1. ESPN analyst sees Bills as a power in AFC in 2021
As disappointing as the loss in the AFC Championship game may have been, it has done little to change the thoughts of ESPN NFL analyst Matt Hasselbeck about Buffalo's fortunes heading into the 2021 season.
"I don't think they need much," said Hasselbeck in an appearance on WGR Sportsradio 550 this week. "I think they just need to do it when it counts. I think they just need to have one of their best days and they didn't have their best days when they played the Chiefs this year.
"The first time they could not stop the run and the second time around I thought the game plan that Leslie Frazier put together was excellent. I thought they were ready to go and then their offense looked like they were trying too hard. They weren't themselves."
Hasselbeck said with the way the Bills were playing in the second half of the season he saw them as legitimate championship contenders, but felt they didn't play at their optimum level.
"But I think they're in the mix right now to get back there next year," he said. "It's about more consistent play in their matchups with the Chiefs. The continuity and ability to keep your coordinators is a huge plus. If the Bills can win the AFC East again and make people go to Buffalo to play in the playoffs, the future is bright for them."
2. Former Bills LB, NFL head coach in hospice care
Former NFL head coach and former Bills LB Marty Schottenheimer has been placed in hospice care near his home in Charlotte, North Carolina this week due to complications from his Alzheimer's disease. Schottenheimer was diagnosed back in 2014.
Schottenheimer's wife offered the following in a statement released on Wednesday.
"As a family we are surrounding him with love and are soaking up the prayers and support from all those he impacted through his incredible life. In the way he taught us all, we are putting one foot in front of the other… one play at a time."
In addition to a very successful head coaching career, which included stints with the Browns, Chiefs, Washington and the Chargers, Schottenheimer was also a linebacker with the Buffalo Bills during their AFL days from 1965-1968.
He was named head coach of the year in 2004.
3. Bills Mafia at it again
The Bills Mafia charity train is back on the tracks and rolling in money for another good cause connected to a Bills player. Just days after Stefon Diggs posted a heartfelt thank you to the Bills fan base following the disappointing loss to the Chiefs in the AFC title game, fans responded to Diggs with $14 donations to his chosen charity, the American Heart Association.
The $14 donations were in honor of his jersey number and more than $20 thousand had been raised in the first week or so.
Right after the Bills Divisional Playoff win over Baltimore, the Bills Mafia donated money to Lamar Jackson's charity in Louisville where he played college ball after he left the game early with a concussion.
And following the passing of Josh Allen's grandmother they donated more than $1 million to Oishei Children's Hospital where a pediatric wing of the hospital was named in Patricia Allen's honor.
