When was the last time you missed a Buffalo Bills season?
No, I don’t mean missed as in didn’t watch, pay attention to the standings, probably swear a lot and then do it all over again the following week.
I mean missed it when it was over. I ask because that’s what I’m feeling right now.
I said a few times on the air during the dreamy December that if the 2020 Bills season hadn’t been what it was, I don’t know how I would’ve managed. Having the same conversations we’d been having for most of the past 20 years while locked in my attic? That’s pretty depressing.
Dramatic, yes. I probably would’ve found a way. We always do, right?
But the reason for the statement in the first place had more to do with the pandemic life we’ve been living through since last March than it did with the football team. By the time the Bills got cranked up in September, we’d already lost an entire spring and summer to COVID-19, and there really wasn’t any end in sight.
I needed something. Maybe you did too, and a season of simply being “in the hunt” would have hardly been enough.
There were expectations going in. The Bills were favored to win the AFC East for the first time in a long time (1995 to be exact). That had as much to do with Tom Brady leaving the New England Patriots as it did the Bills.
Very few people saw what happened coming.
The Bills started out hot on offense with Josh Allen being an early season MVP candidate. A couple of losses followed by close wins over the New York Jets and Patriots cooled things off a little. Then a home game with the Seattle Seahawks, and everything clicked back in and, at least for me, really blasted off. The Seahawks came in at 6-1, an NFC Super Bowl favorite, and with Russell Wilson playing like an MVP candidate.
The Bills rolled that day. Allen threw for 415 yards, and the defense harassed Wilson into turnovers.
I came away from that game believing the Bills were real contenders. Not just for their division, but for the whole thing.
The “Hail Murray”, followed by the bye week, hardly slowed them down.
Take a look:
Week 12: Sunday, Nov. 29 vs. Los Angeles Chargers
- FINAL: 27-17 Bills (8-3)
- Josh Allen: 157 yard passing
- Devin Singletary: 82 yards rushing
- Gabriel Davis: 79 yards receiving
Week 13: Monday, Dec. 7 at San Francisco 49ers
- FINAL: 34-24 Bills (9-3)
- Josh Allen: 375 yards passing
- Devin Singletary: 61 yards rushing
- Cole Beasley: 130 yards receiving
Week 14: Sunday, Dec. 13 vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
- FINAL: 26-15 Bills (10-3)
- Josh Allen: 238 yards passing
- Zack Moss: 43 yards rushing
- Stefon Diggs: 130 yards receiving
Week 15: Saturday, Dec. 19 at Denver Broncos
- FINAL: 48-19 Bills (11-3)
- Josh Allen: 359 yards passing
- Zack Moss: 81 yards rushing
- Stefon Diggs: 147 yards receiving
Week 16: Monday, Dec. 28 at New England Patriots
- FINAL: 38-9 Bills (12-3)
- Josh Allen: 320 yards passing
- Zack Moss: 57 yards rushing
- Stefon Diggs: 145 yards receiving
Week 17: Sunday, Jan. 3 vs. Miami Dolphins
- FINAL: 56-26 Bills (13-3)
- Josh Allen: 224 yards passing
- Antonio Williams: 63 yards rushing
- Gabriel Davis: 107 yards receiving
December was a joy ride. Prime-time blowouts, division clinching curb stomping. December was a month-long victory lap and we traded virtual high fives, while watching video of Bill Belichick smashing a telephone on Monday Night Football on an endless loop.
It was glorious. Fans cried. I cried.
We did extra Sunday morning shows because we were so fired up, and so were you. Two home playoff games equaled two home playoff wins, and the Bills were off to Kansas City to play the Chiefs with one win to go to get back to the Super Bowl.
Then it ended.
Seasons always end. Somebody wins it all, and that must be great. Everyone else loses, and that felt especially abrupt here after such an amazing season.
It’s been a few weeks, and while I wouldn’t want to characterize what I’ve been feeling as depression, I have been staring out the window a lot lately muttering to myself, "what’s your problem?"
I miss the games, and the connection they provided us all at a time when we’ve never been less connected. It was such a rush that, inevitably, the coming down part was going to sting a bit.
It’s better to talk about things, right? So that’s what I’m doing.
We’ll get it going again. The offseason will be interesting. How to improve a team that won 15 games out of 19 is a new one for me, and for all of us.
Consider this me finally letting go of a season that was the emotional joyride of a lifetime. Hopefully, one day soon, we’ll all get to find out what it feels like when the season ends abruptly, but then there’s a parade.
Until then...
Go Sabres?