MIAMI — The worst fears of Buffalo Bills fans were realized Sunday.



The sense of impending doom felt when the team blew up its offense the week before the

season began has come to fruition.



The Bills' offense was dead in the water in Sunday's humiliating, 38-10 loss to the Miami

Dolphins.



The question now: Is the Bills' season dead in the water?



There were no answers in the Bills' locker room Sunday. But coach Dick Jauron's seat is

hotter than ever in the wake of the Bills' 1-3 start.

Bills owner Ralph C. Wilson Jr. wasn't making any assurances about his coach's job security

after the game.



"I'm worried about my job," Wilson said.



The Bills return home to face a winless Cleveland team Sunday in what could be a must-win

for the embattled Jauron.



Whether anything can be done to rescue the Bills' offense — even a coaching change

— is questionable.

The Bills played a Miami team that was missing its best offensive player (quarterback Chad

Pennington) and its best defensive player (linebacker Joey Porter). Yet Miami showed the Bills

remain ill-suited to compete in the AFC East by handing Buffalo its eighth straight division

loss.



The gory details: The Dolphins held the ball for 37:09. They sacked Trent Edwards six

times. They had 17 rushing first downs; the Bills had none. They outgained the Bills, 336-206.

They held the Bills to just 1 of 11 on third-down conversions. It was the fourth-most lopsided

defeat of Jauron's tenure.



"It's a huge disappointment for us," Jauron said. "There's no place for me to point except

at myself."



"It's terrible; it's embarrassing," defensive tackle Kyle Williams said.



"It's very frustrating we didn't make enough plays on offense to help our defense out," said

running back Fred Jackson. "We left them out there way too long again. Those three and outs,

we can't do that."



The Bills' weapons were neutered.



Marshawn Lynch? He returned from a three-game NFL suspension to run eight times for 4

yards.



Terrell Owens? He caught three passes for 60 yards to bring his season total to eight

catches for 158 yards. It's the worst four-game catch total as a starter in Owens' 14-year

career.

"We just have to go back to the drawing board and keep working," Owens said. "We have to

practice hard."



More Owens: "They played well. Obviously we didn't execute on offense. We need to get

better."



What can Owens say, when the Bills are playing three linemen who basically never have

started before this season? Jonathan Scott, making his first career start at left tackle, gave

up three sacks by unofficial count. Kirk Chambers, starting at right tackle because of the

groin injury to first-year starter Demetrius Bell, gave up two of the Dolphins' Cameron Wake's three sacks.



It's hard to fire the offensive coordinator (Turk Schonert) and the veteran left tackle

(Langston Walker) the week before the season starts and expect the offense to run smoothly.



"We couldn't protect our quarterback," Jauron said. "It kind of starts there. It definitely

starts there. We didn't get much ever started. When we had our chances early we couldn't

capitalize on it."







Asked why the Bills have not brought in someone — anyone — with more experience

to back up on the offensive line, Jauron said: "At the time we thought we did what's in the

best interest of the club all the way through.

"We didn't protect him and struggled doing it," Jauron said of Edwards. "There are a lot of

young guys."



As the game wore on, the Bills were forced to keep an extra blocker in to try to protect

the quarterback. But then there are fewer receivers in the pass pattern, and it's harder to

find an open man.



"That's what essentially happened," Jauron said.



The Bills were trailing, 3-0, early in the second quarter when things started to go wrong.



On a first-and-10 play from the Buffalo 18, Edwards threw an out pattern to the left

sideline for Lee Evans. Miami had blitzed a fifth rusher on the play, and Edwards had to

decide quickly where to unload the ball. The pass appeared to be a tad inside when it needed

to be more outside.



But Edwards said it should not have been thrown, period.



Miami rookie cornerback Vontae Davis read the play, stepped in front of the pass, and raced

23 yards for a touchdown to put Miami ahead, 10-0.



"I didn't really see him squat, and that's obviously why I threw it," Edwards said of

Davis. "The guy made a great play on it. He read the drop and read the route. I think the

throw probably shouldn't have been made, to be honest. If I was able to see him I wouldn't

throw it again."



"I was surprised he threw the football," Davis said. "When I saw the football, I was like,

" Wow." I just knew I had to catch it. ... It was a route that, watching films, they like to

run — quick routes. We were just in the perfect coverage. I knew if he ran that route, I

would have a chance to jump it."



Edwards completed 14 of 26 passes for 192 yards.



"Of course Trent's doing the best he can and we've got to be better for him," said

Chambers. "He's out there trying to make things happen. I respect Trent and what he's doing

out there. We need to play better for him."



"I thought Lee [Evans] and Terrell did a good job outside all day," Edwards said. "They

were trying to double team a couple guys throughout the game and it was just a matter of

trying to find the singled-up guy. There were a couple chances there that I missed."



The Bills are searching for answers.

The sobering reality is there might not be any.



"Our head coach always says, "Come with solutions don't come with questions,' " Edwards

said. "That's going to be our goal this coming week. We've got to come with solutions. We have

to find a way to fix this."