The Buffalo Bills season officially completed its journey down the commode -- a trip that lasted almost three months -- on Sunday, splashing into the National Football League's septic system along with Gregg Williams' head-coaching career.
In a fitting end to both, Williams and Bobby Shaw whined well into the Tennessee evening about the official ruling that the wide receiver didn't catch the two-point conversion throw from Drew Bledsoe that would have sent the game into a largely undeserved overtime.
Shaw maintained that he was trying to show the ball to the nearest official. Seems like wrapping both arms around it would have been a better idea, but doing the sensible thing would have been thoroughly out of line for this year's Bills.
Bledsoe, for example, would have shown solid football judgment by covering up in the face of the blitz and taking the sack with just more than six minutes left in the third quarter and the Bills holding an 11-point lead.
But no.
The $6 Million Man's sense of football bravado dictated that he continue looking downfield, the ball dangling precariously from one hand, until a receiver came open downfield.
Or until Keith Bulluck ripped it free and pounced on it, leaving Tennessee's previously feeble offense needing just 18 yards to score the game-turning touchdown.
Which the Titans did immediately.
That came as no surprise, since that's the kind of teams Williams' old boss, Jeff Fisher, has put on the field since the former Houston Oilers migrated in a northeasterly direction - constantly physical and fiercely opportunistic.
Those were characteristics Williams was supposed to instill in Buffalo when Bills President/General Manager Tom Donahoe hired him three years ago.
Williams' Bills don't capitalize on opportunities. They give them away. When a game is there for the taking, Williams' Bills are generous to a fault.
Once again, the squad led by a man praised by his boss-for-now as organized and prepared was anything but. A team that gets flagged for false start on the first play of the game is in trouble. A team that gets flagged for false starts on the first two plays of the game is embarrassing.
To the Bills' credit, they did rebound to take that 11-point lead in one of the NFL's most hostile environments. They did so on the strength of huge plays by their defense and special teams, the sort of decisive moments missing throughout most of the schedule.
Nate Clements' 39-yard punt return to set up Buffalo's first touchdown and Pat Williams' 28-yard gallop for the second looked like the sort of haymakers the Bills needed to land to sustain their miniscule chances of making the playoffs and/or saving their coach's job.
Instead, they were just two more tantalizing moments that reminded you what this season could have been.
As it's been all year, for every positive, there was a but.
Two injuries to one leg and one to the other were evidently too much even for Steve McNair (much to the chagrin of fantasy football owners counting on him to deliver a playoff victory -- more on that later), meaning the Bills faced a quarterback making his first NFL start. But they let Billy Volek throw for 295 yards and two crucial touchdowns while plunging 1 yard for the clincher.
Buffalo's resurgent pass rush sacked Volek four times. But the defense allowed the novice to convert nine of 17 third-down situations.
Bledsoe took the Bills 81 yards in less than two minutes, without the benefit of a timeout, to pull them within that two-point conversion of overtime. But before going 6-of-8 passing for 80 yards on that drive, his stat line was 11-of-24 for 88 yards. His offense was just 2-of-12 on third down, a major reason for all the last-minute desperation.
Travis Henry averaged 4.6 yards per carry against Tennessee's extremely stingy run defense. But he only carried 19 times.
The lack of timeouts when Buffalo needed them most epitomizes Williams' tenure. The first was spent on his signature maneuver, a misguided replay challenge. The second came when offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride's offense lapsed into disarray just 18 yards away from a go-ahead touchdown with more than 10 minutes left. Given the extra time to come up with a call, Gilbride dialed up a pass play that got Bledsoe sacked, forcing the Bills to settle for a field goal and a one-point deficit.
Add it up, and you have the latest in an unbroken string of failures on the road against decent teams by Williams' Bills. That skid is guaranteed to end in two weeks. Not because Buffalo is necessarily going to win the season finale in New England, but because that will be the last game in which the Bills belong to him.
BILLS MVP: Pat Williams' 11 tackles helped keep Eddie George in check and his fumble runback should have put Buffalo firmly in control.
Honorable mention goes to Lawyer Milloy, he of the 14 tackles, who played his best game since the season opener, and Aaron Schobel, whose two sacks give him 10.5 for the year.
THE OTHER GUYS MVP: Tennessee couldn't have asked much more from Volek. Derrick Mason's 302 all-purpose yards didn't hurt, either.
FANTASY GONE AWRY: McNair was crucial to the regular-season success of one of two fantasy teams sponsored by BillStuff, which astutely grabbed Volek as a precaution. McNair's uncertain status leading up to the game led to extensive Web research, rapid radio-dial flipping and even phone calls to BS's spy in the Tennessee press box. All signs indicated that McNair would play, like he always does when a bone isn't poking out through his flesh.
Then the game starts, and out trots Volek. Too late to make a switch, of course. Thus, BS was forced to quietly, shamefully root for something bad to happen to poor Billy. Nothing serious, of course. Just a few interceptions. Or fumbles. Or maybe a very slight sprain. Just enough to make Fisher put McNair in the game.
Buffalo's pass rush did its part. Every time Volek went down, an internal voice cried "Stay down, Billy." He kept getting up, however.
Ah, well. There's always next year.
WING REPORT: This week, we have the first split decision in BS's history of nearly two seasons. We started out at T.J. Wheatfield's, attending a party thrown by a politician who must remain nameless due to our strict equal-time policy. The wings were well-cooked, properly sauced and, best of all, free. A solid A-.
Then we moved south on Niagara Falls Boulevard to Slick Willy's. The service was lousy. The wings were worse. Tiny limbs torn from anorexic chickens, ordered hot but served free of any sort of sauce. One portion involved bone with no chicken, another chicken with no bone. BS would compare them to microwaveable wings available in your grocer's freezer, but that would be an insult to the Godless chain restaurant that markets them. I'm not sure what grade is the lowest in modern academia, but these richly deserved an F.
BS FAN OF THE WEEK: With Buffalo's games finishing well below the over/under total every week and McNair's status in doubt, Dave (another one) astutely bet the under at 38. If not for Buffalo's generosity during the last 20 minutes, that would have been a very good gamble.
BS feels Dave's pain, but what really earned him this honor was his tale of his first exposure to the Bills, watching mud-soaked games played at War Memorial Stadium in the mid-1960s. You'd think that by now, he'd have learned not to bet on them.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | December 16 2003 |