Tonight, my Buffalo Bills once again snatched defeat from the jaws of victory on Monday Night Football.
Really, they've done this almost every game since the Marv Levy / Wade Phillips era ended. Whenever they do keep a game close into the 4th quarter (or, like tonight, have an 11-point lead with 6 minutes left), we Bills fans know exactly what's coming. Some flub, fumble, bounce or bollix, and the game is given away. Your heart is pounding for those several minutes where it's close. This is a vestigial endorphin rush, you do not know why your heart is pounding so fast --- because what always happens seems as inevitable as the sun rising tomorrow morning --- it just does. Fourth quarter anguish is part of the Bills fan experience.
To talk about the organization for a minute, they've had quite a bit of shake-up in the past week and a half. Dick Jauron, the Yale man / nice guy / perennial loser of a head coach, fired the offensive coordinator, Turk Schonert, after the final preseason game. Schonert said he was fired because Jauron "wanted a Pop Warner offense." Then, a short time later, they released Langston Walker, the player tagged in the offseason as the left tackle (the key spot on the offensive line, for anyone who may not know about football), who got all the starting LT snaps in minicamps, through training camp and during preseason games.
Jauron has to be aware that his job is on the line. Even 90-year-old owner Ralph Wilson will only put up with losing for so long. Jauron received a 3-year extension last year based on the first 6 games (5-1) of the season. Then the team nose-dived and finished out 2-8 --- an epic collapse. The contract was signed already, though, and old man Wilson doesn't like to eat contracts, so he threw out a "continuity is good, mmm-kay!??!" excuse.
Well, now, we have just witnessed continuity for sure. The team continued getting dumb penalties, continued game mismanagement (clock and time-out use), continued general "keep it close" small-ball,
continued to play our CBs 10 yards off the line of scrimmage (thereby giving offenses free, guaranteed 5 yards a clip if they can just connect a slant or screen pass), and continued to give up big plays late in the game.
I hate that I love this team.