The Buffalo Bills lost again on Sunday and they also lost cornerback Vontae Davis, who literally quit playing football after a half in which the Bills were trailing 28-6.
Davis didn’t appear on the field in the final two quarters of the game in which the Bills inevitably lost Josh Allen’s first career start, 31-20. But the biggest opponent on Sunday was the crippling realization that nothing matters and that the football team that plays in Orchard Park will never, ever be good at the sport of American football.
Bills linebacker Lorenzo Alexander told reporters after the loss that Davis actually quit playing football at the half, effectively telling the Bills that he had enough.
More to come. Wild story. Lorenzo Alexander says he was told as he went out for the second half that Vontae Davis quit.
— Mark Ludwiczak (@marklud12) September 16, 2018
Do you know how bad things have to be for someone to just retire at the half? Not after a game, but at halftime. Multiple people reported this, so you know that it is a thing that actually happened and not some weird fever dream you have when you’re trapped in a hopeless maelstrom of bad football.
Lorenzo Alexander says he was told at start of second half that Vontae Davis quit and retired.
— Mike Rodak (@mikerodak) September 16, 2018
No, really. The guy just took off his jersey, put on what he wore to work that day and called it a career.
Word is Vontae Davis put on his street clothes at half, said he was quitting and left the stadium, per another source https://t.co/spdxMWrNSd
— Chris Mortensen (@mortreport) September 16, 2018
Bills head coach and white bread enthusiast Sean McDermott told reporters after the game that, yeah, dude said ‘I’m good’ and walked away from playing professional football for the Buffalo Bills.
McDermott on Vontae Davis: "He pulled himself out of the game. He told us he was done."
— WGR 550 (@WGR550) September 16, 2018
Honestly, if you’ve seen this team and know what’s ahead in Buffalo this fall, you really can’t blame the dude. But Alexander was furious with Davis for what he did, calling it “disrespectful” in an interview where he expressed frustration about losing a teammate to a pension plan during the middle of the dang game. Look at his face here.
Bills LB Lorenzo Alexander said he was told CB Vontae Davis quit the team and retired at halftime of Sunday's game. "It's completely disrespectful," Alexander said. https://t.co/IbnsMU9MEx pic.twitter.com/zkxXsNlq9r
— Mike Rodak (@mikerodak) September 16, 2018
“I never have seen that, ever,” Alexander told reporters, including ESPN’s Mike Rodak, who posted the video on Sunday evening. “Pop Warner. High school. College. Pros. Never heard of it, never seen it. It’s just completely disrespectful to his teammates.”
Alexander was breaking the news to a group of reporters who have covered the Bills for a long time, including through a 17-year playoff drought where the Bills found an impressive variety of ways to be bad at professional football. But this, this was something new.
“He didn’t say nothing to nobody,” Alexander said when asked if Davis notified his teammates what he was doing. “You know as much as I know. I found out in the second half of the game. Coming out they said ‘He’s not coming out. He retired.’”
A reporter actually asks “what,” when Alexander was done, a hopeless plea in the middle of an interview to come to grips with what happened. It’s almost as if giving up on something you’ve worked your entire life to do for a living is unreasonable when you’re forced to deal with the horrors the Bills will deliver this season. It is not.
But the deed is done. Davis is done. And the Bills have, unbelievably, 14 more games to endure before they miss the playoffs for the first time since 2017.
How many more will be lost along the way?
