Aaron Maybin: Will the Bills Ruin His Homecoming?

http://www.nyjets101.com/2011/11/04/aaron-maybin-returns-to-buffalo-to-face-former-team/

From 0-8 to 4-10: A Buffalo Bills story

Anybody who follows the Bills knows they weren't going winless all season. Out of their first eight games, two went to overtime and three others were decided by one possession. They aren't a good football team but they fight every week and that alone will get you wins in the NFL, especially later in the season.

They still haven't beaten a team currently over .500 although Miami was 7-6 before Sunday's game, so you can say that stat is false if you want. But we all know Miami isn't good, which is part of the reason people think the Jets aren't good after their Week 14 loss to the Dolphins. But does this mean the Bills are better than the Jets?

No, that's a blasphemous statement. You can use similar opponents to compare any teams in the NFL and you may find an argument that every team is better than every other. The Browns beat the Patriots a few weeks ago; are they better than New England? The Jets beat the Browns who beat Patriots; are they better than New England?

I could go on all day, but the fact is that any professional football team can beat any other on any given Sunday. The odds may be low, but they are never impossible. And the way Ryan Fitzpatrick has played this season, the Bills can be competitive with anybody.

Fitzpatrick won't amaze you with his athleticism or his arm strength, but he's a heady quarterback (and not just because he went to Harvard). The guy just has a feel for the timing of playing quarterback in the NFL. He knows he can't rifle balls into small spaces or into perfect coverage but, much like Chad Pennington used to, he gets rid of the ball that second or two sooner so the ball is right on his receiver when it needs to be.

Fitzpatrick also reminds me of Jon Kitna; a player who has started in the league before but is better served being one of the NFL's best backups. Fitzpatrick's play this season has given him at least a career as a backup and one who can lead a talented team almost as well as its starter. Just look what he's done with the likes of Stevie Johnson, Lee Evans and David Nelson at receiver.

The Bills have a lot of holes along their offensive and defensive lines and elsewhere defensively. Many Buffalo fans are pushing hard for Andrew Luck but even if Luck comes out, I'm not sure he's the Bills' best option. With their current winning ways they may be pushing themselves out of the Luck sweepstakes anyway, which may allow them to fill other needs in the offseason.

The Bills are near the bottom of the league in both sacks and turnovers and they have been gashed on the ground this season. Despite allowing just 28 sacks, their much-maligned offensive line has struggled to open holes consistently in the running game.

Assuming the Bills still end up close to a top-five pick, there are a few impact players that could help them. They could always take Luck if he falls that far but if not, they need a shutdown corner: Nebraska's Prince Amukamara and LSU's Patrick Peterson fit the bill.

They also need help along the defensive line, particularly a pass rusher: North Carolina's Robert Quinn, Alabama's Marcell Darius, Ohio State's Cameron Heyward and Auburn's Nick Fairley are all potential top-10 picks. All of those named except Darius can get after the quarterback and although Darius did have 6 sacks this season he would be more of an asset against the run, something the Bills also need to worry about.

The Bills could also consider a player like Georgia's A.J. Green at the 6th or 7th pick. Green is a stud receiving prospect and while Stevie Johnson is enjoying a breakout season, the jury is out on whether he's a legitimate number-one target.

Buffalo has a few options at the top of this draft and I think most of them are better than Andrew Luck (or Arkansas' Ryan Mallett if Luck is gone). It wouldn't be a mistake to draft him because I don't think Fitzpatrick is a Super Bowl-caliber quarterback, but he's good enough with pieces around him that the team won't be a disaster. And they have much bigger holes to fill.

If the Bills don't go defensive line or cornerback in April's draft I will be surprised. But it's December when I'm writing this and we know how much a player's draft stock can rise/fall in the offseason. It should be interesting to see what other players get themselves into the top 10 mix in a few months and who the Bills look to target.

Chan Gailey: The answer in Buffalo? Doubtful

The Bills hired Chan Gailey as their new head coach yesterday. The same Chan Gailey who hasn't been an NFL head coach since 1999, when he took Dallas to the playoffs in two straight seasons.

Since then, Gailey has spent six seasons as head coach at Georgia Tech and a few as an NFL offensive coordinator with Miami and Kansas City. Apparently the Bills thought he deserved a second chance at being an NFL head coach.

Bills general manager Buddy Nix said there were many candidates with interest in the Buffalo coaching job and that they could have hired as many as 40 people on the first day. If this was really the case, why Gailey?

