Decision to fire Jauron should come to pass
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — It wasn't Ralph Wilson doing the laughing after this one. It was the Jets, many of whom were snickering into their lockers when they were asked about the decisive play in Sunday's astonishing 31-27 victory over the Bills.
You'd be laughing, too, if the opposing coach had just handed you a big football game, allowing you to stay atop the AFC East. It was a hoot, all right, although I doubt Bills fans found it very funny when Shaun Ellis ran J.P. Losman's fumble into the end zone with 1:54 to play.
It seems I've asked this too many times lately, but how much more can you people take? If the Cleveland, San Francisco and Miami games didn't send you over the edge, might this one do the trick? Did you even bother to watch it?
Oh, and raise your hand if you still think Dick Jauron should be in charge of the Bills next season. The guy is an established failure as a head coach. So what does he do? With his team on the verge of an upset win, a triumph that could help him make the case for continued employment in Buffalo, he tries his hand as an offensive coordinator.
Let's reset the crucial play, if you can bear to relive it:
The Bills are leading, 27-24, with 2:06 to play. They have second-and-5 at their 27. Instead of playing it safe, they call for Losman to attempt a rollout pass to the fullback. Losman gets sacked from behind, fumbles, and Ellis scoops up the ball and runs it in for the winning TD.
"That's mine," Jauron said. "That goes straight on me. It clearly caused us to lose the game."
It was big of Jauron to take the blame. It's possible he took the fall for Turk Schonert. But it doesn't matter. Whether Jauron made the call or not, he's right. It's his fault. Even if it had been Schonert's call, it was Jauron's job to bring him to his senses.
Both Jauron and Schonert tried to justify the call by pointing out that there had been 2:06 left on the clock. The two-minute warning was coming up, so an incomplete pass wouldn't have given the Jets an extra play. The clock would stop anyway.
That's the sort of overthinking that we've come to expect from these coaches. They probably have some little black book, the one that instructs coaches to try two-point conversions early in the third quarter, the one that tells them how smart it is to throw with a shade over two minutes left.
Never mind that the Bills had been running the ball down the Jets' throats. Never mind that Marshawn Lynch was averaging 6 yards a carry, or that Fred Jackson had dragged half the Jets' roster into the end zone on his touchdown run just a few minutes earlier. Or that their last six runs before the fumble had gone for 9, 11, 4, 5, 3 and 5 yards.
No, the smart thing, the "we watch film 80 hours a week and you don't" thing, was to put the ball in Losman's hands and trust him not to mess up. Yeah, that's always a good idea, guys. Just like it was a good idea to throw near the goal line in the San Francisco and Miami games.
They just don't get it. Someone should have thrown a shoe at Jauron in the postgame news conference. You know who was the intended receiver on the fateful play? Corey McIntyre, the fullback, the guy who isn't even in the press guide because they picked him up during the year.
Shades of Mike Mularkey, who was bound and determined to get old Daimon Shelton into the end zone to prove that the rest of us didn't understand offensive football. Those seem like the good old days right about now.
Everyone knew it was a dumb call. Within two minutes, I had two calls from former high school coaches, ripping Jauron. I'm serious. His players weren't thrilled about it, either. Chris Kelsay admitted he was shocked. Kawika Mitchell thought a run was in order, too.
"I mean, yeah," said Mitchell. "We have a guy like Marshawn Lynch. We have some of the biggest offensive linemen in the league. You've got a minute and 54 seconds left [actually 2:06], second-and-4 [actually 5]. Why not? Why not?"
Good question. Some people look at coaches who have been fired and ask, "Why?" I look at Dick Jauron and say, "Why not?"
You know it's a bad day when the New York crowd is making comparisons with the famous Joe Pisarcik fumble that took place 30 years ago here in Giants Stadium. If you're too young to remember that game, well, at least you'll have a season of Bills coaching gaffes to hold on to.
Jauron had the good sense not to fault Losman for failing to sense the pressure coming from his blind side and protect the ball.
"I'm not going to go there," Jauron said. "It's on my shoulders to protect him from that situation, and I didn't do it."
Correct, professor. The best definition of good coaching is putting players in position to succeed. Jauron put Losman in position to fail. In doing so, he failed his entire team, which played a strong, courageous game on a day when people expected them to mail it in.
That's sad. The Bills, who were officially eliminated from playoff contention Sunday, deserve better than Jauron. They deserve better than an owner who tells the world he doesn't have enough talent, so he can hide from the fact that he hired another inferior coach.
But it sounds as if Wilson might finally be coming to grips with the fact that he has a problem on his hands. After the latest debacle, Wilson made a joke about going back into the insurance business. But he got serious when he was asked Jauron's job status.
Wilson asked reporters if they had seen the fumble. That was his answer. Everyone saw it, Ralph. The next move is yours, and the right call couldn't be any clearer. It's time to run Jauron.
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