The Buffalo Bills, humbled by their embarrassing performance in San Antonio against the New Orleans Saints, return home to Ralph Wilson Stadium this week for a crucial match up with their arch-rivals, the Miami Dolphins, the surprising leaders of the AFC East after a quarter of the 2005 season.

While many Bills fans and members of the media have pointed to the poor play of first year starting quarterback JP Losman, who was a pitiful 7-15 for 75 yards passing with an interception and 4 sacks against the Saints, as the primary cause of the Bills' woes this season, Bills GM Tom Donahoe and several of the veteran players pointed out after the game that it has not just been Losman whose performance has been disappointing thus far this season. "We all need to look at ourselves in the mirror and find ways we can all get better," Bills guard Chris Villarrial is reported to have said after the game, "That's the only thing we can do."

If every Buffalo Bills player who has played more than a couple of minutes this season and their entire coaching staff and front office were to honestly look in the mirror this week, each and every one of them would have to admit that he has, in some way, contributed to the Bills' losses in the team’s last three games. As Donahoe pointed out, the Bills are not playing good team football in all phases of the game and it has been obvious in their performance in each of their three losses.

And, now, they return home to face their most bitter rival--the team that most Bills fans want them to beat--a rejuvenated Miami Dolphins team that has been playing inspired football under new head coach Nick Saban and is coming off of its bye week. With the New York Jets struggling after the loss of its top two QBs and being forced to bring Vinny Testaverde out of retirement to fill the void and the New England Patriots feeling not only their off-season losses, but recent injuries to key players in their secondary and on their offensive line, the Dolphins, with a 2-1 record forged by a tough defense and an opportunistic offense, surprisingly find themselves atop the AFC East as they come to Buffalo eager to take advantage of the Bills' woes and add to their lead in the division.

So, what are the Bills to do? With GM Tom Donahoe stating that everyone on the team is on thin ice and that no change that the coaches might make would be too bold and Coach Mike Mularkey refusing to talk about who will be the Bills' starting QB this week on Wednesday, the speculation is that the Bills will bench Losman this week and start Kelly Holcomb at QB against the Dolphins. Even though Holcomb has played poorly in two brief appearances this season in relief of Losman, his experience may allow him to take advantage of the vulnerable Miami secondary in a way that Losman is not ready to do at this point. However, in and of itself, whatever spark Holcomb may be able to provide to the Bills' passing game will not, alone, be sufficient to produce a Bills victory.

Defensive tackle Sam Adams provided the real solution to the Bills' problems when he said what every player and coach on the team needs to say at this point, "We're not playing up to our capabilities, and that includes myself. We all have to call ourselves professionals and get better."

Regardless of who starts at QB for the Bills this week, everyone associated with the team is going to have to start acting like professionals instead of looking for excuses or scapegoats, get better and begin to play up to their individual and collective capabilities if they want to win this game against Miami and begin to turn their season around.

The Bills have the talent to beat this Miami team no matter who starts at QB this week. But, they are going to have to play a lot better in every phase of the game than they have in their last three games.

The Bills Offense vs The Miami Defense: It is hard to say who has performed worse this season: QB JP Losman or offensive coordinator Tom Clements, whose play-calling has been baffling, to say the least, at times. Both started out on fire against the Saints as Losman led the Bills on a 10 play 75 yard touchdown drive during which Clements, with Losman going 4 of 5 for 52 yards, successfully mixed the run and the pass. But, as in the previous two games, it all degenerated from there as the Saints adjusted to the Bills' game plan and the Bills offense, with the possible exception of Willis McGahee, simply fell apart. Losman, whose shaky confidence had been bolstered by the opening drive, began to miss his receivers and his reads after his receivers dropped a few of his passes and finally had to be benched. With Losman losing his confidence and his touch, Clements continued to call on him to pass rather than letting Willis McGahee pound at the weak middle of the Saints run defense. Even though McGahee averaged 5.6 yards a carry in the first half, he only got to carry the ball a total of 16 times in the game, eight times in the second half. Baffling. The offensive line, which had started out blocking well, simply fell apart, yielding four sacks and letting the Saints' talented defensive ends to put increasingly intense pressure on Losman and Holcomb as the game wore on. The worst moment for the offensive line came when early in the fourth quarter in a tight game, they failed to keep the Saints' weak run defense from stuffing McGahee on 3rd and 1 and 4th and 1 plays from the Saints' 48. While Lee Evans contributed two nice catches to the opening drive, both he and Eric Moulds simply disappeared as Losman's accuracy deserted him. Moulds, who has gone out of his way to undermine Losman in recent weeks, certainly didn't help matters by missing a ball he could have caught and failing to get open most of the day, with his main contribution being pointing out to the media, afterwards, that the miscommunication that resulted in a New Orleans interception was Losman's fault.

