The Broncos take on the Bills on the Christmas Eve. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

The game may be blacked out in Western New York, but that doesn’t mean the Broncos vs. Bills contest isn’t important. With a win here and a loss by Oakland, the Broncos will clinch a playoff berth – their first since 2005. The Bills lead the series 18-15-1, and they won their most recent matchup in 2008. The Broncos are coming off of a loss to the Patriots, but it’s the Bills that are on a greater downward slide with seven consecutive losses. Here’s a breakdown of the matchup:

Offense

Broncos: The Broncos can run all day long on the Bills. The Bills weakness plays into the greatest strength of the Broncos. The team is leading the league in rushing with 163.1 yards per game. They had that total in the first quarter against the Patriots last week. The key for the Broncos is to hold on to the ball. Tim Tebow has shown that he can be as much a threat in the air as he is on the ground. However, the team’s three second quarter turnovers dug them an early grave against the Patriots. The Broncos are -7 in turnover differential. When playing away from home, converting in the red zone is the most important aspect for an offense. The Broncos are converting 48.4% of the time when deep in their opponents territory.

Bills: The Bills are not a bad offensive team by any means. They are 13th in rushing and 15th in passing. They have a lot of individual talent on their roster with Stevie Johnson and C.J. Spiller. Ryan Fitzpatrick is a solid QB and he gets the ball out of his hands quickly. He’s only been sacked 19 times this season. The only other QB that has played in 14 games and has been sacked less is Matt Hasselbeck with 15 sacks. Fitzpatrick is prone to throwing picks. He leads the league with 19 interceptions on the season (He has 22 TDs).
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Ryan Fitzpatrick had the Bills on a roll early, but the team has lost seven in a row. (Rick Stewart/Getty Images)

The Buffalo Bills have been a Jekyll and Hyde team this year winning their first five of seven and then losing seven straight. I needed to talk to someone in the know to find out just what has been going on with this team and how they will match up against the Broncos this Saturday.

That’s why I asked Brad Andrews from BuffaLowDown to talk about the team that he knows best. He is the editor for the site and he knows the inner workings of the Bills better than most.

Let’s got Inside the Villain’s Venue with BuffaLowDown.

Q: The Bills won their first five of seven games, but they’ve lost seven in a row since. Why the dramatic drop in performance?

Three reasons:

1) Injuries. The Bills are not a deep team at all and really needed about eight key guys to stay healthy…and almost all of them got hurt. DT Kyle Williams, RB Fred Jackson, LT Demetrius Bell, C Eric Wood, LB Shawne Merriman, CB Terrence McGee and WR Roscoe Parrish all are out for the year or just getting back now, and those were really huge losses.

2) Ryan Fitzpatrick. More on him later.

3) Turnovers. The Bills got really lucky early in the year and were forcing four or five turnovers every single game. Since then, nothing has gone Buffalo’s way on defense.

Q: Ryan Fitzpatrick leads the league in interceptions. Is this a giant concern for the Bills with them facing an intense pass rushing duo in Von Miller and Elvis Dumervil?

A: Huge concern. Fitz doesn’t take a lot of sacks but does rush to get the ball out too quick and makes some horrible decisions as a result. The reason he’s struggled so badly lately is that teams know he can’t throw it deep very well and that he’ll throw it quick if there’s any pressure at all. So now they’re just playing tight coverage on the Bills wide receivers and daring Fitz to beat them deep. He can’t do it.
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