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So what kind of grade do the Buffalo Bills deserve at the midway point of the 2014 season? There have been some some exciting highs and disappointing lows, but the club has managed to keep its’ collective head above water with a 5-3 won/loss record heading into their bye week. Here is my analysis of how the Bills have fared, position by position, through eight games and what they’ll need to do to stay on course to earn a playoff spot in the season’s second half:

Front Office / Coaching

GM Doug Whaley made the bold move of trading away next year’s top draft pick to move up this year and pick Sammy Watkins, and that move looks like it will pay big dividends going forward. Whaley also did a good job of improving the overall depth of the roster through the rest of the draft and free agent signings. Head coach Doug Marrone hasn’t completely won me over yet as the man who can pull the franchise out of the doldrums and lead the team to a winning season. His quick hiring of Jim Schwartz as defensive coordinator after Mike Pettine left to coach in Cleveland was a great move. The Bills’ defense through the first half of 2014 has been even better than last year’s unit. He stayed with special teams coach Danny Crossman and those units have been far better than last year’s, although a lot of the improvement can be attributed to Whaley’s stocking of the roster with better special teams players. Marrone gets high marks for making a quick decision to bench EJ Manuel at quarterback in favor of veteran Kyle Orton, a decision that was also bold and has proven so far to be correct. The negative on Marrone is his inability, to this point, to get the players to stop committing foolish and/or unnecessary penalties and mistakes, many of which have been a result of the immaturity of the players. In my mind, he has to lead this team to a winning record, not necessarily a playoff spot but a record above .500, with enough significant improvement to give fans hope for the future, to save his job. If the team falters to another 6-10 season with a second half collapse, then he gets piled onto the scrap heap of failed coaches along with Chan Gailey, Dick Jauron, Mike Mularkey, etc.

Quarterback

This position obviously has gone through a complete transition from the start of the season. Manuel was benched in favor of Orton, and the move has paid off with the veteran presence of Orton steadying the unit. The offense has been far from a dominant unit, but Orton has shown terrific leadership in guiding the team to 3 wins in 4 starts since he took over. Orton has made his share of mistakes, mostly turnovers and holding the ball a little too long at times resulting in sacks, but for a guy who joined the team after training camp was over and has had very little time to adapt to his teammates, he’s done a great job, with the hope being that he gets even better in the second half of the year. Although he was benched, Manuel’s future should still be bright. He has a good attitude and now gets a chance to step back and learn the position at a much easier pace. He was placed in a very tough spot, with the impending ownership change putting him in a position that if he failed, it could possibly cost a lot of people in the organization their jobs. It was a little too much to ask of a player who didn’t even get a complete rookie year in 2013 to progress, due to injuries.

Running Back

Just as the quarterback position has gone through a complete transition, the running back spots will have a totally different look for much of the second half of the year, although not by choice. Fred Jackson and C.J. Spiller went down with significant injuries in week seven against the Vikings, and now Anthony Dixon and Bryce Brown will have to carry the load. Dixon was a free agent signee who figured to help mostly on special teams and short yardage situations, but now he’ll get a lot of playing time, at least until Jackson gets back. Brown was inactive for every game until week eight, but now will get a major amount of carries also. He was acquired by Whaley in a draft day trade, a deal that looked questionable when Brown was not dressing each week, but looks like a smart move now. Fullback Frank Summers has been a steady performer as a lead blocker, and with the injuries has even gotten a few touches in the running game that he normally wouldn’t have. Former Dallas Cowboy Phillip Tanner has been added to the roster for depth, but likely won’t stick around after Jackson and Spiller return.

