THREE HUGE REASONS WHY THE BILLS NEED A MIRACLE SUNDAY
Upsets happen every week in the NFL. Nothing is for sure.
But I believe it would be a football miracle if the Buffalo Bills win Sunday at the New England Patriots.
The three biggest reasons are – this is not a scoop – Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski.
I’ll argue that they are the best coach, best quarterback and best tight end in NFL history.
(All due respect to fans of Vince Lombardi and Don Shula, etc., Johnny Unitas and Joe Montana, etc., and Jason Witten and Tony Gonzalez, etc.).
The only reason to think Gronk won’t become the consensus top tight end is the possibility – not that remote – that injuries will shorten his career. When he’s healthy, I’d take him over anybody else.
How amazing is it that NFL’s G.O.A.T. coach, QB and TE would be from the same team at the same time?
The trio doesn’t only pulverize Buffalo. They pretty much dominate the entire league.
The Patriots are is 30-5 against the Bills under Belichick. Brady is 27-3 against the Bills and I wonder how they beat him three times. Gronkowski seems to toy with the Bills whenever he sees them.
I’ll be rooting for Buffalo Sunday. If Tyrod Taylor plays the game of his life -- and if the Bills find a way to foil Belichick’s scheme to stuff LeSean McCoy -- and if the defense forces a few timely turnovers, and if the offense takes advantage of them -- the game might be competitive.
THIS NFL MOCK DRAFT HAS BILLS TAKING DEFENSIVE PLAYERS 1-2
Contrary to popular opinion, Bleacher Report’s Scott Polacek doesn’t think the Buffalo Bills will be selecting a quarterback in the first round of the 2018 NFL college draft.
He projects UCLA QB Josh Rosen going No. 1 overall to Cleveland and USC QB Sam Darnold going No. 2 overall to the New York Giants.
His projected picks for the Bills are LSU DE/OLB Arden Key No. 22 and Clemson DT Christian Wilkins No. 25.
He has 2016 Heisman Trophy-winning QB Lamar Jackson (Louisville) going No. 8 to Cincinnati, 2017 Heisman Trophy-winning QB Baker Mayfield (Oklahoma) No. 11 to Arizona and QB Josh Allen (Wyoming) No. 24 to New Orleans.
IS LeVEON BELL THE FRONTRUNNER FOR NFL MVP?
A few weeks ago, Pittsbugh’s Antonio Brown was being touted as a strong possibility to become the first wide receiver to be selected NFL Most Valuable Player.
I didn’t agree then because I thought running back Le’Veon Bell was the most valuable Steeler. Brown was injured early in last week’s loss to New England and is expected to miss Monday’s game at Houston with a lower leg contusion. That should further boost give Bell’s MVP chances.
Philadelphia quarterback Cason Wentz’s season-ending knee injury probably knocked him out of MVP contention. New England QB Tom Brady obviously is in the hunt for his third league MVP award.
Bell leads the league in rushing (1,222 yards) and yards from scrimmage (1,849). He has by far the most touches (runs + catches = 387) in the NFL. MVP long shot Todd Gurley (LA Rams) and LeSean McCoy (Buffalo) are tied for second with 311 touches.
NFC DOMINATING THE AFC THIS SEASON
The NFC has crushed the AFC so far this season in NFL interconference head-to-head competition.
Entering this final week of interconference play, the NFC has a 36-22 record versus the AFC.
The only AFC teams with winning records versus the NFC this season are New England (3-1), Pittsburgh (3-1) and the Los Angeles Chargers (3-1). The Bills are 2-2.
The AFC topped the NFC 33-30-1 last season.
The most lopsided season since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger was in 2004: AFC +24 (44-20).
NFL FAVORITES BURNED NEVADA’S LEGAL BOOKS LAST SUNDAY
The legal sports books in the state of Nevada took a beating last Sunday. The betting public tends to wager on favorites – in single-game and multiple games (parlays) -- and favorites were 12-0 outright and 8-2-2 against the point spread (the Los Angeles Rams at Seattle and Los Angeles Chargers at Kansas City were pick-em games, with no favorite).
Including last Thursday, Saturday and Monday night, favorites were 14-0 outright.
JAMIESON’S RETURN LIFTED THE KNIGHTHAWKS
The Rochester Knighthawks host the Buffalo Bandits Saturday, 7:30 p.m., at Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial.
The K-Hawks are coming off the most lopsided opening-night victory in the National Lacrosse League team’s 24-year history: 17-6 over the Calgary Roughnecks December 9 at Blue Cross Arena.
