Another Bills defeat, but encouraging signs in Fewell's debut

We learned on the opening coin toss that, thankfully, we no longer are living in the Dick Jauron Error.

Instead of following the illogical tendency of his predecessor and deferring until the second-half kickoff, new Bills head coach Perry Fewell opted to take the ball right away. Yes, I know, Buffalo squandered that first possession when Ryan Fitzpatrick threw an interception, but I liked the aggressive approach Fewell took. It sent a message to his team that “we’re going to go for it right from the start.’’ He was playing to win instead of playing not to lose.

And I loved the emotion and energy Fewell showed along the sidelines and in the play-calling on both sides of the ball. How refreshing it was to see a coach really into the game. I’m not saying you need to be a raving maniac, but neither do you need to act like a walking corpse.

Now, I’m sure many of you are grumbling that the results were the same because the Bills proved to be their own worst enemies once more – committing foolish penalties that nullified a 9-yard touchdown run by Fred Jackson late in the first quarter and a 53-yard bomb from Fitzpatrick to Lee Evans in the second half. But at least this team competed to the very end of its 18-15 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Bills didn’t fold up the tents in the fourth quarter the way they had in the previous two embarrassing losses in the final games of Jauron’s mediocre tenure.

“I thought our guys fought their hind ends off,’’ Fewell said in his post-game news conference.

He thought right.

We finally saw a quarterback not afraid to take chances and throw the ball downfield instead of always taking the easy way out, and dumping it off.

We finally saw Terrell Owens unleashed, with brilliant results – 9 catches for 197 yards and one touchdown on an astute and gutsy call that produced a 98-yard bomb from Fitzpatrick, the longest scoring play in Bills history.

We saw a defense, playing without tackle Marcus Stroud and several other starters, finally turn in a stout performance against the run, limiting the powerful and quick Maurice Jones-Drew to a hard-earned 66 yards on 25 carries. (His longest run was for just 10 yards.)

And we saw one of the Bills truly unsung and most dependable heroes – Rian Lindell – boot three more field goals, giving him 17 in 19 attempts, a dead-on accuracy rate a sliver below 90 percent.

By no means, am I saying Fewell’s coaching debut was flawless. He badly mismanaged the clock in the waning moments of the first half. Instead of taking two shots at the end zone that might have resulted in a touchdown, the Bills were lucky to put three points on the board before time expired. And they didn’t look particularly sharp during the final 50 seconds of the game when they still had an opportunity to move into position for the field goal that would have sent the game into overtime.

But there were a lot of encouraging signs. You have to admit it was a whole lot more enjoyable watching a head coach who appeared to know what he was doing on game day.

It will be interesting to see if Fewell can keep his team playing at a decent level or if the performance vs. the Jags was merely the result of a natural high that comes when a new coach takes the sidelines for the first time.

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The Bills injury bug-a-boo continues, with three more players – Eric Wood (broken leg), Marshawn Lynch (bruised shoulder) and Seth McKinney (bruised knee) forced out of the game. Wood’s was the most gruesome and costly to the Bills. He is one of the rookie offensive linemen they are counting on for many years to come. Buffalo already is paper-thin on the O-line. They’re going to need to raid other teams’ practice squads to find bodies just to finish the season.

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We already alluded to the two big penalties, but the Bills also continue to be hampered by their inability to convert third downs and mount any kind of run game. Clearly, the inexperience and constant flux along the line and at quarterback has a great deal to do with that.

With 8:36 remaining and nursing a 15-10 lead, Bills linebacker Paul Posluszny – who, by the way, is playing some outstanding football in recent weeks – stripped Jags quarterback David Garrard of the ball, and defensive tackle Spencer Johnson recovered on the Buffalo 20. But two runs by Fred Jackson produced just five yards and Fitzpatrick was sacked, forcing the Bills to punt it away.
Jacksonville took over at its 32 with 6:28 to go and put together a time-consuming drive for the winning score.

The Bills finished the game converting just 3-of-11 third downs.

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It wasn’t a world-beating performance by Fitzpatrick, but it was better than we would have seen out of the deposed Trent Edwards. Fitz completed 18-of-31 for 297 yards, one TD and two picks. He didn’t play well on that final drive, which ended in a pass off T.O.’s hands and into the mitts of Jaguars’ defensive back Anthony Smith. But the outcome would have been different and his stats even more impressive had that long TD pass to Evans not been negated. The thing I really liked is how he got Owens involved early in the game, and, how, he was able to talk to the emotionally fragile T.O., even when the diva wideout was stewing on the sidelines.

Firing Jauron first step on Bills road to recovery

I don’t expect immediate results at One Bills Drive now that Dick Jauron has been fired and replaced by defensive coordinator Perry Fewell. The team is a shambles, and it’s going to take time and bold moves to pick up the pieces.

