Bad Fan

I was never a fan of the Dick Jauron hire in Buffalo. He is an expressionless, ultra-conservative coach in a league that demands action, involvement, and offense. Jauron's unabashed man-love for defensive backs has led to using 60 percent of the last four drafts for secondary players. I'm not going to say that the surfeit of drafted DBs doesn't contribute. Just that their selections come to the detriment of many other positions of need. And these deficiencies are in much more important positions in the grand scheme. Building from the secondary out is a stupid strategy. The fact that the run defense was shredded to bits against the Jets and is dead-last in the league in the 'Yards Allowed' category is a clear indictment of the front-7 and adequate depth. Hurray for the pass defense --- and their only measure of success comes because opponents are all too happy to run roughshod over weak DTs and LBs --- but the Bills can't stop anyone when it counts or put pressure on opposing quarterbacks. In order to be an effective defense, the secondary would have to play shut-down on every wide receiver for 7-10 seconds, on every play. Most teams are lucky to have that kind of coverage five times per game.

Blaming injuries for the problems is a weasel argument --- you have to be prepared for injuries because LBs get hurt often in the NFL; it's just the nature of the position that injuries will happen. Having street free agents at these spots is begging for the position the Bills are in --- namely, getting blasted for 318 yards rushing versus the Jets. Most days, a team is not going to overcome that. What happens when the Bills' defense doesn't get gifted 6 interceptions? Add into it those 'backup' players who are firstly and secondly retained for special teams, and are woeful in normal play. It means our depth is in even worse shape than any other team, right out of training camp. Bobby April, the special teams coach, and Jauron have had too much influence in drafting and roster management. The front office structure, with five VPs and a marketing man as CEO, to put it simply... sucks. If last week's piss-poor win is part of an excuse to keep Jauron beyond this season, I will officially become a bad fan akin to Randy Quaid's character in "Major League" until Ralph Wilson dies. The old man's refusal to fire bad coaches (because he'd still have to pay their full salary) and spend money on good coaches is one of the major reasons for 4 out 5 losing decades. In a time when others are feeling a pinch, Wilson cleared over $30M last year. He refuses to spend to the salary cap, refuses to pay for good coaching and allows a front office hierarchy that is busy staring at its own colon.

The offense doesn't get off easy, either. As big a supporter I was of Trent Edwards, it's apparent from back-up QB Ryan Fitzpatrick's play that Trent is regressing. And, with some time to see it more clearly, it started after the concussion in the Cardinals game last year. Can only imagine what effect the latest concussion against the Jets will have. There have been a lot of young QBs in the NFL ruined b/c they play in bad offenses and behind bad offensive lines. All of those first-round busts came into the league with a lot of talent... and that talent dried up and blew away. They got gun-shy/skittish in the pocket, panicky when holding the ball, and their final death knell was indecisiveness. Trent Edwards is at the panicky stage; that's why he's not progressing his reads and not seeing open receivers, and why he's been so quick to 'check down' to receivers rather than go for passes over 10 5 yards, even when it's 3rd & 18. It's sad that such bad roster management and coaching has led to this. There's not too many quarterbacks that came back from this black hole-like progression --- though the jury is still out on David Carr. "Bust"ing often says as much about the surrounding cast as it does about an individual player.

What I do know is that before the Bills get another QB, they need to build an offensive line and get competent coaches. And, as I've written, there's about a 10 percent chance of this happening while Ralph Wilson is alive. In the meantime, it's going to be shades of futility. Good players are going to come in here and have a high failure rate b/c there is an air of toxicity at One Bills Drive.

(Photo illustration uses images © Mirage / Paramount Pictures, Buffalo Bills)