After two weeks of depressing and uninspired performances, most Bills fans decided their next few Sundays would be better served doing something else. Which begs the rhetorical question:
If the Bills play football in December, and no one is there to watch it, does it make a sound?
Answer: Yes. It is the whimper and cry from players who realize (again) they can't hack it and will be sitting at home come playoff time.
That's what players were doing in the locker room after their latest debacle, a soul-crushing 31-27 defeat at the hands of the New York Jets.
Still, there are diehards so in love with the team that they'll stick with it to the end. This latest loss could be more painful than any other this year. They got to experience the pain of being a Buffalo fan just one more time.
With four minutes to go in the game and up by a field goal, Buffalo forced the Jets to punt and got the ball back. This is known as the four-minute drill. Offenses run conservative running plays to keep the clock running and make the opponent burn timeouts. Pile up enough first downs, and you can run out the clock to win the game. Since Buffalo had a dominant running attack going for it, it seemed like a golden opportunity to snap their losing streak.
But coach Dick Jauron and his accomplice J.P. Losman were there to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Despite the fact that Buffalo was moving the ball at will, Jauron inexplicably called for a play action rollout pass before the two-minute warning. So Jauron, who admitted calling for the play, was willing to put a win he might need to save his job in the hands of an ineffective quarterback.
And ÒLos(s)Óman, as his name indicates, did the rest. We've watched this scenario so many times: Losman drops back, can't find a receiver and dances around in the pocket. Oblivious to the defenders coming after him, he doesn't sense the backside pressure. He gets creamed and coughs up the football. New York recovers and dances into the end zone to take the lead.
That still left more than a minute for Buffalo to drive down the field, with three timeouts. But J.P. once again wasn't up to the task of driving his team, tossing a bad interception.
The Jets still couldn't put the nail in the coffin, and Buffalo took over on downs after stopping four runs. Again, Losman wasn't up to the task, throwing short passes to the middle of the field and burning clock before throwing up an interception to end the game.
The CBS announcers repeatedly told viewers that Losman was trying to use his starts to put together a highlight reel for himself as he enters free agency. He might want to try and confiscate those tapes, because he will have trouble finding work as a third-stringer if this one gets around. Losman ended up with a 45.7 quarterback rating, but more depressing was that his average pass attempt went for 3.8 yards.
That means Losman couldn't find any receivers open downfield more than 4 yards past the line of scrimmage. This was against the Jets, who have the 29th-ranked pass defense. When he did find someone open, his passes sailed high, forcing receivers to jump for the ball. Losman threw away several easy completions with his inaccurate play.
J.P. Losman is a fine man who has done a lot off the field in Buffalo. On the field, though, he clearly doesn't have all the tools needed to be an NFL quarterback. He has no pocket presence, has difficulty scanning the field and locks onto receivers. Losman can't throw against the worst secondaries in the league. Who would want to take a chance on that?
Despite the loss, there was a lot that went right in this game. Most impressive was the running attack Buffalo unleashed. Marshawn Lynch ran for 127 yards, averaging 6 yards a carry. He looked like the dominant rusher the Bills hoped they drafted.
The play that best summed up his afternoon came on Buffalo's first drive. Running a toss sweep, Lynch pulled around the right corner and followed a wall of three blockers. Two linemen sealed off defenders, and he continued to shed tackles as he followed an escort up the field. Running free in the secondary, he juked some Jets out of their shoes before running toward the sideline. It took several players to finally push him out of bounds. ÒBeast mode,Ó indeed.
Fred Jackson, forgotten on the sidelines in the Toronto debacle, even got in on the action. He averaged 4.4 yards a carry and even pulled off the rarest of actions for the Bills: a red zone rushing touchdown. Jackson was all over the field, lining up at receiver and providing a change of pace from Lynch's bruising running style. Jackson also finished with a team-leading 6 receptions, including a critical third-down conversion.
The Bills finally found the red zone offense they've been seeking for weeks. They went 4-for-4 on trips inside the opponents' 20-yard line, scoring three touchdowns and a field goal. In the previous two games, they only managed two field goals on six red zone trips.
Buffalo's pass defense settled down as the game went on, limiting the Brett Favre show to one touchdown and 207 yards passing. The defense also pulled down two interceptions, but that includes the one dumb interception that Favre is inclined to throw each game. In the second half, the secondary really closed the door, blanketing Jets receivers and forcing several punts.
This performance was made more outstanding considering the usual lack of pressure provided by the Bills front seven. Favre had all day to throw, and rarely did any Bills player get within 3 yards of the quarterback.
All he had to do was just wait ... and wait some more ... for a receiver to get open. The only time he did get pressured, he threw a bad interception. Common sense would seem to have dictated dialing up the pressure, but by this point in the season, we know Jauron and company won't be swayed by something so crazy as common sense.
The most frustrating thing, though, was the player reactions after the game. Everyone was close to tears, and didn't seem to have any answers. Why wasn't anyone angry? Shouldn't someone be mad that they keep dropping winnable games? What does that say about the character of this team?
To me it says they are so resigned to losing that it is what they have come to expect.
So, the lame duck season continues for Buffalo next week. If you've finished your holiday shopping, strung up the lights, done the chores, cleaned the garage and read your copy of Jim Cwierley is a contributing writer for the Niagara Falls Reporter. E-mail him at jim.cwierley@gmail.com.
Niagara Falls Reporter
www.niagarafallsreporter.com
December 16 2008