Sideline Reactions: Patriots 52 - Bills 28

Orchard Park, NY (WGR 550)  -- Murphy's Law.

A pair of words that are often associated with a string of bad luck, in which a person or a group continue to see things go awry.
 

"Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong."

Succinct, yet eloquently stated.

It also sums up the final 26:08 of the Buffalo Bills most recent loss to the New England Patriots and wraps it up with a pretty little bow.

Once the Bills took a 21-7 lead in the third quarter, all the excitement, fun and momentum built up to that point was quickly erased. All the hope and promise of a potential two-game lead over the Patriots built through those first 33 minutes proved to be fleeting.

For the second time in the 2012 NFL season, Buffalo was simply outclassed by a division opponent, lessening their AFC East record over the past five years to a pathetic 4-22. It doesn't get any simpler than that.

Let's take a look at the game that was:

- Two losses, two AFC East opponents, 100 points surrendered. For incredibly obvious reasons, that is not the way to start off the season when this was supposed to be the year that the team made the jump in to the postseason picture. Call it what it is. The Bills are 2-0 against teams that had 11 wins last season, and 0-2 against teams that had 21 wins. Until the win column starts filling up on the back half of that last sentence, the Bills will continue to toil in mediocrity. Those chances exist for the team, with each of the next five opponents accounting for a 53-27 record in 2011. Four of those are on the road, but the opportunity to prove themselves against elite competition will only continue through the next five weeks.

- In a reversal of fortune from the way things panned out last year for the Bills against the Patriots at Ralph Wilson Stadium, this time it was Buffalo that just couldn't stop giving their opponents opportunities to dominate the game with turnovers aplenty. Before it was all said and done, the Bills threw four interceptions and lost two fumbles. C.J. Spiller had a fumble on the goal line, and even Fred Jackson had an uncharacteristic fumble. Despite a pair of early turnovers that allowed Buffalo to take an early lead, the Patriots ended up a whopping plus-four in turnover ratio. On September 25, 2011, the Bills were a plus-two. The Patriots were so good offensively in 2011 that they were close to overcoming their four turnovers. With a weaker Buffalo offense than the one the Patriots trotted out a year prior, the 2012 version of the Bills didn't even come close to overcoming their turnover woes.

- It was a tad eerie and reminiscent the way the first half ended in the last two contests played by these two teams at Ralph Wilson Stadium. In 2011, the Patriots were driving to try and put a stake through the heart of the Bills late in the second quarter. Aiming to take a 28-0 lead near the Buffalo goal line, New England was in position to strike. Instead, a ball deflected off the hands of Danny Woodhead and in to the arms of a grounded Bryan Scott. The rest, of course, is history. 2012's version? Inside the five-yard line, the Bills were closing in on taking a 21-7 lead heading in to the half. A crucial fumble lost by C.J. Spiller put that to rest. Yet again, the rest is history.

- The run defense was a source of strength for the Bills defense. They looked new and improved. They limited Shonn Greene and the Jets to an average day. They dominated the Chiefs in that aspect when the game actually mattered and even tormented highly-touted rookie Trent Richardson and the Browns for four quarters with their stout mentalities. In Week Four against New England, that all went straight down the tubes. Stevan Ridley had 106 yards and two touchdowns. Brandon Bolden took over the role of "afterthought Patriots running back that tears up the Bills annually" from BenJarvus Green-Ellis, racking up 137 yards and a touchdown on only 16 carries. Bolden's stats through three games coming in? Allow me to list them chronologically: At Tennessee, 5 carries for 11 yards. Home against Arizona, 0 carries for 0 yards. At Baltimore, 2 carries for 4 yards and a touchdown. All in all, the Bills run defense allowed 247 yards, four touchdowns and a yards-per-carry average of 6.2. Back to the drawing board they go.

- Looking at Ryan Fitzpatrick's stat line, his four touchdowns will keep him either at the top or right in the vicinity for most in the league after four weeks of action. However, his overall inaccuracy, and at times incredibly poor decision making, helped sink the Bills' ship against the Patriots. With a big opportunity against a weak New England secondary that has shown the penchant to giving up a big play or two, Fitzpatrick saw rookie T.J. Graham with a step on Devin McCourty on a fly route. On what may have been the first deep ball thrown by Fitzpatrick in 2012, he didn't put enough in to it and the trailing McCourty was able to come down with the interception. Then with the Bills in scramble mode in the second half, Fitzpatrick escaped the pocket to his left side, and threw the ball against his body to the right side of the field and McCourty easily stepped in front of it for his second interception of the game. Mix that all in with his continued struggles in hitting his receivers past 12-yards to the left side of the field, and Fitzpatrick once again failed to impress. However, it wasn't all bad for the Bills' signal-caller. His touchdown passes to Scott Chandler and Donald Jones were strikes that required a lot of zip and moxie to not only complete, but to attempt as well. Fitzpatrick is at his best when throwing to the middle of the field, it's evident week after week. The only problem is, so are a lot of players. It's the other throws that he misses that makes the others around the league elite at the position.

