2017 Season - AFC Championship

Cincinnati Bengals @ Buffalo Bills

                                     1         2         3         4          FINAL

CINCINNATI             0         0         0        15        15

BUFFALO                   3         12      14        0         29

BUFFALO – The Buffalo Bills (16-2) continued their prolific march towards Super Bowl glory during their 29-15 pummeling of the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday, 29-15.
All 15 of the Bengals points were scored late in the 4th quarter after Andy Dalton spent the day running for his life from Geno Atkins and the rest of the Bills defenders.
"You play all season to get to this point," Dalton said. "It's sad to come out and play your worst game of the season."
The Buffalo pass rush accumulated 6.0 sacks on the day and countless quarterback pressures.
Atkins, the league's defensive player of the year, finished with half of the team's sack total.
"It's an effort thing now," Atkins said. "Everyone out here is good. It's just who is the hungrier team."
Todd Gurley, now full recovered from his rib injury that caused him to miss time late in the regular season, was dominant with 140 yards rushing and a pair of TD runs. 
"Our o-line deserves all the credit," Gurley said. "We are one win away!"
The Bills are back in the Super Bowl for the first time since 1994 when the team lost for the fourth consecutive time.
"Whenever you talk about the Bills it seems like people bring up the 0-4 in the '90's," Aaron Rodgers said. "For us, we want to respect and remember those teams, but to give our fans here in Buffalo another memory when they think about the Super Bowl."
The Bills will head to Houston for a date with destiny and Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers two weeks from today. 

AFC Championship Game Preview

Cincinnati Bengals @ Buffalo Bills
In their Week #11 matchup, these teams played in a regular season classic that saw the Bills come out victorious 28-25 over the Bengals in overtime. Dan Carpenter's  heroics kept Buffalo's #1 seed in the AFC dreams alive with an end-of-regulation field goal and the eventual game-winner in the extra frame.
"Let's home it doesn't come down to kicks again," Carpenter said. "But if it does, I'll be ready."
The Bengals have finally broken through during the Marvin Lewis era with this their best chance at Super Bowl glory since the 1980's. 
Vontaze Burfict and Adam "Pacman" Jones, never strangers to making great soundbites, have been unabashed in their trash talk leading up to Sunday's AFC Championship Game.
"We got the film on (these) jokers," Jones said. "We comin' to kill 'em all."
Burfict, who missed the first three games of this season after a late hit on Miami's Thomas Rawls a season ago in the Wild Card Round will most certainly face a fine for his comments leading up to his team's showdown with the Bills.
"If I gotta break Aaron Rodgers' legs, then so be it," Burfict said. "Fine me man. I'm going to put him out of the game - him or that lame Gurley man."
Bills players have been noticeably quiet under Anthony Lynn.
When asked to comment on the injury prediction, Rodgers simply gave a thumbs up and asked for further questions.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Emotions versus confidence. Cincinnati has lived all season on 'swagger' and trash talk. Buffalo has won with guts and intelligence. Advantage Bills. 
PREDICTION: Bills win 30-20

2017 Season - Divisional Round

Miami Dolphins @ Buffalo Bills

                                     1         2         3         4          FINAL

MIAMI                        0         3         0         6          9

BUFFALO                   3         0        10        0         13

BUFFALO – The Buffalo Bills (15-2) will be moving on to their first AFC Championship Game since Jim Kelly led the team with their 13-9 victory over the Miami Dolphins (15-3) Saturday in Buffalo.
In a game played in miserable, blizzard-like conditions, the Bills refused to buckle under the pressure as they did just enough to put away the uncharacteristically mistake-prone Dolphins.
"Not the prettiest game you'll see, but the outcome was nice," Todd Gurley said. "You survive and advance in the playoffs, that's it."
Both teams were content to run the football throughout the first half leading to an uninspiring 3-3 draw at the half.
Last year's champions from Miami came out in the second half with a chance to finish off a game that seemed to fit into their well-documented DNA.
But the team finished with a flurry of mistakes and controversial decisions. 
The team opted for an onside kick to open the 2nd half. 
Miami nearly recovered, but the good field position gifted Buffalo 3-points.
The typically stoic Justin Tucker then missed a 51-yard field goal that would have tied the game at six apiece.
Each of these errors paled in comparison to a pair of plays near the end of the 3rd.
Trailing 3-6, Chris Ivory broke off what would have been a 68-yard TD run. 
All Pro guard David DeCastro was flagged for holding on the play, negating the go-ahead score.
On the very next play, Thomas Rawls fumbled the ball after a brutal hit from rookie linebacker Preston Brown as Rawls was heading out of bounds for a Buffalo scoop-and-score putting the Bills up 13-3.
"Devastated," DeCastro said. "The fact that my penalty took points off the board kills me."
The team responded, driving 75-yards on the following possession to put six points on the board.
Tucker then missed the PAT - leaving the deficit at 4-points.
"I sucked man," Tucker said. "Don't feel sorry for me, I need to make those kicks."
With three minutes left to play, Ivory took his nervy teammates on his back, getting the team to 1st-and-goal at the Buffalo 4-yard line.
The Bills defense stiffened, setting up a 4th-and-Goal.
Miami, true to their nature, opted to go for the lead on the ground, but failed as Ivory was tackled short of the goalline.
"It came down to that last play, and we were fortunate enough to keep them out," Luke Kuechly said. "I'm proud of our guys fighting until the end."
Buffalo will face the winner of tomorrow's Cincinnati/Kansas City matchup in the AFC Championship Game. 

