Bills Toronto Series Blog

I can see it now, it’s Christmas morning. Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick wakes up and sees a little note under the Christmas tree. Fitzpatrick opens it up and it tells him to go outside to find his present. In his driveway is a brand new Cadillac Escalade all wrapped up in a pretty bow. The pimped out ride wasn’t a gift from Santa Claus, but a gift from an appreciative Terrell Owens.

Since taking over as the Bills starting quarterback, Ryan Fitzpatrick has completely revitalized T.O.’s season. In the Bills win over the Dolphins, Fitzpatrick hit T.O. with a 51 yard touchdown that put the game out of reach and sent Ralph Wilson Stadium into a frenzy. In the last two games, T.O. now has 14 catches for 293 yards and two touchdowns.

Maybe it’s because he went to Harvard, but Fitzpatrick is smart enough to realize when you have studs like Lee Evans and Terrell Owens to work with, it’s never a bad thing to throw the deep ball. Trent Edwards never felt comfortable taking a shot deep and taking a chance that his receivers would be able to go up and get the ball. Now with Fitzpatrick at the controls of the Bills offence, the deep ball is back in their playbook.

For a change, it was the Bills that scored all the points in the fourth quarter. In fact, the Bills stunned the Dolphins by scoring 24 unanswered points in the final quarter.

I can’t think of a better gift for Perry Fewell in his first win as a head coach in the NFL than the effort put forth by the Bills in that win over the Dolphins.

Fewell had to be impressed with kicker Rian Lindell. After missing a 44 yarder earlier in the game, Lindell nailed a mammoth 56 yarder in the fourth quarter. The defence did their part with four interceptions of Chad Henne and Ricky Williams. Heck, even the Canadian guy, defensive lineman Corey Mace came up with a pick.

I loved Fewell’s unbridled emotion afterwards when he was asked how he felt about the win: “How sweet it is, baby”.
With all due respect to Dick Jauron, the Bills have played with more intensity and with more of an edge since Fewell took over as the interim head coach. Maybe it’s the newfound intensity and emotion from their head coach or maybe it’s just the fact Fewell is a fresh voice; whatever the reason, the Bills have been a much better team since he took over.

While the Bills rally around Fewell, the front office is going hard after Mike Shanahan. I would hope that if Shanahan gets the job, he gives Fewell a legitimate shot at being part of his staff. Goodness knows it looks like the players love the guy.

The Bills will have precious little time to savour this win. Thursday night at Rogers Centre, the Bills will take on Mark Sanchez and the Jets. The Jets will go in thinking that they are a few wins away from getting back into the playoff race. Of course, the Dolphins thought the same thing. The Bills may not make the playoffs, but I’m sure they have no problem is ruining the party for a bunch of other teams.

Perry Fewell may or may not be Buffalo’s next full time head coach, but even though they lost to the Jaguars, the Bills did play hard for their new interim head coach.

To be honest, if you had told Fewell that Terrell Owens would have 197 yards receiving and would end up scoring a 98 yard touchdown, he would have been thrilled. In fact, ask any Bills fan and they would have been doing back flips if you had told them that T.O. was going to go off and put up numbers like he did against the Jaguars.

Fewell looked pretty smart after making Ryan Fitzpatrick his starting quarterback. The Harvard grad threw for almost 300 yards and one touchdown. The only downside was the two interceptions he tossed. But then again, nobody ever said that Fitzpatrick was the second coming of Peyton Manning.

Unfortunately, the Bills are who we thought they were and once again, they couldn’t hold on to the lead at the end. Coach Fewell now knows the living hell Dick Jauron went through all those games as he helplessly watched David Garrard hit Mike Sims-Walker with the game winning touchdown with only 56 seconds left to play in the fourth quarter. One thing that came back to haunt the Bills was their inability to run the ball against the hard hitting Jags defence.

I have to admit, I did love the passion and intensity displayed by Fewell during the course of the game. I think the players fed off of Fewell’s high energy and it helped them nearly pull out the win.

The Bills played hard. New starting quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick got Terrell Owens heavily involved in the Bills offence. The defence did a decent job slowing down Maurice Jones-Drew. In short, the Bills did just about everything they needed to do to, but they still couldn’t seal the deal and win the game.

It reminds me of the classic line from Glengarry Glen Ross; Always Be Closing.

I know that Bills management will sit down with Mike Shanahan this week and present him an enormous offer that they hope, he simply can not refuse. If they are able to pull it off and hire Shanahan, one of his first priorities will be to teach the Bills how to finish off a game when they have the lead.

