked 100 yards and pulled in two scores in the first 30 minutes. Not bad at all. But what IS bad? The Steelers jerseys. They look like bumblebees out there. Also the Lions' second half. Stafford had like two completions and a meager amount of second half yards. 35, to be exact. What a waste. Let's add the Lions to the list of teams that blow games they should win. AND THAT'S WHY THEY'RE BAD AND SHOULD FEEL BAD.
-This is the last time I believe in the Jets again. I made a last second switch to pick New York when I realized the Bills were starting a rusty EJ Manuel and missing their top two receivers. Yet it DIDN'T MATTER because the Jets are terrible. Of course, they're just continuing a pattern of winning a game and then losing one, so I'm sure they'll sneak out an improbable win next week. But for now, they win our Worst Team of the Week and I hate them. The Houston Texans are a close second for worst team. Mainly just because they were at home. Atlanta was #3.
-Actually, we need to delve more into this Texans loss. The defense gave up three touchdown passes to something called Matt McGloin, which is often confused with a groin injury. Also, Case Keenum was benched for Matt Schaub (the irony) and one of their offensive linemen had three false starts. Yikes, they are rough to watch.
-RGIII is realizing points in the NFL aren't nearly as easy to come by as points at Baylor was (and still are. I think they just scored again as I type this). Washington's QB wins our Stupid Play of the Week as he was attempting to lead a comeback from down 24-0. With his team trailing by 8, he backpedaled about 15 yards and then threw up an absolute duck that was easily intercepted by the Eagles' Brandon Boykin.
-Jacksonville's Jason Babin made a tackle against Andre Ellington where he literally ripped out a chunk of Ellington's dreads. Then he held it up like it was a freakin' rabbit he bagged in Oregon Trail. Except he was able to carry all of this back to the wagon.
-The best defense in the NFL? While I love my fantasy stalwart the Panthers, the Bengals may have just staked a claim. Andy Dalton threw for 93 yards and the team scored 41 points, courtesy of two defensive touchdowns. Let's repeat that for effect: The Bengals red-headed monstrosity of a quarterback threw for UNDER ONE HUNDRED YARDS, at an alarming 3.4 yards per attempt, and his team put up a fortyburger and won by 21. Heck, WR Mohamed Sanu threw a 25 yard pass. That's more than a quarter of what Dalton put up in 27 passes. If Cincinnati had any kind of talent at QB, they'd be a SCARY team.
-Our Most Boring Game of the Week was actually pretty hard to find, since even the blowouts were pretty entertaining. Since seeing the Jets get routed is still funny even if I happened to pick them this week (stupid), we'll go with what was touted as America's Game of the Week by Fox: the Packers at the Giants. Outside of a nice pick-six by Jason Pierre-Paul, this game was a lot of snoozing. Remember when both of these squads were good? For Packers fans, Aaron Rodgers can't return fast enough.
-The top running back performance of the day was Tampa Bay's Bobby Rainey. He ran 30 times for 163 yards and two TDs, and also grabbed a four-yard reception for a score, too. Who woulda thunk it?
-Prior to today, the average fantasy performance for a team defense facing the Saints was 1.3 points. In NINE GAMES. The Niners put up a little bit better effort, but still, that's incredible.
-Our RedZone recap is mighty entertaining today. Let's get it.
In one of the most unpredictable weeks in recent memory, the Jags finally got off the schneid, the supposedly elite Colts lost by 30, and a hail mary (thrown by Andy Dalton, no less) actually was caught for a touchdown. Let's get to the madness.
-After trailing 17-0, the Bengals somehow came back and tied things on the final play as Andy Dalton launched a near-midfield hail mary to beastly receiver AJ Green. But of course, in traditional Bengals fashion, the team got close but could not get over the hump and lost in overtime. But for a brief second I got very excited and frightened my dog with my yells during the tying play. Said hail mary play also wins our Stupid Play of the Week, as Ravens DB James Ihedigbo deflects the ball in a way that makes you question if he knows what "bat it down" means.
-The Dallas Cowboys are SHOCKINGLY bad. How this team has won five games is beyond me. I saw them in person last week as they struggled against the terrible Vikings, and the Saints absolutely demolished them (and my fantasy team in the process, since Drew Brees has it in for me). How bad are the Cowboys? Al Michaels actually brought up the record for most yards given up in a game as the Cowboys approached it. They didn't set that record, but they did give up 40 first downs. FORTY FIRST DOWNS IN ONE GAME. That's an NFL record. At least the Cowboys ran more than eight times this week. What a joke. The winner of the NFC East is going to be 7-9 at best, and it's going to be embarrassing.
-Speaking of the NFC East, I still can't take the Iggles seriously even though they're 5-5. They simply cannot win at home, and they beat a Packers team who had to play a third-string quarterback for most of the game after Seneca Wallace suffered a groin injury.
-Meanwhile, the Jacksonville Jaguars scored their first win of the season by hanging on for a 29-27 win against the Titans. Tennessee's Jake Locker left early with some sort of foot injury, and the Jaguars were stunned that they had an early double-digit lead. Cecil Shorts and all of his garbage-time yardage went to waste, making it six straight weeks that I've played him when I shouldn't have and benched him when he went off. Keep it up, Cecil.
-Our Worst Team of the Week is an easy one: The Indianapolis Colts. Sweet lord, how do you lose by 30 at home to a team playing their backup quarterback? Well, you let Tavon Austin, who I believe had combined for about 200 yards all season prior to this game, rack up 310 total yards, fielding punts, catching short passes and turning everything into touchdowns. The Colts also had like 14 turnovers, and generally looked like a team that was more interested in catching...gosh, I don't even know what shows are on on Sundays anymore now that Breaking Bad is over. Sigh...
-Our award for Most Boring Game of the afternoon has to go to either Giants/Raiders or the more likely winner: Steelers/Bills. EJ Manuel made an un-Florida State (i.e. terrible) return from a knee injury and looked terrible. Pittsburgh, meanwhile, also looked pretty terrible, but they scored more, and that's generally how you win sporting matches.
-Arizona's defense is really good. If their offensive line wasn't worse at blocking than Geico commercials are at making me not hate them, then they'd be a surprise wild card team. They're still in the hunt, but I just can't see them making a push. Although...
-With the Panthers edging out the Niners 10-9, the Cardinals gained some ground in the NFC West, at least for second place. This game was probably pretty boring too, though with the Panthers D putting up 22 points for me, I can't find any fault with it. Sure, I picked it wrong, but most of the world did too.
