Bills 20, Panthers 9

After a rather rainy three days, it cleared in Muskoka yesterday afternoon and as I sat down at 4pm to watch football, the late October sun was streaming in the southwest windows in the rich yellow colour you only see in the last hour or so before sunset. As the game progressed, I left the lights off and, as the sun set, the orange dusk slowly turned to darkness over the lake with the waxing half moon rising in the eastern sky. A beautiful evening indeed. And a football game which will not be remembered for anything much, especially by fans of the Carolina Panthers.

The Panthers outgained Buffalo 425 yards to 167. They earned 20 first downs to the Bills 9. However, they turned the ball over 4 times, missed 2 makeable field goals and lost an ugly game in the process.

The Bills have generated 10 turnovers in their past 2 games - an unsustainable rate probably, but a key factor in their 2 consecutive road wins. Jarius Byrd now has 5 interceptions over these 2 games and stands only 1 off the league lead. He was touted as a "ball hawk" coming out of Oregon in the second round of this year's draft and he is clearly showing why.

Ryan Fitzpatrick looked brutal for much of this game and completed only 11 passes. What he did not do was turn the ball over and, with quarterbacking as mediocre as the Bills have, that's a necessity. This team is not in the bottom rung of the NFL (which is pretty big this year) and has not been in the entire four years of the Dick Jauron regime. He has them just where he wants them - en route to another 7-9 season. A couple of weeks ago, it looked like things were really changing and they were heading toward 4-12. Up next: a chance to even their season record with a home date against the Houston Texans.