A quarter of the 2011 NFL season is now in the books and to the astonishment of almost everyone, the Buffalo Bills have been one of the league’s biggest Cinderella stories–not to mention a share of first place in the AFC East.

Written for dead nearly universally before the season even started, Buffalo began with three consecutive victories, two against playoff teams from last year before finally stumbling and blowing a chance to start 4-0 in Cincinnati last Sunday.

Of course, the highlight to this point, which could prove hard to top going forward is the stunning victory over the New England Patriots, winners of the previous 15 contests between the teams.  The win was even more remarkable considering the Patriots at one time led by three touchdowns and seem poised to run the Bills straight out of Orchard Park.

Aside from the dominating victory over Kansas City to start this campaign, Bills fans are quickly getting used to wild scoreboard swings going both ways.  Buffalo has already come back from deficits of 18 and 21 points to earn wins while blowing a two touchdown lead against the Bengals in their lone loss.

There’s still plenty of football to be played and how the Bills will fare remains a mystery.  Could this be the year Buffalo finally earns a playoff berth for the first time this millennium, or do they let the Cincinnati second half debacle tailspin into their typical pattern of devastating losses in recent years.

That remains to be seen. For now, here’s our positional report card at the quarter mark of the season, with a few individual awards for good measure.

Buffalo Bills: First Quarter Report Card – continue reading…