Needless to say, that kind of performance isn't going to produce very much against a revived Miami defense that returns several familiar faces and has recovered and been rebuilt following an injury ravaged season last year. With Keith Traylor, Jeff Zgnonia and Vonnie Holiday anchoring the middle of the defensive line and Kevin Carter, rookie pass-rusher Matt Roth and sack-master Jason Taylor at the defensive ends, the Miami defensive line may be the best overall that the Bills have faced thus far this season. Led by tackling-machine MLB Zach Thomas, the Miami defense, which is giving up a miserly 2.9 yards per carry, is ranked 3rd against the run in the NFL and has not yielded a rushing TD in three games this season. However, with Junior Seau still nursing an injury, Miami's outside linebackers are not that experienced. With Willis McGahee averaging 4.8 yards a carry through four games this season, the match-up of the Bills' running game versus the Miami run defense could be a key to the game, especially if Bills OT Mike Williams has recovered sufficiently from his ankle injury to play.

The weakness of the Miami defense, which is ranked 9th overall in the NFL and is giving up only 17.0 points per game, is in the secondary which lost Pro Bowl CB Patrick Surtain and SS Sammy Knight in the off-season and is only ranked 19th against the pass this season. Nevertheless, Sam Madison is still a quality cornerback and Tebucky Jones and Lance Schulters give the Dolphins a pair of good safeties in the middle of the secondary.

While the Dolphins have played better in their two home victories than in their lone defeat on the road, the Bills' offensive line will have to play its best game of the season to give Willis McGahee any running room and protect whoever the Bills start at QB. Under the best of circumstances, yards and points are hard to come by against the Dolphins defense and the Bills are going to have to avoid mistakes and take advantage of any opportunities that they get to put points up against this tough Miami defense. The Bills may be able to pass some against the Dolphins if they can protect the QB, but they won't be able to afford penalties or any dropped passes because it will be very difficult to sustain drives. With the Bills likely to keep a tight end in to help with pass protection against Taylor, the onus of the passing game will be on the shoulders of the Bills' wide receivers as well as their QB. It will be interesting to see whether Eric Moulds can get open and hold onto the passes thrown his way if Kelly Holcomb starts at QB for the Bills and if, afterwards, he will talk to the press about any reads that Holcomb misses during the game.

While the Bills players on the offensive side of the ball must execute much better than they have in the last three weeks, OC Tom Clements' play-calling since the second half of the Houston game has been more baffling to Bills fans and in all likelihood the Bills players than to opposing defenses. Instead of out-smarting himself and his players, Clements is going to have to find a way to get the Miami defense off-balance and keep them off-balance enough for the Bills offense to put up some points this week. It won't be easy, but there are some definite weaknesses in this Miami defense that can be exploited.

The Bills Defense vs The Miami Offense: While they have not given up a lot of points this season, the Bills defense, which talked about being great in the off-season, has been underwhelming thus far to say the least. As with the Bills offense, the problems with the Bills defense begin at the top with DC Jerry Gray and extend all the way down to the last man. Everyone should be held accountable for not performing as expected.

Gray's play-calling for the defense has been at least as bad the last three games as Clements' play-calling for the offense. With his defense unable to get their hands on the QB, in the last two games, Gray has, nevertheless, insisted on blitzing two mobile QBs known for their inconsistent passing. Whether you blame it on a lack of execution--one man being consistently caught out of position--or a lack of flexibility, Gray's defensive schemes haven't been working and the Bills have been unable to consistently stop the running game since shutting down Houston's Domanick Davis in the season opener or prevent the opposition from converting on third downs. The result has been that the Bills defense has spent entirely too much time on the field and has, ultimately, surrendered huge chunks of yardage and points at critical times in close games.

Statistically, the Bills defense, surprisingly still ranked 8th overall in the NFL, does not appear to be that bad. But, in this case, the statistics do not reflect the true performance of the defensive unit on the field. While the Bills defense is ranked first in the NFL against the pass, in part, their gaudy ranking is due to the fact that they rank 31st in the league against the run and teams do not have to pass that much against them to control the ball. Against a New Orleans team that was missing its All-Pro WR Joe Horn, they only allowed Aaron Brooks to pass for 172 yards, but Brooks, notorious for his inconsistent passing, completed 15 of 26 passes, including eight to WR Donte' Stallworth for 129 yards, many on third downs, as the Saints controlled the ball for 36:20. While the Bills have only yielded 19, 24 and 19 points in their three losses, in all three games they gave up a score in a close contest right before halftime. In turn that allowed them to be gashed with the ground attack until the end of the game. After holding Deuce McAllister to 65 yards in 22 carries, they easily allowed him to gain another 65 yards on only 5 carries on the Saints' last drive with four minutes left in the game that put the game out of reach. The Bills defense allowed the Saints to get six first downs when facing 3rd and 4 or more.