Divisional Round Preview (AFC East)

#5 Miami Dolphins (15-2) @ #1 Buffalo Bills (14-2)
Three weeks ago, quarterback Aaron Rodgers played in (what he called) on of his worst games as a football player at any level.
Rodgers finished with 153 yards passing with four interceptions and a fumble lost in his team's 24-30 defeat at the hands of the Miami Dolphins.
Despite finishing the season with identical records, the Bills, after defeating the New York Jets during a Week #17 classic, clinched the AFC's #1 seed along with the AFC East crown. 
"We were fortunate the tie-breakers were in our favor," Rodgers said. "It's a great opportunity to get a chance to avenge that loss at home from 3-weeks ago."
Buffalo was without star runningback Todd Gurley during their Week #16 loss and the second year back figures to make a huge impact on a game that is being touted as an Ali-Frazier clash. 
"This is what you live for," Gurley said. "We respect those guys over there for sure, but there will be no love lost once we get between those lines."
For Miami, the team has remained subdued despite their 40-22 victory over the Houston Texans on Wild Card weekend knowing a matchup with their rivals from Buffalo was forthcoming.
"We went on a run last year and were fortunate enough to finish with a Super Bowl Championship," Earl Thomas said. "But this year is different. You had Buffalo and the Jets step it up huge this year - every game has felt like a championship game for us this past month. Our division has just been a war - it's fitting that we get one last battle in the postseason."
WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers. Over the past two seasons, the team who has won the turnover in this match-up has won the ball game. Both teams play great defense and are efficient on offense (albeit in their own unique ways). If it's snowing (and as of now that looks to be the case), look for defenders to aim to get the ball into the hands of their offense. 
PREDICTION: Bills win 22-20

Trade Round-Up & NFL All-Pros

BILLS TRADE FOR #1 PICK IN 2017 DRAFT
The Buffalo Bills, strong favorites to win this year's Super Bowl, will be selecting first in the upcoming NFL Draft (according to several insider sources).  The team is set to trade Pro Bowler Luke Kuechly to the Tennessee Titans. Along with several other teams involved, the trade would net the Bills the #1 pick in the 2017 draft, which was held by the free-wheeling New York Jets who would obtain the #4 pick (from Jacksonville) and #18 pick (from Tennessee).  In addition to stealing all the postseason headlines with this Sunday's tilt against their rivals from Miami, Buffalo intends to immediately return to the spotlight after their postseason run once the season ends as they will be on the clock.

2016 NFL ALL PRO TEAM ANNOUNCED
The NFL announced their 2016 All Pro team today. The following 3GML players made the cut:

BUFFALO BILLS
1st Team ALL PRO
None
2nd Team ALL PRO
T Mitchell Schwartz
MLB Luke Kuechly
CB Casey Hayward
KR Tyler Lockett

MIAMI DOLPHINS
1st Team ALL PRO
DE Khalil Mack
MLB Bobby Wagner
K Justin Tucker
KR Cordarrelle Patterson
2nd Team ALL PRO
G David DeCastro

NEW YORK JETS
1st Team ALL PRO
Flex David Johnson
G Zack Martin
C Travis Frederick
DE Vic Beasley Jr.
DT Aaron Donald
PR Tyreek Hill
2nd Team ALL PRO
HB David Johnson
G Marshal Yanda

2017 Season - Wild Card

Miami Dolphins @ Houston Texans

                                     1         2         3         4         FINAL

MIAMI                      17         7         3        13        40

HOUSTON                 3         10        6         3         22

HOUSTON – The reigning Super Bowl Champions from Miami held off the hard-charging Houston Texans 40-22 Saturday at NRG Stadium.
Trailing 27-19 early in the 4th quarter, JJ Watt stripped the ball from Chris Ivory deep in Miami territory. 
With a chance to tie the game up, Brock Osweiler forced an ill-advised pass into a window occupied by Dolphins defensive back Byron Jones - who took the pick to the house.
"Coach put us in the right position," Jones said. "I'm just glad I was able to get it into the end-zone."
The Jones TD took all the air out of a stadium which had been rowdy throughout.
Ivory, despite the fumble, finished with 14 carries for 92 yards and a TD.
"I can't put the ball on the ground man," Ivory said. "I let my team town - I'm just glad Byron (Jones) bailed me out."
The typically stingy Miami defense bent for most of the day as the Texans passed for 351 yards. The team, however, continued to stall in the red zone.
"That killed us today," head coach Bill O'Brien said. "We gotta get TDs in the red zone."
After the Bengals defeated the Jaguars Sunday, the Dolphins will head to Buffalo for Round #3 against the Bills. 

Wild Card Preview (AFC East)

Miami Dolphins @ Houston Texans
Heading into what is sure to be a raucous NRG Stadium setting, the Miami Dolphins (14-2) will face off against the freshly minted AFC South Champions from Houston (10-6).
Despite being on the road, the Dolphins opened as 5.5 point favorites in Vegas, something JJ Watt didn't take too kindly.
"I see it as disrespectful to not be favored in our own building," Watt said. "I love being an underdog - we can go out and prove we are in it for the long haul."
Miami, who made the Super Bowl after making it in as the AFC's 4th seed  last year (and being underdogs themselves against the Bengals), know they playoffs are a different animal.
"We don't pay attention to favorites or stuff like that," David DeCastro said. "Twelve teams are in the tournament. Our focus is on winning our own battles and trying to score one more point than the Texans - which will be tough to do."
WHAT TO WATCH FOR: The Texans to start hot. Houston needs to get an early lead to try to get the Dolphins to get the ball into Jacoby Brissett's hands more. With playmakers DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller on the outside, they can get a lead. But it may not last.
PREDICTION: Dolphins win 35-20