Bills 31 Dolphins 14

-Coast

There is no denying that the Bills look like a completely different football team the past two weeks. Their games have actually been exciting. They have played inspired football. Yesterday, the Bills actually finished off Miami in the 4th quarter to win and a lot of what happened had to do with the decisions made by Perry Fewell.

In a tie game, the Bills faced a 4th down and 8 from the Miami 38 with under 4 minutes to play. What would Jauron have done here? Well, there is no doubt he would have punted and tried not to lose as he always did. Fewell on the other hand, went with his gut, and threw Lindell on the field to attempt a 56 yard field goal. Miami appeared to not be ready and lined up late. Lindell has never made a kick of such length, but has made kicks from this distance in warm ups. Lindell drilled it.

Later, after a Drayton Florence interception, the Bills once again had the football with just above 2 minutes to play at their own 49. Jauron would have ran the football three times and punted the ball back to Miami with a slim three point lead. Fewell once again wanted to win the football game right now. The Bills called a pass play knowing that a few first downs ices it. Of course, Fitzpatrick audibled to a bomb and Terrell Owens burned the rookie corner Vontae Davis for a touchdown which iced the football game.

This leads me to another point. I am not a huge Ryan Fitzpatrick fan...but I'm a much bigger fan now than I was 2 weeks ago. He has no fear throwing the ball Saturday. He saw man coverage, audibled and took a shot. Would the Jauron clone Trent Edwards have audibled and thrown a deep ball at the end of the game there? I think not. Trent would have been terrified to make a mistake, audibled to a run even if a pass was called, and gotten off the field in three plays. Fitzpatrick isn't that accurate of a passer, makes bad throws and bad decisions a little too much, but he at least has balls. It is no accident that T.O. has blown up since Fitzpatrick took over. Evans only had about 40 yards on 2 catches yesterday, but Fitz threw deep to him more than once. It is a completely different offense.

Back to Fewell, at the end of the first half, the Bills actually tried to score. Yeah, Fitz threw an interception but I don't care because they tried. The defense stood Miami up and the interception did not cost them. These decisions not only show confidence in the offense but confidence in the defense that they can come up big if something does go wrong.

At the end of the game, the Bills had first and goal at the 8. Miami was out of timeouts and the Bills could have taken a kneel. This decision to run another play has been criticized by the media and it was risky and maybe stupid, but I loved it. Fred Jackson was a horse the entire 2nd half. Fewell rewarded his guy. He was running through Miami's defense and Fewell rewarded him by allowing him to punch it in there. Also, all Bills fans love running up the score on Miami. 31-14 sounds a lot better than 24-14. Stupid or not, I loved rubbing it in Miami's face.

Finally, another impressive part of this game was the way the Bills answered Miami's drive to begin the 2nd half. The Dolphins marched in over 9 minutes to score a touchdown to take a 14-7 lead. So what do the Bills do? They don't come on the field, go three and out in 42 seconds and put their defense right back on the field, they answered. The Bills went on a 13 play 75 yard touchdown drive that took 7:04 off the clock. They actually gave their defense a break and it showed in the final quarter.

It would be nice if Buffalo could land Mike Shanahan or Bill Cowher, as much of a long shot as it might be. In my opinion though, Perry Fewell has an opportunity to win this job. It is a long shot, but he has a chance. In my mind, the only way it should be considered is if he gets this team to .500 AND beats the Patriots at home. If Fewell goes 5-2 in his 7 games and beats the Patriots at home, he deserves serious consideration. I love the way this team has reacted to him being the head man...they beat a Miami team 31-14 yesterday that Jauron lost to earlier in the season 38-10 and twice to last season. Yes they lost to Jacksonville, but they were two penalties away from that game not even being in question in the 4th quarter (two touchdowns called back because of penalties resulting in 3 points total).

It is finally exciting again to watch the Bills I can honestly say that the amount I cared at the end of the Jauron era was at an all time low. Yeah, I watched every play of the Tennessee game and Houston game but didn't care much about the outcome. I just wanted whatever would get Jauron fired to happen. The Bills play again in 72 hours...and sweeping the Jets and getting three wins in the division after 0 last year is all I care about. Oh yeah, win out and make the playoffs?