- I'm sure there weren't a lot of cameras on him, but I made it a point to watch Stevie Johnson in the closing moments of that loss. Having an opening on more than one occasion, Johnson didn't get the opportunities to make some plays based on poor throws from his quarterback. It culminated with him whipping the ball in frustration after a bad miss down the sideline that would have been a touchdown if thrown properly. The Bills ended up scoring a touchdown on that drive, but rather than going and congratulating Brad Smith, Johnson took a direct path to the sidelines, placed his helmet on top of the coolers and sat by himself on the bench, away from the rest of his offensive teammates. Through the time of obvious frustration and reflection, Johnson just stared forward, likely in disbelief of how things went so wrong so quickly. He wasn't sulking by any means. Sometimes as a competitor you just get in to a mode where you don't want to talk to anyone. I've been there, you've been there and there's no doubt Stevie Johnson was there on Sunday.

- How about a bright spot? There were a couple of those in the first half on Sunday. The brightest of bright was the play of tight end Scott Chandler, who made a few tough catches for the Bills on his way to a two-touchdown game. With David Nelson out, Ryan Fitzpatrick was in need of a new security blanket in clutch situations for the offense. With eight targets in the game, Chandler seems to have been bestowed those honors.

- I'd put Donald Jones' career long touchdown in the bright spot category as well. A great run after catch for the third-year receiver.

- Back to the whole Murphy's Law thing. In the second half when the Patriots were going on their 45-7 barrage through the final 26 minutes, the Bills were informed that they would be without five starters for the rest of the contest. Right guard Kraig Urbik, left tackle Cordy Glenn, safety Jairus Byrd, wide receiver Donald Jones and tight end Scott Chandler all had their afternoons ended short because of various injuries. For a team that has been fairly lucky with injuries through three weeks, that all came crashing down on Sunday.

- How much did the Bills pay for that defensive line? It wasn't worth the collective game salary they earned against New England.

- Last thing, because I'm sure you're probably sick to your stomach at this point (assuming you're a Bills fan, of course). We'll just call this the 'Stats that make you want to vomit,' portion of the program. Over the past five games against the Patriots, the Bills have surrendered 204 total points. Yep, that's an average of 40.8 points per game. The Bills have allowed at least 49 points to the Patriots in each of the last two games, and have been outscored by a score of 80-14 in the second half of each of those two games as well. They've allowed at least 31 points each of the last five meetings. Rob Gronkowski in five games total has 27 receptions for 418 yards and 8 touchdowns. Wes Welker has 25 receptions for 346 yards and two touchdowns in the last two games. Oh, yeah, and there's that whole winning only two games since 2003 thing, too.

MVP: Scott Chandler - Two touchdowns and a set of strong hands to secure tough catches.

LVP: Offensive efficiency - Four interceptions, three fumbles, two of which were lost. Six turnovers in total. Not getting it done. Honorable mention goes to the run defense.

Up Next: Part one of a two-game west coast road swing at San Francisco. Sunday, October 7 at 4:25.

Final Thoughts:
After a couple of games where the Bills' fan base slowly built their optimism back up from the ground following their embarrassing loss to the New York Jets, the Bills missed a huge opportunity to have momentum heading out west against San Francisco and Arizona. With the Patriots on the ropes in the third quarter, they lost all semblance of being an efficient football team on both sides of the ball. Now, instead of a 3-1 record and a two-game lead in the AFC East, the Bills have a 28-point loss to swallow, and a date with two of the league's top defenses in the next two weeks. Even still, we're only a quarter of the way through the season and there are still many games to play. Allowing 100 points to two teams seemingly in the AFC playoff hunt doesn't exactly ring the bell for hope and positivity, though. They still have some things to work through, and that will be on display as they hit the road for four of the next five.

Twitter: @JoeBuscaglia