Bills Take Another Wrong Route

As tempting -- and easy -- as it might be, you can't blame this one on Ryan Fitzpatrick.

After Buffalo's 37-31 loss in New England on Sunday, Fitzpatrick and T.J. Graham each took responsibility for the interception that snuffed what would have been one of the most remarkable, and unlikely, comebacks in Buffalo history. The quarterback acknowledged a miscommunication on WGR 550 Monday morning, but insisted he should have made sure Graham knew where he was going.

Up to that point, Buffalo had exorcised many of the demons of a once-hopeful season's demoralizing first half.

Fitzpatrick had overcome the early fumble that led to New England's first touchdown, as well as shaky protection, to regain the form that spurred a 5-2 start in 2011. He riddled New England's shaky secondary with short and medium throws, mixing in screens that maximized the skills of Fred Jackson and C.J. Spiller, and bringing Buffalo to within 15 yards of avenging one of this year's most humiliating losses.

Chan Gailey finally found a balance between Jackson and Spiller, who produced 246 total yards between them.

Buffalo's defense, which only previously lived up to advance billing when working against the incompetent offenses of the Browns, Chiefs and Cardinals, again got sliced up for the first three quarters. But in the fourth, they slowed Tom Brady and Stevan Ridley enough to limit the Patriots to a pair of field goals. The defensive stand after New England reached Buffalo's 2-yard line with less than three minutes looked like a potential season changer, especially after Fitzpatrick got the Bills moving after Gostowski's 27-yard field goal.

More important than the improvement of any individual or group, though, was the way the entire team had come back. Behind early in a place that was home to so many previous nightmares, the Bills overcame not only the early deficit, but an almost inconceivable number of penalties.

The most damaging, the 37-yard pass interference call in the end zone on rookie cornerback Stephon Gilmore was worse than questionable, as Tom Brady's bomb appeared to soar far above receiver Brandon Lloyd's head and landed far past the end line. Yet it was somehow ruled catchable, putting the Patriots in point-blank range for Rob Gronkowski's 2-yard touchdown grab, which made it 24-10.

Faced with ample opportunity to meekly accept another blowout defeat, the Bills scratched their way almost all the way back, negating both the blown interference call, the other 13 mostly well-deserved penalties they incurred, Fitzpatrick's early fumble and Jackson's at the goal line.

Jesse, a frequent commenter here at We Want Marangi, nailed it on yesterday's Bills-Patriots preview/Open Thread:

"Great game," he wrote, "except for the result."

It was one play, one throw, one correctly run pass pattern away from being better than great. Coming from behind in New England to beat the Patriots, who despite their defensive flaws remain Buffalo's divisional and psychological arch-nemesis, could have been transformational.

If Graham runs the right pattern, or maybe if Fitzpatrick throws the ball anywhere besides into the hands of Devin McCourty, then gets it right in the play or two he would have had left after an incompletion, we are having a very different conversation today.

At 4-5, Buffalo would be a game behind the suddenly vulnerable Patriots for the AFC East lead. The Bills would also be in the wild-card race, clustered with San Diego, Miami and Cincinnati a game or two out, depending on whether 5-3 Pittsburgh beats Kansas City tonight.

Fitz's Pick -- as it will be known, fairly or not -- puts them three games back in both chases, presuming a Steelers win, with seven to play. Even with a friendly schedule, starting Thursday night's visit by Miami, that's a pretty heavy lift.

Heavy, but at the risk of sounding overly optimistic, not impossible. None of the seven remaining games are unwinnable. Only two of the six opponents involved (the Bills face the Dolphins twice in that stretch) have winning records.

Indianapolis is a shocking 6-3 behind first overall pick Andrew Luck. Besides Buffalo, though, the Colts' remaining schedule includes visits to New England and Detroit (where the erratic Lions are usually tougher) and two of their last three against 8-1 Houston.

Seattle is 6-4, but only 1-4 on the road, and they play Buffalo in Toronto on Dec. 16.

Aside from the Colts and Seahawks, the Bills' remaining opponents are a combined 15-30-1. If the Colts or Steelers falter even a little, there's a very good shot that 9-7 gets you into the postseason. A complete collapse by either makes 8-8 a possibility, too.

The last time the Bills had an improbable hot streak late in the season was 2004. That team did it with a defense that stuffed lousy offenses, a pretty mediocre quarterback in an aging Drew Bledsoe and an emerging Willis McGahee.

This Buffalo team has similar elements, if the defense can build on its fourth quarter against New England. With the news that Jackson will miss at least Thursday's game with a concussion, Spiller again gets a shot at showing what he can do with a heavier workload.

Of course, talking about playoff scenarios is pretty silly until Buffalo shows it can put a complete game together without allowing one facet -- like penalties, turnovers or a statuesque game plan by defensive coordinator Dave Wannstedt -- to offset the positives. The Bills have managed such a total effort just twice in nine games, and those performances came -- not to belabor the point -- against the Chiefs and Browns.

They're certainly overdue, having run the gamut of ways to lose -- getting blown out in three wildly diverse styles, coming from ahead to surrender a touchdown in the closing moments, being physically dominated while keeping the score deceptively close, and now this.

Silly, yes. But despite, and because of, the way they came up short on Sunday, you can't call it ridiculous.

BILLS MVP: Fitzpatrick's only significant mistake on Sunday was putting too much faith in a rookie to do the right thing. Under the circumstances, that doesn't offset everything he did in bringing his team back.

BUT: As Tim Graham of the Buffalo News points out in his Press Coverage blog, teams quarterbacked by Fitzpatrick have now taken possession of the ball in the fourth quarter with the score tied, or trailing by one score 26 times. They have won five.

This does not instill confidence. Particularly when you consider that only nine quarterbacks have done worse in the past 40 years, according to Scott Kacsmar, who put together the numbers.

Since we're looking for bright spots today, it should be noted that Aaron Rodgers -- he of Super Bowl victory, NFL MVP and State Farm commercial fame -- has an even worse record in such situations, at 4-21.

TRASH TALKING 101: Even at age 6, Oscar seems to have the concept down cold. After questioning how his mother, a lifelong fan of all Boston-area sports teams, could possibly root against the Bills, the 6-year-old invoked the New York Giants' win over the Patriots last February.

"Last year, did you know your team was in the Super Bowl?" he asked, rather sweetly, before his tone darkened a bit. "And you lost. Ha. In your face."

As usual, at least when the Bills are involved, Josselyn had the last laugh. Although she respectfully declined to issue it.

THURSDAY NIGHT LIVE: The Bills announced this afternoon that the Dolphins game sold out in time to lift the television blackout, clearing the way for the 8 p.m. kickoff to be shown on the NFL Network and WBBZ-TV, Channel 67.