Miami 38 Bills 10: Jauron and Edwards=Failure

-Coast

I have had a day to digest this loss and reflect on the past 52 games of the Dick Jauron era. I don't think there is any argument that he is one of the worst, if not the worst coach in the NFL or all of sports. The real sickening thing is how bad the quarterback is. He may have a .500 record, but that is not acceptable to anyone outside of the Buffalo Bills organization.

What are the most important attributes for a quarterback, other than wins and losses? There are three obvious ones. Touchdowns, interceptions and yards. Does the player make big plays? Does he take care of the football? That was one of the biggest reasons why the Bills coaches loved Trent. He took care of the football and was smart. Trent Edwards is now in his 3rd years as Buffalo Bills quarterback. Here are some numbers.

Record: 13-13
Yards Per Completion: 10.98
Pass attempts per passing touchdown: 33.04
Pass attempts per interception: 33.04

I have decided to look back at every single quarterback the Bills have since the 1998 season that started games for any significant period of time, just to compare to the quality of player we have under center right now. I did not look at QB rating because I know many people think it is a bogus statistic.

Doug Flutie

Record: 21-9
Yards Per Completion: 12.68
Pass attempts per passing touchdown: 22.62
Pass attempts per interception: 35.43

Rob Johnson

Record: 9-17
Yards: 4,798
Yards Per Completion: 11.97
Pass attempts per passing touchdown: 24.56
Pass attempts per interception: 39.00

Alex Van Pelt

Record: 3-8
Yards Per Completion: 11.39
Pass attempts per passing touchdown: 29.81
Pass attempts per interception: 19.88

Drew Bledsoe

Record: 23-25
Yards Per Completion: 11.22
Pass attempts per passing touchdown: 27.84
Pass attempts per interception: 35.60

JP Losman

Record: 10-23
Yards Per Completion: 11.13
Pass attempts per passing touchdown: 28.51
Pass attempts per interception: 27.68

Kelly Holcombe

Record: 4-4
Yards Per Completion: 9.74
Pass attempts per passing touchdown: 23.00
Pass attempts per interception: 28.75

Yes, other than Flutie, Edwards has the best win loss record. All you Edwards supporters can hang your hats on that. However, out of the 7 quarterbacks named above, Edwards ranks 7th in yards per completion, 7th in pass attempts per passing touchdown, and 4th in pass attempts per interception. Yes, he took care of the football better than Losman, Holcombe and Van Pelt but he was also more careful than all of these guys. All I am saying is that the argument can be made that he is the worst player we have had at quarterback since Kelly retired and the only player I would give you without much argument is Alex Van Pelt, his coach...I know I left Todd Collins off this list, but we all saw him play a few years back with Washington and he is obviously better. He is without a doubt the most scared player we have had back there that I have ever seen.

What about the head coach? It was brought to my attention today that Dick Jauron has had 6 300 yard passers at quarterback in his entire career in the NFL as a head coach. In Buffalo, he has coached 52 games. The Bills have had 2 300 yard passers in that span, and have had zero since JP Losman did it in Houston in 2006 (Losman has both 300 yard passing games during this span). That is unbelievable. We know the record is bad. He is 58-79. In 8 full seasons, a Jauron coach team has finished above 3rd in their division only twice, and one of these seasons, the team finished 2nd with a losing record. He only once has a winning season, has only once made the playoffs. I think it is obvious that one season was an outlier. The most glaring evidence of how bad the Bills coach and entire staff is by taking a look at the numbers of first ballot hall of fame receiver Terrell Owens. Yeah, he is 35 years old. Yeah, he isn't as good as he was 5 years ago. But is he bad enough that he would start with 8 catches, 158 yards and only 1 touchdown? He played 2 games against Tampa and Miami (combined 1-7 record). His 185 consecutive game streak with a catch came to an end. I know a lot of the media hates TO, but come on. It was reported that the first 4 games this season resulted in the worst 4 game stretch of his career.

In his career, Jauron's offenses have ranked above 20th only once (9th in 1999). They have ranked above 20th in points only once (2001). Jauron's defenses have an average ranking of 20th in yards allowed (never higher than 14th). They have an average ranking of 18th in points allowed, and that includes a single number 1 ranking in 2001. Other than that, a Jauron defense has never finished in the top 10 in points allowed. The funniest thing about this stat is that Dick Jauron is a "defensive minded coach."

I know that numbers aren't all that there is. These guys don't a good track record on paper, and they don't pass the eye test either. How many times have you fired Jauron in your mind the past three plus years? I know I have at least 20 times. Edwards has had some moments, but the bad moments are piling up and right now I think clearly outweigh the good. The rest of 2009 is going to be a long year. Here's to hoping for a 100% complete overhaul in 2010.