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Close losses, Not finishing will ultimately doom the Bills this season

Buffalo Beeeews

By Buffalo Beeeews
in The Stadium Wall Archives

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Buffalo Beeeews RFA

Buffalo Beeeews

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If you take away blowout losses at New York and San Francisco earlier in the year, think of just how close this team is to having a winning record at this point. This is proof of just how close teams are in the conference and the entire league, for that matter. A few plays, here and there, are what separates the good from the mediocre.

 

Even the New England game at home. I know, we did lose by 24 points. However, Buffalo had a 21-7 lead. Driving down the field to potentially drive a stake in the heart of the Patriots, but a goal line fumble gave the Pats new life. Not to say New England wouldn't have won even if we had scored, but there's a huge difference between overcoming a 14 point defecit on the road than a 21 point defecit. But my money would have been on the Bills winning that game had it not been for that fumble. Again, good teams find a way to finish.

 

Then, there's the Tennessee game. A game Buffalo was in control of most of the day, albeit not by much. The defense didn't show up, especially against the run, making Chris Johnson relevant again, even if it was only for one week. However, the offense was able to compensate for the defenses no-showing, and give the Bills a late lead. But bad play-calling and mis-management of the clock late, accompanied by a Fitzpatrick mistake led to another loss. Again, good teams find a way to finish.

 

Finally, there's the New England game at Foxborough. A place the Bills haven't won since 2000. Brady was average on this day, in fact, was outplayed by Fitzpatrick. The Patriot defense made the Bills defense look good on this day. New England couldn't stop anything Buffalo did all day. It was there for the taking. That was, until Buffalo's final offensive play. The Bills had picked apart the Patriot secondary all day. Stevie Johnson was lined up against a rookie most of the day, and had some success. Scott Chandler and Donald Jones had their usual big days against the Pats. C.J. Spiller was making would-be tacklers look silly. These four were making New England's defense look foolish all game long, and, the offense looked like they would pull out a win for the teams first ever victory at Gillette Stadium. That was, until, again, a bad decision. Spiller was wide open, streaking across the field that surely would have led to a touchdown. Johnson had the rookie beat, again. But the decision was made to looked off those two, and throw to rookie T.J. Graham, who hadn't caught a ball all game, and, who later admitted he didn't run his route correctly. The only thing I can think of is maybe Buffalo was trying to throw to the rookie to catch New England by surprise, since they hadn't covered the above mentioned other four all afternoon. Even had he run the route correctly, you still do not trust a rookie especially in that situation. Again, good teams find a way to finish.

 

Three wins that were there for the taking. Two against an AFC East team, all three against in-conference opponents. Buffalo would be 7-3, if they were a good team..that knew how to finish.

 

Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda, again this year...

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MDH All Pro

MDH

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The Bills weren't winning that first NE game even with that TD. It would have just made the collapse that much more epic.

 

The other two games are tough to swallow though. Just win one of those and they would be right in the thick of things and still have some room to lose a game or two and still get into the playoffs. As it is now they can lose a max of one more game and that pretty much needs to be against Seattle so it's a non-conference loss.

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