MRM33064

"It was hot." Oh, that's a gem.

For the win. But ... hope springs eternal.

... and the 3 wins? Kansas City, Denver, and Tampa Bay. There are so many problems with the team, but a turnaround usually gets going with either: (a) a new GM/coaching regime; or (2) the emergence of a franchise QB. At this point since option (2) actually smells like #2, and there are no franchise QBs running around free agency, evacuating (pun intended) Jauron is the obvious and long overdue choice.

Following the lead of Mike Shanahan's "Think Like a Champion", Dick Jauron pens this season's must-read for all football fans. Dick gives us a fresh perspective on how to coach in the NFL - where, he often reminds us, "it's very hard to win." Boldly taking issue with Shanahan's approach, Dick eschews the focus on desire, competitive drive and probabilities, and instead shares his uniquely calm, emotionless, approach centered on (what he asserts) to truly be the most valuable player on the team - the punter. It's no surprise that Brian Moorman has become the Bills top player during the Jauron era; the Bills perenniel Pro Bowl candidate. In the book, Jauron shows us how the punt is not only a great tactical move (especially when losing in the 4th quarter by margins of 2 scores or more), but also a perfect metaphorical expression of his entire approach to the game - be nice, do what's right, recognize when you're beat, and keep it close. "Sure, a punt means we give up the ball without a fight - we just hand it right over to the opponent - but we move it 30 yards down the field. Sometimes 40!" He reminds us that unlike any other event in football, the punt is a friendly, gentlemanly plan. "By voluntarily conceding possession - surrendering you could say - we're doing what's morally right. Obviously, if we're at 4th down, they beat us on the previous 3 plays, so giving it up is just the right thing to do ... and it often takes them by complete surprise. Teams can't believe it when we punt when we're down, say, three touchdowns in the 4th quarter. We think that gives us a subtle psychological edge." Dick pointed out that his principles apply equally well to clock management. He boldly shows us how to cleverly run out the clock at the end of the first half - without appearing to do so on purpose. Of course, detractors will point out Jauron's 0-8 record in division games, and his 2-23 run against winning teams, but Dick steadfastly stands by his methods. "There are folks who disagree with me, but I'll say this much - not a single one of them is ever unhappy to play my teams, and I think that says a lot." Dick Jauron is also the author of "Dick's Guide To Blackjack", recently in paperback, where he bravely takes the controversial ** position to always stand on 15 to the dealer's face card. "You can't give the dealer the game", he says, "you've got to make him earn it." [** Read: Completely wrong.]

Come on guys, it's hard to win in the NFL ..... 1. 0-8 in division games (often losing in embarrassing fashion) 2. 2-21 (arguably 2-23 .. or possibly 2-24) against winning teams .... and my personal favorite, the love affair with punting - the compelling drive to forfeit possession - particularly in the 4th quarter when the team is losing. If the Bills line up against a division opponent, or a winning team, they might as well take the entire week off prior to the game. Think about all the hours of film watched, the schemes drawn up, the practices run - all to yield results that could've been acheived by doing absolutely nothing. The results couldn't be worse. Literally.

There's no objective trigger event, there's no "last straw" - how many have there been so far?. There's absolutely nothing Jauron can do that'll get him a well-deserved boot. Ralph might've tried to get rid of Jauron once already - by forcing him to fire Turk Schoenert, and hoping Jauron might pull a Wade Phillips. Had Jauron refused to fire Turk, it might've given Ralph some beloved "cause" to be able to terminate Jauron without having to pay out the remaining balance of the term ... or at least make Jauron fight for it, like Wade. Unfortunately for Ralph, Milquetoast complied and fired Turk without incident - even trying to make up some sort of implausible jusitification for the timing of it. So - at this point - either Ralph wakes up spunky one day and finally just decides to eat Jauron's contract, or he doesn't. There's nothing other than Ralph's random whims that affects Jauron's status at this point.

I guess it's promising to know someone has at least seen him.

If we fired Jauron, we'd still have plenty of problems, true enough. Also, we'd be deprived of the utter competitive spirit, the drive to win, the fight to the finish, "never-give-up" aura that shines through when you're down 21 points in the 4th quarter ...... and you punt. Twice.

I thought Dick was shooting for a personal best late in the game, until it was ruined by a big screen play to Marshawn. Marshawn got it into Miami territory, preventing another punt - down by 28, with 4 mins to go. Thankfully, the game wasn't a total loss for Dick. He was able to get 2 solid punts in the 4th quarter, down by 21.

Hey .... was that Ralph Wilson up there shakin' his bootie with J-LO?

Uh oh .... Henne found Ellison .... j/k

4th and 4 at the 32 .... That's a close one. Gain 4 yards vs. a 49 yard FG attempt.

Oh Doughboy ...... you've got to go for the home run ball after that stupid, deflating Miami penalty .....

Memo To Vernon Carey: Please don't get beat to the inside. Thank you, Chad

The 4pm start is a nice break ... the heat has been just brutal down here .... Let's get 'em.

