ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The standing show the Buffalo Bills are only a game and a half behind New England in the AFC East, but the reality is the Patriots are the class of the division – perhaps of the entire AFC – which likely leaves the Bills vying for one of the two wild-card playoff spots.

The Patriots have already defeated the Bills head to head, and the teams meet against at Gillette Stadium to close the regular season – a venue where the Bills have not won since the stadium opened in 2002.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are 6-3 to top the current wild card standings, and the Bills are one of four teams not leading their division who have a 5-3 mark (the Indianapolis Colts lead the inferior AFC South at 5-3).

“To spend time looking at what’s going on around you is really wasted energy,” coach Doug Marrone said Monday, reciting the age-old one-game-at-a-time mantra. “We need to spend time on ourselves and make sure we’re prepared to start this quarter against a good Kansas City team. We’d like to be in that discussion, and that’s what we’re working for, to be a team that gets on somewhat of a roll. Talking about it doesn’t get it done.”

The Bills did some good work in the first half of the season to get to 5-3. However, three of their victories came against NFC North teams, which won’t help the Bills in tiebreakers. Buffalo is 2-1 in the division, but only 2-3 in the AFC. One game in particular could haunt the Bills – their loss at Houston during which former starting quarterback EJ Manuel played terribly and cost Buffalo a game they probably would have won had Kyle Orton been the starting quarterback.

The following week, Marrone made the switch to Orton, and the 10-year veteran brought instant respectability to the quarterback position and Buffalo has won three of the four games he has started.

But now, things get a bit tougher. Over the final eight games, the Bills play six teams with winning records, five of those from the AFC who they will be in direct competition with for a playoff berth. Kansas City, Miami, Cleveland, Green Bay, Denver and New England have a combined record of 33-16. The other two games are against the New York Jets and Oakland Raiders, who are a combined 1-16.

Buffalo comes out of its bye with two games in a span of five days, and it’s completely plausible that the Bills’ season could go up in flames in that short span. The Chiefs visit Orchard Park on Sunday, and then Buffalo must travel to Miami for a Thursday night game. The Dolphins are red hot, they’ll be the host team on short rest and they’ll be anxious to avenge the 29-10 beat down the Bills administered in Week 2.

“I think the one message that I tried to tell them is that it doesn’t get easier, it gets harder,” Marrone said. “It gets harder as it goes. You start competing against teams that are in the same position you are. When you’re not, you’re playing against teams that want to knock you off. We’re not even in that position yet, so we’ve got a long way to go before we get into that type of position.”

— Running back C.J. Spiller isn’t willing to weigh his chances of being able to play in the final two regular-season games against Oakland and New England. He was placed on the injured reserve/designated to return list after breaking his collarbone two weeks ago against the Minnesota Vikings. He is eligible to play in Week 16, but it does seem like a long shot.

“My biggest thing is just getting back healthy and trying to get back to playing,” he said. “I’m not going to put a percentage on it, I’m just taking it one day at a time. If the doctors clear me, I want to play.”

Spiller said he spent the bye week in Florida, but he kept up with his cardio conditioning.

“I’ve been doing stuff,” he said. “I didn’t just sit on the potato couch. On the bye week I was working out doing cardio stuff. My friends and family are pushing me, so that’s always encouraging. Every day I’m getting a text from somebody making sure I’m doing what I need to do.”