Receivers

Since Orton took over as the starting quarterback, Watkins has emerged as a major playmaker on the receiving corps. He is exactly as advertised when he came out of college – a dynamic player with the ability to score from anywhere on the field. Besides Watkins, Robert Woods has been the other major downfield threat in the passing game. Chris Hogan started the year playing only on special teams, but now seems to have moved past Mike Williams on the depth chart as the third receiving option. Williams has hardly seen the ball since Orton has taken over, and was even de-activated for a game. The Bills need to figure out a way to utilize his talents more in the second half. Another non-contributor has been Marquise Goodwin, who is a top deep threat but can’t stay healthy. The same can be said for Marcus Easley, although he’s rarely ever used as a receiver, but is an important special teams gunner. One player who has to be thrilled that Orton is now under center is tight end Scott Chandler, who has become a favorite target of the veteran QB. The Bills have used some double tight end formations at times, and Orton has found both Chris Gragg and Lee Smith for red zone touchdowns. I’m not a big fan of Smith, who for the most part during his time here has seen very few snaps but always managed to get called for dumb penalties. In the last couple of games before the bye, he was at least trumping his mistakes by making some positive contributions, and it would be a big help if he continues that trend in the season’s stretch run.

Offensive Line

This unit has not been a strength of the team so far, but it is a work in progress and figures to get better in the second half. After Chris Williams was put on injured reserve with back problems early on, the line  had two rookie starters in guard Cyril Richardson and tackle Seantrel Henderson, and both have had their ups and downs. That’s typical for rookies, especially on the O-line, but this unit has had the added handicap of having to adjust to a different quarterback (who plays a completely different style) and now all new running backs. Veterans Eric Wood at center and Cordy Glenn at left tackle have been mostly solid but have even had their own rough moments, which is probably due to all the unfamiliarity among the players on the unit. Guard Erik Pears supposedly grades out as one of the worst offensive linemen in the NFL, but he remains a starter, while Richardson was replaced by veteran Kraig Urbik in week eight. Second round draft pick Cyrus Kouandjio has been the only mostly disappointing player from the 2014 draft class, as he has struggled, but his upside, combined with the fact that offensive linemen generally need time to develop, makes it hard at this point to consider him a bust. Kouandjio’s struggles have been offset by the play of Henderson, a talented but supposedly troubled rookie who has grabbed his opportunity by the throat and cemented himself in the starting lineup. It’s somewhat puzzling that despite the problems on the line, veteran Chris Hairston has had very few chances to show what he can do.

Defensive Line

The defense overall is the strength of this team, and the defensive line is without a doubt the strongest part of that defense. The starting four of Mario Williams, Kyle Williams, Marcell Dareus and Jerry Hughes all are Pro Bowl-caliber players. All four have taken their turns being disruptive players, and Dareus in particular is having a dominant year, leading the team in sacks, which is unusual for an interior lineman. What makes this unit really a problem for opposing teams, however, is the play of the four guys who back up the Pro Bowlers – Corbin Bryant, Stefan Charles, Jarius Wynn and Manny Lawson. They are all playmakers, and there is very little drop-off in performance when Schwartz rotates them in and out of the lineup.

Linebacker

This unit wasn’t particularly strong coming into the season, and when Kiko Alonso went down with a freak season-ending injury prior to training camp, all appeared lost. The remaining players have held their own, however, and taken full advantage of the dominating play by the D-line in front of them. Veteran Brandon Spikes was signed as a free agent to help shore up the team’s play against the run, a weakness of last year’s defense. As the starting middle linebacker, he has done just that. Although his statistics aren’t eye-popping, Spikes adds a tough, physical attitude to the unit that it lacked in the past. Nigel Bradham never showed much promise in his first couple of years here, but this season his play has improved dramatically for the most part, to the point where he’s earned a starting spot on the outside despite a one game drug suspension to start the year. Another free agent veteran signee, Keith Rivers, has been mostly steady at one of the outside spots, but the gem of the ‘backers through the first eight games is rookie Preston Brown, who was forced into action when Alonso went down. Brown has made his share of rookie mistakes, but he has made steady improvement as the season has progressed, filling in when needed. With his combination of speed and toughness, Brown has managed to both lead the team in tackles and make some plays in the back end defending passes. Two other veterans, Ty Powell and Larry Dean, are on the roster to add depth and help on special teams. The unit is rounded out by another rookie, Randell Johnson, who has also mostly contributed on special teams. He shows flashes of the same type of speed and power combination as Preston Brown, and could be a diamond in the rough in the future if he continues to improve. It’s clear that Whaley has a “type” of player he looks for when drafting linebackers.

