Three questions: Thoughts on the Bills' survival, injuries and offensive struggles

How good should the fans feel about this Bills win?

Good enough. Survive and advance is the only thing that matters, especially with the injured Buffalo players stacked up on the sideline like cord wood. If someone told you the Bills would be without their two best offensive linemen, their top three pass rushers, their middle linebacker, and their two most talented cornerbacks for much of the game, you’d expect them to struggle against just about anyone.

A win is a win. A win on a short week is a good win. A win after you had only two full practices in two weeks is a an even better win.

Do all these injuries change the expectations for the Bills’ season?

If Von Miller is out for the year with his knee injury, yes. In that case, the Bills are a clear underdog to Kansas City in the AFC, at the least. Winning in the playoffs without Miller would be a difficult task. If Miller is not out for the year, even if he misses the next month, then it does not change expectations.

The Bills enter a three-game AFC East stretch that likely will decide the division – at New England and home vs. the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins. The presumption is the ankle injury to tackle Dion Dawkins’ isn’t too bad and center Mitch Morse will have a good chance to face the Patriots. Morse was questionable for this game. Defensive end Greg Rousseau should be back at some point in this three-game division stretch.

If Dawkins and Morse are back, the Bills still are more talented overall than the Patriots and Jets. It’s not too much to ask to beat Miami at home in December, with or without Miller.

What happened to the offense in the second half?

Getting dominated in the trenches is a big problem. The Bills have two upper-tier offensive linemen: Dawkins and Morse. Without them, nothing came easy. Right tackle Spencer Brown struggled in pass protection much of the game. So did David Quessenberry, who replaced Dawkins. One third-quarter drive was derailed when Justin Houston blew by Quessenberry. The next third-quarter drive was derailed when Allen’s pocket collapsed fast on first down, James Cook dropped a pass on second down and Greg Van Roten was whipped and called for holding on third down. The next drive ended with a third-down incompletion when Ryan Bates was beaten up the middle by Austin Bryant.

Another offensive issue was with run-pass option passes. Four of them failed in the second half. Maybe they were called because there was little confidence in the line protecting. The tipped-ball interception early in the third quarter came on an RPO slant. It was a bit of bad luck, but it was a predictable call in tight quarters in the red zone. Two other RPO failures were called just before the pressure by Bryant.

The Bills need to sort that out.