Bills blow golden opportunity against Jets

Stop me if you have heard this before … the Buffalo Bills have not reached the playoffs since 1999. That’s the longest such active streak in the NFL, and the Bills could have taken a huge step toward breaking that cycle with a win on Thursday night against the New York Jets.

Instead, Buffalo fumbled and bumbled its way to an ugly 34-21 loss at MetLife Stadium, falling to 5-3 on the season. The Bills do remain in the top AFC wild card spot, but fall a game behind the New England Patriots in the AFC East.

While things aren’t dire by any stretch, Buffalo has to face the reality of a schedule that is about to get much tougher. To this point, the Bills have only played two teams with winning records in the Carolina Panthers and Atlanta Falcons, earning a split. In the second half of the season, Buffalo gets the Patriots twice and the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium, not to mention the New Orleans Saints next week, and two other meetings with the Miami Dolphins.

To get into the playoffs, Buffalo likely has to win nine games. The good news? Nine wins will almost certainly do the trick considering how weak the bottom of the conference is. If you believe that both games against the Patriots and the trip to Kansas City may not end up going well, that leaves five games and four wins needed. The Bills should hammer the Indianapolis Colts at home and beat the Dolphins at New Era Field, but the other three are the key contests.

Can the Bills beat the Chargers in Los Angeles, the Dolphins in Miami and/0r the Saints in western New York? Certainly possible, but not a sure thing by any means.

And that’s where the frustration comes in about this effort. The Bills simply didn’t show up against the Jets. Buffalo allowed seven sacks of Tyrod Taylor, and LeSean McCoy only garnered 25 rushing yards on 12 carries. Meanwhile, the Bills turned the ball over three turnovers and didn’t gather up any, taking the league-leading turnover ratio from +14 to +11 on the campaign.

Overall, Buffalo still has everything in front of it. The trade for wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin sent an unmistakable message from the front office that it believes this team could play in January for the first time this century. The Bills were expected to be tanking this year, and yet here we are.

Still, none of that matters if Buffalo can’t make it count with some key wins don the stretch. When the weather gets colder, the games get more important. Now is the time for the Bills to get hot and make it happen.