It’s been a very long week for me. Coming off the exciting and rather unexpected win in Detroit last Sunday I found myself in bed with a fever on Monday. Unable to write my weekly column, I lay in weird feverish state thinking that Kyle Orton, in addition to being the Buffalo Bills’ starting quarterback, was also a character on Bob’s Burgers.

After multiple doctor’s visits and enough antibiotic shots and pills to treat a small army, and I was back on my feet, preparing for a trip to Orchard Park for Sunday’s contest against New England. Living in suburban Boston, many of my friends are New England fans (judge the sin, not the sinner I always say), and a buddy of mine had suggested during the preseason that we road trip to the game in week 6 – I thought it would be fun and even competitive given how well the Bills have played this season and how bad new England has looked.

Sunday’s game was a big event – a new chapter in the history of the Bills – I was excited that I was going to be there for it. Sunday marked the passing of the ownership torch to Terry and Kim Pegula, the new saints of Buffalo, and they were going to be at the game and recognized as saviors before a full capacity crowd of adoring fans.

As the luster of the Super Bowl years has faded with age, the obsession with the Bills relocating from Western New York upon the passing of Ralph Wilson grew. The thought of the Bills leaving for glitzier and more affluent locales fed off the insecurities of a city and population kicked so many times when it was down that it’s amazing it continued to get up. In true Buffalo fashion, the region and its fans always got up and always held out hope for better days. Sunday’s celebration would be a way to cheer away twenty years of fan angst – the Pegulas taking the field to receive their due adoration from fans would be a joyful celebration of a deep inner fear vanquished.

Sunday’s game also marked the possibility of a new Buffalo Bills chapter – that of being the leader of the AFC East. The Bills had played surprising well this season and the Patriots had struggled – they could be beat, and the winner would own first place of the division. As the new owners took their place at the stadium, this was also an opportunity to open a new chapter for the Bills on the playing field – a huge contest.

I got to my seats early, eager to see the historic moment when Terry Pegula addressed the crowd. The atmosphere did not disappoint – you could feel the pent up electricity before the Pegula family was announced and it exploded when the introduction finally came. You could feel the burden of decades fade as the crowd roared – it was quite an experience to be in the stands and one I will never forget.

Terry Pegula came across as humbled and down to earth – the type of guy who could relate to salt-of-the-earth Bills fans (at least as well as any billionaire can) – he wore a Bills jersey and jeans. He seemed to be as excited about the Bills as any one of us Bills fans would be had we bought the team. Certainly there will be learning and growing pains, but I think the Pegulas have the perfect personality fit for the region and the organization and I look forward to seeing what they can do with a franchise in desperate need of better days.

Pegula urged the fans to channel their excitement to the team for the game, and early on they seemed to do just that. The Bills started the game on offense and went 3-an-out – not a good start. The defense, with thunderous fan support, forced New England to punt in their first possession as well. The Bills fared better on their second possession, but had to punt once again – New England drove down but missed a field goal from the red zone – the game was still scoreless.

Buffalo’s third drive ended in a disastrous interception and New England took the ball and 29 yards in penalties from the Bills to drive down for a touchdown. In the second quarter the Bills drove 67 yards to tie the score on a touchdown to Robert Woods.

By halftime the Bills had turned the ball over twice more, each leading to New England points. At halftime the Bills went to the locker room down by 6 points, but all 13 New England points had come as a result of Buffalo turnovers – the Bills were -3 in the turnover battle and it’s hard to win games when you give the ball away like that.

So the Bills didn’t look great in the first half, but they were still in it at halftime. Sadly, the second half was a turning point and for the Bills that’s usually a bad thing.

If Terry Pegula wanted a good look at what he bought, the second half was all vintage Bills. A team that couldn’t adjust for the second half. A team who faced an opponent that had made adjustments. A team of young players collectively not up to the challenge of going out and winning the tough games – the games they have to win to take the next step.

The offense was anemic – the Bills rushed for only 10 yards in the second half – against a team whose rush defense was ranked in the bottom half of the league. The defense wore down, allowing Brady to pass without much pressure and he made them pay – he passed for 274 yards in the second half – and New England scored on all of their second half possessions.

Coming into the game it was widely anticipated that New England would rely heavily on their tight ends, and the Bills did nothing to stop them – Rob Gronkowski and Tim Wright combined for 8 catches, 95 yards and a touchdown. Receiver Julian Edelman caught 9 passes for 91 yards, most of which came by catching the ball underneath the defensive back. The Bills once again had no answer for the quick pass – defensive backs continually gave up the underneath routes. When Brady did want to go long, he generally did so without being harassed.

Penalties were another big problem for the Bills – they had 8 for 107 yards. In typical Bills vs. New England fashion, more than a few of these penalties seemed undeserved or outright wrong but they say you can’t complain about penalties. Hard not to complain when a Bills player gets called for a 15 yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for slapping the helmet of a teammate in celebration – that’s the type of call that perfectly defines a Bills-Patriots game – only the Bills, and only against the Patriots.

With just under 6 minutes to go in the game the Bills found themselves down by only 8 points, but a victory was not to be. The Patriots put the final nail in the coffin with a 93-yard touchdown drive, capped by a 56 yard touchdown strike to Brandon LaFell. Once again, the Bills failed to step up and take control of their destiny. Instead, they did what Bills teams have been doing for more than a decade – they found a way to get your hopes up and then lose.

And so the Bills failed to capitalize on a great opportunity on Sunday. Instead of telling the world that they are ready to assume the leadership of the AFC East, they are now a game behind New England and likely to be shooting for second best in the division. Fans will complain that nobody talks about the Bills outside of Western New York and everyone has the Bills rated too low on their power rankings, but the truth is that they get what they deserve.

And so another Sunday passes on what is likely to be yet another sub-.500 season as we watch the Patriots ascend to the top of the division. The Bills will play some interesting games in the near future and may fare well against some of the NFL’s weaker teams, but it is doubtful they will be able to compete with some of the better teams in December. Soon enough the Pegulas will get a real feel for how the organization has run every year for the past 15 years or so, and how far away the Bills are from taking the next step. Sunday was a prime opportunity to show that the Pegula era will be different in Buffalo, but until the new owner can get to the heart of why this team has stagnated and continues to stagnate you should expect a lot more missed opportunities to take the next step – you have to wonder whether the Bills will ever get there, new owner or not.