Defensive Backs

The Bills lead the entire NFL in interceptions through the first half of the 2014 season, so their secondary players must be doing an adequate job. The starting cornerbacks have done mostly good work. Stephon Gilmore is supposed to be the team’s “shutdown” corner, and after a slow start his play is improving, and should get even better in the second half. On the other side, Leodis McKelvin has played better than Gilmore, showing great ball skills that he didn’t necessarily have in past seasons as he leads the league in picks with four. Whaley signed Buffalo native Corey Graham to add depth to the secondary, and the veteran has delivered, seeing action at both corner and safety and coming up with significant plays in that playing time. Nickell Robey has picked up where he left off last season as the club’s top nickel corner, while the other reserve corners – Ron Brooks and Ross Cockrell – have made most of their contributions on special teams. Starting safeties Aaron Williams and Da’Norris Searcy have had peaks and valleys, but mostly have been solid. Williams, especially, had the daunting task of replacing the departed Jairus Byrd, a Pro Bowler, and has more than held his own with his play and leadership. With a pair of young safeties going on injured reserve early in the year, Duke Williams has been getting more playing time on the back end than he expected, and has done a decent job, especially with his physical play against the run. Both Aaron Williams and Searcy have battled nagging injuries, so Duke Williams and Graham have had to fill in.

Special Teams

The special teams units have played head-and-shoulders better than last year’s units. They count a kickoff return touchdown (from Spiller), a blocked punt by Dixon and a game-winning 58 yard field goal from Dan Carpenter among their accomplishments this year. Adding Dixon and Graham to the roster immediately upgraded all the coverage units. The kicking game has been solid also. Carpenter has been money in the bank on field goals, punter Colton Schmidt may be the most underrated player on the team, as he leads the NFL in punts placed inside the opponents’ 20 yard line, and long snapper Garrison Sanborn has been invisible, meaning all his snaps so far have been accurate. The decision to keep a “long distance” kickoff specialist, Jordan Gay, has worked out alright so far. The “bomb squads” will face numerous challenges in the second half of the year, among them finding out how their young kickers, Schmidt and Gay, handle the Buffalo winter winds. Also, their top two kickoff returners, Spiller and Goodwin, have been injured and McKelvin has had to handle both jobs along with his cornerback duties. A third kickoff return option, Marcus Easley (also a top coverage gunner) has been hurt too. The Bills may want to try to find another option to handle those returns so McKelvin doesn’t get overworked.

The Buffalo Bills went into MetLife Stadium on Sunday, where they’ve never won, and managed to turn their fortunes around in a strange football game in which the final result didn’t match up with the final statistics. The Bills beat the New York Jets rather handily, 43-23, yet only managed 280 total yards of offense. In a game that saw Kyle Orton throw only 17 passes, completing only 10, the Bills’ rushing attack must have been dominant, right? No, they only managed 67 yards on the ground. The difference in the contest was the Bills protecting the ball, avoiding turnovers, while the Jets coughed it up 6 times. Orton’s passes were timely, as 4 of his 10 completions went for touchdowns, to four different receivers. He would have had a fifth if star rookie Sammy Watkins hadn’t been caught from behind while celebrating early on a long throw from Orton. Luckily for Sammy, the Bills scored on the drive on a short run by fullback Frank Summers, and Watkins redeemed himself later in the game by grabbing a short pass from Orton, breaking a tackle and blazing 61 yards for a touchdown. Orton also threw scoring tosses to Robert Woods, Lee Smith and Scott Chandler in directing his team to a third win in four starts since taking over the starting reins from EJ Manuel. Buffalo’s defensive effort was superb, as it’s been in most games this year. They chased Jet QB Geno Smith from the game by intercepting three of his passes in the first quarter. Veteran Mike Vick replaced him but he didn’t protect the ball much better, tossing a fourth pick and losing a pair of fumbles.

