4-12? What Was I Thinking?

-Coast

I am thoroughly embarrassed that I had the audacity to predict that this football team would win 4 games. I drastically overrated the skill of the quarterback and the leadership and intelligence of the head coach. Where in God's name did I find 4 wins on the schedule?

Seriously, rock bottom is resting on the peak of Mount Everest right now for the Buffalo Bills. Has it ever been worse in our lifetimes? I know in mine, it hasn't. Yeah, I was alive for the 1987 strike year with replacement players, but I would argue that there was never a game that was ugly as the one I witnessed yesterday. It was a comedy of errors from the beginning.

Fire Dick Now is what was spelled out on T shirts in the end zone. Fire Jauron shirts and signs were abundant. When Ralph Wilson came out of his suite and entered the general concourse area, he was welcomed with chants of "Fire Dick, Fire Dick." He is old, but could not possibly have ignored all these expressions of the fan's utter disappointment.

Wilson was supposed to be presented with his Hall of Fame ring yesterday during half time. It was on the Hall of Fame's homepage, it was all over the news. Allegedly, there was a podium on the field. Russ Brandon lied through his teeth to reporters by saying he had never heard of such an event being scheduled. Oh yeah, Russ? How come for the first time in the dozens of Buffalo Bills football games that I have attended, there was no halftime show whatsoever? No band, no punt pass and kick, not little loop football, nothing. Russ Brandon and the Bills knew nothing about any ring ceremony though. The real truth is that the Buffalo Bills prized 91 year old hall of famer owner would have gotten booed out of his own stadium when he was getting his hall of fame ring. It would have been an ugly scene, and everyone knew it.

As far as the "game" goes, I don't even know where to begin. The entire display was embarrassing from the get go. Fans cheered loudly when Trent Edwards threw an 18 yard pass over the middle to Terrell Owens. This is a pass that competant quarterbacks complete on a regular basis, but for Trent, it was a near miracle. Terrell Owens had 4 catches for 44 yards in the game, and believe me, he played a good football game. I watched Owens on a lot of plays and he was working hard and he was open all the time. I mean, he was open all the time, and Edwards just didn't even look his way.

Lee Evans didn't get a single look in the first half of the football game. He had 2 catches for 11 yards. One was on a shovel pass when Edwards was scrambling, the other was on the last drive of the game. Down by 3 with under 30 seconds to go, Lee Evans ran a 4 yard crossing pattern with no timeouts from the Bills 40. Why is your 9 million dollar receiver running this route at this time? On the season, through 5 games, Evans has 12 catches for 159 yards and 1 touchdown. He is on pace for about 500 yards for the season.

I am now 100% totally convinced, if I wasn't already, that Trent Edwards is the worst football player I have ever seen. He has played miserably for three consecutive games. The worst part for me is that he plays more scared than perhaps any athlete in any sport. I don't want to and will not root for a gutless player anymore. He is a younger, less pale and slighly taller version of his head coach and they both make me sick. They have a secret love affair and they only have jobs because of one another. Trent Edwards came right out and stuck up for his coach in his post game press conference yesterday, without even being asked. He said that the Bills have a head coach in place that will get them in the right direction and that the players rally behind. I think it's beyond obvious he can't get them in the right direction, and I think it is just as obvious, based on the performance of the team the past 2 weeks, that no one is rallying behind him.

Trent Edwards called a timeout on third down and 14 from his own 21 yard line in the 3rd quarter...they came out of the timeout to throw a 7 yard shovel pass to Evans. That is wasted timeout number 1.

Wasted timeout number 2 was even more pathetic. Cleveland was forced to punt late in the third and with 2 seconds left, Jauron called timeout to make them punt into the wind. Now, I was at the game and it was windy...but it wasn't that windy. It was not even close to windy enough to blow a time out in that spot. Did the move pay off? Zastudil, the Browns punter, had a 43 yard punt and the Bills electifying punt returner Roscoe Parrish, returned the punt -15 yards. That is not a dash, that is a negative 15 yards.

After Parrish fumbled the punt late in the game, the Browns faced a 3rd and 9, ran a pitch left, and got the first down. This left 2:02 on the clock. The Bills were out of time outs. The Browns had the ball inside the 10 yards line. If Cleveland kills the clock and kicks a field goal, the Bills would be left with about 20 seconds and no timeouts and no prayer. Was I the only person thinking to myself, let them score? In my mind, this seems like common sense. Let them score, and give yourselves two minutes to force over time. I think it was a terrible move by Jauron to not let them score. This may be just my opinion, but in that situation, letting the opponent score gives you easily your best chance. I know that the Bills offense was embarrassing all day, and if that is the case, what makes anyone think that they can move the ball anywhere in 20 seconds and no timeouts?

The Bills had 13 penalties, 9 of which was false starts. In a game full of amazing stats, this might be the most amazing. The Bills had the same number of false start penalties as there were points. Every single Buffalo Bills starting lineman got called for a false start. Even backup Kirk Chambers got flagged for two, and he played only half the game. The 2nd most amazing stat of the game was Derek Anderson's numbers, in a winning effort. Anderson was 2-17 for 23 yards and 1 interception. He had a 15.1 qb rating. Did I mention his team won the game? It's hard to even make something like that up.

The Bills best drive in the first half came on a 14 play 51 yard second quarter march that resulted in 0 points. The way it ended with 0 points is the best part. The Bills had 1st and 10 from the Browns 17. A false start penalty knocked them back to the 22. Then Lynch was stopped for a 3 yard loss, dropping the Bills back to the 25. Then, on a screen pass, Lynch got 2 yards to get Buffalo back to the 23 yard line for a 3rd and 16 play, that of course, resulted in an Edwards 8 yard sack. It was now 4th and 24 from the 31. The Bills went for it. I don't hate the move, but how can you explain going for it here and not going for it on 4th and a foot with the game on the line against the Saints? Illogical, really.

To make things even worse, Kawika Mitchell and Marcus Buggs are out for the year. Jon Corto played line backer yesterday. You mean to tell me that a small white boy from Orchard Park who went to Sacred Heart is better than Nic Harris? Harris played strong safety for the national runner up last year, has good size and is a beast. I don't care if he doesn't know how to play linebacker yet. Who really cares? Play him. Corto has zero future as an NFL linebacker. I better see Harris and Palmer in there and unfortunately now there is no choice but to play Ellison. Thanks for providing us some depth, Russ.

Dick Jauron again commented that he did not think about pulling the quarterback. That is embarrassing and a slap in the face to all Bills fans who pay money to try and watch the team win. With how bad Trent was playing, not making the QB change is basically insulting. As of now Jauron is still coach, so I guess we will see to what depths this team can sink. That is all that is worth paying attention to.