Buffalo Bills Still Winless, but Show Heart and Passion

The winless Buffalo Bills were on the road to take on the heavily favored Baltimore Ravens, only to see their best offensive showing of the year come up a bit short in a hard-fought 37-34 overtime loss.

This game was widely considered around the NFL to be a laugher, as the Ravens defense, ranked No. 3 in the league, was facing the woeful Bills offense, ranked No. 30. Ray Lewis ran his mouth about how the Bills should watch out, but it was the Bills offense, led by Ryan Fitzpatrick and Steve Johnson, that made Lewis look foolish by creating over 500 yards in offense.

The Bills played with more heart and passion than they had demonstrated all season. Maybe it was a result of the bye week, the extra time to prepare, the players-only meeting or that the Bills were just due to play a good game.

However the fact is that the Bills lost the game. Since the Carolina Panthers defeated the San Francisco 49ers, the Bills are now the only NFL team still in search of their first win of the year.

Bills End Some of Their Negative Streaks

We had detailed last week all of the various streaks that the Bills were hoping to break. A number of those finally came to a gracious halt, but some still remain in tact.

What streaks ended Sunday?

Buffalo had an embarrassing streak of 59 games without a 300-yard passer. Ryan Fitzpatrick smashed that streak by throwing for 373 yards against a strong Ravens defense. How many people thought the streak would end on this game? Amazing.

The Bills had gone 11 straight games without a receiver gaining 100 yards in a game. That streak ended not with just one receiver, but two. Both Lee Evans and Steve Johnson wound up with more than 100 yards in receiving. Evans had 105 yards on six catches while Johnson had 158 yards on eight catches.

The streaks that are still alive and growing are:

The Bills have now allowed 30 points or more in five straight games, setting a dubious franchise mark.

The Bills have gone six games without having a 100-yard rusher. They did give Fred Jackson 23 carries, and if they keep doing that he will get his 100 yards game. For the day, he gained 73 yards.

The Bills secondary has now gone six straight games without an interception, although that is debatable based on the call against Reggie Corner.

The Bills have lost six straight contests. Up next is a game at the Kansas City Chiefs.

Steve Johnson Continues to Emerge as a Talented Wide Receiver

Facing a talented Ravens defense, Steve Johnson managed to come up with one highlight play after another. Johnson hauled in eight passes for 158 yards, broke a number of tackles and racked up impressive yardage-after-catch totals throughout the contest.

Johnson has caught a touchdown pass in four straight games and is someone that opposing defenses will have to be targeting, along with fantasy owners.

Johnson shows strong hands, is tough to bring down and demonstrates strong speed in pulling away from defenders. The only thing I would like to see is trying to punish defenders trying to tackle him, rather than sauntering out of bounds. That happened on two different occasions today.

The emergence of Johnson has allowed Lee Evans to become a force again in the Bills offense, as Evans came up with three touchdown catches today.

Ryan Fitzpatrick Continues to Look Better and Better at Quarterback

Ryan Fitzpatrick continues to grow in his role as the entrenched starting quarterback for the Buffalo Bills. A good illustration came at the two-minute warning.

Out of timeouts at their 12-yard line and facing fourth-and-seven, Fitzpatrick calmly hit rookie David Nelson with a pass that resulted in a first down. Fitzpatrick led the comeback drive, allowing the Bills to tie the game in the final play of regulation.

Fitzpatrick led the Bills on scoring drives of 72, 91, 82, 63 and 59 yards. The Ravens tried to find ways to get some pressure on him, but they came up with only one sack. That stat is impressive and is a reflection on Fitzpatrick's agility, toughness and ability to sense what is going on around him—something that Trent Edwards was unable to do.

Not only did Fitzpatrick torch the Ravens for long touchdown passes, but he was hitting his receivers in stride. He demonstrated his toughness again, breaking a tackle by Ray Lewis and once had his helmet ripped off during one of his scrambles.

