National Football League

Bills' surprising start dashed by 5-game skid

Published Dec. 6, 2011 1:42 a.m. ET

foxsports

The playoffs are suddenly a pipe dream for quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick and his teammates after the Buffalo Bills turned their surprising start into a perplexing skid.

''It's hard to realize where we are right now and where we were when we started the season with all the hope,'' Fitzpatrick acknowledged Monday, a day after a 23-17 loss to Tennessee. ''It's unfortunate that we find ourselves in this spot.''

The Bills (5-7) have lost five straight in a spiral that's plunged them into the all-too-familiar position of being in jeopardy of missing the playoffs for a 12th straight season.

This was not where Fitzpatrick and the upstart, swaggering, ''No-Name'' Bills expected to be after getting off to a 5-2 start that included wins in which they rallied from 18- and 21-point deficits in consecutive weeks to beat Oakland and New England.

Those dramatic comebacks and the national attention the so-called ''Mis-Fitz'' generated are dim memories for a team that's gone from vying for the AFC East title to suddenly having its hands full in holding off the Dolphins (4-8) to avoid finishing last in the division for a fourth straight year.

So long as the Bills are still mathematically in contention, coach Chan Gailey isn't prepared to throw in the towel on his team's slim playoff hopes. And yet, he'll concede Buffalo's chances aren't very good.

''It's hard. It's tough. It's no fun. It's very tough to deal with,'' Gailey said. ''We're one game better than we were last year, but it doesn't feel anywhere near like that. So you'd like to finish as strong as we possibly can to take us into the next year.''

The Bills open their final stretch at San Diego on Sunday, which will mark their fourth road game in five weeks.

They've lost five straight on the road since a season-opening 41-7 win at Kansas City. And they're performing little better at home since a 23-0 win over Washington in Buffalo's annual game at Toronto on Oct. 30.

Buffalo's once-potent offense is sputtering. After averaging 30.1 points through the first seven games, the Bills have managed a meager 13.4 in their past five.

Fitzpatrick's efficiency has dropped drastically as well. After throwing 14 touchdown passes against seven interceptions in his first seven games, he has six TD tosses and seven INTs in his past five.

The defense hasn't been much better. It's allowing more points and generating far fewer turnovers during the five-game skid.

The Bills were among the NFL leaders with 18 takeaways (14 interceptions and four forced fumbles) through their first seven games. They've managed just two interceptions and two forced fumbles in their past five.

''Yeah, there's a lot of drastic differences,'' linebacker Nick Barnett said. ''We've got a lot of different guys in this locker room right now due to a lot of injuries. We're going through a lot of different things.''

Injuries have taken a heavy toll in eating away at the thread-bare depth the Bills had to begin with.

Buffalo currently has seven players who opened the season as starters on injured reserve. It's a group that includes their defensive anchor, tackle Kyle Williams (foot), their most productive offensive threat, running back Fred Jackson (broken leg), and their top offensive lineman, center Eric Wood (knee).

''Unfortunately, when we started off, there was a lot of good magic going,'' Barnett said. ''We still see some of it in flashes, but nowhere near from where we're supposed to be or nowhere near where we started. So we've got to try to get it back.''

The Bills have already won one more game than last year, and the team still has an outside shot at its first winning record since a 9-7 finish in 2004.

What's troublesome is how the five-game skid marks the eighth time in 12 seasons that Buffalo has lost four or more in a row. That includes last year when the Bills opened 0-8 in Gailey's first season.

''They're both awful,'' Gailey said, when asked to compare the losing streaks.

He maintains the Bills have taken steps forward.

''I think we're a better football team than we were last year,'' Gailey said. ''I think that we have a lot of bright spots. But it's hard to see them because we're not winning.''