After more than a decade of writing this column I’ve seen just about every way the Bills have lost to the Patriots – blowouts, heartbreakers and everything in between. Monday’s loss was neither, but I feel like I’d seen it before.

When I’m not being a tortured Bills fan, my day job has me working for a giant technology company known for our databases, among other things. While I’m not on the product development side of the house, I think I have an idea for a great new product – an automatic Bills recap article producer. If we database all the Bills moments of the past 15 years we should be able to input some keywords or phrases associated with these moments – the product can retrieve the correct snippets and assemble them into an article, and I’ll have much more time to binge watch Fargo.

So here’s what I’d put into this great new product: Pats, Foxboro, MNF, Brady, heroic defensive effort, lackluster offense, mediocre quarterback play, key penalties, inability to stretch the field, terrible officiating, missed field goal, low scoring, missed tackle, early hope, McKelvin fumble. None of these words or concepts are new to the Bills – I’m sure the system would have multiple entries for each of the terms we fed it.

Be honest – probably not many of you actually thought the Bills would leave Foxboro with a win in a meaningful game – I know I didn’t. That’s not to say I didn’t fantasize about what an outcome could be – after all, I live in New England and have to interact with Patriot “fans” every day. While I didn’t have any expectations of winning, I did have hope, especially as the game began.

From the get-go, the Bills defense showed they were ready to play. Tom Brady doesn’t often look uncomfortable running his offense, but he did for much of the night. About half the time he dropped back to pass he was hurried or hit. At other times the Bills confused things by showing blitz and then dropping into coverage. It was fun to watch Brady go 3 and out and berate his offensive line on the sidelines after slamming his helmet. It’s nearly impossible to keep Brady and his cohorts to less than 30 points and the Bills defense did it – they held them to 20 points, the lowest of the season so far (interestingly, the 32 points the Bills scored against New England in week 2 was the most they’ve allowed). I’d been looking for a game where the Bills defense really made the opposing quarterback’s life miserable and I was very surprised that when I saw it that quarterback was Tom Brady.

Buffalo started with the ball and promptly went 3-and-out after gaining 9 yards on their first play – makes you want to tear you hair out. The defense played strong in their first series and picked off Brady, but a defensive holding call negated the turnover. The Bills gave up two 3rd down conversions (one on a penalty) that allowed New England to kick a field goal. Frustrating that penalties allowed the drive to continue, but at least the Bills were only down by 3.

The Bills offense drove past midfield on their next possession, but once again a penalty killed them – this time Seantrel Henderson was not lined up correctly and the Bills were caught with an illegal formation penalty – they did not convert from the longer distance. After holding New England to 3-and-out (not something you see often), the Bills drove 51 yards to hit a tying field goal. At 3-3 with plenty of game left, there was hope.

The Bills offense continued to sputter, but the defense held New England in check. Finally, as the half drew to a close, New England scored when a short pass went for a 20-yard touchdown after Corey Graham missed a tackle – how many times have we seen a Buffalo defender fail to make a tackle in a similar situation and for that to be converted into 6 points? Rex Ryan was steamed, so was I.

OK – so at halftime the Bills were only down by a touchdown – defensively they were frustrating New England but Tyrod Taylor was looking very pedestrian – failing to see the whole field or move out of the pocket and throwing some very inaccurate passes. The running game was decent, but far too many plays were being blown up at the line of scrimmage for little or no gain. Nonetheless, being down by 7 didn’t seem too bad.

In the second half we saw some strange things. Brady threw a pass to Danny Amendola that was whistled dead while the ball was in the air. New England was rightfully upset as the official should not have blown the play dead and it could have been a long gainer or even a touchdown for New England. By rule the down is supposed to be replayed, but instead the ball was awarded to New England at the spot of the catch and a bizarre coaching interference was called so the officials could give New England another 15 yards. Steve Gostkowski missed his first field goal in Foxboro since Clinton was president, and LeSean McCoy broke a beautiful 27-yard run to the pylon to score the tying touchdown. The Patriots had not made some miracle halftime adjustment and now the game was tied – again, I was very hopeful.

Midway through the third quarter the Bills finally got burned on the blitz. Just before being knocked down, Brady managed to get the ball to Amendola for a 41-yard gain. New England hurried ran down the field and snapped the ball for a touchdown – Buffalo was called offsides after at least one player didn’t make it to the line when the ball was snapped. Buffalo should have been given time to make defensive substitutions, but one of a large list of officiating controversies they did not make a call – touchdown, New England.

Leodis McKelvin fumbled a punt return in the third quarter that lead to a New England field goal – New England now had twice as many points as Buffalo and McKelvin no doubt had a very nervous gardener. The Bills could do no better than another long field goal but did get the ball back with less than 2 minutes on the clock, but Taylor was unable to move the offense. With 2 seconds left the invisible man, Sammy Watkins, made his third catch and scooted out of bounds with 2 seconds left. The lineman must have thought he was watching a college game because he kept the clock going after Watkins “gave himself up” – another blown call by the officials.

And so the Bills got beat, just as I thought they probably would. For some reason, this loss felt particularly frustrating. Perhaps it was because I had hope (maybe too much hope) at the beginning of the game – Buffalo had chances to win but couldn’t get the ball moving. I won’t say that Taylor lost the game, but his poor play certainly kept the team from winning – play like that just isn’t going to do, especially if the Bills are thinking about playoffs. Watkins was nearly invisible one week removed from positive reviews against Darrelle Revis. Penalties weren’t great in number, but they were great in impact.

As if a return to a weak offense and excellent defense wasn’t frustrating enough, the icing on the cake was the poor officiating. I don’t know what more can be said about it that hasn’t already been said, but I really feel that something has to be done. I don’t know if the rules are too complicated, the refs are too inexperienced or what, but I feel as if I no longer understand the rules after being a fan for 40 years. Rules seem to be applied without rhyme or reason, there is a lack of common sense and when explanations are given about calls postgame they seem to only make matters worse by stating things that simply aren’t true.

OK, so we didn’t beat New England – it would have been great, but there you go. Now the schedule really kicks in with must-win games at Kansas City and against Houston, both of whom are battling for a wild card. Had the Bills not pissed away some games like Jacksonville or the Giants they would be in a much better spot than they are – if they don’t win they cede their ability to control their own destiny and become reliant on other teams to falter – not where you where you want to be. Arrowhead Stadium is a nightmare to play in – those people are crazy and loud. The defense if finally starting to look very strong, but the offense seems to be regressing – I’m not hitting the panic button just yet, but over the next 2 weeks we should have an idea about how far the Bills will go this season.