The Bills may have been thinking about drafting a QB in the 2011 draft who will be viewed as the future franchise player but the way that Fitzpatrick has been playing for the last month, the Bills would be winning games if they had a reasonable defense. This has been a very welcome development.

Cordaro Howard Starts First Career Game at RIght Tackle

The Bills held off the aggressive Baltimore Ravens defense by only allowing one sack for the entire contest. What was even more amazing about that statement was that the Bills were starting a rookie at right tackle, as Cordaro Howard started for the injured Cornell Green.

Fitzpatrick appeared to have time most of the day to throw, so one would have to assume that Howard held his own. He wasn't flagged for any penalties and kept his composure while playing on the road.

If his play continues to improve, one would have to wonder if he takes the starting job away from Cornell Green.

Ed Wang is also getting closer to returning, so there may be some competition there.

Should Ray Lewis Shut His Pie Hole?

Larry French/Getty Images

BALTIMORE, MD - OCTOBER 24: Ray Lewis #52 of the Baltimore Ravens is introduced before the game against the Buffalo Bills at M&T Bank Stadium on October 24, 2010 in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens defeated the Bills 37-34. (Photo by Larry French/Getty Im

There is no doubt that Ray Lewis is a talented player who is capable of motivating his team. But he went a little far when he warned the Bills that they better "watch out" since the team was mad about losing to the Patriots.

The Bills made Lewis eat his words as they drove the ball up and down the field on the highly respected Ravens defense. The Bills were able to convert on both short and long third-down conversions, converting on 11 of 17 conversion attempts. The Bills came up with 27 first downs, had more plays on offense (79 to 62) and won the time of possession battle (38 minutes and change to 25(.

Where the Bills lost was in giving up four turnovers, while the Ravens coughed it up twice. Buffalo's was two fumbles and two interceptions, as C.J. Spiller and Shawn Nelson fumbled, while Ed Reed came up with two picks of Fitzpatrick throws.

Lewis did back up his talk with a strong game, as he led the Ravens with 14 solo tackles, one sack, a deflected pass that he didn't see coming and a strip of Shawn Nelson in overtime that led to the winning field goal.

Maybe running his mouth gave the Bills some bulletin-board material. It was comical to see Lewis screaming at his teammates on the sidelines, as this was the first game the Ravens had allowed four touchdown passes since 2007. Next time Ray, put a zipper on the pie hole.

Bills Are Hurt by Ed Reed, Todd Heap and Willis McGahee

Larry French/Getty Images

BALTIMORE, MD - OCTOBER 24: Ed Reed #20 of the Baltimore Ravens returns an interception against the Buffalo Bills at M&T Bank Stadium on October 24, 2010 in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens defeated the Bills 37-34. (Photo by Larry French/Getty Images)

There was debate leading up to the game whether or not the Ravens would activate Ed Reed off of the PUP list or give him two more weeks to heal, considering that the Ravens are coming up to their bye week. The Ravens decided to activate Reed anyway, and they are now very glad that they did.

All Reed did was come up with three turnovers, including forcing a fumble on Roscoe Parrish. Reed did seem to come up hurt in the second half and left for the locker room, but there is no question that the Ravens wouldn't had won without him.

As for Todd Heap, he came up with two touchdown receptions. The safety combinations of Donte Whitner, Jairus Byrd and Bryan Scott were not able to react in time to passes in the red zone, leaving Heap wide open to haul in easy scores.

The inability to defend against tight ends continues to be a major problem for the Bills defense and haunts them week in and week out.

Ex-Buffalo Bills running back Willis McGahee had a good game running the ball, as he came up with 64 yards in 11 carries and hurt the Bills repeatedly with his running style. Ray Rice also had 72 yards in 16 carries, but the Bills managed to hold the Ravens to only 364 total yards of offense for the day.

