Jerry Sullivan's mystery column

[PromoTheRobot]

The web guys at the Buffalo News screwed this up somehow. I was surprised not to find a Jerry Sullivan column today, so when I read a column Bucky Gleason wrote about the NY Rangers, lo and behold Jerry's coumn was tagged at the end like a bonus prize!

 

OAKLAND, Calif. - I know this sounds outlandish, like an overreaction, but if it were up to me, I'd change right now. I'd stop the nonsense, chuck the fantasy that they're a playoff team, and put J.P. Losman back in as the starting quarterback.

 

The geniuses at One Bills Drive won't do it, of course. Not yet. That would be conceding the obvious - that it's not really about the quarterback, that the Bills have problems far deeper than who lines up behind a mediocre offensive line and executes a tedious, low-risk passing attack.

 

Sunday, the Bills had a chance to build on the momentum of two home wins and take sole possession of first place in the AFC East for the first time in nine years. Instead, they were humiliated, 38-17, laying another in the unsightly succession of road eggs that have become the trademark of the Tom Donahoe era.

 

Take heart in the division standings, if you insist. It's a fan's prerogative. But this is no playoff team. You judge a team by the way it performs on the road, in difficult circumstances. The Bills have played three road games, two against average teams, and come up small all three times.

 

They were dominated in every phase of the game by an average Raiders team. The defense was abominable. They got abused through the air and on the ground. Asked for a stop when the offense got within a touchdown early in the fourth quarter, they allowed the Raiders to march down the field on a six-minute drive to go back up by two TDs.

 

I've called the defense overrated. I never thought it would reach the point where it's overrating them to call them average. They can't stop the run. Teams realize they can be beaten down the field with the pass. The safeties, Lawyer Milloy and Troy Vincent, are getting older by the minute.

 

Remember the blueprint for this season, how defense, special teams and coaching were going to carry the quarterback? The blueprint is in flames. The special teams were mediocre Sunday. And the coaches - where do we start? If you asked these guys to screw in a light bulb, they'd call a meeting to figure out how to outsmart electricity.

 

Mike Mularkey fed his team cheeseburgers when they arrived on the West Coast. He took them on a team bonding walk. But when it came time for the Bills to assert their identity as a tough team, they got cute again.

 

Midway through the second quarter, with the Bills trailing, 10-7, Willis McGahee was stopped at the 1-yard line on third down. Mularkey decided to go on fourth-and-goal. It was the right decision. They were on the road, looking to make a statement. Buffalo's "D" was struggling and you figured they'd need touchdowns to win.

 

But instead of handing off to McGahee, their go-to back, they gave it to fullback Daimon Shelton, who hadn't carried in an NFL game in five years. Shelton was stopped short. Mularkey said it was the element of surprise. Sure, it's surprising when a guy runs the ball for the first time in five years. It would been a surprise if they'd handed off to an offensive tackle, or one of the equipment men. But that wouldn't have made it a good idea.

 

"We saw their (defensive) front," said offensive coordinator Tom Clements, "we thought we could sneak him through. It didn't work, but then the defense held them. We got the ball back and scored a field goal, anyway. So it didn't hurt us."

 

Sure, Tom. Three points is the same as six. Blowing a chance to take the lead was no big deal. It was a horrible call. It will take its place alongside such other memorable calls as Travis Henry's halfback pass in Miami two years ago, and the Drew Bledsoe bootleg against the Pats last year in Orchard Park.

 

They won two straight home games with McGahee as the focal point of the offense. They were applauded for asserting their offensive identity. McGahee got a lot of laughs with his horse-riding routine after his touchdown against the Jets. But in the critical moment, the coaches jumped on a horse who hadn't been out of the barn in five years.

 

What does it say for a coaching staff when they don't trust their franchise running back on the most crucial play of the game? It says you lack a genuine belief in what you're doing. You don't trust your offensive line, so you have to resort to surprise.

 

McGahee pronounced himself the best running back in the NFL in a San Francisco newspaper Saturday. You'd think a player with that sort of self-confidence would resent having his coaches ignore him on fourth-and-goal. But McGahee played coy. He jokingly suggested he might have called the Shelton run.

 

"I don't think nothing about that," McGahee said. "I'm not the only one scoring touchdowns here. I had my chance. He deserves a touchdown, too."

 

Fine. But don't expect people to buy the notion that the Bills are a tough, resilient team. The defense showed a lot of quit. The coaches wouldn't give the ball to their workhorse at the goal-line. We're supposed to believe they're a playoff team?

 

They can't blame this one on Losman. Holcomb was adequate, nothing more. He didn't complete a pass of more than 17 yards. He didn't throw long at all. Holcomb complained about his pass protection, for good reason. The line isn't good enough for this team to make big plays in the passing game, regardless of who plays QB.

 

So what we have is a team that can't stop the run and can't throw the ball down the field, a team that front-runs on its home field but goes to pieces on the road. Oakland was probably the easiest of their six remaining road games. It gets a lot tougher now, starting next Sunday night in New England.

