The Mighty O’Ba Sports Report
From Sunday Night to Monday Night
By Pat Freeman,
The Mighty O’Ba
The Buffalo Bills schedule has been brutal for a professional football team this year, and I think it has affected the home-town team greatly. Pro players are such creatures of habit that I have wondered can this year’s team achieve that rhythm necessary to win at this level?
This is the modern NFL, and it will never return to the old version that we grew up watching. The Bills are now preparing to take on a vastly improved Denver Broncos team on Monday night in High Mark Stadium. The Broncos hired one of the best coaches in the NFL with Sean Peyton, and it’s a given that this team is going to improve. They also have a very good defense despite giving up 70 points to the Dolphins earlier in the season.
Despite what people may think, I still believe that the Bills have one of the best rosters in the league, and it’s about timing and getting hot at the end of the year. The NFL schedule makers have just made this year very difficult for this team to find a consistent rhythm. Night games are especially rough because the team must wait all day to play a very physical sport.
This year the Bills have had to endure multiple games, including a London contest in another time zone. You will never hear a player or coach complain publicly, but I’m quite sure Coach McDermott was not thrilled with the schedule.
The Bills offense is still being criticized for not running the ball or getting the running backs involved in the passing game on a consistent basis. The only answer given by offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey is he calls the game based on what the defense gives them, and this never includes screens, misdirection, or jet sweeps. Most defensive players of the opposing team feel that Buffalo runs a pretty predictable offense and rarely try to fool you.
This final stretch of the season is going to require the offense to consistently run the football and do things that help Josh Allen out during these final remaining contests.