Let’s set the scene. The Buffalo Bills are 4-7 on the year and are driving into Atlanta Falcons’ territory.

38,969 people are on the edge of their seat at the Rogers Centre as former-Toronto mayor Rob Ford slides into someone else’s seat with a fresh order of chicken wings.

It’s a different atmosphere in Toronto. Buffalo’s supposed home away from home is better painted as an old shed with money stuffed in the walls and a key under the mat.

They’re young.

EJ Manuel, Robert Woods, Kiko Alonso, and Marquise Goodwin are the new guys in town who are supposed to be the future. They’re Doug Whaley’s bunch and are here to turn the franchise around. Doug Marrone is ready to dust the cobwebs off of the wagons and get them circling again.

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The snap comes to Manuel on a 3rd and 1. He waits and waits. Veteran receiver Stevie Johnson cuts through the middle of the defense and Manuel finds him in stride. Johnson turns up the sidelines a little and gets the football popped out by cornerback Robert McClain. With around 20 seconds remaining on the clock, the Bills and kicker Dan Carpenter could have pulled out the victory with a kick that could have ended up being less than 40 yards. Instead, Buffalo would go on to fumble again in overtime and lose the fifth game in Toronto out of six.

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Quite a lot has changed in Buffalo since that game.

Looking back at the franchise then, the team appears foreign, anxious, and unsure of the future. Buffalo had a shiny, wide-eyed quarterback in EJ Manuel. They also had Doug Marrone, a first-time NFL head coach who was installing an environment of accountability and effort in the Queen City. The team would see just how accountable he was when he ditched town about a year later.

Just hearing the names of Manuel and Marrone will make Bills fans cringe nowadays. They’re just two names of many that could have or would have been good for Buffalo. Two people who were supposed to end the playoff drought.

It was a different time on the field and it was a different time in the front office, as well. Doug Whaley was the team’s general manager at the time. He had taken over for Buddy Nix, who had stepped down in the offseason.

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This is when things would change for each franchise involved in this game. After this Week 13 matchup, the Bills and the Falcons would follow very different paths.

One year later, the Falcons would make Devonta Freeman a household name and a year after that, Dan Quinn their head coach. They started 6-1 in Quinn’s first year and would struggle to an 8-8 final record in 2015. It would only take a year later for the Falcons to redeem themselves with a Super Bowl appearance against the New England Patriots, only to blow a 28-3 lead.

In Buffalo, the Bills moved away from the Toronto series and began playing all eight home games in Buffalo again. Their beloved founder, Ralph C. Wilson Jr., would pass away after the season, leaving behind him a franchise with an uncertain future and an unfulfilled destiny of winning the Super Bowl.

The team would eventually get their new owners in Terry and Kim Pegula, who are committed to keeping the team in the City of Good Neighbors.

The Bills now appear to have the strong foundation their previous owner wanted but couldn’t get. Under new coach Sean McDermott, Buffalo made personnel moves for the fit rather than the splash in the offseason, something the 90’s Bills embraced.

The team is now building for future success while also staying competitive in the interim. They’ve established a plan and a process to see through until they succeed, and they have nothing but support from the owners. Buffalo is 2-1 on the season and coming off of an all-around strong performance against the Denver Broncos at their real home, New Era Field.

Even if the Bills do not win Sunday, the two converging paths of these two teams is something to watch. It’s a time to reflect on how far Buffalo has come since this game and how far they have to go.

The Bills are ready to right the ship, just as the Falcons did after their last matchup with Buffalo four short years ago.