MRW

Thanks for dropping the pretense that you were a Bills fan. Now how about you find yourself a nice Pats board and talk about how well they stopped the Wildcat?

Here's the thing. I don't think Jauron is ever going to lead this team to a playoff win, let alone a championship. Given that, I think there needs to be a change made (doesn't need to be mid-year, but shouldn't be put off past the offseason - in other words, I really hope Jauron didn't sign that extension and it's been pulled off the table). There is a risk that the guy brought in is no better than Jauron; in fact he might be a Rich Kotite as opposed to just a Dave Wannstedt. But I think either bringing in someone new or rolling the dice on April has significant potential upside over keeping Jauron. His decision to run the ball three times once we were in "field goal range" is classic Jauron, and it is exactly the type of decision that will get you beaten in a playoff game. So yeah, take the chance on April at this point. 3 more years of 7-9 is really not what I want to see.

Well said. Right now, every week he's getting worse. I'm not advocating starting Losman - yet - but the coaches need to be ready to pull Trent if he struggles in this next game. This isn't looking to me like a slump he's playing through; he's tentative and confused out there and may need to take a step back from the field to get his wits about him.

Are you saying that what Jauron did in Chicago is not relevant? Serious question - what would cause you to say that Jauron is not the answer? If the Bills end up with a sub-.500 record this year, would that be enough? I'm asking because to me it's crystal clear exactly why Jauron has the coaching record he does, and it's not the players he's had to work with. So what would convince you?

There's always a rationalization. It's how the Dick Jaurons, Dave Wannstedts, and Norv Turners keep their jobs.

That's great and all, until you consider that this isn't the start of Jauron's coaching career. He does have a multi-year history in Chicago that we can look at. Do you think he's suddenly going to become a good game manager? Do you have any confidence that he's a guy who will help the team win a big game? Because I haven't seen anything to justify that confidence.

A 47-yard field goal is in "kick if necessary" field goal range; it's not in "run out the clock and settle for a kick" field goal range. And again, if you have no confidence in Edwards, why have him in there? If you can't trust your QB to make plays when the game is on the line then get him out of there.

I guarantee you I would not be willing to overlook the playcalling. I was fuming as Jauron was content to run the ball into the pile 3 times. The fact that the kick was no good just means it's more obvious to everyone how stupid a decision it was. But make no mistake, it was an idiotic decision no matter the result. Winning coaches do not play the end of a game that way.

Then my question is why was Edwards out there? If the coaches really had zero confidence in him, why did they leave him in for the entire game? Besides that, how do you square that with the fact that they just had Edwards throw a pass to Royal to get them into field goal range to begin with? The simple truth is that Jauron is the type of coach who likes his chances settling for a 47-yard field goal into the wind with the game on the line. I can't believe that that type of coach finds employment in the NFL, but here we are.

Please. I'm begging you. Please stop. If that kick goes through, you'd better believe I'd be complaining still. The only difference is there might be a couple more people popping up to defend Jauron, but they'd be as wrong as you are right now.

Yeah. I will never lose my love for the Bills as long as they're in Buffalo, but they sure as hell can kill my enthusiasm. I just wonder what the point is when I see clear as day that they're led by a guy who lets his fear of the worst possible outcome drive him to make poor decisions.

You've perfectly encapsulated the mindset of a coach striving for 8-8 seasons.

At the beginning of the season, I decided to take a wait and see approach with Jauron, since he hadn't wowed me but was a stabilizing influence on the team. I've waited. I've seen. This man is not leading this team anywhere. He's actually very rapidly transforming them into a team that disgusts me, and I didn't even say that about the 3-13 team of Greggo's first year. My only hope is that Ralph decides to go completely against his character and take the hit for the contract extension Jauron just signed. And let's face it, that's a pretty slim hope.

If the QB can't shake off a bad outing to lead the team on a winning drive he's not the QB I want for this team. And the truth is, by running the ball 3 times after that NICE pass to Royal, Jauron deprived Edwards of the chance to redeem himself. I'm sorry, I seriously can't believe that there is ANYONE willing to offer up a defense of that.

Two weeks after the Bills played against them - fairly current. 6 weeks after the Bills played them - not so much. As for the Rams they're in the bottom half of the league talentwise, IMO, and even worse with Jackson not playing. But they were playing like a bottom 3 team for Linehan even with Jackson in there, and I think they were better than that.

And I'm really not sure what the point was of highlighting those picks. Of the teams that made them, 50% have winning records, 50% don't. So what's the point? Sometimes teams pick players on the offensive/defensive lines but it has no apparent relationship to their record that year?

When I go to that link I end up in the Stadium Wall Archive.

Why are you here?

"Not Exactly the Super Bowl: The Buffalo Bills in the 2000s". That would be a good name for a book about the history of the team these last 10 years, not that anyone would want to read it.

I do have to thank krazykat for this thread. He's right, you just can't buy this kind of entertainment.

I agree with you on the Miami and NY games. But this last game, NE beat the Bills soundly. It really was not close, despite how close the score was for a lot of the game.

Hatred? Did they run over your dog or something? I don't get these "ex-fan" posts. If you're really done with the team, then just move on. I can't fault anyone for losing interest after years of mediocrity. But if you're angry at the team over it and are continuing to come here to post about it, I'd say you have some things to work through.

I think the root of it is the same as when, years and years ago, the Patriots fumbled the ball against us, the player fell out of bounds unconscious, but they maintained possession because a player out of bounds is treated as being part of the out of bounds line. There isn't any allowance in there for the out of bounds player initiating contact with the ball, so when the ball touched him, it was out of bounds. I agree, it's dumb, but it is consistent with the rule as I've seen it called in the past.

Because every team that is not a dominant team goes through stretches like this. Look around the AFC, it's a weak-ass conference outside of a couple of teams, and the playoff spots are anyone's to grab. Seriously, look around at our competition for the division/wild card spot. Do you think they're not going to hit rough patches? The real measure of a team is how they rebound. If the Bills just go into a tailspin, I'll be disappointed.

Didn't McGahee go to the Pro Bowl last year?