It’s mid-December and the not only do the Bills have life, they actually have two meaningful games left on the schedule – if that doesn’t tell you some things have changed with this club I don’t know what does. Usually this is the time I start to realize another year is over and I should really move the Bills down in my priority list and finish my Christmas shopping and preparing for a hectic schedule of traveling and visiting various family members. Luckily, I did most of my shopping from the couch on Black Friday (you get a Dot, and you get a Dot…everybody gets a Dot!) so I’m not that behind the eight ball as much as I usually am at this point.

The first half of Sunday’s game against Miami may have been the best half of football I’ve seen from the Bills this season. We all knew that Sunday’s game was a big game – the Bills had to win to keep the season alive (maybe not mathematically speaking, but we all know a loss would have pretty much been the end). There have been so many of these “big games’ in the past few years and it seems the bigger they were hyped, the worse the Bills fared, but not this past Sunday.

Sunday’s game was a great example of what the Bills can be when they are playing well – it’s that glimpse that keeps you thinking good things can’t be much further off – with a few more pieces this could be a very solid team. Unfortunately, the game also demonstrated the inconsistency that makes it easy to see why the Bills get beat by good teams and why every season seems to be such a roller coaster.

Buffalo started the game by doing something they hadn’t done all season – taking a drive from inside their own 20 yard line and driving for a touchdown. It was obvious that the series had been scripted ahead of time, but the Bills came out and flat out executed – they looked really good. 10 plays, 81 yards, two third down conversions. A really nice rollout and throw to Nick O’Leary, topped off by a slicing touchdown run from LeSean McCoy – if the Bills could play like that consistently they could be a contender.

Defensively the Bills didn’t fare quite as well and allowed Miami to put together two scoring drives, but the bend but don’t break scheme they employed allowed only two field goals. More concerning was the inability to limit Kenyon Drake as he just ran all over the Bills’ front seven for runs of 31 and 19 yards.

Statistically the Bills looked good in the first half – Tyrod Taylor was 12-18-165-1 with a 114.4 rating and escapability that does not show up in the stats – it was one of those games where you think the Bills may be able to get by with Tyrod and use their wealth of draft picks to fill holes and make upgrades elsewhere next season. That’s the frustrating thing about Tyrod – you want to think the Bills could win with him because he has these spells where he plays really well, but it never lasts.

The Bills came out to start the second half up by two scores, but they did what the Bills often do – they seemed to get tired and complacent. The Bills stepped up and shut Drake down, especially on early downs and that really limited Miami’s ground game. Unfortunately it opened up the passing game for Jay Cutler who passed for 186 yards in the second half, including 8 first downs and a 4th and 14 conversion late in the game. The Bills managed to pick Cutler off three times – once converting it into a field goal and finally to seal the win at the end of the game. Cutler finished the game with a rating of 47.5.

Nothing is ever easy when you’re a Bills fan, especially the end of a game the Bills started well. The Bills gave up 10 unanswered points in the fourth quarter which allowed Miami to pull within eight points. On the touchdown Adolphus Washington made one of the biggest boneheaded plays I’ve seen in a log time by slapping the ball out of Drake’s hands way after the play – a play Washington wasn’t even part of. The penalty extended Miami’s drive and allowed the fourth quarter touchdown. When Miami scored late to make it a single score game they obviously kicked the onside kicked, but it worked for them when Preston Brown came up and allowed the ball to bounce right off his hands. If you felt this was a sign that the Bills were going to lose a game that had started so well you weren’t alone.

Had the Bills not played as well as they had early in the game I fear the outcome would have been much different – I’ll take the win but that’s not a good feeling to have after the game with 2 more very important contests on the calendar. Had the Bills faced a tougher opponent I also believe they would have lost. I don’t want to dwell on losing because the Bills won, but statistically Cutler was bad and the Bills only managed three points off of three turnovers – put a better quarterback under center and I’m not sure the Bills end up winning.

So now the Bills move onto New England, and unless there’s some sort of Christmas miracle, the Bills are likely to fall to 8-7 (don’t blame me – the Bills have never won a meaningful game in Foxboro when Brady plays). What’s interesting is that the Bills could lose that game and still be able to make the playoffs, so I’ll be spending my Christmas Eve afternoon closely watching the game and hoping for the best – if they can play a complete game like the first half they played against Miami they might just give Bills fans a fantastic Christmas gift.