ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Maybe Bills fans are looking at it all wrong.
Most of the Buffalo faithful are cauldrons of anxiety heading into Sunday’s game at Miami Gardens, knowing that not only is a win over the Dolphins a must, so is at least one of these two scenarios: a Bengals win over the Ravens in Baltimore OR both a Jacksonville triumph against the Titans at Nashville and an Oakland victory over the Chargers in Los Angeles.
Still, at 8-7, the Bills, remain alive for one of the two AFC wild-card berths on the final day of the NFL regular season.
But, given the numbers, that reality, by itself, is remarkable.
Consider, offensively, in the 32-team league, Buffalo is last in passing yards per game, 29th in yards gained, 27th in first downs and 24th in points scored.
On defense, the numbers aren’t much better.
The Bills are 30th in rushing yards surrendered, 29th in first downs given up, 28th in sacks and 25th in total yards relinquished.
And that’s not all.
The Bills have not scored a touchdown in the third quarter of their last nine games.
It gets worse.
They also haven’t scored a fourth-period TD in the last five, meaning Buffalo hasn’t tallied a second-half touchdown over that span, other than LeSean McCoy’s overtime game-winning score against the Colts in the snow.
That Buffalo is still alive for a playoff berth is almost shocking.
When reminded of the Bills’ TD-scoring futility the past five games, coach Sean McDermott admitted, “We’re looking at that and I know Rick (Dennison, offensive coordinator) and his staff continue to look hard at that in terms of the communication from one half to the next and the overall adjustments from one half to another.”
And Dennison is all too aware of that dreary statistic.
“Certainly, you want to score every quarter,” he said. “ We struggled earlier in the year scoring early (no first-quarter touchdowns in the first nine games). Now, we’re scoring early and not scoring late, so we’re trying to make adjustments, take a look at what we’re not doing right.”
All that aside, though, Buffalo can end its 17-year playoff drought if Sunday’s results break properly.
As McDermott noted, “I’m excited about this week more than anything. I’m excited about the chance to play our last game of the regular season with a chance to make the playoffs. That’s something that a lot of people have waited a long time for and it’s something that we take very seriously.
“I’m proud of the fact that we have this chance, this opportunity. Do I wish we were in better position? I do. I’ve been in this position before in Philadelphia. It was 2008 where we needed some help. We got the help and we got in. In the first year (with the Bills), I feel like we’ve accomplished some things, we’ve done a lot of good things but our work isn’t done yet.”
He added, “No. 1 is to prepare to put our best foot forward (Sunday). We’re going to treat this week accordingly. There’s a great excitement this time of year to be in this type of position. We’ve got to focus on what we can control … playing our best football … give ourselves a chance to have a great week of preparation, a great week of focus and just understanding what’s in front of us instead of what’s behind us.”
Of course, Sunday afternoon, when all four games involving AFC wild-card hopefuls are being played simultaneously, it will be hard for the Bills players and coaches to avoid at least some scoreboard-watching.
But as McDermott pointed out, “If we don’t win it’s not going to matter. Focus on the task at hand and what’s in front of us and that means, through all the scenarios that are out there, the one common theme is the Bills have to win so we’ve got to do that first … we’ve got to go out and do our job.
“We’re going to talk about it, in terms of the big picture perspective. I’m not going to ignore (what’s happening in other games), and then we’ll move forward and talk about our fundamentals and our mindset (facing Miami).”
(Chuck Pollock, a Times Herald sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)