In the aftermath of the Bills loss to the Jags, a very ugly stat emerged. The Bills have now been outscored 109-40 in the fourth quarter of games this year. That simply won’t get the job done in the NFL.

For now, any idea of Shanahan running the Bills will have to wait. All Perry Fewell can do is go back to work and get his team ready for an intense next few weeks. Coming up, the Bills host the Dolphins at the Ralph on Sunday, then host the Jets at Rogers Centre on December the 3rd.

As far as match-ups go, their game against the Titans was a disaster waiting to happen for the Buffalo Bills. It’s not that the Titans are that much better than the Bills, it’s just they have the best running back in the NFL right now, Chris Johnson.

The Bills have the worst run defence in the NFL. You can imagine what happened next.

Johnson was the last player introduced at LP Field and came out waving Old Glory. With the crowd whipped into a frenzy, Johnson shredded the Bills defence as he became the first back in the NFL to go over 1,000 yards rushing this season.

Johnson ran for 132 yards and two touchdowns and he also caught nine passes for 100 yards. To give you an idea of how rare of a feat that is, consider this. Johnson became only the second player in the history of the Titans franchise to have 100 yards running and receiving in the same game. In fact, he was the first Titans player to do it since Billy Cannon did the same thing back in December of 1961!

Johnson’s one yard go ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter was a prime example of what kind of dynamic running back he is. From one yard out, Johnson was pounded by Paul Posluszny and Bryan Scott; he simply bounced off of them and glided into the end zone.

The Bills shouldn’t feel too bad about how well Johnson did against them. In his last four games, Johnson has torched the Pats, Jags, 49ers and Bills for a total of 623 yards.

After Johnson’s go ahead touchdown, the Titans would go on to score 24 points in the fourth quarter, blowing the game wide open.

That’s what will really hurt the Bills when they look at the game film of this loss. They actually were tied 17-17 with the Titans at the start of the fourth quarter. The defence wore out and got ripped apart by Johnson. Trent Edwards and the offence had their moments, but for the most part, they continued to struggle. At one point, Terrell Owens frustration boiled over on the sidelines as he laid into a number of assistant coaches. T.O. had to like the fact that Edwards took some chances and went deep a few times in the game. In total, Edwards and Owens hooked up three times for 85 yards. I did find it a little odd that the Bills didn’t try to run the ball a little more than they did. Fred Jackson was averaging six yards a carry, yet they only handed the ball off to him eight times.

Once again, the one real bright spot for the Bills was rookie safety Jairus Byrd. The second round pick out of Oregon came up with an interception in his fifth straight game. Byrd now has eight picks on the season, good for top spot in the NFL.

With the Bills season slowly slipping away from them, they will have to find a way to suck it up and get ready to go back on the road as they take on the Jaguars next week in Jacksonville.

Of course, the Jags have a pretty good running back of their own in the little dynamo, Maurice Jones-Drew.

How ironic that on the day after Halloween, the Buffalo Bills would have a fourth quarter that was scarier than any movie Hollywood has ever produced.

For the first three quarters, the Bills had given the Houston Texans all they could handle and they were hanging onto a slim 10-9 lead. But by the time the fourth quarter rolled around, the roof completely caved in for the Bills.

Ryan Moats and the Texans ran the ball at will against a tired defence and the struggling Bills offence had no answer for Houston’s 22 point outburst.

With Steve Slaton suffering from a bad case of fumblitis, Gary Kubiak decided to see if Ryan Moats could spark the Texans offence. Moats made Kubiak look like a genius as he ran for 126 yards and three touchdowns. All of Moats touchdowns came in a fourth quarter that the Buffalo Bills would like to forget.

Dick Jauron will take a lot of heat from Bills fans over this loss. And to be perfectly honest, he should.

In the fourth quarter, with the Bills only trailing by seven and standing on their own 40 yard line, Jauron called for a fake punt. The Texans played it perfectly and ended up first and 10 on the Bills 37 yard line. Six plays later Moats scored his second touchdown of the fourth quarter and the game was all but over. For such a historically conservative coach like Jauron, his decision to try the fake punt at that spot on the field was a real head scratcher.

Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Bills offence deserve just as much blame as Jauron as they only managed 9 first downs and a measly 204 total yards. Terrell Owens scored a nice touchdown on a reverse, however he also dropped a touchdown after Fitzpatrick hit him in the endzone with a nice pass.

