Green Bay running back Noah Herron reached Buffalo's 1-yard line with less than five minutes left in the fourth quarter Sunday, putting the Packers just three feet from tying, and potentially elongating, what had already been an excruciating game.
Tim groaned with the despair of someone who has just heard he'll have to spend up to an additional hour with a very sensitive part of his body in a vice.
"Oh, God," he said. "Not overtime."
It took me a second to figure out what he was talking about because I'd been trying to catch the score of the Miami-Chicago game on another of the bank of televisions at the BillStuff coverage team's vantage point for the afternoon, Player's on Niagara Street.
That's one enormous advantage to watching football in the early 21st century. Thanks to the proliferation of the NFL Sunday Ticket, as well as the falling cost of state-of-the-art televisions, no one has to watch every moment of a truly crummy game unless he or she really wants to. And if you opt for watching at home place over going to a place showing every contest simultaneously, you can at least flip to another channel for a break.
Think of the poor saps who had to sit through one of the 13 losses endured by the 1971 Bills without dozens of other viewing options. Or even a remote control.
Still, the demands of this column required watching as much of this one as we could bear. And it certainly looked grim.
Buffalo's run defense, accommodating even at its best, had worn down completely in the late going. Green Bay reached this point by gouging the Bills for 35 yards on the three previous running plays.
One more simple handoff would tie it at 17. Given Buffalo's offensive struggles throughout the afternoon and late-game inefficiency all season, an extra session looked inevitable.
But that's not the way the Packers or Brett Favre do things. It's apparently not enough to rally on the road and possibly escape with a win that would improbably even their record at 4-4.
No, it was more important to score the tying points in a way that would guarantee Favre a spot on the post-game highlight shows and let people pretend that he's the same quarterback he was a decade ago and not a feeble imitation of himself in his prime.
So, given four chances to cover three feet, the Favre and the Packers decided to throw.
Anyone familiar with recent Bills' history knows what usually happens when such decisions are made.
Favre threw a quick pass to wide receiver Donald Driver on a call remarkably similar to the one that worked for Green Bay's only touchdown of the afternoon. The Bills apparently remembered the third-quarter score, as Nate Clements was there to tip the ball to rookie safety Ko Simpson, who grabbed it and fled 76 yards in the other direction.
Starting the drive at Green Bay's 27-yard line, Buffalo offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild sensibly ordered J.P. Losman to hand the ball to Anthony Thomas three straight times. Thomas, filling in for an injured Willis McGahee, took the third 14 yards for a touchdown that all but guaranteed a 24-10 win, Buffalo's third of the season, as well as a timely end to the proceedings.
The game lasted three hours and four minutes, but seemed much longer thanks to another largely dismal afternoon by Buffalo's offense.
The Bills ran three plays and punted on five of their 11 possessions that weren't let-the-clock-run-out situations at the end of each half. On another drive, they made one first down before kicking it away and on two others, they moved the chains twice.
Buffalo's first points came on a field goal set up by Terrence McGee's 61-yard return of the opening kickoff. That drive Ð to use the word very loosely -- covered 19 yards. The two drives that led to Buffalo's fourth-quarter touchdowns started at Green Bay's 33 and 27, respectively.
The newly configured offensive line looked an awful lot like the old one, giving up five sacks and letting McGahee get buried on a third-and-1 deep in Green Bay's end, forcing Buffalo to settle for that field goal.
For most of the day, Fairchild didn't ask Losman to do much. And he complied.
Buffalo ran 21 pass plays. Losman connected with his target eight times. On five other occasions, he was sacked. Once he scrambled away from the rush, gaining four yards.
Tim took to calling Losman "Johnny Utah," after the quarterback-turned-FBI agent portrayed by noted thespian Keanu Reaves in the 1991 classic "Point Break" at every opportunity. Since he believes that a joke becomes funnier each time it is repeated, you have little choice but to counter with a repetitive line of your own.
"He's not turning the ball over," I took to saying with mock hopefulness each time Losman crossed paths with punter Brian Moorman after another third-down failure.
The Bills were 2-of-11 in such situations, creating plenty of opportunities for such for such witty banter.
"He's lulling them into complacency," I offered after moments of particularly egregious futility.
Sarcasm became reality on the Losman's one shining moment. Facing a second-and-20 from Green Bay's 43 midway through the fourth quarter, the Packers dismissed the prospect of Buffalo's quarterback finding a wide-open Lee Evans floating down the left sideline. He showed them.
Evans was so wide open, it didn't matter that Losman badly underthrew him.
Maybe that play, and the resulting win, will boost Losman's confidence, as well as the faith of the rest of the Bills in him. Ugly as it was at times, a win remains a win and after three straight dismal losses, any victory will do.
When Buffalo visits unbeaten Indianapolis next Sunday, though, he and they are going to have to do a lot more than not screw up.
BILLS MVP: London Fletcher (or Fletcher-Baker, if you prefer) was everywhere, registering 14 tackles, including 11 solo stops, breaking up five passes and intercepting one. With better hands, he could have had a couple more picks, but that's why the man is a linebacker.
Aaron Schobel who sacked Favre twice and belted him four times, also deserves mention, as do Simpson and Takeo Spikes, who was in on nine tackles and broke up a pass.
THE OTHER GUYS' MVP: Buffalo didn't have an answer for Ahman Green, who ripped off 122 yards on 23 carries. Good thing the Packers refused to give him the ball when it mattered most.
STAT(S) OF THE WEEK: The Packers outgained Buffalo 427-184 and rolled up 26 first downs to the home team's 11. But Favre threw two interceptions and botched two snaps, rendering all those pretty numbers meaningless.
WING REPORT: We spent the first half at the Arterial, up the block from Player's, and feasted on mediums, barbecues and honey-garlics. Tim quibbled slightly about the size of the wings Ð he prefers smaller ones, for some reason Ð but they were well-cooked and flavorful. A solid A-minus, with extra credit given for the cheese, crackers and pepperoni buffet put out by management.
BS FANS OF THE WEEK: We were sitting next to a couple of Dallas fans watching their team's rivalry showdown with Washington. They remained remarkably calm throughout, defying the stereotype of incredibly obnoxious Cowboy fans.
The pair, mature fans in their 40s, didn't get too excited when Drew Bledsoe's replacement, Tony Romo, moved Dallas into fairly easy field goal range. They even took it in stride when the Redskins swatted down Mike Vanderjagt's kick and were settling in for overtime when it became apparent that an idiotic facemask penalty on the runback would give Washington one last chance at the winning points.
The men sat silently as Nick Novak, who had badly missed a 49-yard attempt moments earlier, hooked this one just inside the upright to quite possibly kill their team's playoff hopes with half the season still to play.
With barely a curse uttered between them, they quietly left, heads down and dignity intact.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | November 6 2006 |