I believe it was the 1983 Chicago White Sox baseball team that originally coined the phrase “Winning Ugly”, but on Sunday the Buffalo Bills’ performance in defeating the Tennessee Titans 14-13 certainly fit that expression. Based on their play for most of the first three quarters, the Bills had no business winning this game. Their defense, expected to dominate rookie quarterback Marcus Mariota, looked passive and was ineffective at getting stops on third down, and as a result the Titans built a huge advantage in time of possession. Pair that passive defensive effort with the team’s almost totally inept offense (it took until a little over six minutes were left in the first half for them to register a first down) and this looked like it was going to end in an upset. Despite not being able to get off the field, Buffalo’s defense did manage to at least hold Mariota and his teammates off the scoreboard for the most part. The Titans dominated play in the first half but went to the locker room with only a 3-0 lead. Once the Titans extended their lead to 10-0 in the third quarter, Bills’ QB Tyrod Taylor took matters into his own hands. Buffalo’s offensive game plan hadn’t worked all day, with running backs Boobie Dixon and newly-signed Boom Herron looking slow and plodding in the run game, and the Titans shutting down the two main weapons in Buffalo’s depleted offense, Charles Clay and Percy Harvin. Taylor then went into semi-playground mode as he led the Bills on a pair of touchdown drives starting late in the third quarter. He ran 22 yards for his team’s first score, then led a game-winning 80 yard scoring drive that he capped off with a 2 yard TD toss to Chris Hogan. That drive included a 24 yard scramble by Taylor on a 3rd and 23 play, and even featured a 4 yard reception by him on a trick play, setting up the throw to Hogan. Cornerback Stephon Gilmore then sealed the win by making an alert play to intercept a Mariota pass as Tennessee attempted to drive for a winning field goal at the end of the game. Buffalo’s defense, when all was said and done, didn’t dominate as they expected but their “bend but don’t break” approach was good enough to keep the team close until Taylor took matters into his own hands (and feet). The Bills now return home next week to face the undefeated, red-hot Cincinnati Bengals, and will certainly have to improve in all phases if they expect to win.
Archive for the ‘Football’ Category
NFL – Throwback Thursday: A Preseason Like No Other
This week’s Throwback Thursday featured game (the Kansas City Chiefs and Chicago Bears meet this week) will be the first and most likely only one of it’s kind to be highlighted here – a preseason game. The preseason of 1967, however, was unique compared to any other season. It was the first year when established NFL teams played clubs from the upstart AFL after an agreed merger of the leagues took place. The first Super Bowl had taken place the previous year, and the NFL was pounding its’ collective chests after their representative in that game, the Green Bay Packers, had soundly beaten the AFL champion Kansas City Chiefs 35-10. Green Bay coach Vince Lombardi poured a little salt in the AFL’s wounds after the game, claiming that although the Chiefs were a fine club, there were more than a handful of NFL teams who were better. The Chiefs were looking for some redemption and respect in ’67, and the first chance they had to get back at the cocky NFL came in a preseason contest against George Halas’ Chicago Bears. Preseason games today can barely even be considered legitimate NFL contests, as they are mostly used as glorified scrimmages to evaluate young players while all the star players rest up for the regular year. But in 1967, things were completely different. The fact that the AFL clubs were going to get a chance to show how well they matched up with the established league meant that these games, even though they were exhibitions and the results didn’t count, were very important. How important was this game to the Chiefs? Their quarterback, Len Dawson, had been battling a virus all week leading up to the contest, but climbed out of the sick bed to play and throw 4 touchdown passes as coach Hank Stram’s forces totally befuddled the Bears. Can anyone imagine a sick player playing in an exhibition game in today’s game? Kansas City pulled out all the stops, emptying out their playbook with all sorts of offensive formations and defensive shifts and blitzes to crush the proud NFL Bears. The final score was a whopping 66-24. After Dawson was finished with his aerial display, K.C.’s backup signal caller, Pete Beathard, came into the game and fired a fifth scoring pass. In all, Gloster Richardson and Otis Taylor caught a pair of TD passes each, while Chris Burford hauled in the fifth. Gale Sayers, Chicago’s star back who was the “Kansas Comet” in his college career, had a rough homecoming as he was held to a paltry 35 yards. The Bears’ lone positive moment came when Dick Gordon returned a kickoff 103 yards for a touchdown. Of course, with all the scoring the Chiefs did, their kickoff coverage teams were probably pretty tired. Despite the fact that the Chiefs had their triumphant moment in manhandling the Bears in this game, in the 16 exhibitions played between AFL and NFL clubs that season, the NFL dominated play overall, winning 13 of the games.
