Bills play it carefully in meaningless finale
After the Bills locked up their playoff spot in Week 15 and were officially eliminated from the division championship race in Week 16, the only question that remained in the regular season was how Sean McDermott would play Buffalo’s finale with absolutely nothing on the line.
We learned that McDermott and the Bills’ brass believe in resting starters when there’s nothing to play for and a playoff contest looms in the coming week. The Bills haven’t had an opportunity to see a scenario like this play out in Week 17 since 1999.
It would have been madness quite honestly if the Bills had their starters out there for more than a series or two in this game. Fortunately, the Bills recognized this and played it as most thought they would. Josh Allen did start the game at quarterback and played two drives, but he was gone from the game after that. Much of the Bills’ starting defense played to open up the game, though Tre’Davious White was inactive. Most of the Bills’ first-team defense came out after the Jets’ opening drive.
The Bills didn’t even take that much of a chance with their most important skill position players on Sunday. Devin Singletary, Dawson Knox, John Brown, and Cole Beasley were all inactive.
There was no point to risk injury to any important players in a meaningless game, especially on the wet New Era Field turf. It’s easy to see why many felt this way when watching Levi Wallace hobble off the field with an ankle injury in the first quarter. Wallace might not have been long for the game when the injury happened as he is a starter. But what happened to him is an example of why so many teams, the Bills included, play games like this very carefully.
The Bills, of course, couldn’t rest everybody as they did need to field a 46-man roster for the game. This is why regulars like Ed Oliver and Cody Ford saw so much time in this game. Wallace would be included in that group, which is why it was so unfortunate to see him come up hurt during the first quarter.