This Collapse is Worse than 2008
The 2011 Buffalo Bills collapsed after a 5-2 start only to finish by losing 8 of their final 9 games to finish 6-10 and finished out of the playoffs for the 12th consecutive season. Now this collapse was even worse than the 2008 Bills collapse when they started 5-1 and finished a disappointing 7-9. The obvious reason was an even worse finish with a worse record. The 2011 Bills won some very impressive games against some impressive talent unlike the 2008 Bills who beat only one team that had a .500 record while the rest were losing teams. I also thought the Bills had a much better quarterback in Ryan Fitzpatrick and head coach in Chan Gailey rather than "Captain Checkdown" Trent Edwards and Dick Jauron. But one thing remained constant, they both had the same owner.Nobody, myself included, gave the Bills much chance to do anything this season especially without much of a quarterback and an offensive line that looked like the worst in the league in preseason. In fact, the defense looked like it really improved in the preseason from the woeful unit a year ago with additions of Shawne Merriman, Nick Barnett, and first round pick Marcell Dareus. Then out of the blue, the Bills pounded the Kansas City Chiefs on the road (their only road win this season), 41-7, as both the offense and defense looked tremendous. Even though the Chiefs had their issues, it was still an amazing win although one game doesn't make a season but it made Bills fans pretty excited to see that kind of a dominating performance.
Now as the Bills faced the Oakland Raiders at home, things quickly looked like the old Bills as they were down 21-3 at halftime. Behind the offense of Ryan Fitzpatrick, Fred Jackson, and Steve Johnson, the Bills came back to win an exciting 38-35 game when Fitz hit David Nelson for the winning touchdown with just 14 seconds left. The Bills of course had to escape a last-second hail mary by the Raiders that was nearly caught for a touchdown. The next week was the Bills biggest win in probably almost two decades. They hosted the Patriots, who they have beaten since the 2003 season opener and had lost 20 of their last 21 to the Pats. It looked as if the Bills were going to go down in flames yet again as Tom Brady was outstanding in the 1st half as the Bills trailed 21-0 in the 1st half. It looked hopeless. But once again, these "Cardiac Bills" refused to quit and came back to tie the game at 31-31 late in the 4th. The Bills were able to pick off Brady four times all in the 2nd half, including a touchdown by Drayton Florence. The Bills went down the field and kicked a last second field goal to get the monkey off their back and was perhaps the most exciting win since well when they beat the Miami Dolphins in 1980 to end a 20-game losing streak to the Dolphins. This must have been how Bills fans felt when they finally beat Miami. I was so excited to say the least. Chan Gailey did a great job out-coaching Bill Belichick, especially at the end when he forced Belichick to use his timeouts so the Bills could run out the clock before kicking the winning field goal. I can't remember feeling this great after a Bills victory. The Bills set an NFL record by coming from 21-3 and 21-0 deficits to win in back-to-back games.
The Bills were 3-0 and on top of the AFC East and in the NFL. They scored the most points as their offense was the talk of the NFL. This was the best I've seen a Bills offense since the K-Gun in the early 90s. Guys like Fitzpatrick, Jackson, Johnson, David Nelson, Scott Chandler, etc. were getting major recognition because they were no name talents who went to smaller schools and/or drafted late or not at all. It was exciting that the Bills could win with no name guys. Gailey looked like he was the real deal as head coach and Fitz looked like he was finally becoming the real deal as QB. Gailey and his system was able to get the most out of Fitzpatrick and guys like Jackson, Johnson, Nelson, Donald Jones, and Chandler were also taylor made for this offense. It wasn't a five, six step drop back and throw 30-40 yards down the field. It was a lot of spread out the receivers, 4-5 wide outs and some quick 2-3 step drops and quick slants over the middle. No defense could stop it as it seemed revolutionary. The offensive line, which was pathetic in the preseason, was the best in the league as it gave Fitz plenty of time and allowed the fewest sacks in the league this season. Of course the offense and Fitz's quick drops were also key to allowing the fewest sacks in the league. On defense, guys like Dareus and Barnett were making an impact as were safeties George Wilson and Jairus Byrd, who were both making a lot of big plays.
When the Bills traveled to Cincinnati to face the Bengals, they were unbeaten and unstoppable, at least on offense. Their defense allowed a lot of points and yards and did not get a lot of sacks, but led the league in takeaways. Unlike the previous two games in which they trailed at halftime, they led big at halftime, 17-3, which the defense scored a touchdown and made rookie Andy Dalton look like Trent Edwards. A small note, Merriman got his only "sack" as a Bill when he forced Dalton to run out of bounds behind the line of scrimmage. But the defense let down as Dalton and the Bengals rallied to win 23-20. The Bills defense struggled in the 2nd half making Dalton look like Tom Brady and the offense struggled scoring only one touchdown against a really good Bengals defense. Also in the game were some really bad calls and controversial replays that went against the Bills. I'm not a big "the refs screwed us and cost us a game" guy but they did definitely affect the outcome.
