Bills All in on 2014, Face Potential Franchise-Altering Game in Week 6

It's been a banner week for the Buffalo Bills.

This past Sunday, the team completed a comeback victory over the Detroit Lions to move to 3-2. And on Wednesday, local billionaire Terry Pegula was officially introduced as their new owner.

Pegula has pledged to keep the club in Buffalo, putting long-time supporters at ease and instilling rampant optimism for a new era of Bills football.

On Sunday, the Bills have a chance to cap off one of the most important stretches in their history with a win over New England. A victory at a sure-to-be-raucous Ralph Wilson Stadium would move them into sole possession of first place in the AFC East and kick the Pegula era off with a bang.

There's just one small problem.

If the Bills lose to New England and don't end up making the playoffs, it's safe to say that coach Doug Marrone and general manager Doug Whaley will both be fired. After all, Pegula will surely want to hire his own men.

Every move Marrone and Whaley have made since taking over prior to the 2013 season has led to this moment. They have clearly pushed their chips into the middle of the table and are all in on the 2014 season.

Win or lose, Sunday's game against the Patriots could alter the Bills franchise for years to come.

All in on 2014

On March 25 of this year, long-time Bills owner Ralph Wilson Jr. passed away, leading to overwhelming speculation about the team's future.

Would the team remain in Buffalo? Would the new owner come in and clean house?

With these questions unanswered, Marrone and Whaley did what anyone in full-on job-saving mode would do: gave themselves the best chance to succeed and succeed now.

Think about it, Marrone and Whaley were hired before the 2013 season and suffered through a 6-10 campaign—the 14th consecutive season without a playoff berth for the Bills. They surely knew that a new owner would want to hire his own people, so the logical assumption would be that winning now would curry favor with a jaded and win-starved fanbase and ensure their own job security.

That meant going all in on this season.

And on the first night of the 2014 NFL draft, Marrone and Whaley did just that.

The Dougs completed a stunning trade for Clemson receiver Sammy Watkins, trading the ninth-overall selection and first- and fourth-round picks in next year's draft to move up to fourth overall and tab the electric playmaker.

While Bills fans were predictably excited by the move—which was clearly a gutsy one—it seemed a desperate attempt to win now at the expense of the future.

A year earlier, Marrone and Whaley made quarterback EJ Manuel their first ever draft pick, and Manuel went on to struggle through an uneven rookie campaign that saw him miss six games due to various injuries. With Manuel not looking the part of a franchise passer, Marrone and Whaley obviously thought it necessary to supply him with an elite receiver and mortgaged part of the future to make it happen.

If Marrone and Whaley don't get the job done this year, they'll surely be fired by new ownership. Therefore, they can let the next coach and general manager worry about rebuilding without a first- and fourth-round selection in next year's draft. 

The move smacked of desperation and looked like it backfired when Manuel showed little improvement over the first four games of the season.

And with their record sitting at 2-2 following a gruesome road loss in Houston—in which Manuel wore the goat horns—Marrone and Whaley doubled down on 2014.

Enter Orton

To say that Manuel played poorly in this past preseason would be like saying that Kate Upton looks decent in a bikini.

Manuel was so dreadful and inept the Bills signed veteran backup Kyle Orton and paid him starter-type money (over $5 million per year over two seasons).

Once the transaction was finalized, the writing was on the wall; barring a series of unforeseen events (Manuel playing well), Orton would definitely find himself under center during the 2014 season.

And that came to pass after the loss in Houston, when Marrone announced the benching of Manuel and the promotion of Orton.

Jose Juarez/Associated Press

The news brought a mixed reaction from the local faithful and national media, with many decrying the move's short-sightedness and complaining that Manuel's growth would be stunted. After all, Manuel is only in his second full season as the starter—isn't it fair to expect growing pains and not assume he's just going to morph into the next Jim Kelly overnight? And the 31-year-old Orton is clearly not the long-term answer.

But Marrone and Whaley aren't worried about the future, and Manuel's growth can no longer remain a primary concern. They need to win and win now or risk losing their jobs at season's end. 

That's what made the move to promote Orton such an important one. It's now playoffs or bust in Buffalo.

After one game, it appears to have been an inspired decision. Orton was solid if unspectacular in Detroit and led the Bills to a comeback win, setting up Sunday's showdown against Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the Patriots.

A Franchise-Altering Game

Since Belichick took over as head coach prior to the 2000 season, the Patriots have won 11 division titles and three Super Bowl championships.

Over that time frame, the Bills have zero playoff appearances.

While the Patriots have often appeared invincible over their legendary run, the bloom is starting to come off the rose. New England's record currently sits at 3-2, but for the first time in a long time, there are more questions than answers surrounding Belichick's club.

Brady hasn't had a quintessential Brady year. More often than not, the offensive line has been a sieve.

On paper, the Bills match up well with the Patriots.

Buffalo's defense—tied for the NFL lead with 17 sacks—should be able to apply constant pressure on Brady. And with Watkins emerging and the run game looking solid, Orton should be able to matriculate the ball down the field against New England's defense.

With new ownership in tow, Sunday's crowd at Ralph Wilson Stadium is going to be rowdy. The denizens will demand New England-flavored blood and dream of January football if victory is achieved.

But let's say the opposite happens. Let's say Orton plays poorly and Brady slices and dices Buffalo's defense en route to a double-digt Patriots victory. The mantra will be "same ol' Bills" and could propel New England to yet another deep playoff run.

It's hard to imagine a game in Week 6 possessing these kind of franchise-altering implications.

Bill Wippert/Associated Press

A win kicks off a new era on a positive note and would go a long way toward keeping Marrone and Whaley employed. There's just no way that Pegula could fire them if they do indeed deliver Buffalo's first playoff appearance of the millennium. 

If that doesn't happen, though, there will be new men in charge of the Bills next year, and they'll have to suffer the consequences of the Watkins trade and failed selection of Manuel, which could ultimately set the franchise back years.

For Buffalo, it's not hyperbole to call Sunday's game a must-win.

The future might just depend on it.