The unsung hero in the romp was superstar Cody “Jammer” Jamieson. Coming off reconstructive knee surgery and playing in his first home game in 19 months, he had 1 goal (the 200th of his NLL career) and 3 assists.
Veteran teammate Dan Dawson, himself one of indoor lacrosse’s greatest players, when interviewed by Craig Rybczynski, said of Jamieson: “He makes everyone play two inches bigger, 10 pounds heavier. He is the franchise player for a reason.”
UPDATING SYRACUSE’S SHOOTING WOES
The Syracuse Orange men’s basketball is 10-1 after Tuesday night’s 81-74 home victory over a very good University of Buffalo. The Bulls (7-4 ) will win plenty of games this season.
The biggest plus for SU in the second half of last Saturday’s overtime win over Georgetown and Tuesday night’s win over UB was vastly improved shooting. Against UB, the Orange were 26-of-52 (50 percent) in field goals, 5-of-11 (45.5 per4cent) from three-point range and 24-of-29 (82.8 percent) from the foul line (freshman Oshae Brissett was 16-of-16).
Prior to the second half against Georgetown, SU’s poor shooting was a major cause for concern. Are the shooting woes over just in time for the Atlantic Coadt Conference portion of the schedule?
Entering this week, here’s how SU and this week’s two opponents from New York state ranked among the 351 Division 1 teams in shooting:
Field-goal percentage – St. Bonaventure 45.2 percent (173rd)...Buffalo 44.8 percent (190th)...SU 43.7 percent (243rd)
Three-point FG percentage – St. Bonaventure 38.2 percent (79th)...Buffalo 34.8 (198th)...SU 30.3 (315th)
Free-throw percentage – St. Bonaventure 73.6 percent (t89th)...Buffalo 67.8 (251st)...SU 67.4 (266th).
SHORT SHOTS
Former Rochester Rhinos coach Bob Lilley, the new coach of the USL Pittsburgh Riverhounds has signed two players from the 2017 Rhinos – creative play-making midfielder Christiano Francois and defender Raymond Lee. Highmark Stadium will add 1,000 seats to meet the minimum requirement as the USL moves up to second-division status. The Riverhounds had 6-17-7 and 8-12-12 records the past two seasons and almost guaranteed will improve significantly with Lilley as coach. The team’s average home attendance last season was 2,681.
Another former Rochester Red Wing is headed for Japan. The Seattle Mariners released 32-year-old left-handed pitcher Andrew Albers so he could sign with the Orix Buffaloes. He had two solid seasons for Rochester: 11-5 record, 2.86 ERA in 22 starts in 2013; 10-6, 3.69 ERA in 21 starts in 2016. He was 12-3, 2.61 with Gwinnett (International League) in 2017.
The Buffalo Bills in this week’s assorted NFL Power Rankings – 12th in Bleacher Report...14th CBS Sports...15th NFL.com and Pro Football Focus...17th ESPN and Yahoo!....New England is No. 1 across the board.
WWE on “Monday Night Raw” announced the first-ever all-women’s Royal Rumble will be staged (well, they didn’t say staged) at the pay-per-view Royal Rumble January 28, 2018. Brock Lesner will defend his Universal championship in a triple-threat match against Kane and Braun Strowman.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...
Wednesday, December 20
De’Aaron Fox (20)...Solomon Thomas (22)...Martavis Bryant (26)...Star Lotulelei (28)...Chris Taney (28)...Malcolm Jenkins (30)...David Wright (35)...James Shields (36)...Augie Ojeda (43)...Travis Green (47)...Rich Gannon (52)...Nate Newton (56)...Cecil Cooper (68). Rochester Red Wings Hall of Famer Fred “Bonehead” Merkle was born on this date 129 years ago (1888) and died in 1956 at age 67...Jonah Hill (34) is invited to the birthday party.
Thursday, December 21
Ha Ha Clinton-Dix (25)...Kendall Graveman (27)...Mark Ingram (28)...Khris Davis (30)...Philip Humber (35)...Karrie Webb (43)...Mike Alstott (44)...Latroy Hawkins (45)...Joe Kocur (53)...Andy Van Slyke (57)...Roger McDowell (57)...Tom Henke (60)...Chris Evert (63)...Arie Luyendyk (64)...Joaquin Andujar (65)...Dave Kingman (69). Walter Hagan was born in Rochester on this date 125 years ago (1892) and died in 1969 at age 76. Joe Paterno was born on this date 91 years ago (1926) and died in 2012 at age 85....Kiefer Sutherland (51), Samuel L. Jackson (69) and Jane Fonda (80) are invited to the birthday party.