This will go down in my book as one of the worst coaching decisions ever made in the history of the NFL.  Bills fans have had plenty to complain about with the lousy coaching decision Dick Jauron has made in recent years.  But today, it is Colts fans who should be complaining about their coaching staff.

You could see the total disappointment in the faces of the fans who paid good money to see that team play a perfect season to this point.  You could see the same disappointment in the faces of the players who watched their team squander a 15 to 10 lead in the third quarter when they decided to play rookie quarterback “Painter” instead of the all pro Peyton Manning.  You could hear the crowd boo and it was right that they let the boos fly.

How could a coach throw away the perfect chance to have a perfect undefeated season?  It is completely inexcusable in my book.  You have to consider the circumstances in order to really see why it was such a bonehead decision.

For starters, if the coach was so worried about getting one of the starters injured, then he should not have played them at all this week.  He should have given them the week off.  Anyone who was watching the game could tell that the Colts had this game won so long as they just kept playing as they were.  In fact, the Colts usually get better as games progress.  Had they continued playing the starters, they probably would have beaten the Jets by 14 points instead of losing to them by that much.

Next week the Colts play the lowly Buffalo Bills.  Chances are that the Colts could beat the Bills regardless of what string of players takes the field.  The Bills are a complete joke right now as evidenced by the Atlanta Falcons ass kicking today. 

If the Colts keep the starters in the game against the Jets, it is very likely that they would have won that game.  Then they go to Buffalo in the last game of the season and rest their starters.  They get the last two wins under their belt and head to the playoffs totally undefeated.

Now, if the Colts win the Superbowl, there will always be that Albatross of what might have been the best season ever played in NFL history.  When it was all said and done, which record would have brought more glory to the Indianapolis Colts franchise?

1)      A Superbowl Victory

2)      A perfect season with a Superbowl victory to end it

This year’s Colts team could have been the team that all future NFL teams aspired to become.  They could have raised the bar for excellence in professional football.  Opportunities like that are once in a lifetime.  Jim Caldwell, you suck.

Oh Colts fan, my heart goes out to you.  What a friggin shame to suffer the disgrace of being a quitter when you were so close to the goal line.   What a shame.  I will never forget how your coach quit on you and your team.  There is no way that team plays with the same spirit they would have had through the playoffs if they had won this game.  They could have been part of something truly special.

Oh, and for you retarded Colts fans who want to see Bill Polian fired, umm….. can we have him back?

Consistent with their lackluster performances of recent, the Bills put together another boring effort against a badly beat up New England Patriots team.   It has become quite a joke playing against the Patriots.  Nobody in their right mind would ever bet on Buffalo to win one of these games heads up.  You can’t help but wonder how bad the Patriots’ players laugh at coming into Buffalo to play.  They certainly can’t be scared.

Alex Van Pelt, whom I happen to really like, is definitely not cut out for the offensive coordinator position.  The play calling on offense has been pretty much atrocious throughout this entire season.  This game was no different.  When it was third and long, the Bills would throw a five yard pass and end up punting.  It seems that nobody is ever really in control of that offense.  They are busy running the wrong plays at the wrong times which inevitably lead to poor results.  Anyone who knows football can see that the play calling has been a huge part of the problem with this offense.

It is also becoming more evident than ever that Ryan Fitzpatrick does not have an accurate enough arm to hold a starting position in the NFL.  As much as I like the guy’s ability to improvise on broken plays and his determination to win, you still need a quarterback who can throw the ball with accuracy.  Otherwise your team will never reach the Promised Land.  It will be interesting to see how the Bills plan their last two games now that they have been officially eliminated from playoff contention again.  For the fifth year in a row, the Bills will end the season below 500.  You can’t help but think this team is starting to become a laughing stock in the NFL like the perennially bad Detroit Lions.

Clock management at the end of the first half makes you wonder if Dick Jauron didn’t ruin the other coaches that worked under him while he was here.  There is no reason the Bills should not have been calling timeouts once the Patriots were in the red zone.  This was just another classic example of the crap we have had to put up with for years.  How can you be a head coach in the NFL without having basic clock management skills?  This is truly maddening.

The one bright spot we have seen in the last few games is the much improved play of Paul Posluszny.  He is finally becoming the linebacker that the Bills scouting staff thought he was capable of.  If he had the support around him that he should have, I expect you would see more plays made by the linebacking core that we Bills fans have been so critical of.

