ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Not long after Sean McDermott took over the Buffalo Bills in January, the first-year coach made "playoff caliber" a ubiquitous slogan around the practice facility.

It is found on the hallway walls between meeting rooms, on players' nameplates in the locker room, on the doors of the team cafeteria and on T-shirts players wear when they're not practicing. The words have become so ingrained in the thinking of those within the organization that when veteran cornerback Shareece Wright took an eight-hour Uber ride from Chicago to make a voluntary practice in June, coaches praised him by telling him his action was -- you guessed it -- playoff caliber.

That is not to say McDermott was making a promise of the playoffs, as Rex Ryan did when he took over as coach in 2015.

"The one promise I will make is we're going to work hard. And when you work hard and have good people, usually good results seem to follow," McDermott told 1270 The Fan in May. "The whole theme of playoff caliber is really an internal vision and standard. It's a day-to-day standard for how we walk, how we think, how we execute meetings, how we execute on the field.

"It's not a promise of we're going to make the playoffs. It's more of an internal expectation level and standard for going back to earning the right [to win]. If you do things the right way -- and the playoff caliber is a standard of doing things the right way, it's a measuring stick -- then you're going to give yourself a chance. It doesn't guarantee anything, but you're going to give yourself a chance."

McDermott's message is taking hold. The Bills' 34-14 win Sunday over the Oakland Raiders improved their record to 5-2, the franchise's best start since 2008. The Bills must keep their ship steady over the remaining nine games, including five on the road. But if they can hold strong, the Bills' odds of breaking their 17-season playoff drought will only increase over the coming weeks.

Should the Bills win Thursday night at MetLife Stadium against the New York Jets, losers of three consecutive games, Buffalo will own a 6-2 record -- the team's best mark through eight games since a 7-1 start in 1993, the season in which Buffalo made the last of its four consecutive Super Bowl appearances.

That team was loaded with Hall of Famers: coach Marv Levy, quarterback Jim Kelly, running back Thurman Thomas, wide receiver Andre Reed and defensive end Bruce Smith. The current Bills might have fewer players bound for Canton, but the players sense something special about what McDermott has built within the locker room.

"I've been around some super-talented groups of guys, so I won't say that [we are] one of the most talented teams," running back LeSean McCoy said after Sunday's win. "But as one of the most strong-hearted -- fight until the end -- I think so."

The 1993 Bills, who lost Super Bowl XXVIII to the Dallas Cowboys, finished the regular season plus-12 in turnover margin, second best in the NFL. The current Bills now have a league-leading plus-14 turnover margin after taking the ball away four times and not giving it up in Sunday's win over Oakland.

It is the highest turnover margin through seven games since the 2005 Bengals, who were plus-16. The NFL-best mark is also a good sign: The last team to lead the league in turnover margin and miss the playoffs was the 1999 Kansas City Chiefs.

The year 1999 also happens to be the last time Buffalo appeared in the postseason, losing in crushing fashion to the Tennessee Titans in the wild-card round in what became known as the "Music City Miracle." Since then, an entire generation of Bills fans has come of age without seeing its team play in what Kelly often refers to as a "meaningful game in January."

Perhaps it will happen this season. If the Bills want to host a playoff game at New Era Field -- their first in the venue since a wild-card loss to the Jaguars after the 1996 season -- they will likely have to get past the New England Patriots, who continue to lead the AFC East with a 6-2 record. Games against New England on Dec. 3 (in Buffalo) and Dec. 24 (at New England) loom large.

But for a team few outside the building expected to be playing meaningful games in December -- let alone January -- taking the Patriots to the mat in the division but falling short of an AFC East title this December would be an unexpected victory. It would also leave open the possibility of a wild-card berth in an AFC playoff picture that currently places the Bills in the No. 5 seed.