It's really not as easy as the Buffalo Bills are making it look.
In what's becoming a weekly ritual, the suddenly not-so-long shot playoff hopefuls spent the early moments of Sunday's game looking like they might let the other team hang around for a while, and the rest of a 33-17 romp proving otherwise.
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During a five-game winning streak that has propelled them into the midst of the AFC playoff chase, the Bills have averaged better than 37 points per victory, with a typical margin of more than 20 points.
This time, the foe wasn't the pathetic Cleveland Browns, or even the hideously flawed, yet quite possibly playoff-bound, Seattle Seahawks or St. Louis Rams.
The Cincinnati Bengals, like Buffalo, rebounded from a maddening start and clawed their way back into the postseason derby. A loss to New England a week earlier put them in the long, long shot category. Still, they didn't figure to get pushed around at home with a chance at the franchise's first winning season since 1990 and a faint glimmer of hope remaining.
Then they were reintroduced to Takeo Spikes not long after they, along with the rest of the National Football League, met Jason Peters up close and personal.
Drew Bledsoe's 60-yard strike to Lee Evans on Buffalo's first offensive play after Rudi Johnson opened the scoring with a 3-yard touchdown run not only set up a shorter scoring connection between the veteran quarterback and rookie receiver, it wobbled Cincinnati.
The Bengals' remained shaky on their next futile series. Then Peters laid them out.
The 315-pound rookie tight end showed precisely why Buffalo signed him as a free agent, despite concerns about his then-weight of 340. Peters' size helped him blow through Cincy's front wall. His quickness got him to the ball just as it left punter Kyle Larson's foot. And his athleticism, along with a little luck, allowed him to corral the ball and his first National Football League touchdown.
"Who was that?" demanded a patron at Slick Willie's on Niagara Falls Boulevard in Tonawanda, the vantage point for BillStuff's team coverage. "That guy's a monster."
The sighting clearly spooked the home team. After steadying themselves with a nice, efficient drive to Buffalo's 25-yard line, the Bengals showed why, despite the steady climb toward respectability piloted by head coach Marvin Lewis, they remain the Bengals.
Spikes' second touchdown of the season was almost cliche-- the former hero returning with his new team and smiting his old one.
Of course, it helped that Jon Kitna floated a terrible pass across his body and the field, allowing his former teammate to pluck it from the sky like a low-hanging apple and prance untouched to the end zone.
Buffalo's third touchdown in little more than six minutes ignited the gathering at Slick Willie's, a somewhat disturbingly high percentage of which resembled a gathering of the Takeo Spikes' Fan Club.
No fewer than five patrons wore a Bills-blue replica jersey with Spikes' No. 51 emblazoned on it.
"I wonder how many of those are still floating around Cincinnati," mused Adam, BS's brother-in-law and a stretch-run addition to the coverage team.
Love of all things Takeo didn't translate into interpersonal bonds, though. Two 51-wearers sat with an empty stool between them at the bar, yet the young man and woman didn't even acknowledge each other until Rudy, the establishment's owner, saw the apparent connection and brought them together.
Yet they resisted his efforts to coax them into a hug, quickly returning to their absorption in the multiple screens before them.
Not that a whole lot happened after Buffalo's three-touchdown rampage. Two Rian Lindell field goals in the final 1:13 of the first half sandwiched another crummy throw by Kitna, and the often-maligned Bills kicker delighted fantasy-football owners sage enough to claim him last week (ahem) with another pair in the fourth quarter.
Rolling to a lopsided victory on the road in December against a team playing quite good football was impressive enough, as was each unit contributing a touchdown. The most significant factor, though, in terms of the Bills' development as a team, was that the win came without a particularly big day by Willis McGahee.
With but 25 yards on 11 carries, Buffalo's first-round pick in the 2003 draft didn't even lead the team in rushing (much to the dismay of some of the same fantasy owners). But his presence made an impact, with the Bengals jamming the line and universally falling for the flea-flicker which made Bledsoe's first-quarter bomb to Evans work.
More important, McGahee survived the biggest injury scare of his young career. Off-balance and reaching for a poorly thrown swing pass, his knee flipped out from under him, bringing a gasp from a crowd suddenly envisioning a Shaud Williams-Joe Burns one-two punch for the final playoff push.
McGahee walked off on his own, though, and briefly returned in the third quarter. With a 17-point lead, Bills coach Mike Mularkey, whose team has now won five in a row, six of seven and eight of 10, wisely gave his franchise back the rest of the afternoon off.
They'll need him. Two of the teams Buffalo is chasing for a wild-card berth, Denver and Baltimore, lost in rather unimpressive fashion, leaving the Bills, Broncos, Ravens and Jacksonville intertwined at 8-6.
Sunday's slate of games made reaching the playoffs more realistic. But it won't be nearly as easy as Buffalo has been making it look.
BILLS MVP: Spikes set the tone for a defense that produced four turnovers and three sacks, adding a fumble recovery to his perfectly played touchdown.
THE OTHER GUYS' MVP: Rudi Johnson rolled for 130 yards. Then again, defenses leading by 17 points or more, as Buffalo did for almost the entire second half, don't worry so much about the run.
NON-FOOTBALL SPORTS NOTE OF THE WEEK: Niagara Falls welterweight Nick Casal also dispatched his weekend opponent quickly and decisively, blasting out Jesse Curry with a short left hook in the first round of their scheduled four-rounder at the Cumash Casino in Santa Ynez, Calif. Casal improved to 6-0, with all the wins coming by way of knockout -- four in the opening frame.
NON-FOOTBALL SHOPPING NOTE OF THE WEEK: If you're looking for a bow saw and a bottle of ammonia, don't go to Home Depot. Because they don't have either.
NON-FOOTBALL WEATHER NOTE OF THE WEEK: For those living in exile from the Bills Nation, Sunday was the sort of day that chases the faint-hearted from Western New York. The mercury fell from 14 in the morning, a time sagely chosen by the BS coverage team to procure a Christmas tree, to a sweltering 3 by the time the game ended.
WING REPORT: Well-cooked without being overdone, with a zesty sauce, the wing portion of the halftime buffet rated a solid B on their merits. But for reasons described below, they get bumped up to a B+.
BS FAN OF THE WEEK: Mary, Slick Willie's football-festivities czarina, came through on several counts. First, a few of us were slow in getting into line for the buffet and found the wing pan empty upon our arrival. Mary made sure that a fresh batch was prepared and delivered to our table, earning well-deserved extra credit.
And in all our years of football spectating, BS had never won a dime on one of those square pools, in which the participant holding the proper numbers at the end of a quarter, half or game hits the jackpot.
Adam and I each bought two squares on each of the two pools available, one awarding winners each quarter, and the other on the final score alone.
Adam won after the first quarter, and much to the dismay of the crowd of regulars, I had the correct digits at halftime. With no scoring in the third quarter, my numbers qualified for that prize, as well. In all, we grossed $60 -- more than we spent on the tree, buffet, pools and adult beverages combined. We even had a beer-company T-shirt land on our table when Mary was throwing them into the crowd.
We're not sure if Mary even likes football (she was gone before the game ended), but a bounty like that deserves some sort of recognition.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | Dec. 21 2004 |