Sport Slices

Only a few short years ago, on several occasions, football fans from our area trekked to Buffalo for National Football League games in Orchard Park. Hundreds of buses parked outside the stadium, including ours. Grilled burgers, cold pop, crisp autumn air. The spirit of the gridiron in the air. “You know you make me want to shout” echoing around the grounds.

Many of the Bills' fans had made the trip from the Niagara Region, from Western Ontario, and from Toronto. So many, in fact, that a few marketing geniuses decided that they would ask the Bills to play one game a year, at the Rogers Centre, for five years. That was moderately successful, but was scrapped after the fifth year. It did give local fans, from the Quinte area, a taste of the NFL without the bother of driving all the way to Buffalo, at times in horrible weather.

Thus far in the 2020 season, the Bills have played to empty houses, due to the COVID-19. Fans have been able to follow the team from their easy chairs, on both sides of the border. The Bills are in first place in the American Football Conference, quite often due to extremely good fortune.

Such was the case last weekend. The New England Patriots have been the arch-rival of the Bills for many years. The Bills went into the game with eight straight losses to the Pats. On this occasion, the Bills were favoured to win! The one main reason in their favour was that Tom Brady had flown the coop, and was playing in Tampa Bay. The Patriots lineup was depleted because of injuries and defections. The time was ripe to crush the Patriots, well, er, maybe to just squeak by them.

Buffalo started well, last Sunday, on another blustery day near Lake Erie. No snow, mind you, but a chill in the air that had Patriots' coach Bill Bellichik all bundled up on the sideline. The Bills struck first, methodically marching down the field with pass plays and fine running by Zack Moss. Josh Allen was at the helm, and at 6' 5”, he could scan the horizon over the helmets of charging defensive linemen to pick out receivers.

The Patriots had picked up Cam Newton in the off-season to replace Brady. He was able to move the team within the shadows of the goalposts, only to come up short of the goal line. But they did pick up six points on field goals, and headed to the locker room trailing by just one point at half time.

The second half provided far more scoring, with the lead changing hands several times. Moss found the endzone again to put the Bills ahead 14-6. The Patriots responded with a Damien Harris touchdown, and a 2 point convert to even the score. In the 4^th quarter, Josh Allen scored for the Bills, but Newton returned the favour to knot the score at 21 each.

A Bass field goal put the Bills back in front 24-21. As expected, New England began to drive towards the Bills' end zone, with little time remaining. Bills' fans had seen this happen far too many times. At least, in this case, no fans were heading toward the exits!

Needing 3 yards for a first down, Newton scrambled for sufficient yardage to set up a field goal to tie the game. On a subsequent carry, he barged into the Bills' secondary. Justin Zimmer decided to poke his fist at the ball in Newton's hand. Fumble! Bills recover it! Time runs out! Bills win!

And so it ended. For the first time in 9 nine years, they had bested the Patriots in Buffalo. They improved their record to 6-2, leading their conference. They have scored 198 points, but have given up 199. There is still room for improvement.

Players headed to the locker rooms, then prepared to head to the polls on Tuesday. We, in the Great White North, are well aware of the fact that there is an election in the United States. If nothing else, there will be a great sense of relief, once all the ballots have been counted. It could be close, kind of like a Bills' football game. I think I regret writing that.

Dig out the clubs, Ethel! Great weather ahead, for a week, at least.

James Hurst

November 3, 2020