Buffalo Bills Rational Recap–KIKO 4 MVP Edition (Week 4)

Every Monday* I try my very best to write a rational recap of the latest Buffalo Bills game. For last week’s recap, CLICK HERE!

 *Except the bye week and the Thursday night NFL network shit show against the Cleveland Browns.

I was speaking to a friend of mine–who is in Scotland and far away from ubiquitous NFL talk–and told her that the Buffalo Bills won. She thought this was good news because it will mean that there will be a “happy blog post.” Little does she know that winning isn’t my muse.

Instead of focusing on the win, I will focus on how we almost lost, thanks to my other friends, Brandon and Katie–who you might know from their contributions to this blog. During the first half, the Buffalo Bills built up a lead, and then this exchange occurred with Katie Phillips, female.

It was nice to hear that she was impressed with the Bills. It didn’t stop there. At one point, I thought I might have heard Dan Fouts accuse Terrell Suggs of stabbing EJ Manuel on a sack. Since I am sans PVR I had to ask Brandon (who was watching with Katie) to rewind and confirm for me. And, yes Fouts did provide his eye witness testimony for the audience. But Katie and Brandon, the bandwagon jumpers, were none too pleased with me:

Once halftime hit I decided to grab a quick-lunch, but I was late for the start of the third quarter. Quickly, but surely the tide had turned for those bandwagon jumpers.

And, of course as a tried and true Buffalo Bills fan, I knew these bandwagon jumpers were right. *Cue that “I just kicked in the nuts feeling” in your stomach that miraculously lasts for 2 quarters.

Once the “I just got kicked in the nuts feeling” subsided, I logged into WordPress. What follows is a rational and reasonable recap of the week 4 showdown between the Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens.

***

The Buffalo Bills defense beat the defending world champion Baltimore Ravens 23-20.

The Buffalo Bills pass rush was back to its usual form after a week off in Rutherford, New Jersey. All told, the pass rush resulted in four sacks and twelve qb hits. Most importantly, the Bills managed consistent pressure on Joe Flacco, forcing throws over the middle to the likes of Ed Dickson, who is the opposite of surehanded. The turnovers left the Ravens down 20-7 at halftime.

However, the Bills would end up only scoring another three points the rest of the way, which allowed the Ravens to mount a second half comeback. Joe Flacco managed to get by the secondary with several long plays to the always smiling Torrey Smith, including a 76 yard play. And, by secondary I mean only the much-maligned Justin Rogers, who continued to give out big passing plays like Hallloween candy.

Despite Joe Flacco figuring out how to get the ball to Torrey Smith, the rest of the Buffalo Bills secondary figured out how to run routes for Flacco better than his receivers. Aaron Williams and Jim Leonhard both chipped in with two interceptions.

In summation, the Bills managed to intercept Flacco 5 times, including the game clinching interception by team MVP Kiko Alonso, which you can see below in all its grandeur.

I actually started yelling MVP out loud when I say this. My neighbours hate me.

Manuel. Hoyer. My ex-gf’s cousin against my latest bromance. The Bills play the Browns on the road, this thursday night on the NFL network.

***

During the final Ravens drive, I called Brandon and Katie, and they put me on speaker phone. Both of them said something to the tune of, “It’s gonna be ok.” But to the contrary, I wasn’t worried. After EJ Manuel’s juggling act didn’t come back to haunt the Bills, I could sense that there was going to be a different ending to a seemingly familiar script.

Years ago, the Buffalo Bills were a minute or so away from beating the New England Patriots with Trent Edwards at quarterback–that’s not a typo. However, Leodis McKelvin decided to fumble a kickoff return. If he had just called for a fair catch, the Bills would have milked the clock and more than likely won. Just like last time, the ball was fumbled, but this time recovered by the Bills. I might regret this, actually I already regret this, but this moment alone, not only made me realize the Bills were going to win, but also that lady luck may be turning tricks in our favour. I don’t know why, or how it happened, or that it necessarily will continue to happen, but things feel a little differently around here. And, I’m not too worried about having a muse,  as long as the Buffalo Bills make every win close. Knock on Robert Woods Eric Wood.

I googled “Lady Luck Buffalo Bills.” This was the most appropriate image I could find.