Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott says that Buffalo is a special place to play after the Bills defeated the Miami Dolphins 24-16 to finish the season 6-2 at home. (Dec. 17, 2017) Sal Maiorana
'Tis the season for NFL playoff talk and doesn’t Sean McDermott know it.
The Buffalo Bills rookie coach, whose team was once accused of “tanking’’ but is now swimming with the best teams in the AFC with two weeks to play, was asked more than a half-dozen playoff related questions at his last news conference.
He was hardly perturbed.
At 8-6, the Bills play at rival New England (11-3) Sunday and then at Miami (6-8) on New Year’s Eve. Buffalo’s best chance at sacking its well-known 17-year playoff drought is to win out but a plethora of tie-breaking scenarios looms large.
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McDermott has enough to worry about game planning for Tom Brady and pals to lose any sleep over the ifs, ands and buts of brain-twisting playoff talk.
“I spend very little (time on it),’’ he said. “I’ll say this — I’m proud of the fact that our guys have earned the right to be in that conversation, and I’m happy for our fans. To continue to grow and improve, we have to focus on what’s in front of us, and that’s us getting better as a team, and then the New England Patriots.’’
Tennessee (8-6), Buffalo (8-6), Baltimore (8-6) and the Los Angeles Chargers (7-7) are presently in the wild-card race. Of these teams, the Ravens have the easiest path to a postseason invitation: their final two opponents (Indianapolis and Cincinnati) are a combined 8-20.
If a 9-7 finish is in store for the Bills — after all, they’ve never won in New England when Brady has played a full game — then they could wind up losing a tie-breaker with the Chargers, whose final two opponents (New York Jets, Oakland) are 11-17. The Chargers own the head-to-head outcome.
“In my experience of being around the playoffs like I’ve been, the important thing is to stay focused on ourselves,’’ said McDermott, who coached previously in Philadelphia and Carolina. “It’s fun to be in those conversations. That’s a credit to our guys and how hard they’ve worked. They’ve earned that, so I want them to enjoy that part, too. That said, making sure we’re focused on the task at hand.’’
And what a big task at hand that is.
The Patriots’ thrilling 27-24 win at Pittsburgh garnered 31.6 million viewers at peak, the most watched NFL game on any network this season, and has given New England the inside track on home field for the AFC playoffs.
That means there will be no loss of focus for the Bills, a team the Patriots beat 23-3 just two games ago, a game where Brady was held without a touchdown.
A 191-yard New England rushing day, triggered by Dion Lewis’ 92 yards and 15 carries, and nine catches for 147 yards receiving by tight end Rob Gronkowski allowed New England to come away with the win.
That and a horrible day for Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor (9 of 18, 65 yards passing). Taylor has rebounded, as has his team.
“We embrace whoever the NFL puts on our schedule the next week,’’ McDermott said of the quick rematch with the Patriots. “That’s what we’re tasked to do, and that’s what we’ll do this week.’’
As for getting even with Gronkowski for his dirty hit on Tre White that landed Gronk a one-game suspension and put White in concussion protocol, McDermott went right back to focusing on the game and not settling old beefs.
“Well, we’ve got too much work to do and this is too good of an opponent for us to: A, talk about it or B, even think about it,’’ he said. “The weeks go by too fast for us to do anything other than focus on what we’ve got to do and the New England Patriots.’’
Buffalo’s remaining opponents went 1-1 last week and are a combined 17-11. Its previous 14 opponents are a combined 94-102. The Bills have beaten two teams with winning records, the Falcons (9-5) and Chiefs (8-6).
Flying in the face of the one-game-at-a-time mantra, here’s our weekly look at the rest of the Bills’ schedule:
Dec. 24 at New England (11-3). Last week: beat Pittsburgh 27-24. This week: host Buffalo (8-6). Pittsburgh was the better team statistically but the Patriots Way found a way to pull out a win that will be talked about for quite some time, thanks to a controversial call that nullified what would’ve been the winning TD for the Steelers. Like he was against the Bills, Gronkowski (9-168 receiving) was dominant and sparked the Patriots’ rally. Can the Bills find an answer?
Dec. 31, at Miami (6-8). Last week: lost to Buffalo 24-16. This week: at Kansas City (8-6). Miami likely won’t have anything to play for when it hosts the Bills in the regular-season finale. But the Dolphins will still be a tough out for Buffalo. Miami outgained the Bills 349-328 last Sunday and held the ball for nearly five more minutes. Kenyan Drake (4.9 yards per carry) was a load, as was Jarvis Landry (10-99 receiving). The difference was three horrible interceptions by Jay Cutler, including the game-ender after a successful onside kick that made things interesting for about five seconds.
LROTH@Gannett.com