Loquacious Bills star Dion Dawkins says title quests need not be perfect

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Whether protecting quarterback Josh Allen’s blindside, opening holes for running back James Cook, or providing pithy answers to reporters’ questions, Dion Dawkins is someone you can always count on. A go-to guy on the field and in the locker room. A Pro Bowl offensive tackle and a Pro Bowl quote.

As he proved again following the Buffalo Bills frantic, much-needed 44-32 victory Sunday against Tampa Bay, Dawkins has a way with words and a wonderful perspective on the vicissitudes of an NFL season. On the heels of a terrible, the-sky-is-falling loss to Miami the week before, the Bills rebounded against the Bucs, and did so on a blustery day that began miserably for Josh with a two-handed, chuck-it-up pass interception, but ended with him performing like Superman, with three touchdown passes and three touchdown runs.

“It’s never going to be perfect, I promise you,’’ Dawkins said, summing up Allen and the Bills performance during that game and this season. “If games were perfect, y’all would be bored, right? . . . If there wasn’t anxiety, or if everybody’s emotions weren’t high, y’all would be bored. So, hey, we’re gonna take what we got, guys are gonna continue to be unperfect, and we’re going to play through the unperfection.”

After a wink, he added, “I made that word up.”

Unperfection. Imperfection. You get the picture. In a topsy-turvy league during a topsy-turvy season, the Bills, like virtually every team, occasionally struggle against their opponents and themselves. Despite a rash of injuries on defense and a dearth of big-play receivers on offense, Buffalo found itself with a 7-3 record entering Thursday night’s game in Houston. There’s still a chance they could overtake the 9-2 New England Patriots (the teams meet in Foxborough, Mass. December 14) in the race for the AFC East crown. And there’s still a shot, albeit a slim one, to leap-frog the Patriots, 9-2 Denver, and 8-2 Indianapolis for the conference’s top seed.

The Bills have plenty of flaws, particularly defensively, where they rank 31st (second-to-last) against the run, yielding 153 rushing yards per game. And they’ve struggled with turnovers, ranking 13th in takeaway-giveaway ratio at plus-one. A year after committing just six turnovers the entire season, Josh has nine (seven interceptions, two lost fumbles) through his first 10 games.

That said, he remains the most dynamic player in the NFL. No one is more capable of single-handedly taking over a game the way Josh does. We were reminded of that Sunday, when he became the first player in league history to have multiple games of throwing for three scores and running for three scores in the same contest.

Given the Bills deficiencies and a challenging schedule that has them playing four of their final six on the road, they will need to keep leaning heavily but not totally on Josh. They need to get Cook and the run game rolling again. They need to receive more chunk plays from their backs and receivers. And they need to do a better job clogging up the run.

The Bills have two heavyweight confrontations remaining – the aforementioned Patriots game and a December 28 home game at Highmark Stadium against the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles showdown could be one of the most watched NFL regular-season games ever because both teams likely will be battling for top seeds in their respective conferences.

Another game that bears watching is the Bills December 7 home game with the Cincinnati Bengals. Although the 3-7 Bengals are on the verge of being eliminated from playoff contention, injured superstar quarterback Joe Burrow should be back within two weeks. With him throwing to home-run threats Chase Brown, Ja’Marr Chase, and Tee Higgins, the Bengals have the ability to put up 40 points on anyone. But their defense is as bad as their offense is great, so that game has the potential to be a shootout. As Allen showed against the Baker Mayfield-led Bucs on Sunday and in a season-opening 41-40 comeback win against the Lamar Jackson/Derrick Henry-led Baltimore Ravens, he can gun-sling with the best of them, if need be.

Sunday was an especially good day for Bills Mafia. Not only did their team rebound, but their arch nemesis, the Kansas City Chiefs, lost to Denver, to drop to 5-5. Just a few weeks ago, the Chiefs appeared to have regained the swagger that propelled them to three Super Bowl championships and five Super Bowl appearances the past six years. Although The Athletic playoff simulator still gives them a 57 percent chance of making the postseason, I think they may be toast. They still struggle to protect Patrick Mahomes, and their speedy receivers – does this sound familiar, Bills fans? – are having difficulties getting open and getting on the same page as their star quarterback. Last year, Kansas City lived a charmed existence, going 11-0 in one-score games. This year, they are 0-5 in tight contests.

Bills Mafia members are well aware of the Chiefs’ 4-0 postseason record against Buffalo during the Mahomes-Allen era. As if that isn’t enough incentive to not want to play them again this January, there’s also a little Bills history at play here. Were the Chiefs to make the playoffs and reach the Super Bowl, they would join Buffalo as the only teams to play in four consecutive Super Bowls. Although those Jim Kelly-powered Bills of the early 1990s lost all four of those games, that team’s unprecedented feat of resiliency grows more impressive with each passing year. Of course, if the Chiefs were to make the playoffs this January and were to be eliminated by the Bills, that might be even more satisfying than the Chiefs not making the postseason at all. Perhaps, though, given the heartbreaking nature of Buffalo’s playoff losses to them, it’s best not to tempt the fates. Let them stew at home while watching the Bills continue to play through their “unperfection.”

Best-selling author and nationally honored journalist Scott Pitoniak is the Rochester Business Journal sports columnist.