By CHUCK POLLOCK, Wellsville Sun Senior Sports Columnist
Talk about no rest for the weary.
The Bills, after Sunday’s tense 36-31 victory over the Texans in Houston, hopped on a plane for the three-hour flight back to Buffalo to prepare for Thursday night’s game against the Lions in the regular-season inaugural at new Highmark Stadium.
Subtracting their time in the plane, Buffalo’s players will have 84 hours to prepare for their game against Detroit in a matchup of teams that lucked out in winning their season openers.
The Lions blew a 21-point third-quarter lead at home over the Saints, and saw New Orleans rally to tie the game in regulation. In OT, Detroit went up by a touchdown only to see the Saints score the potential tying TD. But New Orleans had its bid for the win foiled when its two-point conversion attempt came up short.
The Lions survived, 31-30.
BUFFALO’S tightrope walk was a bit different en route to its 5-point decision over the Texans at NRG Stadium.
In a game that featured nine lead changes, the Bills were driving for the potential winning touchdown when quarterback Josh Allen, who accounted for all four Buffalo TDs, uncorked an ill-considered throw toward wide receiver Joshua Palmer in the end zone. The errant toss fell into the hands of a Houston defender who dropped the gift interception. A play later, Palmer caught the 34-yard game-winning score.
Earlier in that possession, running back James Cook fumbled but was saved when a teammate covered the loose ball.
As Palmer recalled, “I just knew some way, somehow, I was going to make an impact in the game. When we went down (the field) I said ‘I’m going to make the game-turning or game-saving touchdown’ and it happened.”
The Bills Joe Brady, at 36 the NFL’s youngest coach, pointed out to his team which was up 24-21 at halftime, “We know what to do … don’t look at the scoreboard … we’ll be fine.”
He added of the winning connection to Palmer, “My message to Josh was to trust the play-call and whoever is there, if he’s open, take it.”
The oddity was, Palmer caught only that one ball while trade acquisition D.J. Moore had five receptions for 100 yards and a touchdown and tight end Dalton Kincaid caught five balls for 130 yards.
Allen is now 6-2 in season openers.
He admitted, “It feels good to start the season off right … our guys made some plays.”
Two of them came after the Texans drove to 1st-and-goal at the Bills 9-yard line in a bid for the winning TD with 25 seconds to play.
First, defensive tackle Deone Walker sacked Houston quarterback C.J. Stroud for a 9-yard loss. Then, two plays later, edge rusher Greg Rousseau logged his second strip-sack of the game, the subsequent fumble by Stroud covered by linebacker Terrell Bernard to end the game.
As Rousseau, who has six games with multiple sacks with Buffalo going 6-0 in those efforts, pointed out, “I had other chances in the game and didn’t do it. And I said, ‘Just let me get one more chance’ and we can end this thing a bit early.”
Kincaid also saw the win as a mandate for Brady.
“I think guys love playing for Joe and it shows,” he said. “It’s really cool to have it pay off. He puts a lot of time into this. He’s in the building early and (leaves) late.
“He sacrifices a lot and it makes us want to play hard for him.”
And place-kicker Tyler Bass, 3-for-3 on field goal attempts, concluded, “It feels good (to get the win). Any time you get to go out and do your job and celebrate with your teammates … it’s a good start.”
Albeit a fortunate one.
(Chuck Pollock, a Wellsville Sun and Olean Star senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@wnynet.net.)
