ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Despite back-to-back victories, the Buffalo Bills are still staring down a narrow path to the playoffs with five games remaining on their regular-season schedule.
Defeating the Cincinnati Bengals and Jacksonville Jaguars has helped the Bills keep pace in a competitive AFC wild-card race, but if Buffalo is going to truly make noise over the final month of the season, it will require offensive stars LeSean McCoy and Sammy Watkins providing the sort of big-play spark they did in Sunday's 28-21 win over Jacksonville.
McCoy scored on a 75-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second half, and Watkins beat one-on-one coverage from Jalen Ramsey down the right sideline for a 62-yard catch that set up a Tyrod Taylor touchdown run later in the third quarter. Had the Bills been without McCoy and Watkins, the outcome of Sunday's game might have been different.
Likewise, the Bills must keep McCoy and Watkins healthy and hope for similar performances down the stretch if Buffalo is to snap its 16-year postseason drought.
Why? The rest of this Bills team is flawed, and Sunday's game continued to prove it.
The Bills' red zone defense, which ranked first in the NFL over the first seven weeks of the season, has plummeted to 32nd in the NFL over the past five weeks. Buffalo has allowed opponents to score on 11 of their past 12 trips inside the 20-yard line, including both of the Jaguars' trips on Sunday.
"Right now, we can't stop anybody," coach Rex Ryan said of his red zone defense after the game, noting that not every player was playing the correct defensive playcall on one of Jacksonville's touchdowns.
Buffalo's offense is too inconsistent to allow opponents the advantage in points provided by scoring touchdowns instead of field goals in the red zone. Taylor's play in the first half of Sunday's game continued to raise questions about his long-term viability as the starter, as the QB missed targets on some plays (such as running back Jonathan Williams over the middle on a third-and-10 late in the second quarter) and seemed hesitant to uncork throws to open receivers on other plays.
The frustration with Taylor, the Bills' shaky third-down offense and an offensive line whose blocking limited McCoy to 5 first-half rushing yards resulted in fans booing their hometown team at several points before halftime in Sunday's game at New Era Field.
The tune changed quickly when McCoy cut twice and burst into the open field for his 75-yard touchdown and when Watkins caught his longest pass since Week 9 of last season in the third quarter. It was a reminder that, now that McCoy has overcome hamstring and thumb injuries, and Watkins has returned from a foot injury and felt no pain exiting Sunday's game, the Bills' offense has the health and talent to make the playoffs.
"[Watkins] is such a difference-maker as a player, and hopefully he can play a little more and more because we certainly need him," Ryan said. "We're a different team with him."
Ryan's hope is that Watkins and McCoy are able to mask what are problems elsewhere on his roster. If so, his 6-5 team stands a chance of sneaking into the playoffs, but each of the final five games remain must-wins for Buffalo.
"We put ourselves in [this] situation, but we understand it," Ryan said. "Whether we're comfortable or not, this is the situation we're in. We're going to be fighting all the way through."