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Buffalo Bills’ coach Chan Gailey hit the nail on the head earlier this season when he said the problem with his team was that they couldn’t “finish”. It’s great that the coach had a handle on what his team needed to do to get over the hump, but unfortunately, it’s also his job to figure out HOW to get them over that hump. He and his staff have failed miserably in trying to accomplish that, and Sunday’s crushing 15-12 loss to the St. Louis Rams turned out to be another case of same stuff, different day for long-suffering Bills’ fans. So far this year, the Bills have blown the lead in a shootout game, losing to an inferior Tennessee Titan team 35-34 by allowing a late winning TD drive, and lost another shootout game at New England in which they continuously fought back and put themselves in a position to win at the end, only to have Ryan Fitzpatrick throw a maddening red zone interception to kill the comeback. On Sunday, they found a new way to lose, as their improving defense played a terrific game, playing a hard-fought low-scoring game against the Rams in which they led up until the last few minutes, only to have that defense revert to early-season form and allow an 87 yard touchdown drive to give the Rams the win. Critics will say that once again, Gailey under-utilized C.J. Spiller, as the dynamic back only got 7 carries for 37 yards. That certainly isn’t enough, but at the same time the Ram defense did bottle up the run for the most part, and the Bills did have success throwing. The bottom line is that whatever scheme or attack or defensive alignment that the team uses, they have to find players who execute when it counts – who make plays when the game is on the line and who have a “refuse to lose” attitude. I believe that the current roster already has some of those type of players, but they are being hamstrung by the coaching staff. For instance, the Bills’ defense did a great job of keeping the pressure on Ram QB Sam Bradford for most of the game, then went into a soft zone on the last drive, figuring, I suppose, that Bradford wouldn’t be capable of completing the long drive, especially since his team needed a touchdown to win. It’s actually a sound philosophy that a lot of teams would play the same way. It’s even more sound when the team reaches the red zone – rushing three and flooding the end zone with coverage people to ensure that the opponent doesn’t score. So why have the Bills allowed easy touchdown completions on two separate occasions in that scenario this year? Because this team does not know how to win, and the current coaching staff has shown no sign of being capable of leading them to the point where they will learn how to win.

So now it’s on to three meaningless games to play out the season. It’s imperative that the coaches give some of the young players an opportunity to show what they can do. Among other things, that means giving Marcus Easley a chance to make some plays at receiver and on special teams, and moving Da’Norris Searcy into the starting lineup at safety to build on the flashes of good play he’s shown this year. The fans certainly don’t need to see any more of Ruvell Martin, and they already have ample evidence that George Wilson, a former wide receiver, can’t catch the ball.

I seem to have hit a wall of mediocrity in my weekly NFL predictions, as I only got half of them right last week, picking 8 winners out of the 16 games played. My winning percentage for the season has taken a hit in the last couple of weeks, with the season tally now at 105 correct picks and 58 incorrect. Here are the week 14 choices:

Denver at Oakland – these 2 old AFL rivals are going in opposite directions this season. Both made drastic offseason changes, the Broncos acquiring Peyton Manning and the Raiders cleaning out their front office and coaching staff and heading in a new direction. The Broncos have hit a home run, while the “change of direction” in Oakland looks like it will mire this once proud franchise in more years of mediocrity. The Broncos win this one.

St. Louis at Buffalo – both of these teams have been fighting hard to gain some respect around the league, and both have been making small strides to achieve that lately. The Rams should be flying high after upsetting the 49ers in overtime last week, but I’ll pick the Bills to pull out a close one at home.

Atlanta at Carolina – the Falcons are sitting pretty in the NFC playoff race after all but burying division rival New Orleans last week, and this could be a perfect spot for them to let down. I expect that they will, but still have enough talent to take down the Panthers in the end.

Dallas at Cincinnati – the loser of this NFC-AFC battle will be close to kissing their playoff hopes goodbye. Because of the stakes involved, I expect a close, low-scoring defensive game, with the home-field Bengals coming out on top.

Kansas City at Cleveland – kudos to the Chiefs for fighting through the murder/suicide tragedy they endured last week and winning. This week, they go into Cleveland to take on the team that fired their coach, Romeo Crennel. That should keep the Chiefs motivated, but I have a feeling they’ll wind up emotionally drained and the Browns will win.

Tennessee at Indianapolis – the Colts have put themselves in an excellent position to secure a playoff spot this year, amazing when considering they won only one game last year and saw a lot of their players, most notably Manning, leave the team. They won’t blow this opportunity to further their cause, especially at home. The Colts win.

