CURTIS HENRY
Assistant Sports Editor
It’s old news by now. The Buffalo Bills got beaten by the New York Jets on Thursday by a score of 37-31, and the squad sits at a head-scratching 0-2 after two games that were very winnable for Buffalo.
It was no longer than two months ago that head coach Rex Ryan proclaimed, “If it doesn’t work, you can bet your ass that I’ll be the first m*****f***** that’s out of here!”
To no surprise, it hasn’t worked for a myriad of reasons, and Rex was not the first to go. Nor was his brother, Rob Ryan, the guy in charge of the defense that surrendered 37 points to Ryan Fitzpatrick and friends.
Instead, the scapegoat was made out to be Greg Roman, the master of shotgun handoffs and 3 and outs. Nevermind the fact that Roman didn’t have a healthy Sammy Watkins at his disposal. Disregard the fact that Cordy Glenn, the team’s star offensive lineman and blindside protector, was out for Thursday night’s game due to an ankle injury. Clearly Roman was the problem in Buffalo, and he had to go.
Obvious sarcasm aside, Roman actually had to go. The offense looked putrid in week one against Baltimore and despite putting up 31 points on Thursday, was generally terrible against the Jets.
Breaking down the Bills’ scoring, two touchdowns came on broken plays that resulted in long touchdowns. Another touchdown was scored by Nickell Robey-Coleman on a fumble return touchdown, and the fourth was scored by Mike Gillislee in garbage time when the game was out of reach.
Simply put, all of that means that the offense was largely ineffective. It was responsible for 17 points before garbage time, and the more analytical numbers show how bad the offense really was.
The Bills only had control of the ball for 20 minutes on Thursday night. A 2:1 possession ratio for one side will almost always ensure victory, and on Thursday night that ratio belonged to the Jets.
The Bills only made their way into the red zone once. Additionally, Roman’s offense was a putrid three-of-ten on third downs and had four three-and-outs. Another two drives were sustained for a mere five plays or fewer.
So yes, the Bills out up 31 points against a good Jets defense. No, that does not mean that their offense was efficient.
The deficiencies on both sides of the ball seem to have already dug the Bills their 2016 grave. 2-0 was almost a must-have to qualify for the playoffs this year due to Buffalo’s upcoming schedule. It’s hard to believe the Bills could top either Arizona or New England, the next two opponents on Buffalo’s schedule. That could easily drop the team to an abysmal and an unthought of 0-4 record to begin the season.
To get to 10 wins (often the mark needed to qualify for the playoffs), Buffalo needs to win three of the following games: Arizona (H), New England (H/A), Seattle (A), Cincinnati (A), Oakland (A) and Pittsburgh (H).
Additionally, the team would need to beat the Jets in their next meeting, beat the Miami Dolphins twice and win games against the Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers, Jacksonville Jaguars and the Cleveland Browns.
The verdict? It isn’t going to happen.
At this point, the Bills are a much more likely a 6-10 team than they are a 10-6 team. Sure, any NFL team can get hot and go on a run. The Bills simply don’t look to have that run in them. Come January, Bills fans are likely to be wondering what could have been if their team could have scored two touchdowns against Baltimore or if they had held the Jets to 30 points rather than 37.