I hate to say it, but it will be nice if we get the clean sweep in coaching or even management that Ralph Wilson has hinted at giving us.  This team is broken in many places and needs serious fixing.  Today’s game was basically over when the Bills failed to score a touchdown on the opening drive.  It was way too reminiscent of the failures we had watched all year long.

This one really surprised me.  Does anyone remember last year when Walker stood in for Jason Peters in the first couple games at left tackle?  He played pretty well.  As I recall, he didn’t give up any sacks when he did that.   I don’t understand where the love was lost.   Has he really played that poorly this preseason?

Now the Bills have decided that he is not important enough to even be on this team.   I sure hope they are right about his replacement Demetrius Bell.  If Bell starts giving up sacks, there will be hell to pay.  Fans will be screaming that they should have kept Peters or should have kept Walker.  Who the hell backs up Bell now?

Lucky old Demetrius Bell has less than one week of practice to come up to speed as a first string NFL left tackle and he has never started a regular season game.  That is asking a lot.  Don’t you think?

To top all of that off, the move comes with less than one week remaining before the Bills play against one of the best teams in the NFL.  Scary!  The Patriots have got to be salivating.   Maybe they will be so convinced of a win that they will overlook Buffalo and start thinking about week two.   Is it really conceivable for a team to do that in week one?  I doubt it.  The Pats will be ready to play on primetime television.

I wonder what other surprise roster moves they are going to make in the next five days.  Put Fitzpatrick in for Edwards?  Jeesh!  Well, Dick Jauron certainly has been given enough rope to hang himself with.  This team is either going to be surprisingly successful or the joke of the NFL.

If I were coaching, I would be using Maybin on every single third and long against the Patriots (if there even are any).  I would let Brady know that this guy is gunning for him on every obvious passing situation.  Brady is far less effective under pressure.    You would have to have Maybin in as an extra pass rusher, not just as a replacement for one of the other defensive ends.  

You are going to have to give up the short stuff to Brady if he burns you when blitzing.  Just don’t give up that deep ball to Moss.  The key is to get to Brady early.  You need to get major pressure on him in his first two offensive series.  If you don’t get pressure on him right away, he will have a great game.  If you get to him early, he is prone to cracking mentally just like Dan Marino used to do.  He will get down on himself.  But, you’ve got to get to him early in the game, really early.

You’ve got to take the momentum from them on play number one and do your best to not give it back to them.  If I’m Dick Jauron, I let the Patriots get the ball first.  The butterflies will be more intense for Brady if he plays on offense first.  This is your best opportunity to get him down on himself and then kick him when he is down. 

The Bills have to force Tom Brady to throw the football under pressure.  He will put it up early because he really trusts his receivers.  Then we can see if the Bills’ secondary really has the talent that we think they do.   

That is how you beat the Patriots.

Nobody expected Rhodes to win a position as a starter on this team.  But the Bills apparently like Xavier Omon more than Rhodes.  That seems a little strange.  Were they watching the same preseason games as we were?

Rhodes was the superior performer by far compared to Omon.  His yards per carry was 3.4 compared to Omon’s 2.7  At 2.7 yards per carry, how the hell does a running back make the team?  That is not NFL caliber running.  Decent backs are a dime a dozen.  Rhodes is a decent back.  Omon is not. 

I know Rhodes had a couple of fumbles.  That must have factored into the decision a lot.  Plus, I don’t know how these two compared in practice.  All I know is during the game; if my starting back goes down, I would rather have Rhodes on my team.

The other skill that Rhodes was very good at was catching the ball out of the backfield.  He has had plenty of practice doing that during his career.   Isn’t that skill more important for the type of scheme the Bills say they are going to run?

If Rhodes had made a decent play on special teams, maybe his fate would have been different.

I wish the Bill’s staff would have better explained what their thinking was around this decision.  It just doesn’t make sense to me.

Jauron said that the offense was not simple enough for him.  Obviously Schonert believes that teams who complicate things will be more successful.  I have to side with Jauron on this one.  And, I base my reasoning on two great teams in the 1990’s, the Buffalo Bills and the Denver Broncos.

Marv Levy, Jim Kelly and Ted Marchibroda agreed that part of the reason that the Bills had so much success with the K-gun was because they kept the playbook small.  If I recall properly, they said there were somewhere between one and two dozen plays.  John Elway said the same thing during the Broncos Superbowl years. 

Simple is better because it is easier for the players to get really good at those plays.  Then it becomes a question of talent.  Think about it.  If the offense drills the same twenty plays over and over, eventually everyone learns exactly where the other players will be on every play.  The quarterback will instinctively know where his receivers are going to be instead of having to think about it.  Receivers will run better routes. 

