By CHUCK POLLOCK, Wellsville Sun Senior Sports Columnist
One of the persistent criticisms of Sean McDermott in his nine seasons as coach of the Buffalo Bills is that he’s not the most astute game-day manager.
But Sunday, in what likely will be the final game in the 53-year history of Highmark Stadium, a facility variously known as Rich Stadium, Ralph Wilson Stadium, New Era Field and Bills Stadium before Highmark and for those whose memories date to the early 1970s, during the facility’s construction days it was also known as Erie County Stadium.
But when the new version of Highmark debuts next summer across Abbott Road in Orchard Park it will retain that name.
And those with acute memories will recall that in the finale of the original Highmark, McDermott displayed some wisdom in personnel use.
By the time the Bills kicked off against the Jets, McDermott knew that James Cook had already outgained the Colts’ Jonathan Taylor (1,559) for the rushing title and that his 1,606 yards had already claimed the title.
Thus, McDermott benched Cook to protect him. And, as predicted, he inserted quarterback Josh Allen for a single play so that he got credit for an NFL-best 135 consecutive starts. However, for the Bills veteran coach, that was magnanimous enough. Rather than leave Allen in to log his 40th touchdown (running and passing) for a fifth consecutive season, he benched the 29-year-old with 39 TDs this season.
In addition, McDermott rendered seven players inactive, four of them hurt — middle linebacker Terrel Bernard (calf), defensive tackle DaQuan Jones (calf) and edge rusher Joey Bosa (hamstring) — while also idling offensive tackle Dion Dawkins, wide receiver Brandin Cooks and edge rusher Greg Rousseau to the inactive list..
INACTIVE for the Bills were middle linebacker Terrel Bernard (calf), wide receiver Brandin Cooks, safety Jordan Poyer (hamstring), edge rusher Greg Rousseau, offensive tackle Dion Dawkins, defensive tackle DuQuan Jones (calf) and edge rusher Joey Bosa (hamstring).
One reason for McDermott’s decision-making was that the Bills’ fate had already been decided.
Houston’s victory over Atlanta assured the Texans of the No. 5 seed, the spot Buffalo coveted. If the Bills had gotten there, a loss by the sixth seed and a win by McDermott’s crew would have brought a home game to Orchard Park in the second round. Instead, Houston’s win ended those hopes.
Thus, the Bills have a slate of playoff opponents next season. At home, the Bills will play The Dolphins, Patriots, Jets, Chiefs, Chargers, Bears, Lions and Ravens.
On the road, Buffalo will play the Rams, Texans, Viking,s Raiders, Packers, Broncos, Jets, Patriots and Dolphins.
As it turned out, Buffalo dominated the Jets 35-8 and earned the No. 6 seed and will play the third-seeded Jaguars next Saturday afternoon at Jacksonville (1 o’clock).
(Chuck Pollock is the senior sports columnist for the Wellsville Sun, he can be reached at cpollock@wnynet.net)
The Wellsville Sun covered the final game at Highmark Stadium. Some of our stories:
