With the playoffs on the line, with excitement in the air, Drew Bledsoe and the Buffalo Bills rolled over and died. Like Madonna dying at the end of Dick Tracy, this was pathetic. The season came complete circle. The things that cost them the Jags game was out in full effect in the Steelers game. They were a team that made mental mistakes, played great defense in spurts, and had an impotent offense without a Viagra popping quarterback.

The Bills stayed away from the run when it was working, had shoddy special teams, and had a kicker who could not make a field goal on the scoreboard side to help ice the game that had no wind conditions. The Buffalo Bills played a team they could easily have beaten but somehow found themselves in a street fight. Granted in between both of those games, the Bills season turned around. They tightened up the defense by always making second half adjustments, by having a special teams unit that had found a new groove, by running the ball well. I’m perplexed on how they returned to the same place for the last game of the season. It was a circular ride that didn’t include many wagons. They were on a gigantic Ferris wheel. It only feels like we were riding the Fantasy Island Ferris wheel.

It was shocking to see Drew Bledsoe come out and play as poorly as he did. As bitterly as this country is divided between Republicans and Democrats, Bills fans are equally as divided on whether to keep Drew or to give him his walking papers. I’m not a big Bledsoe supporter. I think you can track back in most of my articles and see that. I’m going to attempt to be non-partisan as I conclude he must go. Hopefully, I can sway a couple of you to rethink your stance, if you haven’t already changed your minds.

Drew had exactly 2 games out of 16 where he placed the load on his shoulders and willed this team to win. The Dolphins game and the 49ers game are those games. He threw touchdowns, and he threw all day. Now on the flip side, he single handedly lost both Patriot games, the Ravens game, and the Raiders game. You can even extrapolate that had our stud defense and amazing special teams (sans Fancy I Lindel) not played as well, he could have tossed the Browns game and the Bengals game for that matter. Four games to be personally responsible is a big deal. It’s so big you have to ask, “Does he deserve one more chance?”

If you give one guy with average NFL talent 16 games to play, he could win about 2 or 3 games by himself. So where is the value, on a cost basis, of having a multi-million dollar, former 1st round, veteran QB? All throughout the season, we fans have asked very little of a guy with that description. We asked him to not lose the game. When the Bills have the lead, he has played decent. But when asked to win a game playing from behind, he transforms back to the guy who holds the ball for like 20 minutes in the pocket, looking at people as he telegraphs passes right into their hands. If the Steelers DB’s actually showed interest in catching the ball, they would have had 3 more interceptions.

The Fumble/TD return, aka the play that sealed the deal for Pittsburgh, was prototypical Bledsoe. It was so typical that the stadium couldn’t even boo. We have just come to expect that when we need a miracle, we only have to look at the QB and realize a miracle is out of the question. This is not a mistake a 12 year pro can make. When the score is 19-17 and there is an entire quarter to play, 12 years of experience and a good arm should make me feel a whole lot better than it did. If Losman made that mistake or a young guy where there is a lot of upside to be had, that mistake drives us nuts for the game. But it makes us think, “I bet he’ll never do that again. I bet he’ll make an effort to not make the same mistakes in the future.” Bledsoe has always made those same mistakes his entire career. If he didn’t learn from those mistakes in New England and 2 prior years in Buffalo, we can’t expect that next year he’ll learn from these experiences. We’ve treated him like a dog in training camp. The Bills had an alarm clock go off after 4 seconds to get him to learn to throw it faster. Pavlov’s dog was throwing the ball after 4 second before Drew learned his lesson.

Part of me believes that as a nation we still completely believe in baseball. Three strikes; you’re out. It stands as the golden rule in baseball as well as how we approach legal squabbles. Perhaps it should stand when evaluating the Bledsoe era. We’ve given him three seasons and he’s given us 8-8, 6-10, 9-7. For a guy who is a former 1st round pick, mediocre should not be accepted.

Whatever you personally conclude, I don’t think he should be given a chance next year. Unless he wants to restructure again and be willing to be Kurt Warner, it’s worth watching the same mistakes be played out by a young guy with upward potential. In a worst-case scenario, maybe Losman starts out slow and we have a losing season, you know the lessons he learns will be pushed forward to the following year. With Bledsoe you know the errors he made can’t be used for a future date. The Buffalo Bills just pushed back the development of a QB that many people believe will be a good one within another year. They need to a QB who won’t lose us games, and have more chances to win us games. I truly think a mobile guy like Losman will make the play book and McGahee more dangerous. It will make the already improved O-line better. The guy is a first round draft pick, and he has a lot to prove. Let’s get him up to pace. Additionally, I think there is magic to be had between a young QB and a young, first time head coach. Think back to Kelly, Levy. They were new to each other and new to the NFL. They bonded together and they made the magic happen. The Bills have laid the blueprint down.

I won’t just blame Drew though. I’m going to go after a group I’ve never dared speak against. I’m going after the fans. The ones who decided to brave the cold 50+ degree weather were awesome (did you sense the sarcasm?) It’s the one fourth of the stadium that didn’t show. This is the biggest game at home in at least 5 years and one fourth of the stadium is filled with Steelers fans. How in God’s name is this possible? It was absolutely ridiculous. It was embarrassing. Does this happen at other stadiums? Thank God the fans that do show up are crazed out of their minds.

Kevin’s DVD Extras

• Ref Report: I can’t even write the word Ref without having tremors. The Fletcher pass interference call was about the second most ridiculous pass interference call to go against the Bills in team history. I would rank only the Henry Jones New England game interference call at the 1 yard as more egregious. Next ridiculous call was with the Bills having a 1st and 5 at midfield, the Bills run and pick up the first down. Oh no, no they didn’t. They managed to have 2 penalties on the play. One was for holding, which I never saw. And the second was the cut block by Reed. Whether the cut block occurred or not, this was thrown by the Referee furthest away from the action. It killed a drive that was moving the ball. Bad punt placement: Moorman knocks a booming kick inside the twenty. True it is oddly angled out of bounds. But the side ref awards the ball at the twenty. It was like watching the yodeler guy on “The Price is Right” as he just kept running up the sideline. One more ridiculous moment: To take the cake, on what was looking to be a 99.9 yard drive for points, someone calls pass interference on the offense on a 3 and 1 conversion play. Fine. I didn’t see it because I didn’t see it in regular motion, and God forbid the Jumbotron guy show a meaningful angle of anything at any point season long. Fine. Next play, 3rd and 11. Dink pass over the middle and our TE clearly stretches out for the first down. Nope, “we’re marking you a yard short.” The crowd goes nuts angered by what seems to be a ridiculous wave of ref mangling against the Bills. The idiots decide to keep the ball in the same place, but measure to show it to us. We’re not asking for a measurement; we’re asking for the first down that we rightfully received. Next play is the missed kick (more on that below). There can only be one question for the refs, “Were you throwing the NFL approved yellow flags or were you throwing your terrible towels that you have had as life long Steeler fans?”
• The Refs angered me so much that I felt like Hasek when he was cool and not a complete douchebag and tossed his glove at the Ref in the Washington Capitals series in 1998. It was so frustrating. I now believe that the NHL strike has NHL refs, notoriously the worst in the major sports, working NFL games. Colin Campbell just manages a way to screw Buffalo every chance he gets.
• Dear Buffalo News Sports editors, never run an article about a scrub kicker and his desire to get a chance to win a Bills game ever in the history of the paper again. I note this only because when the Bills went to Superbowl XXV, the week before the game, there was an article with Scott Norwood. He naturally was having, up to the point, another great season for the Bills. In this article he was asked if he could kick a game winner if needed. Naturally he said the clichéd “As a kicker we live for this moment. I’m ready”. Now fast forward to this miracle season that we’re having. In the same exact tone, they talk to Fancy I about his season. Statistically, he has been fairly reliable and good stuff. In practicality he was useless. Longer than 40 yards, blah blah blah, you know how it goes. And again he was asked, “You haven’t been asked to kick a big time field goal all year, are you ready?” Again, the clichéd answer. Sunday, he missed a chip shot. I know that is a chip shot not because I’ve watched football all my life, but because in high school, two of my jackass friends and I ran out onto a football field and kicked field goals for an hour just for the hell of it. All three of us made that field goal. Subsequently I know you can tell that we were real cool in high school. The real kick in the nuts was not only seeing him miss it, but as you tracked the ball missing the intended destination, you had to look at the terrible towels swirling in the air. Fancy I needs to take a fancy flight to another fancy town and fancy himself anything but a Buffalo Bill. Draft a kicker, convert Moorman to do both jobs, hire a high schooler, whatever. I believe there are rockettes who have stronger kicking motions than Fancy I. He must go.
• There are only two ways to consistently put up points on the scoreboards. TD’s and FGs. We seem to enjoy having hacks at two of the positions that are responsible for putting up those points.
• Moorman actually had a really tough day. That should have been an omen that we were screwed.
• I’m pretty sure on the run where Willis was tripped, he would have been off for at least 30+ yards. The guy who tripped him was the only guy on that side. The other Steelers players were moving the other way due to the counter motion that McGahee ran. That was the best penalty that the Steelers could have taken. 15+ yards seemed like such an injustice. Irritating.
• Not that you need to know my financial situation, but I donated some money to the Tsunami relief fund. That is just who I am, I see tragic things and I think, “How can I help”. Naturally, that leads me to think, is there a Retarded NFL Refs fund that I can donate. Like I said, I’m generous to the bone. I think we owe it to ourselves to help those in need. The money could go to glasses, teaching how to read and apply the rule book, and trying to resolve instant replay situations within the minute thirty that the rules supposedly ask for you to conclude. I’ll Google for a site and let you know what I find.
• Third down defense by the Bills was outrageous. Not only on the last drive, but overall. The Steelers converted 42% of their attempts. They had some 3rd and longs and each time they were converted. It was the 0-4 defense out there. Good, but with a stagnant offense, any error they made was multiplied by a factor of pi.
• Jeopardy time for this weeks “One Fan’s View.” For $200: Josh Reed, Rian Lindell and Drew Bledsoe. “What is ‘I hope they never come back to the Ralph ever again in Bills uniforms.” For $400: Black, white and green all over. “Who are the Refs wearing their Jets paraphanlia underneath their uniforms to the games they are working in?”
• I’ll give it to Steeler fans. They showed up, watched their team win, cheered when they scored, stayed quiet when we scored and returned to their cars pretty calmly. You won’t see that from the so-called Pats fans. In fact, I think they were the only non-obnoxious set of fans that ventured into the Ralph all season. I guess the two Cardinal fans that came were pretty nice, but en masse, the Steeler fans were good people.
• I don’t know how I feel about the argument that we lost to the JV Steelers. True they had their scrubs out and we let them run out the clock, but the weather was nice. The 3rd stringers weren’t coming in cold and tired. They were coming in fresh and ready to play. With the exception of the potential 99.9 yard drive, the offense came and went off the field like Carlton Bank’s night on speed (please tell me some of you remember that episode of the Fresh Prince). Our defense had played a long time. I don’t blame them. In the early going when the Steelers were getting amazing drive starts, they were holding them to field goals. It was reminiscent of the 33-6 Patriots Loss. The offense gave it away time and time again, and the defense held until they couldn’t any longer.
• Another reason I don’t buy the 3rd stringer should be beaten easily, look at Carolina, the Patriots and the Broncos. I believe they tend to run better schemes that don’t rely on talent alone. They go three deep, four deep all season and no names are getting the job done. They aren’t solely relying on talent, but on the plays that everyone makes to open the holes. If everyone knows what they are doing, and the Steelers have done this a lot of the year, they are going to be competitive with any NFL player playing their position.
• You know something interesting? And I’m knocking on wood before and after I say this, but the Bills have not had a serious injury, with the exception of the Henry injury, all season. In fact Rusty Jones has really done his part in keeping these guys healthy over the course of the last 3 to 4 years. Kudos to a guy who probably doesn’t get enough attention.
• When Clements scores the touchdown, the crowd goes nuts and the scoreboard shows 21-10 Rams. Everyone but Fancy I sees the magnitude of the moment. God is still wearing a Bills Jersey at this point. But I begin to get a sneaking suspicion that the Devil wears a ref uniform in the pits of hell and his rouge angel goes by the name Rian.
• Here is a philosophical question for you. It is in the vain of “if a tree fell in a forest” nature. I am sure you will rack your brain for an answer. “Would you rather have Bledsoe fumble the ball when hit by a linebacker as though he was blindsided despite the fact the LB is coming straight at him, or would you rather have him drop back 10 yards and then flip the ball non-chalantly to the charging opposing player and let him run back for a touchdown?” Is there an answer to this?
• Nice toss to Shaud. I was truly impressed, Drew. You have seemed to have problems throwing it forward 5 yards, who knows why we thought you could throw it backwards 5 yards.
• It was a crap call by the coaches to string it outside on the short side of the field, and it certainly was not time for trickery. It seemed that running the ball was working without the gadgets. In my opinion they stayed away from the run way too much for the entire game. Willis was averaging over 4 yards a carry. On the 99.9 yard drive, he had his signature stiff arm going. It was just strange to see them down by two and come out throwing like they needed to score in a hurry. In the words of Al Pacino’s character in “A Scent of a Woman” it looked like Willis was “just warmin’ up.” Hindsight is pretty sweet, no?
• Pretty awesome that all the wildcard teams that got in are weak and running on empty. The Jets lost, the Broncos still are on the decline and are going to be lit up a week from now, the Vikings haven’t had an NFL coach for 4 years now, the Seahawks and the Rams are 8-8 teams on paper but look more like a 5-11 team than some of the 5-11 teams out there. Meanwhile a hungry Bills team rests again. If I could have it my way, I’d love to see a Chargers/Falcons Superbowl. If we can’t be in it or in the hunt for one, at least let there be pure chaos on the field of every playoff game. If it plays out to Steelers/Eagles superbowl, then I am bored with football and won’t believe in the “any given Sunday” mantra that I’ve heard all my life.
• Truth be known, we need to be grateful to the amazing run the Bills put together. We could have been a 5-11 team very easily. We saw that we have a great RB, WR and a gelling O-line. We saw one of the best defenses and special teams on a consistant basis. The Coaching decision for Mularkey went extremely well. He seems to be a good guy with a good head that connects with his players. Even his bonehead decisions never seemed to be questioned by the players like in the Williams Era. We felt excited. It was cool for those of us who don’t live in Buffalo. The city is such a joke to people not from Buffalo that they always snicker, “Bills fan? What the hell is that?” And it’s just nice to have people back off. “Buffalo is an awesome city, great people that just has a bad string of luck. Oh and by the way our team is hot as Kiera Knightley. Eat me.” It was the first time in 5 years that I haven’t had people breathing down my neck about it. The 6 weeks of Peace was glorious.
• Lastly, I want to thank all of you who read this article each week (or time to time) and wrote me or had good things to say to me. It was a really good time. I think it removed some of the depression I normally experience after losses and enhanced the joys of winning. Someone at Billszone.com should show this site to a Pharmaceutical company and get it patented. I am more appreciative then you know. Hopefully, I’ll get asked to do it again next year. I’ll see you on the message boards and may the Patriots lose horribly to whomever they play first.