ORCHARD PARK–It’s that time of year again.

Yes, it’s Epiphany.

And it’s January, which means ski and snowmobile seasons are upon us.

Yet neither of those is what today’s column is about.

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It’s National Football League playoff time, and you, Buffalo Bills’ fans, can enjoy what in recent years has come to be common: Your team, which in the 2000s and 2010s went almost two decades without a playoff appearance, is in the post-season tournament.

Again.

And the team is the No. 2 seed in the American Football Conference.

Again.

That means the Bills’ first two playoff games–if the Bills win the first–will be at Highmark Stadium, the Bills’ home field in Orchard Park.

As Jackie Gleason used to say: “How sweet it is.”

Yes, indeed.

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What’s more, all of this is happening in what was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the team.

You heard all of the naysayers before the 2024 season.

They even doubted whether the Bills would win the AFC Eastern Division.

Blah, blah, blah.

Blah, blah, blah.

And blah, blah, blah.

Well, so much for the naysayers. The Bills have thrived in this, the “rebuilding” year. The team even locked up the AFC East crown with several weeks to go in the regular season.

Although there was still much for which to play–especially a high seed in the playoffs–the AFC East crown belongs to the Bills for the fifth consecutive season.

What’s more, there’s the prospect of one team member being the NFL’s most valuable player. The team member, however, has convincingly said he doesn’t care about that.

That’s characteristic of him. When things go wrong, he puts the blame on himself, even when “everybody” knows it doesn’t belong there. It’s part of his humility in wanting the whole team–not himself–to prevail.

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The 2024 team may be the Buffalo Bills’ best team since the franchise’s inception in 1960.

A longtime friend who knows far more about the subject than this columnist believes the 1990 team was even better.

Either way, the 2024 team may be the best not only in the Sean McDermott era but also the best since the Marv Levy era, when the team racked up four AFC championships.

Some have heard this columnist say this season that when the 2024 team is firing on all cylinders, no team can beat it.

During the 2024 regular season, the Bills defeated the teams that would go on to be the No. 1 seeds in both conferences.

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None of us in the Buffalo Bills’ family should look past either the wild-card round or the divisional round of the playoffs. If we do, we may not have a game the following week.

With that in mind, let’s recall what is familiar to you, faithful reader of this column.

In fact, you read it here a year ago this week, when the AFC East champion Bills also faced four possible playoff games.

Here it is again.

Winning one game in the playoffs will be great.

Winning two will be better.

Yet, if we win three, we must also win four.

There’s no stopping at three.

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To that end, you, faithful reader of this column, will also recall the frequent Levy admonition: “Run and stop the run.”

Not running the ball enough means, among other things, that the Bills’ time of possession isn’t as high as it should be. That, in turn, means that the defense has to be on the field more than it should be, which can mean tiring out the defense, which makes it harder to win.

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All of us–from all across Western New York–have earned the ultimate Buffalo Bills’ victory.

Go Bills.

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The only sports-fan letter Randy Elf has ever written was to Marv Levy, who wrote back to express his thanks and to say that he liked the enclosed Winston Churchill poster so much that he had it framed and mounted on his office wall at the stadium.

COPYRIGHT © 2025 BY RANDY ELF