Bills and Browns will try to slow their rapid descent

Some NFL games are fall classics.

When Buffalo plays host to Cleveland tonight, the game will be closer to a free-fall classic.

The Bills and Browns are trying to prove to the football world -- and themselves -- that they still have some life left in them.

“Going into these last couple of weeks, we haven’t had that normal swagger that we usually have,” Buffalo running back Fred Jackson told the Associated Press. “That’s something we want to address, because we know we’re better than we’re playing.”

After winning five of their first six games, the Bills have dropped three in a row -- all to AFC East opponents. They need a victory to move into a second-place tie with Miami and New England at 6-4. The Browns are coming off consecutive home losses to Baltimore and Denver. They think they’re better than their 3-6 record indicates -- after all, Cleveland handed the New York Giants their only loss -- but the latest one-two punch was demoralizing.

“This is as frustrated as I’ve been in as many years as I’ve been playing,” Browns running back Jamal Lewis said last week. “I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.”

Lewis then questioned the heart of the players around him.

“I’m not cut from this kind of cloth,” he said. “I play physical football. I come out here and give it my all -- all week. This is the NFL. You can’t call it quits until the game is over. But it looks to me like some people call it quits before that.”

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sam.farmer@latimes.com

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Tonight’s game

Cleveland at Buffalo, 5:30, ESPN