Buffalo Bills Must Take Better Care Of The Football

Football harbors many cliches, most of which hold far more than a modicum of truth, even though the phrases themselves are tired and over-used. One of those cliches is "win the turnover battle" - and whether you're a fan of the cliche or not, it's something that the Buffalo Bills need to start doing again.

Two weeks ago today, the Bills ranked third in the NFL in turnover differential with nine more takeaways than turnovers. In losses to the Jets and Cowboys, however, the Bills committed a whopping seven turnovers while taking the ball away just twice. Today, the Bills rank eighth in the NFL in turnover differential.

At the start of the season, the Bills kept themselves in games with timely turnovers. That has not been the case lately. In their five wins this season, the Bills have a +9 turnover differential, and have forced 16 takeaways. In their four losses, the differential is -5, with nine turnovers on those four games. Just once this season have the Bills won the turnover battle and lost a game (Week 4 in Cincinnati).

Turnover differential is a stat that can be misinterpreted; it has more to do with how a team is playing, and isn't something a team should prioritize over simple execution. If Buffalo can turn it around in this area, however, the chances are astronomical that they'll be playing much better football.