Chiefs’ coach Hank Stram plots strategy with his QB, Len Dawson
NFL – Bills’ Game Review
The 2015 NFL schedule has now completed the first quarter of the season, and one conclusion can be drawn so far about the Buffalo Bills. They are wildly inconsistent, and have a real problem with undisciplined play. Sunday’s 24-10 loss to the New York Giants was a prime example of the “bad” Bills. Just like the New England game two weeks ago, the Bills were outplayed, outcoached and out of control as they took one personal foul penalty after another. It seems like Buffalo puts together a great game plan, goes out and executes it to near perfection and pulls out an impressive win, then they follow that up with a performance where they appear to have read too many of their press clippings and can just show up and easily defeat their opponent without any effort. And when that opponent, in this week’s case the Giants, takes it to them in the trenches and dominates the game, they respond with childish, macho actions after the whistle and wind up embarrassing themselves. Coach Rex Ryan has to figure out how to get his players focused each and every game so that they put in a consistent effort against every opponent, not just in the games after they’ve been humiliated. This game followed the same blueprint as the Patriots’ contest. Quarterback Tyrod Taylor was under siege early on and the running game produced nothing. It was an abysmal performance by the offensive line. Just like in the New England debacle, Taylor righted himself in the second half and guided the offense to touchdown drives. Unfortunately, two of those scores were nullified by bad penalties, the kind of mistakes players make when they’re not prepared to play. Overall, it just looked like the Giants wanted this win more than the Bills. Were there any positives to come out of this game? Rookie running back Karlos Williams didn’t fare very well in his first opportunity as a feature back with LeSean McCoy sidelined, gaining only 40 yards on 18 carries. He did, however, score a touchdown for the fourth consecutive week by hauling in a nifty 23 yard scoring pass from Taylor. On the drive where the Giants gained most of their yardage through dumb Buffalo penalties, Stephon Gilmore came up with an interception, Mario Williams deposited a Giant runner on his head with an emphatic tackle, and Corey Graham had a solid game at safety with 13 tackles and a sack. None of that could stem the tide of the poor play, bad penalties, missed tackles and general bad execution by the Bills. Next week’s opponent is the Tennessee Titans, led by rookie QB Marcus Mariota, who is enduring typical growing pains while learning on the job and should be an easy mark for the Bills’ defense, which will be in its’ bi-weekly, angry and ready- to- redeem themselves mode.
NFL – Throwback Thursday: Norwood’s Nightmare
For the third time in the first four weeks of the young NFL season, the 50th Anniversary celebration season of the Super Bowl, our Throwback Thursday feature game is one that has a pair of clubs matching up on the schedule who previously faced each other in the big game. This week it’s the New York Giants and Buffalo Bills, who met in one of the most exciting Super Bowls ever played, Super Bowl XXV. The game was played under heightened security measures with our country engaged in the first Gulf War, and the atmosphere was a patriotic display of flags waving and a stirring rendition of the National Anthem before the game, provided by Whitney Houston.
