Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) - Heading into "Sunday Night Football" against the New York Giants, it struck me that the Buffalo Bills were in the unusual position of being such an overwhelming favorite that maybe they’d have a hard time impressing anyone in the game.
15.5-point favorites by kickoff, a big Bills win, say maybe 35-3, likely would’ve been met with lots of shrugs and, "Well, it was the Giants. Everyone blows out the Giants."
A close win, which is, of course, where we ended up, certainly isn’t going to make lots of the fans feel great. It’s the bare minimum, really, only narrowly averting the disaster that would’ve been actually losing to the Giants.
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But there we all were, watching Tyrod Taylor completing just enough third down passes to keep drives going most of the night. Holding them to field goals all night was to the Bills' credit, but again, it was only the Giants, right?
Nothing came easy for the Bills on this night. Actually, their first touchdown was a smart play design that sprung Deonte Harty for a walk-in score. Only problem was it took the Bills until the fourth quarter to get on the scoreboard at all.
The finish of this one was way too close for comfort.
With the opportunity to close the game out, the Bills needed a single first down from the Giants' 36-yard line. Rather than chew clock and force the Giants to burn their final timeout, the Bills gave Josh Allen and Dawson Knox the chance to end the game.
On 3rd-and-9, Allen rolled to his right and sent a low throw towards Knox. The Bills tight end couldn’t make the tough catch. A better throw from Allen would’ve been nice, but Knox making the tough catch would’ve been cool. We got neither.
A missed field goal that would’ve pushed the Bills' lead to eight points left the ball at the Giants' 43-yard line with a timeout and plenty of time.
From there, Taylor and the Giants made their way down the field patiently. The biggest gain of the drive was a 12-yard pass to rookie receiver Jalin Hyatt on a 4th-and-5 from the Bills' 27-yard line.
From there, it was watch through your fingers time, as Taylor - the former Bills quarterback - tried to author the massive upset.
A scramble out-of-bounds left the ball at the Bills' nine-yard line with just two seconds to play. Then an incompletion in the end zone saw a flag on Terrel Bernard, giving the Giants an untimed down from the one-yard line to determine the game.
That's when Taron Johnson saved the day, or he was fortunate not to be flagged for interference himself. Or the refs didn’t see the foul, or they couldn’t bring themselves to throw flags on consecutive plays in the end zone.
Whatever. The Bills escaped and survived to win.
It was tense, and way more difficult than we, and they would’ve liked. 4-2 is the record, looking up at the Miami Dolphins in the AFC East and Kansas City Chiefs atop the AFC.
The New England Patriots are up next, and they’re pretty terrible. The Bills are already listed as nine-point road favorites.
Should be a fun week.
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