Still, I applaud this in-season change by owner Ralph Wilson because it at least shows that he is listening to the legions of frustrated Bills fans who gave up on the overmatched Jauron after a third consecutive 7-9 finish last season.

Jauron leaves Buffalo with a 24-33 record – a dismal .421 winning percentage – and zero winning seasons and zero playoff appearances. He is, by all accounts, a decent man, but he never showed the leadership skills or the passion necessary to be a successful NFL head coach, either here or during his time with the Chicago Bears. He clearly didn’t have what it took to lift this moribund franchise out of the doldrums that has seen it go nearly a decade without a playoff appearance.

Given the lack of talent he was forced to work with, Fewell did a decent job with this defense. He might blossom into a decent head coach, but he isn’t the long-term answer to what ails the Bills.

Wilson needs to do something dramatic – something similar to what he did back in 1978 when he went out and hired the most successful coach available, Chuck Knox. It’s going to cost Wilson a lot of money, and it’s going to mean that he’s going to have to turn the keys to the franchise over to the new guy, the way he did 31 years ago. Knox, who was coming off five consecutive NFC West titles with the Los Angeles Rams, was named coach and vice-president of football operations, which meant he had control over drafts, trades and free-agent signings. In just three years, he wound up turning a team that had lost 23 of 28 games in the two seasons prior to his arrival into AFC East champions.

As I’ve written in this cyberspace before, I’d make an all-out push for Bill Cowher. Let him bring in his personnel evaluators to take over for Tom Modrak and John Guy. Let him bring in his own assistant coaches. Heck, let him bring his own chauffeur and chef if he wants. Let him do whatever he needs to do to change the culture of a locker room where losing has become acceptable, where accountability is lacking.

There are many talented program builders out there for Wilson to choose from – if not Cowher, then Mike Shanahan or Mike Holmgren or Tony Dungy or Jon Gruden. But the courtship needs to begin now, in earnest, because there are numerous other NFL dregs out there in dire need of architects of hope.

This change was long overdue. But it should be viewed as only the beginning. There are people out there who can turn this thing around. It’s up to Ralph to take the next big step. It’s going to take several million dollar bills to ensure that these Bills no longer are counterfeit.

Jauron fired

Dick Jauron finally was fired as Bills head coach. Perry Fewell will be the interim coach. I'll have my thoughts on this in a few minutes.

Same old, same old for the sinking Bills

“What’s new?’’ Terrell Owens responded Sunday when asked about yet another Bills meltdown – this one of epic proportions – in a 41-17 evisceration by the Tennessee Titans that saw Buffalo yield 24 unanswered points in the final 11 minutes.

The collapse featured two pick-sixes – one by starter Trent Edwards and one by backup quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, whose pass should have been caught by T.O., but instead slipped through his fingers.

There were six more penalties, including five false start calls, against the offensive line. And a total of 10 penalties whistled against the Bills, bringing their nine-game total to 69, just two fewer than they committed in 16 games last season.

There was a heated exchange between wide receivers coach Tyke Tolbert and T.O. and Josh Reed after a horrendous series by Edwards, in which the quarterback misread the defense and made three errant throws.

And there was another head-scratching decision by Buffalo coach Dick Jauron, who declined a holding penalty that would have forced the Titans to face a third-and-16. Instead, the Yale-educated football coach decided to roll the dice and force red-hot Tennessee field goal kicker Rob Bironas to attempt a 51-yard field goal, which he made with plenty to spare to put the Titans up 27-17 with 3:21 left in the game.

So what’s new, T.O.?

Sadly, not much.

Asked afterward to assess an offensive line that allowed two sacks and who-knows-how-many-other quarterback hurries, the beleaguered Jauron said: “I believe they are going to be a good line. It’s going to take time, and time is not something we have a lot of.’’

With his team 3-6 and sinking rapidly into the abyss, time no longer is on his side. In fact, it should have expired on his days as a Bills coach after last year’s third consecutive 7-9 record.

I wrote in this cyberspace several weeks ago that if I were Ralph Wilson I would make an interim change to at least let loyal and long-suffering Bills fans know that management feels their pain and isn’t going to put up with it any more.

And after the last two fade-away losses (piled on top of what will be a decade without a post-season), I offer up that advice again. Elevate Bobby April or Perry Fewell and begin in earnest the courtship of Bill Cowher or Mike Shanahan or Tony Dungy or Jon Gruden or Mike Holgrem or some other coach with a track record of building winning cultures at this level.