Whitney Houston sings the Star Spangled Banner
The game featured the Bills and their high-powered “K-Gun” offense, which operated in a hurry-up mode, against coach Bill Parcells’ grind-it-out Giants, who fought their way into the game using a backup quarterback, Jeff Hostetler, and an offensive attack bent on slowing down the game, controlling the ball and minimizing the opponent’s possessions. The Giants had used that tactic to perfection in the NFC Championship game, stifling the high-powered San Francisco 49ers and QB Joe Montana on their way to a 15-13 win. The conservative offensive approach was teamed up with a tough, aggressive defense led by All Pro linebacker Lawrence Taylor. Parcells and defensive coordinator Bill Belichick employed the same tactics against the Bills, sometimes rushing only 2 players and dropping all the other defenders into coverage, daring the Bills to run rather than allowing Buffalo QB Jim Kelly to pick apart the secondary. That strategy allowed Bills’ running back Thurman Thomas to rush for 135 yards on 15 carries, a performance that surely would have won him the game’s Most Valuable Player Award if the Bills had managed to win. Unfortunately for him and the Bills, however, Parcels’ strategy worked, as the Giants controlled the ball for 40 of the game’s 60 minutes, keeping the vaunted Buffalo offense off the field for most of the game. Still, when Thomas ran 31 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, the Bills took a 19-17 lead. New York drove to a Matt Bahr field goal to retake the lead at 20-19, setting up a dramatic game-ending drive by the Bills. Kelly drove his club into position for a 47 yard field goal attempt by Scott Norwood, but the Buffalo kicker was wide right and the Giants escaped with the win by the narrowest of margins. It is still, to this day, the only Super Bowl game to be decided on the game’s final play. What became known as the “Wide Right” game formed Norwood’s lasting legacy, which is really not fair considering he was only a 50/50 proposition from the 47 yard distance on grass for his career, and he had made a lot of kicks during the regular season to help get his team into the big game.
A dejected Scott Norwood leaves the field as Super Bowl XXV ends
NFL – Bills’ Game Review
The Buffalo Bills angrily reacted to their embarrassing loss to the New England Patriots last week by collectively stating, from coach Rex Ryan on down to the players, that the sad performance wasn’t indicative of what type of team they were. They backed up that talk on Sunday in Miami, as they rolled over a listless Dolphin squad, 41-14 to regain some of the momentum lost in that Patriot defeat. Tyrod Taylor, who looked squeamish at times trying to figure out Bill Belichick’s defense last week, carved up Miami’s secondary with a 21 of 29, 277 yard, 3 touchdown performance. Taylor spread the ball among his receivers, with Sammy Watkins, Percy Harvin, Robert Woods, Charles Clay, LeSean McCoy and Chris Hogan all making plays. The rushing attack amassed 151 yards, with rookie Karlos Williams, who seems to be on a mission to become a featured back in the attack, leading the way with 110 yards on only 12 carries. He also scored a touchdown for the third consecutive game.
The defense, humbled by Tom Brady the previous week, bounced back with a dominant performance, harassing Miami’s supposed “franchise” quarterback, Ryan Tannehill, all afternoon. Although they had only a pair of sacks, by Stefan Charles and Marcell Dareus, they forced hurried throws all day. Tannehill, who broke Dan Marino’s team record for most consecutive passes thrown without an interception, had that streak emphatically stopped by the Bills, who picked him off 3 times. Linebacker Preston Brown had 2 of the thefts, including a stunning 43 yard pick six return. The stat line showed Jerry Hughes with only a single tackle, but he was a disruptive force all game long.
The Bills return home to face the New York Giants next week, their confidence now restored and their general all-around game now back on track. Hopefully both Ryan and the players have learned to do their talking on the field, rather than during the week leading up to the game, as they did prior to meeting New England.
NFL – Throwback Thursday: Bradshaw’s Crowning Moment
The Pittsburgh Steelers and St. Louis Rams clash on this week’s National Football League schedule, which brings back Throwback Thursday memories of a Super Bowl played following the 1979 season between these two franchises. They entered the big game with totally different credentials – the Steelers had already won 3 titles in the decade and were a dominant franchise, while the Rams somehow snuck into the championship game after winning the NFC West title with a mediocre 9-7 record. Their coach, Ray Malavasi, had become the head man almost by accident the previous season when George Allen, who always wanted full control of all football operations but had to share that control with GM Don Klosterman, was abruptly dismissed after balking about the situation. The Steelers entered the game as heavy favorites, having dominated the ’70s with their “Steel Curtain” defense, which was expected to have their way with young L.A. quarterback Vince Ferragamo, who was only in his third season in the NFL and was forced into the starting role early in the season due to an injury to Pat Haden. Ferragamo’s statistics were very pedestrian, as he threw twice as many interceptions (10) as touchdown passes (5) after taking over as starter. Somehow, however, the Rams managed to win 6 of his last 7 starts to reach the Super