Reggie Corner's One-Handed Interception Denied by Referees

As you can see in this slide, Reggie Corner had clearly made an interception of a Joe Flacco pass in the Bills' end zone. As he was falling backward in the end zone, one of his feet landed on the Ravens wide receiver's leg and apparently never touched the ground.

His elbow and other body parts appeared to be inside the end zone, but after officials reviewed the play upstairs in the booth, the call was ruled to be an incomplete pass.

The ruling hurt badly, as the Ravens wound up taking the ball in for a touchdown on the drive. This could have been the Bills' first interception by a member of the secondary this year. Not only did it give the Ravens seven additional points, but it kept the momentum of the game from shifting back to the Bills.

This was a bizarre play as Corner made the catch about five yards deep in the end zone, but somehow never landed in bounds as his momentum carried him out of the end zone. It will be curious to see if a play like this is deemed to be up for a rule change in the offseason or not.

Another Call Goes Against Bills: Kelsay Fumble Recovery Is Reversed

Another big play in the contest was Chris Kelsay's fumble recovery after Joe Flacco lost control of the ball. The turnover would have given the Bills the ball deep in Ravens territory, but the referees reviewed the play and the ultimate decision was that Flacco's knee was down and thus the play was over before the fumble.

Winning teams seem to have the ball bounce their way. They get the breaks, and the opposite is true for teams that have losing records. The ball continues to bounce against the Bills. The interception that bounced off of Ray Lewis' arm when he didn't even see the pass coming is just one more example of the ball bouncing against the Bills.

The overturned call, by the way, was the right call; it was just one more unfortunate development.

Bills Had Costly Fumbles By C.J. Spiller and Shawn Nelson

Shawn Nelson made his 2010 season debut on Sunday. He almost made a great one-handed catch for a touchdown in the first half. He did have an important third-down conversion catch, but it was his fumble in overtime that ultimately cost the Bills the game.

Nelson did a good job of moving his feet in the pile, but started to lose his balance when the offensive linemen started to push the pile forward. Ray Lewis, being the wily veteran that he is, reached up and stole the ball from Nelson. It was an unfortunate turnover for the Bills, as they were starting to drive the ball on the Ravens defense once again.

C.J. Spiller was stripped of the ball during a kickoff return late in the first half. The turnover resulted in an easy score for the Ravens and contributed to the big switch in momentum just before the half ended. Spiller will learn from this, but the points that the Ravens converted from the turnover helped to add to the 24 unanswered points that Baltimore scored in the second through the third quarters.

The Bills have been outscored 77-14 in the third quarter this season, and the inability to make the necessary adjustments keeps hurting the team. They came out in a five-receiver set with an empty backfield to open up the second half. The first play resulted in an interception that was followed by a Ravens' trick play that led to an extremely fast Ravens touchdown. And so it goes for the Bills.

Despite the Loss, This Game Should Boost Team Morale

A loss is still a loss, any way that you cut it. This loss hurt badly, but the team can take some positives from the game.

Rian Lindell's 50-yard field goal on the final play of regulation was as clutch a kick as you could ask for. Ice water must run through his veins.

The offensive line continues to play well in front of Fitzpatrick. Giving up just the one sack, converting on 11 third downs against a tough defense and on the road are all strong points going forward that should give the Bills greater confidence.

Not sure yet about injuries, but it did appear that Marcus Stroud might have been hurt in the second half.

In case you were wondering, the Bills didn't have one traditional three-and-out drive the entire game. They did have some short drives that ended due to turnovers, but no three-and-outs. The Bills defense, however, did create three three-and-out drives for the Ravens.

Baltimore's three-and-out drive that started the overtime was a result of a sack by Bills rookie Arthur Moats, which was good to see. The fact that he was involved in a sack and Aaron Maybin didn't even dress as a healthy scratch tells you all you need to know about who sees their stock rising and who sees their stock falling for young Bills linebackers.

Let's hope the Bills can end some more of their negative streaks next Sunday against the Chiefs.