All in all, the win was a solid team victory for the Bills, with contributions coming from all over the roster. Running backs Anthony Dixon and Bryce Brown, pressed into major duty due to the injuries suffered by Fred Jackson and C.J. Spiller, didn’t break any long runs but gained just enough yardage on the ground to keep the defense honest and allow Orton to succeed. On defense, the front four recorded 4 sacks and pressured both Smith and Vick into hurried throws all day. The D-line depth showed also, as backups Corbin Bryant and Jarius Wynn got 2 of the sacks, and Stefan Charles had a fumble recovery. The linebackers had a good day, especially rookie Preston Brown, who had 9 tackles and an interception. Stephon Gilmore, Aaron Williams and Da’Norris Searcy also had picks, setting up the offense with good field position all day, which accounts for the Bills racking up a season-high 43 points with such a small total yardage amount. LB Nigel Bradham had a rough day, being called for numerous costly penalties, but he also was a positive contributor, with 11 tackles and a forced fumble. The Bills now go into their bye week with a 5-3 won/loss record and some valuable momentum.

At Ralph Wilson Stadium on Sunday, the Buffalo Bills stole a victory over the visiting Minnesota Vikings in a game they had no business winning. For most of the game, Buffalo continued their maddening habit of shooting themselves in the foot with mistakes, turnovers and penalties – a habit they haven’t been able to break for 14 non-playoff seasons under five different coaches. Bills’ fans have seen this act so often over the years that they show little patience for the current team when they start to exhibit their same story, different day behavior. So for the third time in four home games, the Bills were booed off the field at halftime, this time trailing a very beatable Viking team, 13-10. Neither club did anything in a listless third quarter, and when Orton threw a bad interception in the early portion of the final quarter to set up a Minnesota field goal, the Bills found themselves down 16-10 in a game that they were favored to win. Kyle Orton, the Bills’ QB who had a tough afternoon with six sacks against and another pair of turnovers, pulled his offensive unit together and engineered an 80 yard drive that culminated with a 2  yard touchdown strike to Sammy Watson with one second left on the clock to steal a 17-16 win. Here are some thoughts about things that happened during the game and what they might mean going forward:

* Orton’s performance was typical of his career – he was brutally awful at times, but brilliant on the final drive, which actually was much longer than 80 yards, as the Bills needed to overcome penalties and sacks that caused third and fourth and long situations. Orton hit Scott Chandler and Chris Hogan on key completions before connecting with Watkins for the winning score.

* Watkins had his best game of what has been an uneven rookie year. He’s had some average games also, mostly when he didn’t seem completely recovered from an early season rib injury, but he is without a doubt going to grow into a major weapon for his team’s offense for the remainder of this year and beyond. He is slowly developing some chemistry with Orton and will be scary good when he’s completely on the same page with his veteran signal-caller.

* The Bills’ running game took a major hit looking ahead to the immediate future. Fred Jackson suffered a groin injury and left the game. That meant that C.J. Spiller, who’s struggled all year, was going to get his chance to get multiple carries. Unfortunately, on his first attempt, he went down with a collarbone injury, which happened after he was tackled on a stirring 53 yard scamper. Anthony Dixon did an admirable job finishing the game as the lone back, and in the coming weeks, depending on how long Jackson and Spiller are sidelined, off-season trade acquisition Bryce Brown will get his first chance to contribute after being an inactive healthy scratch all year.

* There were some unsung heroes in the game Sunday, including Leodis McKelvin, who nabbed a pair of interceptions, Dixon with some key runs, the defensive line with four sacks, and linebacker Preston Brown with some impressive tackling.

* The Bills’ offensive line has looked overwhelmed the last 2 weeks, especially the guards, Erik Pears and rookie Cyril Richardson. Why wouldn’t the coaching staff want to take a look at the backups, Chris Hairston and Kraig Urbik, at some point? Urbik was a starter on last year’s line that led the rushing attack to a second-best in the NFL ranking, but supposedly lost his job to Pears, who hasn’t impressed.