Bowl. Still, conventional wisdom said he would be no match for Pittsburgh’s Terry Bradshaw, who at that point had 3 Super Bowl wins under his belt. The game didn’t quite go according to plan. The plucky Rams built a surprising 13-10 halftime lead, and the Steeler coaches laid into their players at halftime, feeling they were taking the Rams too lightly. Early in the third quarter, Bradshaw gave a preview of things to come by hooking up with Lynn Swann on a 47 yard scoring pass to give the Steelers the lead. The Rams came right back and scored on a play that was popular in the era – a halfback option pass – from Lawrence McCutcheon to Ron Smith. Pittsburgh then proceeded to move the ball on successive drives into Ram territory, only to have Bradshaw throw interceptions to keep the Rams in the lead. It began to appear as if the impossible were possible, that the overwhelming underdogs from Los Angeles could really win this game. It was then that Bradshaw cemented his legend as a true winner. He had been somewhat of an afterthought in the Steelers’ first 3 Super Bowl wins, as most of the credit for the team’s domination went to the defense. But in this game, despite having thrown 3 picks to this point, the “Blonde Bomber”, even with his star receiver, Swann now sidelined by injury, hooked up with another future Hall of Famer, John Stallworth, on a pair of stunning long passes – the first a 47 yard scoring throw, and the second another long toss to set up a 1 yard TD run by Franco Harris to put the Steelers up 31-19, which would turn out to be the final score. The win, the Steelers’ fourth of the decade, cemented Pittsburgh as the “Team of the 70s”, but it was their last hurrah, at least for this particular group. Players from the dynasty club’s roster began to retire in the next few years, including Rocky Bleier and the guy who was the face of the franchise, “Mean Joe” Greene. 
Steeler QB Terry Bradshaw unleashes a bomb
Despite losing, the Rams received a great deal of respect for pushing a club that was an NFL dynasty at the time to the brink of disaster before finally succumbing. The team’s defense matched the Steel Curtain blow for blow for most of the game, led by outstanding, hard-nosed players like linebacker Jack “Hacksaw” Reynolds, defensive end Fred Dryer, safety Nolan Cromwell and especially the other defensive end, Jack Youngblood, who played the game on a broken leg in an effort for the ages. Reaching the Super Bowl was also a career highlight for coach Malavasi, who was fired a few years later and died in 1987 at the age of 57.
The Rams’ Jack Youngblood (85) became a legend in Super Bowl XIV (photo courtesy of Spokeo.com)
NFL – Bills’ Game Review
This week’s NFL game between the hometown Buffalo Bills and the hated New England Patriots had to be one of the most hyped sporting events in local history, and unfortunately, coach Rex Ryan and his players appeared to be as caught up in the pre-game hype as the fans. The Bills received the opening kickoff and couldn’t have started off more perfectly – they drove 80 yards in 10 plays, taking 5 minutes off the clock, and scoring a touchdown on a 2 yard run by rookie running back Karlos Williams. The Bills then acted like they’d already won the game, as they started getting cocky and taking totally foolish unnecessary roughness penalties to set up Tom Brady, who doesn’t need the help, for a couple of easy scores to get New England started toward what turned out to be an easy win. At least, it should have been easy. In the second half, Patriot coach Bill Belichick refused to follow conventional wisdom by starting to run out some clock with his running game while holding a 34-13 lead, instead allowing the Bills to crawl back to within a single score at 37-32 with his arrogant offensive approach. The Bills couldn’t quite complete the comeback, losing 40-32, so this loss just gets lumped in with all the others Belichick and Brady have inflicted on Buffalo over a 15 year period. It will be a tough loss for the Bills to swallow, since they did a lot of talking before the game and didn’t back it up, but it also won’t define their entire season. They have to continue to work on the negatives from this loss – like eliminating the excessive penalties, especially all the undisciplined roughness calls, and making sure their supposed dominant defense works harder to ensure they are consistently dominant, every week, with their play on the field and not just with idle talk. They need to put this loss behind them and realize that the season is long and luckily they don’t have to play New England every week. They should also realize that the Pats routinely do to the rest of the league what they did to them on Sunday, and take some of the positives from the defeat. For instance, Tyrod Taylor’s no-quit performance. Yes, he looked bad at times taking 8 sacks and tossing 3 interceptions, but he also led the offense to 5 touchdowns, which you’d think should be enough to win with a defense that is supposed to be as good as Buffalo’s. Another positive was Sammy Watkins, after a dormant performance in the opener against the Colts, getting re-involved in the passing attack. Also, LeSean McCoy finally looks to be getting warmed up to provide bigger and better things to the attack. Buffalo faces their first road test of the season next week in a late Sunday afternoon encounter in Miami. The Dolphins will be in must-win mode after losing to Jacksonville this week. Ryan needs to tone down the swagger and get his team, and especially his defense, refocused to bring home a big division road win to get the season back on track.