 

"It's real discouraging," Holcomb said. "We've just got to find a way to win on the road. That's the good thing about the NFL. We've got a Sunday night game next week against the Super Bowl champs. We'll see how it goes."

 

We sure will.

 

e-mail: jsullivan@buffnews.com

 

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20051024/1067992.asp

scroll to the middle

 

PTR

[PromoTheRobot]

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[Casey D]

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484913[/snapback]

 

Sullivan is a sour puss, but that line about handing off to a lineman or the equipment guy was very funny...CD

[Mr Info]

And the coaches - where do we start? If you asked these guys to screw in a light bulb, they'd call a meeting to figure out how to outsmart electricity.

 

Sully is a jerk...but that was funny.

[Gambler]

I'd stop the nonsense and put J.P. Losman back in as the starting quarterback.

 

They were dominated in every phase of the game by an average Raiders team. The defense was abominable. The safeties, Lawyer Milloy and Troy Vincent, are getting older by the minute.

 

"We saw their (defensive) front," said offensive coordinator Tom Clements, "we thought we could sneak him through. It didn't work, but then the defense held them. We got the ball back and scored a field goal, anyway. So it didn't hurt us."

 

Sure, Tom.

 

What does it say for a coaching staff when they don't trust their franchise running back on the most crucial play of the game? It says you lack a genuine belief in what you're doing. You don't trust your offensive line, so you have to resort to surprise.

The defense showed a lot of quit. The coaches wouldn't give the ball to their workhorse at the goal-line. We're supposed to believe they're a playoff team?

 

 

 

 

PTR

484890[/snapback]

 

The Bills are no playoff team - get Losman some experience.

 

The Bills are getting old in some key areas on defense. The lack of speed shows.

The Bills should look at the Eagles for the blueprint. Remember the Eagles dumped both high paid starting corners Troy Vincent and Bobby Taylor and decided to rebuild the entire secondary in basically one year? Their secondary is now awesome even though at the time everybody said they were crazy.

 

Nate Clements is not worth a $15 million dollar bonus and huge salary. Milloy and Vincent have lost a step or two- ouch!. McGee is a keeper.

 

The comment by Tom Clements that the Bills failure to score a TD at the one yard line "didn't hurt us" is so ridiculous. He should be fired instantly. I mean it. He is making me long for the good old days of Kevin Gilbride.

 

Lastly, the Bills are woefully deficient on the line of scrimmage. Trey Teague is the Jeff Posey of the offense. Weak and invisible.

What about all those "high motor" - low talent guys on the DL? Weak.

 

Donahoe has built a real non-contender for sure.

[Gambler]

Sully is a jerk...but that was funny.

484953[/snapback]

 

 

Sullivan takes a lot of heat around here for being right. Poor Jerry - accurate, but unloved.

 

Don't shoot the messenger!

 

Just because he points out stuff you don't want to accept is no reason to dismiss him.

[RJsackedagain]

I blame TD for the mistake on the Sully column. ... Since he wasn't doing anything important with his real job, TD decided to moonlight as the web master for the Buffalo News

[Mr Info]

Sullivan takes a lot of heat around here for being right. Poor Jerry - accurate, but unloved.

 

Don't shoot the messenger!

 

Just because he points out stuff you don't want to accept is no reason to dismiss him.

484962[/snapback]

 

 

Sometimes he's on, but many times he is master of the obvious. I do not feel that I am receiving some insight or objective analysis that a beat reporter for an NFL team should have. But some of his metaphors and similes can be a hoot. I guess funny comes across a lot better when you are denigrating someone else. I am a season ticket holder and I have not been happy in quite a while. But, the folks at OBD are not as clueless as many believe.

[PromoTheRobot]

Sometimes he's on, but many times he is master of the obvious. I do not feel that I am receiving some insight or objective analysis that a beat reporter for an NFL team should have. But some of his metaphors and similes can be a hoot. I guess funny comes across a lot better when you are denigrating someone else. I am a season ticket holder and I have not been happy in quite a while. But, the folks at OBD are not as clueless as many believe.

484997[/snapback]

It's always easier to sit on the sideline and criticize what is going wrong...and there is PLENTY going wrong these days at One Bills Drive. But it's not like Jerry Sullivan has some special football insight. If they gave the ball to Willis on 4th down and he didn't make it, Sully would be criticizing them for their "lack of imagination!" Winning makes you smart...losing makes you stupid.

 

But I do think that TD has had enough time to build his team, and if this is all we get, it's time for him to step down.

 

PTR

[Rubes]

Thanks...I was wondering why I hadn't had the pleasure of a Sully article today.

[mrjsbu96]

Thanks...I was wondering why I hadn't had the pleasure of a Sully article today.

485169[/snapback]

 

 

Deserved or not, I just can't imagine how Donahoe or Mularkey feel when they see this guy running around at the various press conferences. Mularkey has to want to pound this guy by now. It has to be something like getting shown up taking the third stike on a pitch thrown by the kid picked last in gym class...or something like that...

[e-dog]

I thought Sully's article was right on. What part of it could you not say was the truth and disagree with ?

