Bills in free-fall, but Jauron still hangs on
Coach keeps job, thanks to an owner wary of midseason switch
Dick Jauron showed up for work Monday, just as he has after every game in his three-plus years as Buffalo Bills head coach.
A lot of Bills fans woke up Monday morning hoping to hear that Jauron was unemployed, but were chagrined by the news that he remains in charge of a team seemingly headed in the wrong direction.
The heat on Jauron intensified after Sunday's embarrassing 6-3 loss to the Cleveland Browns. It was the third straight defeat for the Bills, who have a 1-4 record. It was also their second straight loss to a previously winless team.
Jauron is the most unpopular of the four coaches the Bills have had since Marv Levy stepped down after the 1997 season. Ninety percent of the 5,000 people who voted on a Buffalo News poll wanted him gone at the end of last season. Jauron got the lowest approval rating of the NFL's 32 head coaches — 4 percent — in an ESPN poll last week.
Fan outrage toward him has become so deep that Web sites have sprouted up calling for his dismissal. One group of Bills fans has started a campaign to raise money to rent billboard space along the Niagara Thruway to express the same feelings.
Bills owner Ralph C. Wilson Jr. on Monday acknowledged that Sunday's performance was "awful," but he made it clear that he would rather not switch coaches during the season, though he did reserve the right to change his mind.
"[Sunday] was so bad that it's hard to make a decision right now," Wilson said before the Monday Quarterback Club luncheon in HSBC Arena. "I'm not going to make any decisions during the middle of the season. ... At least right now."
So does that mean Jauron is safe for the rest of the season?
"I don't know," Wilson said. "I'll tell you what: Whatever I say now is going to be twisted around. If I say exactly what I think, whether it's right or wrong, it's going to be twisted around, so I just don't want to talk about it."
The Jauron era may still be alive, but it is clearly on life support. Jauron said during his Monday news conference that he had not spoken with Wilson since before Sunday's game but that the two usually talk on the day after a game.
The coach refused to discuss his job status.
"I understand why you ask it, I understand why you have to ask it, but I'll never respond to it," Jauron said. "I don't see any reason for me to. That's not a decision that I make, and what I think is not of interest for me here talking to the media."
Jauron did say that any blame or criticism for the Bills' poor play should be pointed at him. "That's the job in that position, and I clearly haven't been able to reach them to help them, particularly in these last three games, to get them over the hump, to get us where we win," he said. "I understand the criticism."
Wilson's unwillingness to sever ties with Jauron could be based on the following factors:
•The team's next two games are on the road, at the New York Jets and the Carolina Panthers, so Jauron won't be subjected to the wrath of the home fans.
•Handing the job over to an assistant — special teams coordinator and assistant head coach Bobby April would be the likely candidate — probably wouldn't do much good because of a roster weakened by an ever-growing number of injuries to key players.
•The reality is that midseason coaching changes rarely, if ever, spark a dramatic turnaround, though making such a move would change the conversation surrounding the team and perhaps temporarily remove the dark cloud hovering over the organization.
•Wilson could wait for the team's bye week to replace Jauron, but Wilson's hand might be forced if the Bills lost to the Jets and the Panthers. With a 1-6 record, it would be hard to imagine Jauron walking the Bills sidelines at Ralph Wilson Stadium again. Their next home game is against Houston on Nov. 1, a week before the bye.
At the luncheon, Wilson told the audience that the offensive line is the primary source of the team's struggles. Pass protection and penalties have been major issues all season.
"During the Super Bowl years, for four straight years on the offensive line, the Bills had Will Wolford at left tackle, Jim Ritcher at left guard, Kent Hull at center, John Davis at right guard and Howard Ballard," Wilson said. "Four straight years, they played every game together, and nobody was hurt. That makes a big difference. It's continuity."
Many of the Bills' offensive line problems have been self-inflicted, including the decision to start the second-youngest line to open a National Football League season in this decade.
They traded two-time Pro Bowl left tackle Jason Peters, thinking that Langston Walker was an able replacement. But Walker was cut just five days before the opener, leaving the Bills' three starters — second-year left tackle Demetrius Bell and rookie guards Eric Wood and Andy Levitre — who hadn't taken an NFL snap before this season. Also, in the second week, the Bills lost right tackle Brad Butler for the season with a knee injury. He was replaced by Jonathan Scott, who had just six starts before this season.
A substandard offensive line, not to mention shaky quarterback play and poor execution overall, has crippled an offense that has scored just 20 points in the last three games.
"You've got to score in this league," Jauron said. "We've got to do a better job, I've got to do a better job of giving them a chance, finding different ways, and I haven't found those ways, certainly the last three weeks. Offensively, we just haven't gotten it done. We're going to keep working at it."
News Sports Reporter Mark Gaughan contributed to this report.
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