NFL – Throwback Thursday: The “Fail Mary”
We didn’t go very far back in NFL history for this week’s Throwback Thursday feature game. The Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers will meet in Lambeau Field, and that matchup is a reminder of the game played early in the 2012 season, when the regular officials were locked out in a labor dispute with the league and replacement officials, who were horrendous during the preseason of that year, wound up refereeing games to open the regular season. The use of these “amateur” refs for regular games was extremely controversial, and that controversy came to a head in this game. The contest was a nationally televised Monday Night Football game, which drew even more of a spotlight on what turned out to be a disputed ending. It was a defensive battle, with the Packers clinging to a 12-7 lead as Seattle drove down toward a possible winning touchdown. On the game’s final play, Seahawk quarterback Russell Wilson launched a “Hail Mary” throw into the end zone, and receiver Golden Tate and Packer defender M.D. Jennings both jumped up to try to catch it. The two both maintained possession as they crashed to the ground, and it appeared that Jennings had intercepted the pass. Two of the referees conferred briefly, then simultaneously gave different signals – one signaling touchdown and the other a touchback, which would have been the call that resulted from the interception. The head official went to the replay booth to settle the situation. In the meantime, television replays clearly showed Tate shoving the Green Bay defender with both hands as the ball arrived, an obvious offensive pass interference penalty that all the officials missed. As the Monday Night analyst, Jon Gruden, railed against the missed call and said he felt the ball had been intercepted, the replay ref returned and called the play a touchdown, giving the Seahawks a controversial win in a game that would instantly be dubbed the “Fail Mary” game, a takeoff on the old “Hail Mary” play. Other media pundits began calling the final play the “Inaccurate Reception”, a comical version of Franco Harris’ famous “Immaculate Reception” play of yesteryear. Being in the social media age, the internet exploded with negative comments about the outcome, and not just from Green Bay’s disgruntled fan base. President Obama called the ending “terrible” and called on the NFL to settle the lockout. Packer quarterback Aaron Rodgers took another approach, he apologized to the fans, commenting that the NFL is a multi-billion dollar industry and that the games were not being supported by competent, professional officiating by using the replacements, therefore diluting the quality of play. Incidentally, the amateur refs, in this game, called a total of 24 penalties for 245 yards, more than Seattle’s 238 total yards gained for the entire game. One positive did come out of this mess. Commissioner Roger Goodell and the owners ended the referee lockout two days after the game. The NFL’s full-time officials are often guilty of “over-officiating” and taking advantage of all the camera face time to make themselves “celebrities”, but on this night the league learned their true value in the long run.
The “Fail Mary” play ending the game and the replacement officials’ term
NFL – Bills’ Game Review
The Buffalo Bills’ 2015 season opener against Indianapolis, and Tyrod Taylor’s debut as an NFL starting quarterback, couldn’t have gone much better than it did on a rainy Sunday afternoon at Ralph Wilson Stadium. The Bills played a solid all-around game in all three phases, building up a 17-0 lead at halftime, then taking the opening drive of the second half for a touchdown to open up a 24-0 lead. The Bills pretty much went into cruise control after that, playing it conservatively on offense and going into a semi-prevent defense for most of the rest of the game, holding on for a 27-14 victory. The impressive thing about the win is that it was a total “team” victory. No one player did anything spectacular, yet when the Bills jumped out to an early 10-0 lead, they seemed in control of the contest the rest of the way.
