Even through the fuzz and snow blanketing the picture of a tiny-screen, black-and-white television on the dining-room table, you could see something special going on in Seattle, where the Buffalo Bills punished the host Seahawks on just about every snap.
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"I feel like I'm watching the '64 Bills," said Mark, BillStuff's generous-to-a-fault host as we sought respite from the overflow crowd enjoying the action in living color in the living room. "Where's Jack Kemp?"
There's not a lot of game film from Buffalo's first American Football League championship team readily available, but it's hard to imagine those Bills looking much more impressive than their sporting descendants. Even at running back.
Buffalo's 38-9 runaway was only the sixth start of Willis McGahee's career, but his bruising four-touchdown performance established him as the most physically dominant Bills running back since the offensive heart of that 1964 title team, Cookie Gilchrist.
Of course, that's largely by default.
For all O.J. Simpson's speed and spectacular cutting ability (sorry about that, but "spectacular ability to reverse direction" just doesn't sound right), he didn't become The Juice by running over people.
Thurman Thomas was plenty tough, but his yards came by knifing through tiny openings and twisting out of failed tackles, not by knocking defenders backward.
Joe Cribbs was an all-around fireplug, while Terry Miller and Greg Bell had their moments. None ever battered a defense the way McGahee smacked around the Seahawks.
Antowain Smith flashed his power when healthy and given the chance, but never showed the kind of speed McGahee demonstrated on his third touchdown, a 30-yard dash after a rare bit of successful Buffalo trickery early in the fourth quarter.
Even Travis Henry, whose every yard in a Buffalo uniform has been well-earned thanks to some atrocious offensive lines, wasn't able to overcome the flaws of all those around him -- particularly the guy handing him the ball.
The warning signs were there for a typical Drew Bledsoe road meltdown, with three forced interceptions thrown in little more than a half.
Instead of crumbling under the weight of Bledsoe's generosity, though, Buffalo's defense did something it hadn't in more than a year while playing outside Orchard Park. It lived up to its acclaim, keeping Seattle from scraping back into the game and allowing the offense to find its way back to what worked.
Bledsoe's third pick, coming five plays after a successful onside kick to open the second half put Buffalo on the verge of putting the Seahawks away, could have been fatal.
One touchdown drive would have put Seattle squarely in the midst of things again, while sending the specter of past road disasters spinning through the delicate psyche of player and coach alike.
But two plays later, Buffalo cornerback Terrence McGee again showed an uncanny knack for being in the right place when he came down with a pass tipped by rookie secondary colleague Jabari Greer.
It's much easier to impose your will when you're up by two touchdowns, and the Bills set about doing just that.
The most impressive aspect of McGahee's day is that the Seahawks knew what Buffalo intended, but couldn't do much about it. Seattle did a good job of containing McGahee early, limiting him to 19 yards on his first 11 carries.
That focus on McGahee helped Bledsoe complete four passes to four different receivers on the first drive of the game, a no-huddle series that caught Seattle off-guard, setting up the first-year running back's initial visit to the end zone.
Buffalo's defense, meanwhile, never allowed Shaun Alexander -- who came into the day averaging 115 yards per game -- to get rolling. Alexander finished with just 39 yards rushing, which placed Seattle's only hope with quarterback Matt Hasselbeck.
Let's just say that didn't quite work out.
Whether Hasselbeck wasn't fully recovered from the thigh injury that sidelined him against Miami a week earlier, or he's not suited to operating without an effective running game, or he's just not very good, he never looked capable of leading a comeback once the Bills went up by two touchdowns in the second quarter.
For the first time this season, Bledsoe looked good compared to the home team's quarterback. Aside from the interceptions -- which can only be dismissed because Seattle didn't score a single point off the three turnovers -- and a first-quarter play-action rollout that ended with a predictable sack, he threw short and long with accuracy. He even arched a perfect throw to rookie wideout Lee Evans for Buffalo's second score.
"That's the first touch pass he's thrown since he got here," said an almost-giddy Pommie, who wasn't exaggerating much.
It's still too early to waste much time thinking about playoff scenarios, even with four games against teams with a combined record of 11-33 in the next four weeks.
Even if they run the table before Pittsburgh visits on Jan. 2, Buffalo postseason aspirations rely on two pretty good teams among the three atop the wild-card standings -- Baltimore, Denver and the New York Jets -- completely collapsing.
That's probably not going to happen. But Sunday's demolition of the Seahawks served notice that nothing's going to come easy for Buffalo's opponents in the season's final month, no matter where the meeting takes place.
BILLS MVP: McGahee carried Seattle defenders into the end zone on three of his scores and beat them to the corner on the other. Besides his 116 yards on 28 carries (75 on 15 after halftime), he caught a pair of passes for 26 more, including 16 on a screen to set up his first touchdown.
No Buffalo running back had scored four touchdowns on the ground in one game since Roland Hooks back in 1979. The only other Bills runner to in that group -- Gilchrist, who scored five while gaining 243 yards on 36 carries against the Jets at the Old Rockpile on Dec. 8, 1963.
THE OTHER GUYS' MVP: Hamlin intercepted Bledsoe twice, but thanks to Buffalo's defense, they didn't matter much.
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK: Trick category here, since McGahee is not technically a rookie, and therefore not eligible for any awards with "rookie" in the title.
Evans is, however. After a slow start, he's emerged as a serious threat. Besides his touchdown grab, he made a nice adjustment on a deep sideline throw to set up a Rian Lindell field goal to give Buffalo a 10-0 lead, and finished with a team-high six catches for 70 yards.
SOMEBODY BUY TRAVIS A BREAK: First Henry spent last season and the opening weeks of this one getting beaten up behind a hole-filled line.
Then, as Jim McNally's unit started to gel, he lost his starting job to McGahee.
Finally, adding injury to, well, you know, he suffered a broken leg after catching a 5-yard pass from Bledsoe on the game's fourth play.
A cynic might suggest that this is all gas-station karma coming back to haunt him, but things almost have to get better for Henry next year, wherever he ends up getting traded.
WING REPORT: Mediums from La Pizza Club on Hertel Avenue in Buffalo were fairly spicy and made of chicken. Other than that, they were slightly undercooked, generally forgettable and worthy of a C+.
Far more remarkable were the burritos prepared by our host. Fresh soft shells with well-spiced beef or chicken sprinkled with black olives -- or, as we tried in a daring maneuver, some of each -- with homemade guacamole.
BS FAN OF THE WEEK: Pommie is one of the few repeat winners in BillStuff's three-year history, but quality must be rewarded.
When the CBS halftime show pointed out that Cincinnati's 58-48 win over Cleveland was the second-highest scoring game in NFL history, he immediately recalled No.1, Washington's 72-41 win against the New York Giants in 1966.
A Long Island native, Pommie recalled not only watching the game, but identified New York's starting quarterback, Tom Kennedy. In his only pro season, Kennedy started six games for possibly the worst Giants team ever, doing his part to help the team to a 1-12-1 record.
"He was our Joe Dufek," Pommie said, scoring huge Fan-of-the-Week points with the reference to the weak-armed, yet immobile quarterback who took over for Joe Ferguson late in Buffalo's 2-14 campaign in 1984.
The clincher, though, came after McGahee's fourth touchdown, which pushed the game over the 38 total points which Pommie had bet -- for entertainment purposes only, of course -- the Bills and Seahawks would not exceed.
"I lost, but I don't care," Pommie said, sounding quite like he actually mean it.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | Nov. 30 2004 |