Why prolong the agony?
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Other tidbits and observations from Sunday’s forgetta-BILLS’ performance:

Trent was just 4-for-9 for 58 yards with that costly interception in the second half, after a decent first-half performance that saw him complete 14-of-19 passes for 127 yards, one touchdown and no picks. After starting out with 4 touchdown tosses and 1 interception in his first two games, he’s had 2 TD passes and 6 interceptions in his last four starts. The problem is that Ryan Fitzpatrick is pretty limited. So you might as well keep auditioning Edwards.
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I hadn’t watched Titans running back Chris Johnson play a lot until Sunday. He’s something else, isn’t he? The Titans running back showed why many believe he is superior to Adrian Peterson by rushing for 132 yards and two scores on 28 carries and catching nine passes for 100 yards.
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Awfully nice of CBS to replay that “Home Run Throwback’’ lowlight for Bills fans wasn’t it? Believe me, no replay is necessary because that one is indelibly embedded in the memory banks of western New Yorkers. It can’t be erased.
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If you discover the whereabouts of running back Marshawn Lynch, please contact the Bills coaching staff. This guy wearing the No. 23 jersey is operating in Least Mode, not Beast mode.
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I’d still like to see Fred Jackson utilized more than he has been.
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I don’t have a problem with T.O. showing some emotion. Heck, it’s about time somebody other than the fans and media got a little angry about the way this team’s been performing. But it also would be nice if T.O. backed his words with action. He clearly quit on one of those routes and his butterfingers led to the interception return for a touchdown.
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Apparently, Jeff Fisher is coaching for his job in Tennessee. He’s into his 16th season in the position (he started when the team was still the Houston Oilers). I’ll tell you what, if Bud Adams lets him go, I wouldn’t mind seeing him on the Bills sidelines next year.
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Another game, another Jairus Byrd interception. That’s a team record five consecutive games with a pick and gives the former Oregon star eight, tying Archie Matsos’ Bills record for interceptions by a rookie.

Time for some Cowher Power in Buffalo

Enough already.

If I’m Bills owner Ralph Wilson, I pull the plug on Dick Jauron now. I put fiery special teams coach Bobby April in as interim head coach and immediately begin negotiations with Bill Cowher. And, yes, I prepare to turn over a king’s ransom and complete control of football operations because if I do otherwise neither Cowher nor Mike Shanahan nor Jon Gruden nor any other big-name coach will be coming to Orchard Park and the Bills will continue to be stuck in this quagmire of mediocrity that has stymied them for nearly a decade.

Hey, desperate times call for desperate measures.

This has nothing to do with Jauron the person. He’s an honorable guy and the players love him. But this is a hyper-competitive, just-win-baby business and Jauron’s body of work (one winning season in 8 seasons and change with two different teams) is proof positive that he doesn’t have what it takes to be an NFL head coach.

Jauron’s conservative approach doesn’t cut it any more in a league where offenses and defenses are constantly on the attack. Football teams do, in fact, assume the personalities of their coaches, which may explain Trent Edwards’ penchant for checking down and playing it safe too often instead of taking the chances the really good quarterbacks take.

I called for this change after Buffalo suffered through its third consecutive 7-9 campaign in ‘08. But the Bills had painted themselves into a corner by jumping the gun after their 5-1 start and signing Jauron to a 3-year extension. It was a panic move because they foolishly believed if they made the playoffs NFL teams would be lining up in droves to sign the guy.

Well, you get what you pay for. And what Buffalo has is a coach with a 22-30 record heading into Sunday’s game against the winless Cleveland Browns.

Ralph doesn’t have a history of firing coaches in-season. In fact, the last time he made an in-sseason change was 22 years ago when he replaced Hank Bullough with Marv Levy. He lucked out on that one. But the time for “hoping’ some guy works out is over. Bills fans have suffered long enough. They’ve supported this team despite a stretch that has seen them post just one winning season this decade. And should they fail to make the playoffs this year (a likely scenario) it will mark the first time in the franchise’s half-century existence they went an entire decade without making the postseason.

The one time Ralph did spend big, big bucks for a highly sought-after coach was in 1978 when he signed Chuck Knox, who was coming off five consecutive divisional titles with the Los Angeles Rams. That’s what he needs to do now.

Something bold.

It will take more than an armor-car-full of greenbacks to secure Cowher, who helped make the Pittsburgh Steelers into Super Bowl champions and perennial playoff participants. He’ll demand to bring in his own personnel people (see you later, Tom Modrak and John Guy). And he’ll demand a commitment from Ralph to sign the players he’ll need to in order to change the Bills culture of losing.

Ralph told me on several occasions through the years that one of the keys to his success as an entrepreneur was his willingness to take calculated risks. He always said he liked going for it on fourth down. Well, it’s fourth-and-long, and he needs a big catch right now, and that catch’s name is Bill Cowher.