When Thursday Night Football rolls around, everything you think you know can be tossed out the window. Nothing makes sense when teams have a short week of preparation, little time to heal from injuries, and a totally different rhythm leading up to a game.
That's the spot the heavily favored Buffalo Bills found themselves in against the Miami Dolphins to open Week 3. A 'Phins team that had looked hapless for its first eight quarters of the season suddenly looked like a heavyweight.
And Buffalo, not even playing poorly, found itself in a 12-round match heading for a narrow decision.
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That's when Terrel Bernard showed that whatever time there had been for prep work this week had paid off.
On what turned out to be the game's pivotal snap with the Bills clinging to a 28-21 lead, Bernard dropped back in zone coverage, and his eyes never left Tua Tagovailoa's vision.
Sometimes, a quarterback's eyes can lie. Not this time.
This time, Tagovailoa stared down his target the entire way. Bernard broke to his left a couple steps and met the pass perfectly, as if Tua had been throwing a comeback route to the Bills linebacker.
A first down and a field goal later and the Bills had iced a 31-21 victory that for most of the night felt so much closer.
The Dolphins had shown their intentions right away, Malik Washington returning the opening kickoff over the 50 to set up an immediate touchdown.
Tagovailoa was on time and on target, something that had rarely happened so far this season.
Tyreek Hill looked electric. De'Von Achane looked dangerous. Ollie Gordon looked powerful.
Meanwhile, the Bills' offense was coming from early-down James Cook runs and a lot of throwing to the tight ends (including the first NFL TD for rookie Jackson Hawes on one of those goofy yet beautiful backhand tosses from Josh Allen through a couple defenders).
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Buffalo couldn't create separation. A team favored in Vegas to win by a dozen points spent much of the game tied.
But the standings don't care about margin of victory, especially on a Thursday.
If there's ever a night in the NFL when it's survive and advance, it's one of these obnoxious short weeks.
And that's when team leaders like Bernard have to step up.
Over the summer, the show Hard Knocks spent some time featuring head coach Sean McDermott speaking to Allen and Bernard, coach to captains. Everyone knows Allen is the leader of this football team, but Bernard is one of many names that the fanbase knows on defense. It's not always obvious one is in front of the other.
But the Bills voted Bernard as their Allen-equivalent on defense. Many nights, it's Allen himself who saves the day.
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This time, it was Bernard, in his new No. 8, making Tagovailoa look bad and giving a whole Bills Mafia reason to belt Mr. Brightside at full volume.
Bernard made them want to shout, and so all of Western New York could wake up Friday morning happy, not just thanking God for the final day of the work week but thanking the man upstairs for their brilliant, beautiful, resilient, still undefeated Buffalo Bills.
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