Stefon Diggs talks all the time about the how the Bills can’t ride the roller coaster. The Buffalo wide receiver says he has to stay steady all the time. It’s good and sound advice for the actual players on the field, and they seem to take to it. It is not realistic advice for fans, who live and (might feel they) die by every moment.
The Bills’ 2021-22 season has been an up-and-down ride. The 11-6 record perhaps doesn’t fully reflect how heart-pounding it felt for the eight-week stretch of alternating wins and losses. The team stayed the course, and fans clung on every twist and turn, as Bills fans always do.
For the 2017 season, the year the Bills ended the drought, The News created a Fan Meter to measure moments ranked on this scale: 1 (panic or gloom), 2 (worry or doubt), 3 (uncomfortable optimism) or 4 (excitement and joy).
We have broken out the Fan Meter again, so here’s a look at this season from the lens of fans:
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Week 1
After all the optimism, after all the talk of running it back and the Super Bowl aspirations, the season started out on a deflating note. A dismal loss at home to the Steelers was a cause for immediate overreactions. The highly touted Bills offense scored just one touchdown in Week 1. Fans who spent all offseason gearing up for a year right where the 13-3 squad left off were left wondering: Am I ready to get hurt again? Meter reading: 2
Weeks 3 and 4
Ah, the great point-differential era. In the three games after the opening loss, the Bills outscored their opponents by a hearty 118-21. All 21 of those points allowed came in one game, as the defense shut out the Dolphins and the Texans. It was exhilarating, it was dominant, it was historic. But here’s the thing: It was also against three lesser opponents, with the Dolphins in particular about to head into a tailspin. A win’s a win, right? Fans for the most part pointed to the scoreboard, even if wary of the upcoming schedule. Meter reading: 3.5
Week 5
The Kansas City game felt like a chance to exorcise some demons, the AFC Championship Game loss still so fresh. In the end, the only thing that could stop the Bills was the weather, with a lightning delay making halftime about an hour longer. Weirder halftime delays have happened. But fans who stayed up until the roughly 12:35 a.m. ET ending were treated to the Bills posting an 18-point victory on the road, an early season statement win. Meter reading: 4
Week 9
Think of the song that makes you the saddest. Think of it, maybe even play it, and stare out the window dramatically for a few seconds before continuing reading. The Buffalo Bills lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars this season. If that still hurts to read, that’s OK. Football is weird, and every season brings a few head-scratching cases of, “They lost to them?” This was an especially bad case of that. It wasn’t even that Jacksonville somehow woke up and found all the answers they were searching for. The Jaguars scored nine points. They won an NFL game in which they did not score a touchdown against one of the most potent-when-it-decides-to-be offenses in the league. On Sunday, Nov. 6, the Bills offense did not decide to be potent. Fans were agonized as the rest of the league took note. Meter reading: 0.5
Week 11
Of the Bills’ six losses, five of them were decided by a touchdown or less. The lone outlier was when they were thrashed by the Colts. Running back Jonathan Taylor had five all-purpose touchdowns, throttling the Buffalo run defense. The Colts' 264 rushing yards were the most the Bills allowed all season. A win the previous week over the ever-flailing Jets did not absolve all the worries of the loss in Jacksonville. Now, against a far more formidable opponent, the Bills wilted, re-upping all the questions over what this team’s identity really would be. At that point in the season, the 6-4 Bills had just one win over a team with a winning record: Kansas City. Meter reading: 1.5
Week 12
Dawson Knox set a franchise record for touchdowns in a single season by a tight end in just nine games, and the defense held the Saints to just 1.8 yards per carry. But the win in New Orleans in prime time on Thanksgiving came with a cruel twist. All-Pro cornerback Tre’Davious White tore an ACL in the game, ending his season and sidelining a pillar of the Bills’ defense. Fans rushed to Twitter to offer their own ACLs to White, a surgery that is not suggested by doctors for living humans to take part in. The repeated “next man up” phrase felt a little obligatory at the start, even though the secondary would go on to finish the season strong. At the time, the loss of the All-Pro was just too much to digest. Meter reading: 2
Weeks 13 and 14
The Bills only had back-to-back losses once this season, at the hands of the Patriots and then Tom Brady. The former, the Monday night game at home, was weather-wrecked and a slower type of pain. The Tampa game alone probably hit every point of the meter in one contest. The slow start, the comeback, the eventual loss in overtime – this game could not have been good for Bills Mafia’s heart rates. But the players and coaches saw something in the second half to build on, leaving Tampa with the loss, but also with renewed drive. Meter reading: 2
Week 16
Just three weeks after the Monday night loss, the Bills got sweet revenge. The 33-21 win in New England was a declaration that last year’s sweep of the division was not a fluke. The Bills have staying power, and the next chapter of Bills-Patriots meetings will surely cause continued heartburn for viewers, but more exciting kind than previous decades, the kind where you feel alive and exhausted at the same time. Meter reading: 4
Final stretch
By the end of the season, the playoffs were inevitable, but the division was still up for grabs. The Bills controlled their destiny there, the win in the rematch with the Patriots putting them back on top. On paper, the last two games against the Falcons and Jets, both in Orchard Park, were not only winnable, but double-digit spreads. But after that midseason rough patch, the Bills really needed to show who they are. Sure, there were some hiccups – the Bills should have trounced both teams by even more. But winning out and claiming the AFC East title at Highmark Stadium was a sweet reward for the home crowd on a chilly day. Meter reading: 4