Sunday’s contest between the Buffalo Bills and division rival New England Patriots was highlighted by a stirring pre-game ceremony that saw the new owners of the Bills, Terry and Kim Pegula introduced to the fans. The excitement surrounding the new era of Bills’ football certainly fired up both the fans and players, but unfortunately the opponent was the Patriots, who have routinely come into Ralph Wilson Stadium over the past decade or so and rained on Western New York parades. After their rushing attack ran roughshod over the Bills’ defense to secure two wins last year, you figured Bill Belichick’s crew would come out pounding the ball again in this year’s meeting. Instead, they rarely ran the ball, and Tom Brady picked apart the Buffalo secondary all day long and had one of his usual signature days against the Bills, throwing for over 300 yards and 4 touchdowns as New England won, 37-22. They never trailed in the game, as Brady ran his overall record against the Bills to 23-2.  They didn’t turn the ball over, and created 3 turnovers. They overwhelmed Buffalo’s offensive line, sacking Kyle Orton 5 times and basically stuffing the run game. Brady burned Jim Schwartz’s defense, which is designed to limit big plays, for 43 and 56 yard touchdown passes. Buffalo’s vaunted pass rush sacked Brady twice, but for the most part he stood comfortably in the pocket and delivered pinpoint throws to various receivers to either keep drives alive or score quick-strike touchdowns. And yes, there were the customary questionable calls by the officials against the Bills, which gave Belichick and Brady help they didn’t need. Belichick, love him or hate him, is one of the NFL’s best at devising strategy to neutralize his opponents’ strengths, and capitalize on their weaknesses, and now has run his record against Buffalo’s Doug Marrone to 3-0. The Bills’ coaches were pretty much schooled at every turn in this game, and even seemed intimidated by the New England “mystique” (hype?). One example – the Pats were stacking the line of scrimmage  all day determined to stop the Bills’ running game, leaving Darrelle Revis single-covering star rookie receiver Sammy Watkins on the outside, but Orton never even looked Watkins’ way until late in the second half. Revis is a terrific player, but completely staying away from him for almost the entire game, when he’s covering your star receiver, is ridiculous.

So the Bills proved once again they’re nowhere near the class of team that New England is, but even with the crushing defeat, all is not lost. Miami and the New York Jets, the other AFC East rivals, both lost, leaving the Bills in second place at 3-3. They don’t have to worry about trying to at least compete with the Pats until the season’s final week, so they need to concentrate on improving enough to beat the teams they have on their upcoming schedule, very beatable teams in Minnesota and the Jets. The focus should be on getting Orton more comfortable with his offensive teammates, getting the offensive line stabilized and improved, figuring out what’s wrong with C.J. Spiller and tightening things up on defense, which will involve getting the players on that unit playing together again, as they did in the season’s first quarter.

When Detroit’s Rashean Mathis intercepted Kyle Orton’s pass early in the second quarter of Sunday’s Buffalo Bills’ clash with the Lions in Detroit, returning it for a touchdown to give his team a 14-0 lead, it looked like Bills’ coach Doug Marrone’s decision to bench EJ Manuel in favor of the veteran Orton wasn’t going to work out very well. Detroit’s formidable defense had shut down the Bills’ offense to that point, and it appeared this game could descend into a blowout. Just as Houston’s J.J. Watt had tormented Buffalo’s offensive line the previous week, Detroit’s All Pro defensive tackle, Ndamukong Suh did the same in this game. The Bills’ rushing attack had its’ worst showing of the season, with Suh and his defensive linemates stuffing the Buffalo backs all day. With Orton showing rust from not having seen any live game action since last season, it looked like the Bills were in for a long day. Luckily, Orton shook off the rust just enough to rebound and lead his team to a stirring 17-14 comeback win, highlighted by a 58 yard game-winning field goal by the reliable Dan Carpenter in the dying seconds. While Orton found his bearings and guided Buffalo to the win, hitting some timely passes on the four scoring drives he needed to secure the final result, it was the Bills’ defense that was the headliner of the day, for the fifth straight week this year. With Kyle Williams out with a knee injury, Marcell Dareus lifted his game and delivered his best effort of the season, dominating the Lions’ offensive line and recording 3 of the Bills’ 6 sacks of Lion QB Matthew Stafford. The efforts of the defense are the main reason the Bills have a winning 3-2 record so far this year, and Sunday’s game was especially sweet in that it came against defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz’s former team. Now the Bills return home for a divisional game against rival New England, and the hope is that the defense can put together another consistent effort against Tom Brady while Orton continues to improve and gain more familiarity with his offensive teammates.