It was a real shame that Fitzpatrick and the Bills offence struggled as much as they did because it overshadowed another amazing game for rookie safety Jairus Byrd. The second-round draft pick out of Oregon became the first player in NFL history since the 49ers Dave Baker in 1960 to have two or more interceptions in three straight games.

It’s a darn good thing that the Bills are heading into the bye because two more key players were injured in their loss to the Texans, Aaron Schobel and Keith Ellison. All Jauron and the Bills can do now is hope that some of their walking wounded get better over the bye week and they have more healthy bodies to work with when they face the Titans in Nashville on the 15th.

A 3 and 5 record in the NFL isn’t the end of the world, but it isn’t far off.

The NFL is a bottom line business.

No matter what kind of personal stats you compile, no matter how many pretty plays you pull off, the only thing that really matters is winning.

That’s why no matter how anyone might criticize the Buffalo Bills, the bottom line is that they’ve won two straight games.

With two straight wins, the Bills are 3 and 4 and have something that is one of the NFL’s most precious commodities, hope.

Now on paper, the Panthers out gained the Bills 425 yards to 167 . However, the Bills came up with three key interceptions and unlike Carolina’s Jake Delhomme, quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick didn’t make any mistakes. Fitzpatrick was a workmanlike 11 of 22 for 123 yards and a touchdown and most importantly, he did not throw an interception.

Fitzpatrick displayed a lot of confidence and a great deal of velocity when he hit Lee Evans on a two yard touchdown. A little while later, Fitzpatrick showed some nice arm strength when he went deep and hit Lee Evans on a 50 yard long bomb.

On defence, safety Jairus Byrd had another big game for the Bills. The rookie out of Oregon had two interceptions, pushing his total to five in the last three games. There was another shining moment for Byrd and the Bills defence. With the Panthers going for it on fourth and one, Byrd hooked up with linebackers Chris Draft and Paul Posluszny to stuff the play. Chris Kelsay, Aaron Schobel and the entire Bills front seven did an effective job of getting pressure on Delhomme as they only gave up nine points.

After what happened to Roscoe Parrish at the end of their loss to the Browns, it was fitting that Bills tight end Derek Fine would recover a fumbled punt from the Panthers in the fourth quarter to help preserve the victory.

The Bills made the most of their limited opportunities as they scored 17 of their 20 points off of Panthers turnovers. That’s exactly the kind of football Dick Jauron likes to see his team play.

Now that they’ve won two straight, there will be a raging debate in Buffalo as who should get the start when the Bills host the Texans next Sunday at The Ralph. Does Dick Jauron go with Trent Edwards if he’s healthy? Or does he stick with the hot hand and keep riding Fitzpatrick? I know what I would do, I would keep Fitzpatrick in there until he falls on his face.

The Bills will have their hands full Sunday as they try to slow down Matt Schaub and the Texans passing game. The least Jauron could do would be to stick with Fitzpatrick and see if he can extend the Bills winning streak to three games.

After all, winning is what the NFL is all about and right now, Fitzpatrick is giving the Bills the best chance to win.

Just when you think you have the NFL all figured out, you see something like what took place in the Meadowlands between the Bills and the Jets.

On one hand, Jets running back Thomas Jones ran for a franchise record 210 yards. On the other hand, rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez threw five interceptions. Yes, five interceptions.

Then there was the plight of the Bills. After starting the game going a perfect five for five, Trent Edwards was forced to leave the game after suffering a concussion. Up steps back up quarterback, Ryan Fitzpatrick.

Fitzpatrick didn’t put up great numbers, but he played a gritty game for Dick Jauron. Fitzpatrick went 10 of 25 for 116 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Fitzpatrick’s 37 yard touchdown heave to Lee Evans was huge for the Bills because it tied the game at 13-13.

That’s when things begun to get very interesting at the Meadowlands.

Fitzpatrick and the Bills offence got the ball with 3:55 to play in the fourth quarter. Fitzpatrick led the Bills on a drive that was stopped at the Jets 28 yard line. Up steps Rian Lindell for the potential game winning 46 yard field goal. Wide right. I am not making that up, Lindell was wide right.

Then it was time for a little over time.

After winning the coin toss, the Jets put themselves in field goal range. After a bad snap, the Jets attempted a fake field goal, that was a train wreck for the Jets as the Bills easily intercepted the weak pass by Weatherford. Back and forth the two teams went as neither the Bills nor the Jets were about to give up the fight in this one. Finally, Paul Posluszny picked off Sanchez, setting up some Ryan Fitzpatrick magic.

Fitzpatrick went back to work and led the Bills offence down the field. Then with 2:44 left in over-time, Rian Lindell made amends for that earlier miss as he nailed the game winning 47 yard field goal.

