Bills Show Familiar Shortcomings in Division Loss to Jets

The Buffalo Bills are 5-3 at their season's halfway point. They have a legitimate quarterback, an MVP-candidate out of the backfield, and a supporting cast of primarily young players on the rise. They are 5-3 in a season where 5 wins was the Vegas over/under for their whole season. So why am I disappointed?

The reason I (and other Bills fans) find ourselves kicking the dirt over 5-3, is because you can't help but feel that it could be much more. Obviously, the NFL is a universe filled with 'what-ifs?' to the point where the wide variety of situations that present themselves in a season can easily cancel out one another. Sure, the Bills could've lost to Oakland and New England in Weeks 2 and 3, but in both games, the Bills had come from 18 down to actually lead with 9-or so minutes left in each contest.

Meanwhile, the BIlls have left a number of wins on the table, and for a team on the edge of the playoff picture, that's simply something you can't do if you expect to be playing halfway through January. There was Stevie Johnson's "drop" against the Bengals in Week 4 that would've all but put them away with the score 20-13 Buffalo halfway through the fourth quarter, and a couple of weeks back there was the Fitzpatrick interception with Johnson open that occurred midway through the fourth quarter with the score tied and the Bills deep in G-men territory.

The final score says differently, but the Bills let this past week's game against the Jets get away from them as well. Although Rex Ryan's team came out of the bye week crisp and was effective on offense and defense in the first half, the score was just 3-0 when Marcell Dareus recovered a botched snap setting Buffalo up around midfield with a minute to go in the half. Any type of offensive activity would've positioned the Bills to tie the game headed into the half and taken the wind out of the Jets' sails.

It wasn't to be, however, as the offense sputtered (much like it did all day against a well-prepared defensive unit) and the Bills went into half down 3-0 with nothing to build off of. Before fans could blink, the Bills were down 13-0 in a game where they had no offensive fluidity whatsoever.

Despite the loss, the Buffalo Bills are showing analysts and casual fans alike that they're contenders this year. Halfway through the 2011 campaign the Bills are in a three-way tie with the Jets and Pats for the divisional lead. However, if they want to take the next step this season, they're going to have to find a way to win games when things haven't gone their way.