I really thought this might be a different year – I really did. I normally don’t get too excited about the start of a season – I’ve been let down too many times. But this year, I let my guard down, and now I’m paying the price.

The Bills mad a lot of exciting moves since last year – they brought in a passionate coach who is all-in, they picked up one of the top running backs in the league, they shored up the terrible offensive line from last season and they found a young and very promising quarterback, just to name a few. I tried not to buy into the hype – after all, until you get results it’s just hype.

But then the Bills opened the season with a solid win against one of the elite AFC teams. The final score is a little more generous to Indianapolis than reality – the Colts were never really in it and Buffalo outplayed them across the board. This wasn’t a fluky win like last season’s opener against Chicago – the Bills really looked good. You wanted results, you got results.

And so it was that the Bills headed into their home contest against New England, a team that has owned them and is largely responsible for the 15 years of misery the Bills have had to endure. This year might be the year things changed – the Bills have the most talented team that they’ve had in years and with a fresh attitude from the coaching staff passed down through the locker room, Sunday might have been the day we might have looked back upon as the turning point – the week the Bills made good on a long-held promise to vanquish their tormentor.

And so the Bills faithful flocked to Orchard Park, many no doubt expecting to be able to one day say, “I was at that game”. Bills greats from years past were there – Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas, Bruce Smith, Andre Reed and even a revitalized Darryl Talley. Vanessa Williams sang the national anthem. The Guinness Book of World Records was on hand to record the loudest football crowd ever, complete with a shiny plaque to commemorate the event.

It all started so well. The Bills took the opening drive and went down the field for a touchdown. LeSean McCoy had some nice runs. Tyrod Taylor was good throwing the ball as well as running the ball. Sammy Watkins got a catch. On the ensuing New England drive Gronkowski had a catch for 1 yard, Edelman had a catch for 1 yard. Brady had to call a timeout and afterwards overthrew his receiver – a 3 and out series like you hoped for. Hard to want anything more from the start of a game – this was looking like another solid effort by the Bills.

And then it all went bad. In the blink of an eye, the Bills fell apart and New England played like a team that has won four Super Bowls. New England’s next 3 drives all ended in touchdowns, while Buffalo’s next 5 possessions ended in a turnover and 4 punts with a combined negative 6 yards of net offense. It got ugly, really ugly.

We’ve all been through ugly losses with the Bills – our emotional scars are our badges of honor. The Bills have lost in every painful way imaginable – close games, blowouts – you name it, the Bills have lost a game that way. But Sunday’s game has to go down as one of the most painful. I’m sure my home in suburban Boston plays a large role in declaring this one of the most painful losses, but I think a lot has to go to the hope I allowed myself to have going into the game.

The Bills said they weren’t scared of New England, and for the first time in a long time, I felt the same way. I imagined another game like week one with the Bills showing they can hang with the class of the AFC, but that wasn’t the case - far from it. The Bills not only went from heroes to zeros in the span of a few drives, but they laid a historically bad egg. For as much a Bills fans hate Tom Brady, they allowed him to set an all-time franchise record for passing against them – 466 yards and 3 touchdowns. All-time.

The Bills were destroyed in the trenches on both sides of the ball. Offensively they opened almost no holes in the running game and allowed their quarterback to be sacked 8 times. While some of those sacks may fall on an inexperienced quarterback who held onto the ball too long, the offensive line was terrible – Chandler Jones must have been winded from rushing though the A-gap unchecked play after play. On the flip side, Buffalo’s vaunted defensive line failed to show up at all. The season debut of Marcell Dareus was supposed to be icing on the cake against a New England interior line featuring a trio of inexperienced players, but in the end the Bills were stymied.

Bad things happen when you give Tom Brady time to throw, and the lack of any disruptive pass rush gave the future first ballot hall of fame quarterback time to find his receivers time and time again. The Bills secondary didn’t play too poorly, but when you give Brady any time he’ll find a way to get the ball to his receiver. Against a lesser quarterback the effort might have been enough to keep the Bills in the game, but on Sunday it meant they didn’t have a chance.

For the second week in a row the flags fell like lake effect snow rolling off Lake Erie, and the results were painful. The Bills were penalized 14 times for 140 yards, and the records only show the calls that were accepted by New England. The penalties were the worst kind – the bonehead, 15 yard variety – unsportsmanlike conduct and at the worst time – block in the back on a good return. The team showed that they were out of control emotionally and it cost them dearly – if they can’t get the penalties under control we could see more games like Sunday’s.

No matter how much we wanted the Bills to win, no matter how much we felt everything was lining up for this to be the week, it didn’t happen, and no place is harder to be than behind enemy lines. Many believe Rex Ryan and the team talked a lot of trash last week, yet nobody can point to what he said beyond not knowing the name of a young running back. Nonetheless, the insanely smug New England fans seem even more justified in their smugness this week. If it wasn’t bad enough that their martyred quarterback cannot be disciplined by the league for any conduct that hasn’t been expressly prohibited, proven and its penalties posted, New England fans seem to feel that the Bills and their fans should be punished for the perceived transgressions of their coach.

In the movies the hero gets his moment and uses it to triumph over his tormentor – it’s the way it’s supposed to be. The longer the torment, the better it is when things go the right way and everyone gets what they deserve. As a Bills fan, the harsh reality is that Danielsan doesn’t throw an insane crane kick at the end of the match – he gets his butt kicked and the champ continues to be champ while continuing to rub it Danielsan’s face – the Cobra Kai continue on.

So personally I may have much more fallout from this loss than many Bills fans, but hey – it only happens twice a year, right? All is not lost – the Bills still have 14 games to go and this loss may force the team and the fans to realize the obvious – the AFC East lies with New England and the Bills are fighting for a wildcard. The Miami game next week will show whether the Bills deserve to be considered one of the stronger AFC teams or in the category of “close, but not good enough”. I’ll be rooting hard for a better if less dramatic end to that movie – it could still be a happy ending.