What else can you say but, Wow.

Posluszny, Jairus Byrd, Chris Kelsay and the Bills defence really stepped up their game. Yes, they gave up a ton yards to Thomas Jones, but they came up with five interceptions of Mark Sanchez and gave their team a chance to win. The much maligned Bills offensive line only gave up one sack against the Jets.

It wasn’t the prettiest win the Bills have ever put together, but considering the circumstances, they bloody well take it.

Whether it’s Fitzpatrick or Edwards at the controls of the offence, the Bills will gladly take their one game wining streak and start getting ready to take on the Panthers next week in Carolina.

Dick Jauron and the Bills coaching staff can breathe easy, for now.

Toronto Blue Jay, Jeremy Accardo will be at the Bills game December 3, will you?

There are losses, and then there are losses. The Bills loss to the Browns at Ralph Wilson Stadium literally defies description.

Browns quarterback Derek Anderson completed one pass for seven yards in the second half. That’s right, he completed one pass. Anderson had a quarterback rating of zero in the second half, and the Browns still beat the Bills 6-3.

In what will go down as one of their all time most embarrassing losses, the Bills fell to 1 and 4. In fact, in the Bills current three game losing streak, they’ve only scored 20 points.

The Bills took a mind boggling 13 penalties for 75 yards. They fumbled the ball away twice. Trent Edwards threw an interception. The Bills offence reached a new low this season.

After the game, a reporter asked Terrell Owens if he was a Bills fan, would he have booed the team? Here’s what he had to say:

“I’m pretty sure.  Yeah, I’m pretty sure I would.  They deserve more.”

You’re darn right Bills fans deserve more than that. No matter how you slice it, the Bills offence has got to find a way to get the job done.

If that means benching Trent Edwards in favour of Ryan Fitzpatrick, well then, so be it. This calls for seriously drastic measures.

Don’t believe me? The Bills have lost three straight and they have now lost 12 of their last 15 games. The Bills need to find a way to actually finish their drives and score some touchdowns. That all starts with much better team discipline and much better play from the offensive line. If that happens, than there’s no excuse for Trent Edwards not to be successful.

Coming off this loss to a weak team like the Browns, the Bills have to prepare to hit the road to face a nasty team like Rex Ryan’s Jets.

You can be sure the radio call in shows in Buffalo will be screaming for some major changes to turn the Bills around.  The only thing that will calm down the masses will be a win over the Jets.

Stranger things have happened in the NFL this season.

Living by the old adage, “go big or go home”, the Bills went out and lost big time down in Miami.

Forget about blaming any individual in this loss, this was a total team effort from top to bottom. Trent Edwards was bad. The offensive line was weak. The defence gave up way too many yards and way too many big plays. Dick Jauron and the coaching staff were as much to blame as any of their players.

The defense looked asleep at the wheel as Chad Henne hit a wide open Brian Hartline with a five yard touchdown.

Of all the players, Trent Edwards needs to obliterate the memory of that Dolphins game and start focusing on the Browns. Edwards needs to make something happen offensively early in the Browns game to help him forget about the debacle down in Miami. The pick six he threw to Vontae Davis was all his fault. Edwards had time to throw and he had a clean look at his intended receiver, Lee Evans. By the end of the day, Edwards threw three interceptions and had a quarterback rating of 51.

Over all, the Bills offence was an unacceptable 1 for 11 in third down conversions and could only manage 10 first downs the entire game. The Bills defence allowed Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown to run wild as they allowed 250 yards rushing.

Yes indeed, the Bills didn’t just lose, they lost big time. This is the kind of game that needs to be completely forgotten. Skip the traditional film run down and wipe this bad boy out of the memory banks.

All that matters now is next weeks game against the winless Browns at Ralph Wilson stadium. There are a lot of unhappy Bills fans that will be looking long and hard at Trent Edwards and Dick Jauron to see if they can bounce back from their loss to the Dolphins and come up with a far better effort than what took place in Miami.

At least Terrell Owens caught three passes and he can start a new consecutive games streak. Yes, that was sarcasm.

After a loss like the Bills suffered in Miami, I am reminded of the sage old words of the late, great NFL legend Vince Lombardi.

“It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.”

Indeed.

A great look at how Marshawn’s childhood in the rough city of Oakland California helped shape him into the type of player he is. He really opens up about the mistakes he has made this past off-season and how he knows The public’s perception of him has changed but goes in depth about how he’s moving forward and learning from his mistakes.