As you probably know, Ken Dorsey was fired as offensive coordinator of the Buffalo Bills earlier this week. Was it a surprise? A bit of one, sure.
Despite the stats that say the Bills have one of the best offenses in football, you can also honestly say they are wildly inconsistent. Josh Allen has one of the best completion percentages in the league yet the throws that aren’t complete are what take centre stage. Overthrows by 10 yards, throws into double and triple coverage constantly, leading the league in interceptions. He has become one of the biggest risk-reward quarterbacks in recent memory. He either does amazing things or does stupidly shitty things and there seems to be very little in-between.
Also, the Bills running attack has been non-existent for years. And when it did show up it was usually Allen running the ball, almost daring to get injured. This past Monday night, they showed they can run the ball when they need to…with their running backs. They aren’t great but they can be good enough when needed.
So putting this all together, Dorsey has to be responsible for some of this. His playcalling is not good. Period. The results may a lot of times end up being great but it’s not because of him. The talent on the field is there. Saying that, he does feel like a bit of a scapegoat. He was promoted when Brian Daboll left to become head coach of the New York Football Giants and who knows if he was truly ready for the job. He has no say in the personnel he has to work with and who knows how much influence Sean McDermott has over the offense. McDermott has to take some of the blame, as does general manager Brandon Beane, for all of this. It’s a bit of a mess right now as a team that was supposed to contend once again is failing to do so.
Will firing Dorsey help? It remains to be seen. Sometimes change for the sake of change can be a good thing. Either way, something has to be done. This is a franchise that feels like it has been broken twice in the past two seasons. The unbeliveable loss to the Chiefs in the playoffs in 2021, followed by Damar Hamlin’s on-field heart attack last season seem to have partially destroyed this team. They aren’t excuses: it just feels like the franchise isn’t what they were or what some thought they would become. As a fan of the team, I hope they can turn it around but at least for this season, it doesn’t look promising for them.
OK that’s enough Bills talk. Let’s go to this week’s schedule which…OK it does have the Bills on it but they aren’t the feature this week, make no mistake about that. Well, that’s not entirely true either. A lot of the country will be…let’s just get to the damn schedule.
American Networks
 |  | ||
| Pittsburgh at Cleveland | 1:00 | All affiliates | |
| Dallas at Carolina | 1:00 | Tacoma, Seattle, Boston, Presque Isle | |
| LA Chargers at Green Bay | 1:00 | Minneapolis | |
| Chicago at Detroit | 1:00 | Detroit | |
| NY Giants at Washington | 1:00 | Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown, Burlington | |
| Tampa Bay at San Francisco | 4:05 | Spokane | |
| NY Jets at Buffalo | 4:25 | All affiliates (except Seattle & Spokane) | |
| Seattle at LA Rams | 4:25 | Seattle, Spokane |
Canadian Networks
 |  |  | ||
| Pittsburgh at Cleveland | 1:00 | All affiliates | ||
| Chicago at Detroit | 1:00 | All affiliates (except Vancouver Island) | ||
| Dallas at Carolina | 1:00 | Vancouver Island | TSN2 | |
| Las Vegas at Miami | 1:00 | TSN+ | ||
| Tampa Bay at San Francisco | 4:05 | TSN2 | ||
| NY Jets at Buffalo | 4:25 | All affiliates (except Vancouver & Alberta) | ||
| Seattle at LA Rams | 4:25 | Vancouver, Alberta |
Primetime Games
| Cincinnati at Baltimore | Thursday, 8:15, Amazon Prime, CTV2, TSN 1/3/4/+ |
| Minnesota at Denver | 8:15, NBC, CTV, TSN2 |
| Philadelphia at Kansas City | Monday, 8:15, ABC, TSN 1/3/4/+ |
Potentially Important Notes and Things And Trash and Such
- What did people do to deserve the Giants-Commanders game? Upstate New York always seems to get stuck with these shitty games but it’s rare for western New York to get them as well. Hopefully who gets their FOX affiliate from that area has Sunday Ticket or RedZone. Otherwise, ugh.
- Speaking of Sunday Ticket and RedZone, here are the games not being shown in Canada if you don’t have one of the two, at least:
- Tennessee at Jacksonville
- Arizona at Houston
- Finally done with the morning games. Thank god. I sincerely hate them. As you can tell, I am not a morning person. At all.
- The Grey Cup is this Sunday. This is why only TSN2 is being used for the NFL. After this weekend, though, it should open up quite nicely the rest of the way.
- So yeah the Bills are in a prominent spot since most of the country will get their game with the Jets. And, fair enough, it is an important game in the AFC East since the loser is going to have a very tough time making the playoffs.
- Finally, look at the primetime slate. Now that’s what I’m talking about. The worst team of the bunch, by far, is Denver and they have started to turn things around. This is always what the NFL was looking for when primetime football started decades ago and, unfortunately, they have gotten away from that. I understand that it’s nice to see your team in a primetime, standalone game. But it also means you have to shut your trap when we are stuck with the Panthers and the Bears. Can’t have it both ways.
Alright now let’s get to the playoff picture which is still pretty AFC North-heavy:
| AFC | NFC |
| #1 Kansas City (AFC West) | #1 Philadelphia (NFC East) |
| #2 Baltimore (AFC North) | #2 Detroit (NFC North) |
| #3 Jacksonville (AFC South) | #3 San Francisco (NFC West) |
| #4 Miami (AFC East) | #4 New Orleans (NFC South) |
| Wild Cards: | Wild Cards: |
| #5 Pittsburgh | #5 Seattle |
| #6 Cleveland | #6 Dallas |
| #7 Houston/Cincinnati | #7 Minnesota |
You have three teams half-a-game out of the final Wild Card spot in the AFC and three more teams only one game out. Realistically, the Patriots are the only team truly out of it in the conference. Imagine typing that any time this century. As for the NFC, there seems to be a gap between the top teams and the teams either trying to claw their way into the playoff picture or coming close to tanking to get a better draft pick. That’s why it already sucks when two teams who have combined for a 6-14 record so far this season is the game in your area.
A reminder that next week is one of America’s football celebrations: Thanksgiving (south of the border)! So if you want to partake as well, go ahead and make a 40-pound turkey for four people, enough mashed potatoes to drown a rhino and that fucking disgusting green bean casserole that could be used as a weapon in ground warfare. I will try my best to get the blog post out next week in time for you to have all the information you need. As for this week, just enjoy the games everyone! And if you want to make a turkey this weekend as well, have at it.
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