It makes no real sense for me to bludgeon you over the head by recounting tales of the Bills’ miseries and gaffes against Patriots this decade; because you and I already know them by heart. So let’s just say that the final encounter between Buffalo and New England this decade went expectedly and predictably to the Patriots.

You can say that if felt like this was the day the Bills would right the ship. This was the day their long overdue victory against New England would come to fruition. But in the end, Perry Fewell endured the same fate as his predecessors and he became the latest head coach to fall to Bill Belichick and the Patriots.

New England defeated Buffalo for the 13th straight time on Sunday, 17-10. That makes it five straight seasons the Patriots have swept the season series with the Bills. The Patriots have won an astonishing 18 of their last 19 meetings with the Bills. The loss drops the Bills to 5-9 and they are officially eliminated from playoff contention, ensuring a decade long playoff drought in Orchard Park. If you don’t mind, I’d like to go ahead and just call this a long, lousy and lost decade.

The Patriots have become the gold standard in the AFC East, the conference and the NFL. It’s a good thing the Bills have plenty of silver polish because their days as the gold label are buried six feet deep in the backyard. New England has a better owner. They have a better general manager, better personnel department. They have a better coach, a better quarterback and they have better players. It’s hard to come up with one thing the Bills excel at better than the Patriots. And when that’s the case, it makes it awfully difficult to buy a bill of stale, cheap goods that Buffalo belongs on the same field as New England. After all, do you think the Patriots’ big wigs would rid themselves of both starting tackles and put Tom Brady behind an offensive line of rookies and retreads to start the season and expect to succeed?

This one lacked some drama we’ve witnessed before. This time, there wasn’t Troy Brown in the New England secondary, or Teddy Bruschi making his return to the gridiron after suffering a stroke. It didn’t have 56 points or Sam Adams chugging down the sideline toward the endzone. Still, it doesn’t make it any easier to swallow.

It was the same old song blasting on the jukebox, just a different dollar bill inserted into the machine. The defense played well, certainly well enough to get a win. Fewell’s guys held Tom Brady to 115 passing yards on 11 completions. Both were season lows for Brady. It was the worst passing yardage day for Brady in almost three seasons. The defense held the Patriots to just 3.2 yards per carry, which could easily be described as their best effort of the season considering they’re the NFL’s worst ranked rushing defense. Wes Welker, the league leader in receptions, was limited to only four catches. New England’s offense cranked out a Buffalo-like 17 points. But like so many other games this season and this decade, it boiled down to penalties and poor offense for the Buffalo. The defense deserves better. Much better. Much better than what the offense is capable, or should I say incapable, of giving them. How many times has that been the case this decade?

The wounds were self inflicted and there were many. Buffalo raked in 11 penalties totaling 124 yards. At halftime the Bills were flagged 8 times for 104 yards, the most penalty yardage by any team in the first half of a game this season. But, you get what you pay for. Due to injuries and horrible decisions by what can be loosely described as the Bills’ front office, Buffalo has had a makeshift line of rookies, journeymen and guys they’ve plucked off the scrap heap all season long. Newly signed guard Richie Incognito, who was claimed off waivers from St. Louis, started his first game for the Bills after being with the team for five days. Someone please remind me again how great of an idea it was to trade Jason Peters and release Langston Walker, depleting the team of starting offensive tackles.

Two of the penalties the Bills were flagged were pass interference penalties, one against Randy Moss and the other against Welker. They put New England in prime scoring position in which the Patriots cashed in with two touchdowns. I will say this though: how in the world, in the 14th game of the season the Bills are still enduring false start penalties at home is beyond me. As the Bills marched down the field on the ensuing possession of the game and chewed up a significant amount of 1st quarter clock, inside the red zone the Bills were flagged for, gasp….a false start penalty. Instead of getting six, the Bills settled for a field goal.

You can’t blame Ryan Fitzpatrick. He’s a backup to begin with, pressed into action because largely because everyone has run out of faith and confidence in Trent Edwards. Fitzpatrick was harassed, hit and hurried all game long. He had little time to throw, let alone duck and cover. Like any quarterback, he needs time in the pocket to make plays. It’s a lot to ask of guy to go out and thrive playing behind one of the worst lines in football when all day long when it feels as though he’s reliving the first five minutes of Saving Private Ryan.

And as for Edwards, he made a brief reappearing act for the Bills. Looking for anything to generate a spark, Fewell elected to sit Fitzpatrick and plug in Edwards. However, Edwards lasted only four plays, generating minus 1 yard while injuring an ankle. He was carted off the field and did not return. That could the lasting image we’ll have of Edwards in Buffalo.

Supposedly, the Patriots were vulnerable in this spot. They were looking for their first true road win of the season and had to do so without both defensive tackle stalwarts Vince Wilfork and Ty Warren. Brady, by his standards, had more than off day. A week earlier, Randy Moss quit on the Patriots in the Carolina game. But this is what elite teams do. They find ways to win when all their ducks aren’t in a row on that particular day. Even with those circumstances, we knew the Bills would have to play perfect football in order to end this nightmare losing skid. The nightmare continues. And sadly even with a new coach, front office and players, it will be a long time before the Bills find any suitable answers for the Patriots.

Now, it seems as though the annual pilgrimage to 7-9 becomes a pipedream. Standing at 5-9, The Bills will hit the road for the final time in 2009 against the Atlanta Falcons next Sunday.