The Buffalo Bills Have Crashed The Conference Championship Weekend

This image is a derivative of Buffalo Bills Cole Beasley by Jack Kurzenknabe (Public Domain Mark 1.0)

The Buffalo Bills are indisputably the odd one out among the Super Bowl’s four remaining aspirants. 

Andy Reid is back in a conference championship for an 8th time, bringing along Patrick Mahomes who has the NFL world eating out of his exceptionally gifted hands. You might have heard of a certain Tom Brady? He’s dragged Tampa Bay back to its first championship in 19 years, though it’ll be Brady’s 14th trip overall as he stalks a 7th Super Bowl ring. And then there’s Aaron Rodgers, with the 37-year old piloting one of the league’s most iconic franchises back to the precipice of its first Super Bowl appearance in ten years. 

Really, this conference championship weekend doubles as a high-end gathering of the absolute glitterati of the NFL….. And then there’s the Buffalo Bills who’ve smashed into the hotel lobby with smoke pouring out its fourth-hand Nissan Pulsar, booking its first trip to a conference championship in 28 years.

Yet while Buffalo stands out like a sore thumb amidst such NFL royalty, it’s best not to dismiss their credentials, securing their spot this weekend courtesy a mightily impressive, impossible to ignore application.

This is a franchise who went 17-straight seasons without a playoff appearance, and 26 years without a win therein, watching on as the Patriots took all before them, cycling through 7 head coaches in the same period their bitter divisional foe collected 6 Super Bowls. 

However, under the brilliant Brandon Beane-Sean McDermott GM-Head Coach combo, the Bills have chipped away and held their nerve, making sure that when the Patriots dynasty finally crumbled, they’d not only be ready to enter the castle, but be roaring and hungry to occupy it once inside. 

This season they scorched to a 13-3 regular season record, which was a mark bettered only by the Chiefs who’ll they butt heads against this weekend. 

And while the Bills getting this far hasn’t been a complete shock off the back of a 10-win season last year, what has surprised is the offence taking up the reins, rather than a defence which was the league’s second stingiest last season, and which the front office pumped a league-high year $104 million into this campaign.

Instead, their heavily maligned quarterback Josh Allen has stole the show, throwing 4,544 yards and 37 touchdowns which were both franchise records, as were the 501 points his offence chalked up. He’s been complimented by an astonishing all-pro season from Stefon Diggs who also registered franchise records for total receptions (127) and yards (1,535). 

While plenty will still suspiciously look the Bills up and down this weekend, whispering enough beer and fat jokes to fill the Niagra River, Buffalo will be wise to not take the trip for granted, hopefully aware that plenty of teams have made cute, admirable runs to this exotic destination in recent seasons only to return to obscurity soon thereafter (cough, cough Jacksonville). 

Thankfully, Buffalo have squeezed one of the NFL’s most rounded squads into their car, with it’s current 9-game winning streak fuelled by its menacing defence which has finally woken up and emerged as the league’s deadliest at just the right time.  

It’s obliteration of Baltimore and complete dissection of reigning MVP Lamar Jackson last weekend was one of the most staggering statements by any team this year, reducing the Ravens to just 3 points (its lowest score in 11 years) while tearing Jackson to pieces, containing the brilliant QB to just 162 through the air, and a paltry 34 yards on the ground.

It was the kind of performance which put the rest of the NFL on notice, and considering the health status of Mahomes, will cause Andy Reid and Eric Bienemy plenty of sleepless nights thinking of ways to get around a defence which has amassed 17 turnovers through its last 10 games.

While it’s true that our eyes will need to make some adjustments to seeing Buffalo on the NFL’s grandest stage, the reality is that the Bills' push has been a long time coming, with the franchise just two wins away from an inaugural Super Bowl title.

Yes they've crashed the party, but it's not as though they weren't invited.

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