The Bills simply have not been playing smart, sound, disciplined defensive football the last three games. And, there can be little doubt that Miami will try to exploit that with their offensive game plan.

While QB Gus Ferrotte will never be mistaken for Peyton Manning, he is a savvy veteran who knows how to use the running game and play-action to produce big plays. Tight end Randy McMichael with 15 catches for 150 yards and 3 TDs and WR Chris Chambers with 14 catches for 154 and a TD are Ferrotte's main targets, but he has spread the ball around, completing 29 other passes this season to 9 other receivers in just three games. While McMichael has never caught more than four passes in a game against the Bills, Chambers has had three games against the Bills with at least 5 receptions and has scored 5 TDs against them. This duo, combined with possession receiver Marty Booker and slot receiver Wes Welker and speedster David Boston, provide Ferrotte with dangerous weapons in the passing game.

With Rickey Williams serving his suspension for violating the NFL's drug policy, rookie Ronnie Brown, the second overall pick in this year's draft, has been the primary back in the Miami running game. After getting off to a slow start against Denver and the N.Y. Jets and sharing a fair amount of playing time with back-ups Travis Minor and ex-Bill Sammy Morris, Brown had a breakout game against the Carolina Panthers with 132 rushing yards and a TD on 23 carries, including a 58 yard run, playing a big role in leading the Dolphins to a three point victory as time ran out. Given the weakness of the Bills defense against the run the last three games, it would be shocking if Miami did not run Brown early and often in an effort to break down the morale of the Bills defense.

While the Miami offensive line has been widely considered one of the worst in the NFL, thus far this season they have only given up two sacks and their performance against Carolina indicates that they have been steadily improving. With defensive tackle Ron Edwards out for the game, DTs Tim Anderson, Justin Bannan and Lauvale Sape, along with Sam Adams will have to step their game up against the running game. In Miami's lone loss of the season, the Jets were able to control the line of scrimmage and stuff the Miami running game. The Bills will have to do the same and try to put pressure on Ferrotte. To do that, though, they will have to play much more disciplined football.

With the Miami offense's penchant for big plays, Bills DC Jerry Gray may just have to be more selective about using his blitz packages to keep the Bills from getting burned. As with Clements and the offense, Gray has done a better job of confusing his own players than the opposition the last three games. And, with big play making LB Takeo Spikes being replaced by the solid, but less than spectacular Angelo Crowell, the Bills might be better served by Gray calling on his troops to establish that they can play sound, disciplined defense against the run before unleashing his blitzes rather than trying to throw the kitchen sink at the Dolphins right from the outset.

The Bills Special Teams vs The Miami Special Teams: Once again, the Bills special teams units were the only part of the team that could claim to have performed reasonably well last week, but even that comes with a caveat. Rian Lindell missed a 45 yard field goal attempt against the Saints that would have tied the score with 1:27 left in the first half and one could argue that the emotional letdown that the Bills suffered and the field position that the Saints got as a result helped the Saints drive for an additional three points before the half ended. And, then, of course, there was Terrance McGee's brilliant 82 yard kickoff return that followed the Saints' FG--which some have referred to as the Bills season in microcosm--that was stopped three yards short of the goal line when McGee, surrounded by a convoy of Bills but too exhausted to lateral the ball or avoid the only tackler capable of stopping him, tried to leap over Mark Campbell and the Saints' Fred Thomas and fell to the ground just short of the end zone. In both instances, the Bills special teams could have provided the team with plays that might have altered the outcome of the game, but just missed doing so.

Still, thanks in part to McGee's return and a nice return by Jonathan Smith that netted 44 yards after a penalty, the Bills lead the NFL in kickoff returns and are 11th in punt return average. After averaging 53.4 yards on five punts, against the Saints, Brian Moorman now ranks 7th in the NFL in punting and he Bills' kick coverage teams rank second in the league. While the Bills punt coverage team was much better against the Saints than in previous weeks, it still ranks only 20th in the NFL. And, of course, after his miss in the Alamodome, questions still persist about whether Lindell can hit a FG of over 40 yards with anything at stake.

There are no such questions about Miami's place kicker Olindo Mare, who appears to have recovered from the calf injury he suffered last season and regained the form that has allowed him to hit 13 field goals of over 50 yards. Mare, the Dolphins all-time leading FG kicker, is also a clutch kicker who has already hit a 32 yard FG this season with 4 seconds on the clock to beat Carolina and has hit 10 of 14 game winning kicks in his career, with one of his misses being a 54 yarder.

Second year man Donnie Jones handles the punting for Miami and is averaging 43.4 yards a punt. His net average of 39.5 yards ranks him 5th in the NFL and is a tribute to Miami's punt coverage teams. Wes Welker is Miami's primary punt and kickoff return man. Miami ranks 9th in the NFL in punt returns, slightly ahead of the Bills, but only 26th in the league in kickoff returns.