There are a number of reasons why it makes sense to simplify.   If you can’t even execute a basic play as the Bills have shown in the 2009 preseason, why in the Hell would you make things more complicated?  Wouldn’t that just make it even harder for the Bills to execute?

Alex Van Pelt seems like a natural fit in the new offensive coordinator spot.  He understands the no huddle offense.  He has played in it himself.  Basically, I just trust him.  He has always been loved by Buffalo fans for being a blue collar, no bullshit kind of guy.  I guarantee the fans will give him a real chance here.  It would be nice to see Alex get some assistance from guys like Jim Kelley, Marv Levy and Ted Marchibroda. 

This was a no brainer move if you ask me.  You can’t have a cohesive team when two coaches have such a strong opposing opinion.  My hat is off to Dick Jauron for doing what needed to be done.  I really like this guy as a head coach except for his decision making during games.

Buffalo Bills Defense:

To be a contender in this league a team needs a solid defense.  Defenses win in the playoffs.  Defenses win championships.

The two primary components of a great defense are excellent linebacker play and a good pass rush.  Unfortunately, the Buffalo Bills are weak in both areas.  Having a good pass rush makes everyone on that defense a little better.  There will be many more opportunities for turnovers if the opponent’s quarterback is forced to throw early or forced to throw on the run.  You need those big plays on defense.  Most games are decided by one or two big plays during the game.

Can you think of a team that has had a great defense that didn’t have great linebackers anchoring it?  I am not satisfied with the number of plays being made by the Bills linebackers.  They aren’t making any plays for losses.  The Bills safeties are having to make too many tackles.  Linebackers aren’t getting any picks and they can’t seem to cover any of the other teams’ tightends that they have played so far.  That scares the hell out of me.

As far as I am concerned, the defensive backfield is solid. I think the players we have there will make plenty of plays so long as the opponent’s quarterbacks aren’t allowed to stand in the pocket and pick them apart.  The secondary has good speed, great tackling skills and a nose for the ball.  What more could you want?  Oh yeah, they have depth on the roster too.  There is always room for improvement and I’m sure there will be games this year where I will be wishing I hadn’t said that I thought they were good.

Possible solutions on defense:

I have no solutions for covering the tightends.  That requires more speed and talent at linebacker.  I have no solutions for the number of plays being made from the linebacker position.  Again, I feel this is a talent issue.  It is too late to upgrade the roster at linebacker.  I am still left wondering why we let London Fletcher go.  He is still performing well for Washington.  He makes the people around him play better.

As far as the pass rush goes, the only obvious opportunity I see here is to use Maybin on third downs as a blitzing linebacker.   OR, if you want another crazy idea for third and long situations, put Maybin in at defensive end and line Schobel up at middle linebacker with Poz playing outside.   Send Schobel on a blitz right up the middle with a safety cheating to the middle linebacker spot.  Remember how many sacks Bryce Paup used to get from well designed blitz packages?

The Buffalo Bills coaching staff is going to have their work cut out for them this year.  Hopefully they surprise us come the regular season. Otherwise it doesn’t look promising for the Bills “D”.  They will be facing exceptional offenses (Patriots, saints, Colts) capable of exploiting those weaknesses.  Yikes.

One word pretty much sums up that game for Bills fans (humiliating).  That was an absolutely pathetic performance by both sides of the ball.  People are saying the defense played alright.  They only gave up 17 points.  I say whatever.  The defense sucked too.

I don’t care if the Steelers are Superbowl champs.  It’s not like they are some kind of offensive or defensive juggernaut.  The Steelers are almost as boring to watch as the Bills sometimes.  Boring boring football. I am sure Dick Juron had fun though.  That game was right up his alley.  It was low scoring with plenty of punting involved.  We also had the typical Dick Juron infamous “lets take a knee even though we are losing” mentality.  I really wish this guy wasn’t making these kinds of calls during the game.  Perserverence (the never give up attitude) is supposed to be a quality that winners possess.  In Buffalo I feel like it’s an attitude of “let’s quit now or we might lose even worse”.

There was a lot of punting.  Speaking of punting, can you imagine how bad the Bills would suck if they didn’t have an absolutely awesome punter?  I don’t think we are giving Brian Moorman enough credit for what he does so well.  Honestly, think about it.

Are the Bills really holding something back for the season opener?  If that is the case then they better pull off one hell of an upset against the Patriots.  Otherwise the few fans that are still on Juron’s side are going to be calling for his head. 