Taylor did what his coaches expected of him – he made plays with his arm and his legs, protected the ball (no turnovers or sacks), and although his numbers were average (14 of 19 for 195 yards and a touchdown), led the offense on three impressive touchdown drives. His lone TD throw was the most exciting play of the game, a 51 yard strike to Percy Harvin. New feature back LeSean McCoy didn’t have a great game, but contributed 87 total yards rushing and receiving to the effort, while rookie Karlos Williams added 51 yards rushing, including a 26 yard scoring run. In all the Bills rushed for 147 yards, and their play selection was true to coach Rex Ryan’s formula – 36 runs and the 19 pass attempts. The other touchdown came from Boobie Dixon on a one yard run. The Bills’ defense was as good as advertised. They contained the Colts’ young stud QB, Andrew Luck, for most of the game, and picked off 2 of his passes, with Ronald Darby and Aaron Williams getting the picks. They sacked Luck twice, with the sacks coming not from their vaunted front line, but from linebacker Nigel Bradham and nickel back Nickell Robey.
Buffalo now heads into part two of the enormous challenge the NFL schedule-makers put in front of them, meeting the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots next week, right after having to face the AFC runnerup Colts. It will take an even more concerted effort, from all phases of the team, to pull off another win.
NFL – Throwback Thursday: The Perfect Ending
It’s the best time of the year for Ray On Sports, the beginning of another NFL season. That means the start of another season’s worth of Throwback Thursday posts, featuring games of the past played between franchises who are slated to play that week on the NFL schedule. This is the 50th Anniversary of the Super Bowl, so some of the throwback posts will be about past Super Bowl matchups, including this week’s. The Miami Dolphins and Washington Redskins meet on opening day this year, recalling a classic Super Bowl matchup from over forty years ago.
Super Bowl VII wasn’t the most exciting game ever played, but it was one of the most historic. When the Miami Dolphins held off the Washington Redskins to win the game 14-7, it capped off the first undefeated season accomplished by a team in NFL history, as Miami finished a perfect 17-0 to claim the NFL title. The accomplishment still stands alone today, although the New England Patriots managed to go 18-0 in 2007 before being upset in the Super Bowl by the New York Giants to thwart their dreams of perfection. The game not only made history, it provided vindication for Dolphin coach Don Shula, who was on the losing end of one of the biggest upsets in sports history a few years earlier as his heavily favored Baltimore Colts were stunned by the upstart New York Jets in Super Bowl III. The game was typical of the Dolphins’ season – the score wasn’t very one-sided, yet the game was pretty much dominated by Miami’s “No-Name” defense and powerful running game. Miami’s starting quarterback, Bob Griese, had returned from an almost season long injury the previous game, in the AFC Championship, to rally his club over Pittsburgh to the win that vaulted them into the Super Bowl. Griese had been sidelined since the fifth game of the season, and old veteran Earl Morrall, who came to Miami after playing for Shula in Baltimore, took over the reins and brilliantly guided the club to this point, keeping the undefeated record intact.
The Dolphins’ opponent was a lightly regarded squad from Washington coached by George Allen. Allen took over the Redskins a couple of years earlier following the untimely death of Vince Lombardi, and loaded up the roster with grisled veterans and castoffs from other clubs, feeling that experienced players made fewer mistakes than rookies. This patchwork roster of old-timers became known as “The Over The Hill Gang” and was a sentimental favorite among fans to win the game. Even the nation’s president at the time, Richard Nixon, got caught up in the hype of the nation’s capital’s team, suggesting plays to Allen to use in the game. Miami’s methodical offense worked their game plan to perfection, grinding out a long, time-consuming drive in the first quarter that ended with a 28 yard touchdown pass from Griese to Howard Twilley. Then in the second quarter, the defense took command, as Nick Buoniconti thwarted a Redskin drive by intercepting a Bill Kilmer pass and returning it deep into Washington territory to set up a one yard Jim Kiick scoring run. That gave Shula’s club a 14-0 lead at halftime, and the way Miami played all year, that lead already looked insurmountable. And it was, until a little over two minutes remained in the game. Miami sent kicker Garo Yepremian out to boot a field goal to put the game completely out of reach. However, the Dolphins made an uncharacteristic mistake, botching the snap with the ball ending up in Yepremian’s hands. He made a feeble, ill-fated attempt to pass it, and Washington’s Mike Bass picked it off and returned it for a touchdown to suddenly give his team unexpected life. That play became one of the NFL’s most famous “bloopers” and basically took on a life of it’s own. Disaster was averted, however, and Shula’s Dolphins completed their unbeaten run.
Garo Yepremian’s errant Super Bowl pass