Argh! Raiders Spoil Bills’ Playoff Hopes

The Buffalo Bills' playoff hopes were swallowed up by The Black Hole in Week 16 with a deflating 26-24 to the previously 2-12 Oakland Raiders.

Looking to snap the NFL's longest active postseason drought, the Bills needed a road win in Oakland to setup an AFC showdown with New England Patriots next week, plus some help. But, that's an 'ifs and buts' conversation now.

Rookie Derek Carr threw a pair of TD passes as the Raiders held off a fourth quarter rally that extends Buffalo's playoff dry spell to 15 seasons.

Kyle Orton completed 32 of his whopping 49 pass attempts for 329 yards, 3 TD's and two interceptions for the Bills (8-7), who couldn't muster any ground attack at all. Heck, they barely even tried.

As a team, Buffalo carried the ball 13 times for 13 yards despite the return of speedster C.J. Spiller - who saw his first action since breaking his collar bone in mid-October.

Spiller had four carries for -4 yards to go along with four catches for 14 yards.

The day started well for Orton and company with a 42-yard touchdown pass to Sammy Watkins that put Buffalo up 7-0. The rookie from Clemson only caught two more passes the rest of the way. Instead, running back Fred Jackson led the team in receptions with 9, for 93 yards. Orton's other touchdown passes went to Scott Chandler and Robert Woods.

For Oakland (3-12), Carr's scores were to James Jones (a 3-yard TD, his only catch of the game), and Jamize Olawale (a 1-yard TD, and his only catch of the game).