These last two preseason performances by the Bills’ starters have been beyond pathetic.    Fans have already shown their distaste by not buying up the remaining tickets for Thursday night’s folly against Detroit.  I can’t wait to see what this one is going to be like.  I wonder what excuses will be thought up for laying a goose egg against a joke of a football team from Detroit.

The coaches like to use the excuse of there being so much parity in the NFL.  They use that excuse when they lose to second string opponents. Um, the season ending Steelers game comes to mind when the Bills lost at home to Steelers second and third stringers.

This might be the season where Bills fans return to wearing paper bags on their heads at home games.  Funny how history repeats itself.

After watching the Patriots play the Redskins in tonight’s preseason game, it has become clear that the offensive firepower of Brady and Moss is going to be back in full force this year.  Brady isn’t afraid to put it up for grabs when Moss is one on one with a defensive back.  Guess who usually wins that battle?

Aside from the Brady Moss connection, it looks like the Patriots still have some work to do on both sides of the ball.  I don’t know if they will be quite as effective as they were two years ago during that 50 touchdown season.  Nevertheless, Brady will still put up some great numbers.

It appears that the key to beating Tom Brady still lies in the defense’s ability to get pressure on him very quickly.  That really scares me about the Bills as they have yet to prove they can get any consistent pass rush at all out of their starters.  It is non-existent.  That does not bode well for Buffalo.  That makes me think that the Pats will be shredding the Bill’s “D” on national television during that season opener.  Scary indeed.

Based on this game though, it looks like the Bills should be able to move the chains against New England.  That is assuming that Terrell Owens is on the field and everyone else on the offense is healthy.  We saw what the Bills starting offense looks like without TO in the lineup.  It isn’t pretty.

The way I see it is the keys to the game against the Patriots will be:

1)      Neutralize Moss – Good luck with that.

2)      Pressure Brady often during the first few series in which the Pats have the ball.

3)      Move the sticks with “TO”

It makes more sense to me to develop a game plan against the Patriots that neutralizes Randy Moss even if it means giving up more yards on the ground.  If you could somehow force the Patriots to focus on running the ball, you have got a chance to outscore them.  They won’t be able to run the score up so quickly because running the ball uses more clock.  They would have to take your yards a few at a time instead of 15 at a time throwing to Moss.   It also makes it harder to have a successful 80 yard drive for a touchdown when you are running the ball a lot.  This is part of the reason I would always rather see the Bills building a more prolific throwing offense as opposed to a running game based one.

How about those Redskins?  They look pretty darn good this year.  Man do I miss London Fletcher as a Bill.  He had a way of getting that Bills defense jacked up to play above themselves.  We could use that kind of motivation again.

The football guys refer to it as momentum, but it goes deeper than that.  What you really want to do is get to a point mentally where you just do not lose your focus.  If you can do that, you won’t ever lose your momentum during the game.  The other team might think you lost it after they make a big play.  But, if you can keep a strong mental focus and not let them get inside your head, you are taking away one of their best weapons.

Mentality during the Marv Levy Superbowl years

Okay, so we never won the big one.  Still, do you remember how often the Bills used to come from behind and destroy teams during the last few minutes of the game during the regular season?  I remember hearing guys like Andre Reed get interviewed.  They were always saying that they just knew they were going to win the game.  They still felt they were going to win the game even if the team was down by two scores in the fourth quarter.  How in the hell could any opponent get inside their heads when they had this conviction that they were going to win?

When the other team would score a second time, these guys were thinking “Oh well, we are still going to win”.  Can you imagine how humiliated the other team was by that mentality?  The opponents had to be intimidated playing against all stars like this who were still convinced they were going to win even when it looked hopeless.  

It was games like this that gave those great players that mentality.

Having the right mentality prevents the other team from exploiting your mistakes and opens you up to opportunities as they present themselves.  You just have to wait for the other team to make a mistake that you can capitalize on.  That is when you take their momentum away and get inside their heads.  If you refuse to let the other team get inside your head, you will almost certainly get inside theirs.

NFL coaches tend to neglect this aspect of the game somewhat

In fairness, I don’t know what they say in the locker rooms or on the sidelines.  I do see what is happening on the field though.  I can tell from watching what is happening, that the vast majority of teams fail to seize an opportunity to demoralize the other team mentally.  Because they ignore so many opportunities, I can only assume that they don’t put as much stock in the mental part of the game as I do.  If teams paid more attention to the mental aspect of the game, you would see them obviously trying to exploit their opponent’s mistakes.  You would see more teams throwing a deep pass on the first play after their defense caused a turnover.