TO took the podium last Sunday, with the hat, dark sunglasses and attitude, with the intention to offer up smarmy non-answers. On Wednesday, he answered questions like a pro. In neither case did he say all that much, but the delivery method was quite different. Of course, on Sunday there is a nationally-televised pre-game show in primetime - on Wednesday, there isn't. Sunday's "TO Show" didn't have anything to do with the questions that were asked. The questions weren't exactly shocking or out-of-bounds, they related to TO's performance or his perception of the game and were questions that I have to believe most of us (Bills fans) were asking ourselves while we were watching. If the reporters hadn't asked the questions, they would've been (rightly) accused of avoiding the obvious. The most surprising thing to me about this whole thing was how so many great, loyal Bills fans lined up so quickly and strongly with TO (the hired gun) on this - just because we share the frustration about not getting the ball enough. Fans want so badly to see TO help the Bills be relevant again - but I think the fan willingness to tolerate the "TO Show" could be a lot more understandable if we really thought that TO shared that as his primary goal. The fan relationship/connection to TO, and how it changes (or doesn't), might be an interesting thing to observe over the next several weeks, though let's hope that the team performs well enough to overshadow it all.

Have Roscoe add about 30-35 pounds of muscle, and then some comparisons like this might be reasonable.

Give that guy's contact information to Darcy Regier ASAP ... but get ready to cringe when he drops the gloves. Baldinger can keep his pinky if we can sew Schlereth's mouth shut.

I've also lived in South Florida for the past several years, and Endzone is spot on. The Bills are often part of the "cheapy" ticket combo packages they put together to entice people to show up. The legitimate "special rivalry" status officially died, I think, right around when Trace Armstrong sacked Flutie down here in the '98-'99 season Wildcard game.

Sounds about right, starting off 3-4 ... 3 wins, 4 losses

Ricky and Marshawn Running Like No Tomorrow Paranoid From Weed Nickel - bag or D? Vaporizors and Brownies Four-Twenty Kickoff! Pennington is done Pat White - REALLY? IT'S PAT WHITE? One Chad too many It's Fins and Bills week! Marino and Kelly weep Checkdowns and Wildcat

To be fair, Graham mentioned Dungy's take, but didn't mention others (Martz, Mariucci) who did line up on the other side of the issue. However, I think the thrust of this is correct. TO isn't a dumb guy or a media neophyte. He certainly could've chosen to take off the dark sunglasses and politely provide more responsive, yet still innocuous, answers to the questions. I'm not sure how a reporter couldn't at least ask about the elephant standing in the room - i.e. the (obvious?) underuse of TO and Evans.

I never really felt very good about giving up that first possession until I saw what happened down here in Miami last year. At the beginning of the 3rd quarter, the stadium felt like it was half-full, and the Bills went on a methodical 70 yard touchdown drive - in almost complete silence.

There's no doubt (for me, anyway) that Sully likes attention, and might remind us a little too often about how he's not paid to write puff pieces about the team. However - and I think I'm in the minority here - I don't think any of the questions asked were so unfair or tricky so as to justify the attitude TO pulled off with the reporters. The "affected" celebrity athlete, with dark sunglasses on at the podium who is ... <sigh> ... so misunderstood ... tragically forced to endure eternal torment from the wicked little people .... True, there are few Bills that will give responsive answers to good questions anyway, but it's still fair for reporters covering the team to ask them and it's equally fair to expect a (sincerely) polite response, even if it's not completely responsive - or partially responsive, like in the little bits Evans sometimes lets out. One of the reporters (I think it was Hamilton?) did shoot back with a frustrated, "you don't care what I think" when TO turned around a legitimate question and put it back to the reporter. I thought that was unprofessional, albeit largely true -TO was there to be interviewed, not the reporter. If I missed a question, please add it ... I cut and pasted from a secondary source and did not verify or cite-check it to the original transcript. The guy can be such a talent, and as Bills fans we all want to see him get the ball more, but he's not exactly a guy who requires protection from the vicious, hardhitting (?) Buffalo/Rochester media. Q: What did you think of the offense overall? Q: Why do you think the offense didn't execute? Q: On the deep ball at the tunnel end did you pull up on that? Q: Trent couldn't get the ball downfield and it seemed like everything was short and check downs. Q: Was it something their defense was doing out there? Q: Do you like the plays that are called? Q: Do you feel you and Lee (Evans) are being wasted in this offense? Q: How about the decisions that are made after the plays are called? The quarterback's decisions after the play is called? Q: Your frustration level right now? Q: Any thoughts on the end of your catch streak (185 straight games)? Q: Did it have any meaning to you at all? Q: Do you feel bad for the defense?

Today's the big day .... I get into town around noon. Last week I had to travel to KC so I booked my car service under "Mr. Cowher", the hotel as "Mr. Mariucci", and made dinner reservations for "Mr. Schottenheimer and Mr. Pioli", party of 2. I wish us luck. Spotting Gruden with Bills management would be a Sasquatch-quality photo.