[Adam]

If Sullivan knew half of what he talked about, he'd be a coach, not a guy who writes about it......I remember Dan Henning not doing well here, then doing very wellfor himself.

 

I'd like to see Losman in there, but I think Mularkey knows what he's doing a bit more than I do- and I hope he's here for a very long time.

 

The Bills dont answer to Sullivan, the media, or the fans

[Dante]

I'd like to see Losman in there, but I think Mularkey knows what he's doing a bit more than I do- and I hope he's here for a very long time.

 

 

485389[/snapback]

I really hope your right. But results in front of us seem to indicate otherwise. This team has gone downhill in a hurry. We've only defeated crappy teams at home. At the beginning of the season most of us(including myself) thought the main problem with this team was at the qb position. I thought the D was solid enough to keep us at least competitive in all games and perhaps even favorites in most of them. I guess I bought the laughable lie that was our defense and jumped on that bandwagon like most others. What I saw on Sunday at Oakland not only blows that myth away but really makes me think this defense is at least in the bottom 3rd of the league. It really is enough to make me not even watch the game next week. I will have the controller in hand ready to switch to a NHL game.

[e-dog]

No, I think most people realize what the real problem on this team is. The same problem they have had for 10 years and has still not been fixed.

 

But the real problem is, that problem, can't be fixed until the people in the front office open their eyes and fix it. I don't care who is playing wr,rb, or qb, this team will not win big until that problem is fixed.

 

And the funny thing is most here understand that, but the supposed "football men" at One Bills Drive do not.

[Dante]

No, I think most people realize what the real problem on this team is. The same problem they have had for 10 years and has still not been fixed.

 

But the real problem is, that problem, can't be fixed until the people in the front office open their eyes and fix it. I don't care who is playing wr,rb, or qb, this team will not win big until that problem is fixed.

 

And the funny thing is most here understand that, but the supposed "football men" at One Bills Drive do not.

485527[/snapback]

I admit that I was mislead at the start of the season. I bought the fact that our OLine was adequet and our D was maybe the best in the league. Ive always bitched that the Bills have never paid enough attention to the line on both sides of the ball. Now Im back to thinking that still is our main problem but certainly not the only one. The defensive strategy for this game was absolutely stupid and our offensive gameplan was not to take any risks and not lose. We'll you see what that got us. So I guess my point is that in addition to qb, line and assorted defensive problems, you can add coaching to that list. Man were screwed!

[Adam]

Sullivan takes a lot of heat around here for being right. Poor Jerry - accurate, but unloved.

 

Don't shoot the messenger!

 

Just because he points out stuff you don't want to accept is no reason to dismiss him.

484962[/snapback]

Sullivan just stays negative, because there is a demographic that will believe anything that is negative.

[TPS]

i don't know that i'd want Losman's next start to be against the Pats there. i'd let KH go this next one, then you give Losman two weeks to prepare for his next start with the bye week.

 

 

In addition, the loss to the Pats will dismiss any talk of KH as the solution. No, I don't think we can beat the Pats there.

[Fan in San Diego]

Really, Jerry calls a spade a spade. He is has been dead on every time I read his articles. This is no exception. All of the Pollies, take off the rose colored glasses would ya, and leave Jerry alone.

[Taro T]

Really, Jerry calls a spade a spade. He is has been dead on every time I read his articles. This is no exception. All of the Pollies, take off the rose colored glasses would ya, and leave Jerry alone.

485607[/snapback]

Jerry can see that a spade is a spade and he calls the spade a spade, but he also comes to the conclusion that the entire deck has no red cards because he only saw the spade and he tells everyone that the deck has no red cards.

 

2 cases in point. I accidentally heard him on GR a couple of days ago and tried to give him the once every 3 month 5 minute listen and I just couldn't do it. His rant was about hockey and how stupid it is to have different rules in the regular season and overtime. Whoa, the guy is actually right (IMHO) about something for once. His remedy: convert playoff rules to regular season rules. WTF?!? His reasoning was that regular season has the "quickie" OT so people can get home early. (Which is actually WRONG, it's due to television advertisements and scheduling; not to let the crowd get home in time to see the 11 o'clock news.) He'd kill the most exciting thing in sports (again, IMHO) so that the playoffs will be consistent w/ the regular season.

 

Case in point #2. He would start Losman this week against NE. Yes the season is over if the Bills lose to NE and they will probably lose no matter which QB they go with. With that being said, why would you send the kid to the lions. The Pats are coming off their bye, meaning BB has had 2 weeks to game plan; it's a night game on the road; Bruschi will likely have the Pats and crowd in a frenzy; and the last time JP played there, it did not go well (and that was not his fault); and (according to the media at least) the vets have little to no faith in JP. All of these indicate that this will be a tremendously difficult game for him to win. IF JP is the future of this team, and I think he MIGHT be; why would you risk him getting it in his head that he cannot win in NE? Yes, JP should be starting again soon; please wait until the KC game, when he may actually have a legitimate chance of playing well.