Full Buffalo Bills Awards at Halfway Point of 2014 Season

Heading into their bye week, the Buffalo Bills are 5-3 and very much alive in the AFC playoff race. With a week to catch their breath, the Bills will now assess their play from the first half of the season and make adjustments to fix what has gone wrong.

The Bills' November schedule could set them up to stay in the hunt for the playoffs. Three of the next four games for the Bills are at home, so with a tough December waiting (games against the Broncos, Packers and Patriots await), the Bills have to make the most of a perceived soft spot in their schedule.

But before we get caught looking ahead, let's take a moment and look back at the first half of the Bills' season. A lot of players have had a hand in the team's solid start, so let's hand out some awards and recognize the hard work these players have put in.

MVP

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This was a surprisingly tough award to figure out. One of either Jerry Hughes or Marcell Dareus has a case for most valuable player based on the value portion. Both players are providing excellent play along the defensive line while being underpaid (neither makes more than $4 million this year).

But, ultimately, Kyle Orton is the team's MVP for the first half of the season. And that's despite only playing in four of the first eight games. What swings the award for Orton? Whatever you would call the football equivalent of WAR (wins above replacement).

While Hughes and Dareus are both certainly better than their backups, Jarius Wynn, Stefan Charles and Corbin Bryant have been more than serviceable spelling the starting defensive linemen. EJ Manuel, however, is a considerable downgrade from Orton.

We've seen both play, so we can easily compare both players. And it goes beyond numbers. Orton is far more decisive and accurate with the ball, and he has helped unleash Sammy Watkins on defenses. If it weren't for the wretched offensive line, Orton would look even better.

In addition, Orton has led the Bills to three wins in his four starts, with the only loss coming to a Patriots team that looks like an offensive juggernaut right now. It hasn't always been pretty, but Orton has gotten the job done. If Doug Marrone didn't hand Manuel the clipboard and put Orton in, the Bills may have been under .500 heading into the bye.

LVP

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Unlike the MVP award, it is a cinch to point out the least valuable player on the Bills through the first eight weeks.

Right guard Erik Pears has consistently been one of the worst players on the field each week. Pears has been rated lowest among guards by Pro Football Focus for much of the season (h/t Tim Graham of The Buffalo News).

Those covering the Bills have also taken notice. Here's a take by Joe Buscaglia of WGR from a few weeks ago. Check out another by Chris Trapasso of NFL.com. There's plenty more to be found, so we won't pile on.

The biggest reason Pears is still in the lineup is because there are few other options on the roster. Perhaps Doug Marrone could give Chris Hairston or Cyrus Kouandjio a shot. Like Pears, they are both tackles by trade, but they can't be any worse than Pears has been.

Because the run game is in shambles, the Bills need to be able to protect Kyle Orton to keep winning games. If Pears continues his ugly play, it will be difficult to stop rushes up the middle.

Offensive POY

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Here's another relatively easy award to hand out. For the record, Sammy Watkins is also the rookie of the year in a landslide, so we will skip that award.

But rookie or not, Watkins has been the best offensive player for the Bills. He leads the team in catches (38), yards (590) and touchdowns (five). And he's not just leading. He's dominating. No other Bill has over 300 yards receiving. Robert Woods is the only other player with multiple receiving touchdowns, and he has two.

More often than not, Watkins has been almost the entire offense for the Bills. Defenses know that, and they still can't stop him. 

Watkins has shown up on a number of midseason all-rookie teams, including one from NFL.com. Robert Mays of Grantland.com also had Watkins on his all-rookie squad, and Mays described Watkins as "cornerback-destroying."

Here's another highlight from Mays: "The way Watkins accelerates across the field makes game tape look doctored." Mays also said Watkins is "impossible" to check on routes across the field. Watkins does it all, and the Bills will continue to lean on him as the season goes on.

Barring some sort of disaster, it looks like the Bills made the right choice in trading their 2015 first-round pick to move up for Watkins. It looks like the Bills will give up a pick in the late teens or early 20s, and here's how any call would ever go with general manager Doug Whaley regarding Watkins:

Other GM: "Hey, Doug, I just wanted to chat about a possible deal for Sammy Wat-"

Click.

Defensive POY

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The defensive player of the year award was too tough to call, so two players are going to share the award. As we mentioned, both Jerry Hughes and Marcell Dareus have been absolute monsters on the defensive line for the Bills.

Dareus is tied for fifth in the league with seven sacks. Hughes isn't far behind, and his 5.5 sacks are tied for 12th in the NFL. Hughes even found himself on the All-Pro first team compiled by Andy Benoit of SI.com's The MMQB.

Benoit said Hughes gives the Bills "consistent speed off the edge." That speed also helps in the run game, where the Bills are one of the best in the league at stopping the run. And just think, the Bills only had to give Kelvin Sheppard to the Colts for Hughes. Sheppard now plays for the Dolphins.

Dareus, meanwhile, has been a force in the middle of the Bills defensive line. His career high for sacks is 7.5, which he notched last year. It's pretty safe to assume he will eclipse that mark this season.

And Dareus has clearly changed whatever diet he was on that caused him to show up to training camp out of shape. Now, Dareus feasts on double-teams weekly and either plays through them or opens the door for his teammates to make plays in the run game. 

Hughes is 26, and Dareus is only 24. Both players will be in need of new contracts before long, and Hughes is a free agent after this season. The Bills would be smart to lock these two up for the long haul.

Best Newcomer

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As the only winner of more than one of these prestigious awards, Kyle Orton runs away with the award for the team's best newcomer.

In his first year with the team (after not even signing with Buffalo until the end of training camp), Orton has salvaged an offense that was sputtering with EJ Manuel under center. Perhaps most importantly, Orton has helped Sammy Watkins look like the stud he was advertised to be out of college.

In Orton's four games with the Bills, he has thrown for 1,128 yards with nine touchdowns and only three interceptions. He's also completed 67.4 percent of his passes, whereas Manuel only completed 58 percent in his four games as the starter.

As we've seen, the one knock on Orton is he takes too many sacks. He doesn't have the mobility of Manuel, but his experience and accuracy make up for his lack of athleticism. With an extra week to diagnose and fix his errors, Orton should be primed to help his team make a push for a spot in the playoffs.

Unsung Hero

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Sammy Watkins, Kyle Orton and the running back situation have gotten most of the attention with regard to the offense. But there is one player who doesn't get much press but makes plays for the Bills when they need them.

We are talking about tight end Scott Chandler. Chandler is not the most athletic receiver, but he has a big body, and, at least this season, he has always seemed to show up when the Bills need him.

Chandler is third on the team in receiving yards with 290, and only three players have more catches than Chandler's 23. In addition, 14 of those catches have gone for first downs. One of them could end up being a major difference-maker for the Bills.

You know which one we mean: at home against the Vikings, 4th-and-20 with under two minutes to go. Seriously, 4th-and-20! Chandler was as cool as the other side of the pillow on that play and picked up 24 yards to keep the Bills alive. Sammy Watkins ultimately caught the game-winner, but Chandler had the game-saver.

In what is shaping up to be a tight playoff race in the AFC, every win counts. If Chandler continues to make plays when they matter most, the Bills can keep tallying wins.