New York Jets at Jacksonville – with a full-blown 3-player quarterback controversy on his hands, Rex Ryan can’t possibly keep the fragile Jets together. The Jaguars win.

Chicago at Minnesota – this is another matchup in which the loser can kiss the playoffs goodbye. I believe the Bears are the better team and will fight through a loud road environment and win.

San Diego at Pittsburgh – the Chargers don’t have what it takes mentally to compete in a game the Steelers need to keep alive in the playoff race. This should be one more nail in Norv Turner’s coaching coffin as the Steelers win easily.

Philadelphia at Tampa Bay – Andy Reid is getting as much as possible out of his injury-depleted roster, but it won’t be enough to win at Tampa. The Bucs win.

Baltimore at Washington – the Ravens took a hit by losing to the Steelers last week, and will take another this week as the young Redskins, who suddenly believe they have a shot at crashing the post-season party, will knock them off at home.

Miami at San Francisco –  the Niners right the ship, and rebound from an upset loss to the Rams last week by beating up on a Dolphin team that has slowly slid out of playoff contention.

New Orleans at New York Giants – the Saints made a game attempt to revive their season, but they’ve fallen back the last couple of weeks, and in this matchup, the Giants, who’ve watched their division lead slowly erode, will put on their serious game faces and win in front of the home crowd.

Arizona at Seattle – coach Pete Carroll’s Seahawks are starting to put some distance between themselves and some other NFC wildcard contenders. They’ll beat the punchless Cardinals at home easily.

Detroit at Green Bay – the Lions’ defense has been flawed lately, and I don’t expect them to slow down Aaron Rodgers and the Packer attack. Green Bay wins at Lambeau.

Houston at New England – this is a possible AFC playoff preview. On paper and record-wise, the Texans are the better team, but the Pats have more experience on the Monday night stage and will ride a typical surgical Tom Brady performance to a big win.

For the Buffalo Bills, Sunday’s contest against the Jacksonville Jaguars shaped up to be a feast-or-famine situation. It was a contest at home against a perceived inferior opponent, so a win was to be expected. A loss, especially with former Bills’ coach Mike Mularkey at the helm of the Jaguars, would have been disastrous as far as the team’s fan base was concerned. That loss was really a possibility, since the Jags have been steadily improving and were capable of winning for 2 reasons – new Jags’ QB Chad Henne was showing some positive results, and the Bills have shown that they can compete with most teams, but also were capable of losing to anybody.

The Bills, for one of the few times this season, met expectations and put together a solid all-around effort to beat Jacksonville, 34-18. The game was even more one-sided than the final score indicates, as a muffed punt by Justin Rogers gifted a late TD to the Jaguars. Rogers’ muff could be given a pass since he was returning punts in place of the injured Leodis McKelvin, but it was still a major mistake, and the third week in a row that special teams coach Bruce DeHaven’s units have coughed up 7 points. For the first time this season, and possibly only due to the weather conditions, Bills’ coach Chan Gailey featured the running game, which is the strength of the team. Fred Jackson rushed for 109 yards on 25 carries, and C.J. Spiller added 77 on 14 carries, including an electrifying 44 yard touchdown run. For most of this season, QB Ryan Fitzpatrick has been the focal point of Gailey’s offense, running a spread offense and mostly relying on Fitz’s arm. Fitzpatrick hasn’t exactly set the world on fire in that role, but on Sunday, playing a supportive role in which he completed only 9 passes, he still made a major contribution, throwing a pair of TD passes and running a QB sneak for another score. It was the type of attack most Bills’ followers envisioned for this season, and I suppose it’s better late than never. Still, the Bills stand at 5-7 for the year, and you have to wonder how many more wins the team could’ve had if they’d used a ball-control rushing attack approach earlier.

The Bills’ defense continued their ongoing improvement, holding the Jags to 50 yards rushing, 236 total yards and a 10% conversion rate on third down. They recorded 4 sacks, got an interception and forced 2 fumbles (although the Jaguars recovered one of them). The one word that comes to mind to describe the team’s defense now that didn’t fit early in the season is – “active”. There’s even a positive to be found in the one flaw the defense showed on Sunday, that being the numerous interference, illegal contact and defensive holding penalties. That positive is that at least now the Bills’ DBs are in close coverage on receivers on most plays, and not standing around in zones while receivers run wide open around them, which was the case earlier in the year. The Bills meet NFC West opponents at home the next 2 weeks, facing the St. Louis Rams next Sunday and traveling to their second “home” in Toronto to take on Seattle the following week. With Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Indianapolis all winning on Sunday, the slim hopes the team had for the playoffs are all but gone, but a .500 season is still within reach.