Commentary
Sullivan: This mess comes straight from Jauron playbook
Well, at least Ralph Wilson finally got his Hall of Fame ring. Once his team ran off two straight wins, the Bills' impetuous owner figured the coast was clear and showed up at midfield Sunday for a halftime ceremony.
Wilson got his ring. The crowd stood and cheered. He repeated his line from Canton about having youth on his side. It was swift and painless — unlike the excruciating 30 minutes of NFL football that followed.
It's a good thing Ralph got the ring thing out of the way when he did. If he had waited until after the second half, the few hardy souls remaining in the stadium might have booed him all the way back to Detroit.
It would have been fitting. Shortly after Wilson left the field in a golf cart, his team played one of its worst home halves in recent memory. And that's saying quite a bit for a team that has been playing some of the worst offense since men first had the notion to lace up a pigskin and lug it across the grass.
The Bills' 31-10 loss to the Texans was a jolt of reality on the heroic run to 7-9. The two-game win streak was a nice break. But intelligent, seasoned fans knew it was just a pause on the sea cruise of mediocrity known as the Dick Jauron era.
Really, it was hard to envision this team docking for the bye at 4-4. They're not that good. We knew that. As soon as a legitimate team showed up — you know, one with a competent quarterback and a solid defense — the Bills would sink to their customary level as a non-playoff contender.
If last week's win at Carolina was a signature Jauron win, this was a textbook loss for the embattled coach. The defense plays well and keeps the Bills in the game for three quarters. The dysfunctional offense can't hold up its end of the bargain. The bend-don't-break defense wears down and the Bills get blown out.
It's amazing how bad the offense has been. Could it possibly be any worse if Terrell Owens had never come to town to "make us relevant" again?
Let's count the ways. Stop me when it becomes so ghastly you have to turn away in horror.
The Bills had nine first downs. That makes two weeks in a row with single-digit first downs, the first time that's happened since 1971. You know, the 1-13 team.
They have lost eight of their last nine home games. In the eight losses, they have scored four offensive touchdowns. In the last six home losses, they don't have a single TD pass from a quarterback.
One more: Over the last six games, the Bills are averaging 234 yards of total offense. They're allowing 210 yards a game rushing during that span. Opponents are nearly outgaining them on the ground alone.
Evidently, Ryan Fitzpatrick isn't the answer. Fitzpatrick had another very ordinary game against Houston. He had 63 yards passing until the final 3:34, when the Bills had three of their nine first downs in garbage time. He threw for a shade over 5 yards a pass, which is pretty much his career average.
But this isn't about the quarterback. The problems of this offense, and this team, go directly to one man, the head coach. "Oh, I think the whole thing falls on me," Jauron said. "I don't think there's any doubt. I take full responsibility for it."
No one in the media had any other questions after that one. It was the quickest postgame news conference of Jauron's time here. What more was there to say?
Jauron had actually said something relevant, and honest.
There are other reasons for the offense's troubles. Yes, they've had injuries on the offensive line, and to Trent Edwards, if you still consider him an asset. Owens hasn't been nearly the force people expected as the No. 2 receiver.
Jerry Sullivan's postgame analysis
But it's Jauron's mess. He's the one who decided to run the no-huddle. He's the one who insisted that Turk Schonert run a "Pop Warner" offense, then fired him 10 days before the opener for standing up to him.
It's Jauron who anointed Langston Walker his left tackle, then cut him after installing an offense that wasn't suited to Walker's talents. It's Jauron who took five games to admit the no-huddle was a bad idea.
Every offensive notion that Jauron had in mind before the season has blown up in his ashen face. Move by move, he has acknowledged that he had no clue in the first place. Sunday's brutal performance was a testament to his essential lack of vision on the offensive side of the ball.
Jauron finally used motion on half a dozen plays against the Texans. Pressed on the subject, he offered this explanation:
"Just talking regular motion or fake? We faked a lot of reverses trying to affect their defense and to force on the backside and then that comes off of that. The movement off the fake reverse, and the reverse and in and out, and also just to get a feel on man or zone along with the first two things, really."
That's straight off the quote sheet. Sheer gibberish from the Yale grad. Jauron clearly didn't want to discuss with mere laymen the merits of putting men in motion, or explain why the heck he hadn't been doing it for the first seven games.
You wonder how much Jauron has learned in 25 years of NFL coaching. He knows defense, but most defensive gurus fail as head coaches. A head coach must have command over all aspects of the game. It's rare to find a good one, even rarer for a coach to be so clearly overmatched offensively and survive this long.
Jauron can't seem to get it right. He's conservative when he should be daring, bold when he ought to be careful. In the New Orleans game, he punted on fourth-and-1 with his team down by 10 points with 7:30 left in the game. On Sunday, he tried a fake punt on fourth-and-2 with 12:27 left and the Bills down by seven.
The fake punt failed miserably. Six plays later, it was 24-10 and the game was basically over. Jauron took the blame. He said it was his call and he was looking for a spark. The offense was playing so badly, he had to try something.
In the Saints game, he said the defense had played so well it wouldn't be right to take a risk and give the opposition prime field position. How this situation differed is beyond me. Maybe, halfway into the season, it finally dawned on Jauron just how bad his offense really is.
Give the guy time. Twenty-five years in coaching, and he's starting to figure things out. The only motion I'd put on the table is one asking he be removed during the bye week. Somehow, I doubt the Hall of Fame owner is up to it.
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