Remember at the beginning of the season how I said that Ralph’s fountain of youth is being a below .500 team? I’m guessing right now the “Rocky” montage is playing and Ralph is doing situps in the barn. The man must feel like a million bucks (or $700-800 million bucks).
I hate to be so glum about the last 3 losses, but the Bills 0-8 run last year was vastly more enjoyable than this current 3 game losing skid. If you add up the 11, 7, and 8 points the Bills have scored from the last 3 weeks, you get 26 points. Those 26 points wouldn’t beat the Jets’ 27, the Cowboys’ 44 or the Dolphins’ 35 from the previous weeks. Don’t look now, but it’s the ghost of Dick Jauron.
The Bills looked capable for 4 minutes at the start of the game. Then Fitzpatrick threw a wildly inaccurate pass on 3rd down in the red zone, and the Bills never came close to being competitive again. There is good news though. There is the old saying, “if a tree fell and no one was there to hear it, did it make a sound?” Similarly, “if the Bills get crushed in Miami, but there are no Dolphins fans there to see it, did it happen?” I hate to keep spouting off on how large cities in and of themselves aren’t reason enough to keep a team, but Miami has sucked for 7 games. People have fled like Dexter is hunting them down. Bills world has been awful for 15 years. We somehow keep coming back like moth to flame.
There is almost nothing else to say about the game. The defense didn’t get off the field. While the defense has struggled all season with the rush, we haven’t exactly seen wide receivers this open all season. Matt Moore was given a PS3 controller and asked to play video game football. I’m not even sure if he needs to wash his uniform for next week.
One quick fix to stop the bleeding may be quite simple. The Bills DB coach needs to say the following words to the team. “Turn around.” That’s it. Early in the game when a stop would have helped, Bills LB’s and DB’s had the coverage but ran with their back to the ball. The whole bar was screaming, “turn around!” Yet for 3 straight weeks our coverage guys are running like they are in a dog show. Full of vigor, content, and mostly clueless.
For all of us who were worried the Dolphins would get Andrew Luck, the worry is over. But the problem is any NFL QB, from starter to third string, is going to look pretty awesome and “Luck-like” if everyone is open and no one is rushing. The Bills are facing Andrew Luck every week. The likes of Sanchez, Romo and Moore are not great QBs. They are notoriously bad when pressured. Yet they stand back there like an uncle playing with the neighborhood kids.
On offense Fitzpatrick was throwing what Erik referred to as “hospital balls.” I couldn’t think of a better term. His inaccuracy is getting more out of control. He was throwing guys outstretched into the middle of the field. I wonder if the misfits feel as strongly about Fitz now as they did when they weren’t getting hurt. The true display of how awful this is, Tyler Thigpen entered. This is like having your little sister sub in for you.
Prior to November, the Bills were 5-2 and in control of their lives. November has been awful. At this point, I don’t even think they can beat Tennessee. I am preparing to buckle down and prepare for the NYC Jet contingent to gang up on me for a full week.
DVD Extras
– So long since this was fun – At work, we have a rotating password for our computers. Every 10 weeks or so, we have to change our passwords. Typically I find a sentence that captures my mood for that week. My last password change was the Monday after the Patriots game. The password for the last 10 weeks was derived from the sentence “The Bills beat the Pats today. Life’s good.” My password expires next week. I’m guessing the mood of the password is going to be much less hopeful.
– King of the Hedges – Any time the Bills decide to hedge the risk of rising player/coaching costs, they invariably blow it. And in the process of blowing it, the season crumbles. They did this with Jauron and that didn’t turn out well. I was all for resigning Fitzpatrick. I won’t revise history and say I didn’t. However, I did say, “why do teams make such a big deal to sign players during the season?” Once the season is underway, they are playing. If you sign them in November and by December they already outperformed the contract, they will want to renegotiate. The Bills resigned Fitz and now overpaid dearly. They did nothing with Stevie, and they will most likely get a more reasonable rate. Never sign players once the season has started. The system is such that you aren’t really hedging anything out. You are just overpaying for one season.
– Sean shows again – Sean, former high school pal, arrived at the game. As stated before he isn’t much of a Bills fan despite living in the greater Buffalo area during the four super bowl runs. How does that happen? Anyways, he showed up in blue and white which seemed to be a step in the right direction. One day he’ll have a Bills hat.
– Math genius – I love this part of a dying Bills season. While the micro factors to the Bills are all negative (our QB play, the Line play, no defense) and seem like the world is against us, the macro factors (how other teams play) are working out to keep us in the hunt. The Jets losing to Tebow? The Bengals losing to the Ravens? The Bills are still in this hunt. If the Bills would have lost these three games and were mildly competitive, this would be exciting news.
– Tebow – Our Godly fellow, Tim Tebow, continues to work his magic (or mostly God’s magic depending on how you feel about things) and wins no matter how ugly he plays. The bad news for the Bills is that we face god-boy on Christmas Eve. What once was a sure win has now become a sure loss.
– Chan Press Conference – Chan explicitly said, “I don’t know what’s wrong.” Here is a tip, Chan. You have 5 injured linemen playing your spread offense. They aren’t getting the blocks. Fitz is throwing under pressure and Fred isn’t getting the same lanes. Bring in your TE’s to help on the blocking and put Corey McIntyre out there. You will at least convert a third down this way. I offer only because you asked.
– Terrence McGee – Thank you for your service on many a bad Bills team. At your age and your declining skill, you most likely aren’t coming back. As Bills fans, we thank you for being one of the best during some of the worst times. Prior to Terrance McGee, I never expected the Bills to return a kickoff for a touchdown. And thanks to Brad Smith, I’ll never expect a kick to be returned for a touchdown for all of 2011.
– Mark in London – I had the post game conversation with Mark who was in London for the week. “35-8?” “Yeah it was brutal.” “How’d they get the 8?” “Two field goals and a safety?” “Are you serious?” “Yes” “I think my Sunday’s freed up. I can’t watch 2 field goals and a safety.” It’s hard to argue with that.
– Shelly Shark-mania – If you all saw the animal planet show, you saw myself in the episode. Apparently, so good-looking I am, the Animal Planet producers decided to edit down the hour of footage they had of me to a 3 second shot of my face, then transitioning to using just my voice and then a long, gratuitous shot of the back of my head. Thanks, Animal Planet. I see how it is.
Kevin Shenoy can be reached at onefansview@gmail.com and followed at @kevinshenoy on Twitter.
