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Starting with their Monday Night Football matchup against the San Francisco 49ers this week, the Buffalo Bills will have the opportunity to prove themselves in the national spotlight as they play four straight games on primetime television.
After their matchup with the 49ers, the Bills will host the currently undefeated Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday Night Football. Then, they travel to Denver on Dec. 19 to take on the Broncos at 4:30 p.m. after their game was flexed to the Saturday primetime slot.
They’ll finish off their run of primetime games with another Monday Night Football matchup. This time it will be on Dec. 28 against the New England Patriots.
The Bills haven’t received the opportunity to play in the spotlight like they have this season but, when they have, they’ve taken advantage of it. They beat the Dallas Cowboys in Jerry’s World on Thanksgiving Day and they also defeated the Steelers on Sunday Night Football in Pittsburgh for their final win of 2019.
But, before those two occasions, the Bills rarely received the opportunity. That isn’t the case this year though and McDermott believes he knows why.
“When you are in the national spotlight, you usually have a pretty good team,” McDermott said during a video conference call earlier this week.
He’s right.
The Bills are one of the best teams in the NFL at the moment as they lead the AFC East with a record of 8-3. Josh Allen has also played MVP caliber football at times this season and the defense is starting to find pieces of its former self that led it to become one of the best in the NFL last year.
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Get Comfortable, Being Uncomfortable
The Bills are in a great position to prove to the rest of the league that they are a team that could be considered a Super Bowl contender. Four wins in primetime, including one over an undefeated Steelers team, could prove just that. But, they have to overcome a few different obstacles in order to do so.
“We know what it is and we have to be comfortable, being uncomfortable, knowing we’re not going to have normal weeks from here on out,” McDermott said. “I think it’s a great opportunity for us as an organization and I know our players are looking forward to it as well, starting this week.”
Due to new coronavirus safety protocols in Santa Clara County, where the San Francisco 49ers play, Monday night’s game was moved to the home of the Arizona Cardinals. So, the Bills will be returning to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, AZ for the second time this season.
The Bills Need To Overcome an Irregular Schedule
Playing on Sunday afternoons has been kind to the Bills this season. Anytime they’ve played at 1 p.m. on a Sunday, they’ve won and all three of their losses have come outside of that normal time frame.
The Bills lost to the Tennesse Titans on a Tuesday in Week 5 after Tennesse suffered a coronavirus outbreak and had to adjust their schedule in order to get games in. To accommodate that move, the Bills had to reschedule their Thursday Night Football matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs to the following Monday night and ended up suffering their second straight loss. They also lost to the Cardinals while playing in the second slate of games on Nov. 15.
There are no excuses from the Bills though, they know they have to take advantage of the opportunity and come ready to play whenever they are told to.
“Although we all love playing those 1 o’clock games so we can get home and spend time with family because we all work a lot,” McDermott said. “It is nice to be recognized when you have as many primetime games as we’re getting. It means you’re respected around the league and it’s great for our fans too.”
While most players relish the opportunity to play in the national spotlight, McDermott has his players thinking that it’s just another game for them. An opportunity to go out and prove themselves.
“The only really different thing is schedule-wise because we get an extra day to prepare,” Allen said in a video conference call earlier this week. “We understand it’s not just wake up and get to the stadium and get ready to go. It’s kind of a long process throughout that day and the more that we play them the more experience we have of what to expect on that given day.”
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