EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- We've reached the halfway point of the Buffalo Bills' season.
It's a time to step back and assess the direction of a team. What's going right? What needs improvement? In most cases, answering those questions leads to a clearer sense of where the squad is headed.
Not this year. Those sort of conclusions remain elusive with this Bills team. At 5-3, they're in second place in the AFC East and as much in the playoff hunt as anyone else in the conference. But are they really in it for the long haul?
Even after their 43-23 victory Sunday against the New York Jets, it's hard to tell.
The Bills possessed the ball 15 times against the Jets, failing to gain a first down or touchdown on nine of those drives. Only three teams this season have finished games with a higher percentage of stagnant drives than the Bills' 60-percent rate against the Jets.
Consider that the Bills had by far the best starting field position (an average of 51.3 yards to the goal) of any team this season -- along with a plus-29.6 yard field position margin, the NFL's sixth-best since 2001 -- and some of the lost opportunities come to light.
That was the most striking observation from Sunday's game: The Bills scored 43 points yet at times managed to look just as inept offensively as the Jets, who committed six turnovers. And this comes one week after Buffalo's mistake-filled, 17-16 win over the Minnesota Vikings.
It's not the mark of a playoff team. It has the stench of a weakness that better teams can expose when the season is on the line this winter.
The story is the same for the Bills' running attack. Once the strength of the team, it has fallen off a cliff in recent weeks. Buffalo averaged 2.1 yards per carry Sunday, and only two teams have fared worse than the Bills' 3.15 yards per run over the past month.
With Anthony Dixon and Bryce Brown carrying the load until Fred Jackson returns, it's an area of concern for the Bills.
"You're going to have to run the ball somewhat," coach Doug Marrone said after the game. "We've got to get better at that."
On the positive end, the Bills tightened up their turnover troubles Sunday, protecting the ball for the entire contest after turning it over three times against the New England Patriots in Week 6 and coughing it up another four times last week.
"I thought we did a good job on the offensive side of not turning the ball over," Marrone said. "We haven't been doing a very good job of that in these past couple of weeks, so we put a major emphasis on it."
Far and away that's the most encouraging takeaway for the Bills from Sunday's win. It's a sign that a problem plaguing the team for much of the last month has been corrected. More than anything else, air-tight ball security will power a playoff run.
Whether the Bills can piece things together and position themselves for the postseason is still a mystery.
The Bills enter their bye week looking ahead to a tougher second-half schedule. Of their remaining eight games, only two -- against the Jets (1-7) and Oakland Raiders (0-7) -- involve teams with losing records.
It will be a grind. The way the Bills played for the bulk of their wins over the Detroit Lions (in Week 5) or the Vikings won't cut it. Struggling to capitalize on turnovers as the Bills did Sunday against the Jets won't do the Bills any favors, either.
That's why the Bills remain one of the NFL's more confusing teams. Outside of their 29-10 blowout win over the Miami Dolphins in Week 2 and perhaps Sunday's victory, the Bills haven't been able to produce a convincing win, stamped with the mark of a playoff team.
The postseason feels more within reach for the Bills than it has in several years. They're undoubtedly making strides and learning how to win. But some of the red flags are too glaring to ignore; this is still a flawed team that will need to scratch and claw its way through the final two months of the season.
Until then, it's anyone's best guess as to how the Bills finish.