The Bills rallied the next week to beat Michael Vick and the Philadelphia Eagles, 31-24, to increase to 4-1. The Bills intercepted Vick 4 times, including 2 by Nick Barnett who returned one for a touchdown, and also forced a fumble off of Vick. The Bills needed all those takeaways to beat the Eagles. Who would have thought the Bills would have beaten both Tom Brady and Michael Vick in the same season? They would have made the playoffs right? The Bills fell to the New York Giants at the Meadowlands, 27-24, in a game in which Fitz played decent but not good enough to win and the defense struggled against Eli Manning. It was a game that could have went either way and usually favors the home team, which it did. The Bills dropped to 4-2. Many people were wondering if they would suffer from a similar collapse like they did back in '08 when they were 5-1 and finished 7-9. But this team had more better quality, more exciting wins against better competition and quarterbacks. Plus their QB and coach were better than they were in '08.
The Bills were in their bye week and gave Fitzpatrick a 6-year, $59 million contract as they effectively signed their guy. The first game back from the bye was the Toronto game against the Washington Redskins. The Bills pummeled the Redskins, 23-0, as the defense got 10 sacks against John Beck, who let's face it is not an elite QB by any means, and pitched a shutout. The Bills improved to 5-2 and it appeared they were on their way to the playoffs. I looked ahead to see if this team could win at least 10 games and perhaps make the playoffs. I looked at their final 9 games and saw 5 games they could win: Miami twice, the New York Jets once, Tennessee, and Denver. Even the Cowboys and Chargers on the road I could see the Bills winning at least one of those two because both were vulnerable and that could have gotten the Bills to 11 wins. I thought the playoff drought would finally end. Boy was I wrong.
The Bills came back home to Ralph Wilson Stadium to host the division rival Jets in a big matchup that could decide the Bills playoff future. Win and their in first place all by themselves. Lose and well they are down in a tight AFC playoff race that would see the Jets back in contention. This was without a doubt the biggest game the Bills played since perhaps the 2004 season finale against the Pittsburgh Steelers when they were a win away from making the playoffs. Just like that disappointing afternoon in 2004, the Bills failed in this mission as they got destroyed 27-11 by the Jets. The Bills were awful on both sides of the ball and looked like a JV team and failed their biggest test of the season. Boy did the season take a turn for the worse. But we had no idea how bad it really was.
The Bills looked even worse against a talented, yet mediocre Cowboys team as they got completely destroyed, 44-7. Just when it couldn't get any worse, boy it sure did. The Bills just flat out stunk against the lowly Dolphins as they lost 35-8 in what was perhaps the worst game i ever seen from the Bills and that says a lot as there have been so many bad games in the last 12 years. The Bills went from 5-2 on top of the AFC East to now 5-5 and not looking like they could win another game. The defense really struggled and failed to make plays and take the ball away like they did early in the season. That was really starting to catch up with them. Then the offense was really struggling as Fitzpatrick really struggled since signing his contract, leading many including myself to wonder if he is our guy and whether or not the Bills might have to draft a quarterback in April. The team can not score points, heck it can not get first downs and move the ball like it did earlier in the season. It seemed as if the rest of league figured out the Bills and they can't figure out how to adjust. Even Chan Gailey's approval rating was plummeting. Injuries were really starting to take it's toll as guys like Kyle Williams, Chris Kelsay, Roscoe Parrish, Merriman, Terrence McGee, Donald Jones, Demetrius Bell, Eric Wood, George Wilson, and of course the best player Fred Jackson were injured and/or lost for the season. Heck, even kicker Rian Lindell was lost for the season. Those injuries really hurt (no pun intended) the team as a lack of depth and play makers really set the team back.
The Bills continued to lose as their losing streak reached seven and they were out of playoff contention with a 5-9 record, the 12th straight season without making the playoffs. Fans really wanted the team just to lose out and get a higher draft pick. The Bills beat Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos, 40-14 before closing out with a disappointing 49-21 loss to the Patriots after blowing a 21-0 first quarter lead to finish a disappointing 6-10. This collapse was much worse than '08 because they were completely blown out in many of their losses and their wins were way more impressive than they were in '08 and it shows fans there's no hope with this team. The next time they start out 5-1, 5-2, or whatever, many fans will be like "they did this before and they fell apart." As long as Ralph Wilson owns this team, the same garbage will continue to happen. Well, "there's always next year."
