Niagara Gazette

‘Rousseau says Cook is a legend in Florida. Well, it’s taken a little while for everyone else to come around, including the Buffalo Bills. But both the Bills and the Cowboys were educated about Cook Sunday.’

‘Two months ago, it wouldn’t have been a surprise. Two weeks ago, that result would have seemed stunning.’

‘The Cowboys have scored 40.5 points over the last five games, and Prescott leads the league with 28 touchdown passes, tossing 15 scores and one interception in their five-game winning streak. Although the Bills have surrendered 30 points once this year — 37 to Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles — the Cowboys have scored fewer than 30 just four times this season.’

‘Prescott and San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy — who has 304 passing yards per game to go along with 13 touchdown passes and two interceptions in his last five games — are currently the two frontrunners for MVP.’

‘Bills receivers were also held to seven receptions, the third time in four games they have failed to make a combined 10 catches. It’s part of a shift in the offense — partly through defenses and partly through changing philosophy — that has become less reliant on receivers and more focused on quick passes.’

‘“This time of year we all do what you got to do,” McDermott said. “This is kind of one of those things that’s understood this time of year — that the game’s on the line, you’ve got to do what you got to do. So I don’t think I need to say that he knows that.”’

‘Now seven days into his 21-day window to be taken off injured reserve or be lost for the season, Elam feels healthy. Once dour and lacking confidence, Elam is more upbeat, even if it means facing the daunting task of cracking the gameday lineup with a cornerback group more crowded than when he left.’

‘“I thought, overall, our defensive plan, and our defensive line, in particular, did a great job being coordinated and working well off of one another and staying aggressive at the same time and I think that that’s the key,” McDermott said. “We lost (Mahomes) earlier on a third down and he completed it over the middle to (tight end Travis) Kelce and we went with a spy the next play and we were able to get off the field on the following third down. So it was a good balance, but primarily, our front four did a phenomenal job.”’

‘With the game on the line, the Bills’ high-priced defensive line was in his face, tipping a ball and hitting the Kansas City Chiefs’ two-time MVP twice, including a fourth-and-15 hit by Leonard Floyd that forced Mahomes to drift left and throw off his back foot.’

‘There were times McDermott couldn’t seem to shake his old habits, from burning two timeouts at the end of the first half on defense, to refusing to a kick a field goal on the final play or dialing up pressure on the last drive of the game, despite costing the Bills previously in those moments with the same strategy.’

‘Entering Sunday, the Bills have a 3% chance to win the AFC East and 20% chance to make the playoffs, down from a 67% chance five weeks ago, according to Upshot’s playoff simulator. A win over the Chiefs bumps Buffalo’s playoff odds to 33%, but loss plummets them to 9%.’

‘“I know who I am,” McDermott said. “I know how I try and do things. Am I without flaw? No, I’m not without flaw, and I say that humbly. I believe we try and do things right here. I doesn’t mean that everything we do is right. People are going to have their own opinions. I believe we’ve won a lot of games here since we’ve arrived and I’m confident in that.”’

‘Allen was not blitzed more than eight times in the final five games of the regular season, and since then, teams have waffled back and forth about whether to blitz him at a high rate or not. Teams have blitzed Allen 10-plus times in six games and the Bills have largely been able to handle it.’

‘The Bills have tried blitzing him, they’ve tried barely blitzing him at all. But Mahomes has still averaged 307.6 yards per game, with 12 touchdowns and four interceptions in five career games against Buffalo.’

‘An uncomfortable topic was met with uncomfortable silence.’