With Moorman and the Bills return units, the Bills special teams have a bit of an advantage over Miami, but, if the game comes down to a battle of field goals, Miami has a real weapon in Mare.

Things To Watch For:

1.) Who will start at quarterback for the Buffalo Bills? Will it be JP Losman again or will it be Kelly Holcomb? If it is Losman, can he play well enough to move the Bills offense and keep from being benched? If it is Holcomb, how will the team respond and will he be able to give the offense the spark it so desperately needs?

2.) Will the Bills' offensive line be able to protect the Bills QB, regardless of who it is, and open some holes for the running game? Will Mike Williams be able to play and how effective will he be? Can Mike Gandy handle Jason Taylor and keep him from putting pressure on the Bills' QB?

3.) Will the Bills defense be able to stop the Miami running game? Will Tim Anderson and Angelo Crowell and the rest of the Bills' front seven be able to step up their game enough to contain Ronnie Brown and keep Miami from controlling the ball and the clock?

4.) Can Mike Mularkey, Tom Clements and Jerry Gray avoid being out-coached by Nick Saban, Scott Linehan and the Miami staff? Will the Bills' brain-trust regain the magic that it had last year and be able to stay one step ahead of the adjustments made by their opposition? Will they have the Bills ready to play and put them in a position to win on Sunday?

5.) Will the Bills be able to run the ball effectively against the Miami defense? Will the Bills stick with the running game if it is reasonably effective? Can the Bills convert a short yardage running play when they need to do so?

6.) Can the Bills defense stop Miami on third down? Will they be able to keep Miami from converting third downs and controlling the clock so that they can get off of the field?

7.) Will the Bills defense be able to contain McMichael and Chambers? Can Nate Clements shut down Chambers? Can Troy Vincent and Lawyer Milloy prevent McMichael from keeping the chains moving for Miami?

8.) Can the Bills avoid committing penalties that stop their own drives or prolong Miami possessions? Will the Bills be able to keep from committing penalties on special teams?

9.) Will the Bills' receivers be able to get open against the Miami secondary and will they catch the ball when it is thrown to them? Will the Bills' QB, whoever that is, be able to hit them when they do get open? Can the Bills receivers eliminate the costly, drive-killing dropped passes?

10.) Can the Bills defense avoid giving up a score right before halftime? Can they make a stop and turn the ball back over to the offense late in a close game instead of quitting and allowing their opponents to run all over them?

One-quarter of the Bills' season is over and, thus far, the team has not performed anywhere near as well as was expected or as it said that it would. While everyone knew that JP Losman would struggle at times this season and he has struggled more than many had hoped, virtually everone on the team, including the coaches, has failed to perform up to his capabilities. No one has gotten the job done consistently and no one can escape some responsibility for the team's three dismal losses.

Still, with the Patriots and the Jets suffering unexpected crippling injuries and struggling as well, the Bills' season is not lost if they can find a way to right the ship. Chris Villarial and Sam Adams offered the proper solution after the Bills' embarrassing performance against the Saints. If, instead of whining to the press and pointing fingers like Eric Moulds has been doing the last couple of weeks, each and every one of the Bills takes a good hard look at himself in the mirror this week and commits himself to not just getting better, but being better and playing up to his capabilities, the Bills still have a chance to redeem themselves and turn their season around. They have done it before and they can do it again.

It won't be easy--redemption never is. But, it can be done. Not by making JP Losman a scapegoat for their bad start and banishing him to the bench, although a game or two of watching from the sidelines might do him some good, but by each coach and player taking individual responsibility for doing his job as it is supposed to be done within the team's overall scheme. That means offensive coordinators not forgetting that this is a power-running team and trying to pass the ball when your running back is averaging 4.6 yards a carry. That means defensive coordinators not continuing to be blitz-happy when that obviously isn't working just because the blitz happens to be your trademark. That means linebackers and defensive linemen staying at home and maintaining discipline in run defense. That means offensive linemen getting off the ball and getting a body on a pass-rusher. That means receivers getting open and catching the ball when it is catchable. That means sacrificing your ego for the betterment of the team instead of trying to talk your way out of town by undermining a teammate.

And, the Bills can start this week by coming out and playing inspired, disciplined, team football against the Miami Dolphins, their arch-rivals and an AFC East opponent. Even with the injuries that they have suffered and the dismal start that they have gotten off to, the Bills have the talent and the ability to beat the Dolphins, especially at home, if they play anywhere near up to their capabilities. If they do that, they will be right back in the thick of the race in the AFC East and in a position to have the kind of season that they envisioned. But, they are going to have to earn it. And, for each one of them that will only be possible after a good long hard talk with the man in the mirror.

Copyright 2002-09 Billszone.com
All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.