January 29, 2022 By: Karl Wimer

Cartoon: 13 — Buffalo’s new number for frustration

“Buffalo’s New Number for Frustration”

13.

Specifically 13 seconds.

That’s how much time the Buffalo Bills and their coaching staff were faced to manage in order to move forward to their first AFC Championship in nearly 30 years.

The Bills had just pushed themselves three points ahead of the Chiefs in Kansas City due to a heroic team effort led by emerging superstar quarterback Josh Allen. With 13 seconds on the clock, Bills fans everywhere (and quite a few Broncos, Raider and Chargers fans) were celebrating the upset of a powerhouse Chiefs team. The final moments of one of the more epic playoff games in NFL history.

Realistically, 13 seconds represents no more than three plays (not including the preceding kickoff) a team with timeouts can execute before the final whistle blows. And that’s precisely what Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense masterfully worked with to move 44 yards down the field in two big plays for a tying field goal. After receiving the overtime kickoff, the Chiefs finished burying the Bills playoff dreams with a touchdown drive. The rules dictating overtime winners and the issue that Allen never had a chance to respond is worthy of another cartoon and article.

Starting with a kickoff that took no time off the clock (a squib could have subtracted 3-4 seconds), then a prevent defense that gave Chiefs receivers the room they needed to move the ball quickly in big chunks, the Bills allowed the seemingly impossible to happen.

The second-guessing will undoubtedly live on for decades, especially if the Bills don’t advance so far in the next few years. Arguments include: defensive backs should have played aggressive bump-and-run to slow down the Chief speed advantage, and (my favorite) played a version of end-of-the-game NBA basketball – intentionally grab and hold receivers coming off the line. This would have resulted in 5 yard penalties that could have knocked 4-5 seconds off the clock per play and the concession of 5 yards instead of 20+ yards. You can’t end a game on a penalty, but if there is 3 seconds left and the team is on their own 35 or 40 yard line, a Hail Mary is the last resort. A lot better scenario for the Bills than what actually happened. A long list of reasons why that didn’t happen and hard to completely dismiss a coaching staff that had built the best pass defense in the NFL.

But Bills fans have a deep reservoir of frustration and it just got a lot deeper. They were the first and are still the only team to make it to four straight Super Bowls. That’s quite a feat, but being on the losing end of each one carries quite a lasting sting. Rival fans (Patriots in particular) have a way of reminding the longtime Buffalo faithful of their four failures to grasp the Lombardi trophy. Now there is a new number in Buffalo representing futility.