But you have to beat the teams you're supposed to beat. The Bills have hurt their playoff chances in recent years by losing to bad teams (Oakland in 2014, the Jaguars last year). If you're a good team, you take care of business against the weak sisters. That's what playoff teams do, and the Bills looked the part.

"Yeah, that is definitely what good teams do," said Kyle Williams. "We were able to withstand their first surge. It's like the last few weeks. The answers are going to be boring. The thing that has won the last few games is our preparation."

This was Ryan's first four-game winning streak since 2010, the year his Jets got to a second straight AFC title game. He used the same model he's using now: Great defense, a highly ranked running game, and an efficient, mistake-free passing game.

That model eventually found its level in New York. How far Rex can take it in Buffalo remains to be seen. But he is proving again that doing it his way can work, at least in the short term. The man deserves a lot of credit for that.