Owner Ralph Wilson wanted an offensive mind, and he got that in Gailey. Marty Schottenheimer apparently wanted the job, but as a former defensive coordinator he didn't fit the bill. Schottenheimer's success as a head coach in the past obviously was of no intrigue to Wilson, who claimed he didn't feel "comfortable" with Schottenheimer.

The irony is that Wilson felt comfortable enough with Schottenheimer's son, Brian, to offer him an interview. The current Jets offensive coordinator was apparently so interested in the job that he didn't even accept the opportunity to interview. Vikings defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier was also in the running, but again is not an offensive mind. So the Bills went with Gailey, who was highly recommended by Bill Cowher.

If Cowher cares enough about the Bills franchise to make suggestions on who they should hire as coach, why wouldn't he take the job? Possibly because he's not ready to return to coaching and possibly because he knows there will be better opportunities after next season. So why would he waste his time and the leverage he has to join, as my friend Ian so eloquently puts it, a "Mickey Mouse organization?"

Simply put, he wouldn't. Nobody would. Which is why Chan Gailey is now the Bills head coach. Have fun with that, Buffalo fans. The Jets, Patriots and Dolphins (who are all well-coached) will continue to lap you in the AFC East until you match the men on their sidelines. And I'm sorry, but Chan Gailey is no Bill Belichick. On that note, he's not even Rex Ryan or Tony Sparano.

Pressure mounts on Jauron as Bills lose in ugly fashion to Dolphins

After three consecutive 7-9 seasons in Buffalo, it was clear that it was "put up or shut up" time for the Dick Jauron regime in 2009.

So far, it seems the "shut up" is coming sooner than anyone could have expected.

The Buffalo Bills fell to the Miami Dolphins 38-10 on Sunday afternoon, suffering the second-worst defeat of the Jauron era and being dominated in all facets of the game in the process.

Let's look at some figures:

- The Bills surrendered 250 rushing yards to the Dolphins, with plenty of them coming out of Miami's vaunted "Wildcat" formation.  It was the most yards given up on the ground by Buffalo since they gave up 289 to the eventual-champion New York Giants on December 23, 2007.  The Bills should have noted that Miami led the league in rushing  coming into the game and gameplanned against it.

-The Bills' patchwork offensive line, young and already riddled with injuries, surrendered six sacks to a defense playing without it's best pass rusher in Joey Porter.  They have now allowed 16 on the season, second-worst in the league.

-Bills' QB Trent Edwards stats in the first two weeks, a close loss at NE and a win over Tampa Bay: 36/56, 442 yds, 4 TD, 1 INT

...and in the next two games, both blowout losses: 34/61, 348 yds, 1 TD, 4 INT

Clearly, an overhaul is in order for this team.  The question now for Jauron is not "if", it's "when".

With the Bills sitting at 1-3 and last in the AFC East, Jauron is closer to the buzzsaw than he ever has been in his four-plus seasons in Buffalo.

Most thought he was close to being canned this offseason, but it took a long meeting between Jauron and owner Ralph Wilson, Jr. to decide that Wilson was willing to give the coach one more season to get things straight.  Jauron promised a higher-octane offense with the addition of Terrell Owens, the continued development of Trent Edwards in his third season, and the installation of a no-huddle offense resembling the K-Gun days of old in Buffalo.

But it was clear that Jauron saw the writing on the wall after the firing of offensive coordinator Turk Schonert, coming off of a horrific preseason for the starting offense.

Many believed that a playoff appearance, the first for the franchise in ten years, would be the only thing that could keep Jauron around.  The Bills face one of the toughest schedules in the NFL for the rest of 2009 playing in arguably the toughest division in the league, a division in which they haven't won a game since December 9, 2007.  Simply put, don't bet on a post-season appearance for the Bills after this underwhelming start.

Jauron and the Bills need to right the ship quickly, starting when the Cleveland Browns come to Orchard Park on Sunday for what amounts to be a must-win for Jauron's job.  If the Bills lose that one to a pathetic Cleveland team, there's no reason to believe he'll be around to see the end of this month.

Bills' loss brings disappointment for a night, hope for a season

Watching the Patriots' Brandon Meriweather and Pierre Woods rip the ball from Leodis McKelvin's hands still brings shivers up the spine of Bills fans everywhere.

Football prognosticators (especially, shockingly, Tedy Bruschi on ESPN) expected to see a Patriot blowout.  It was Tom Brady's comeback from a horrific 2008 opening-day knee injury.  It was a celebration of the Patriots all-time team at halftime.  It was ESPN declaring the return of the Patriots as a Super Bowl contender.

A funny thing happened on the way to Gilette Stadium Monday night, however.

The Bills came out firing from the opening whistle, stopping the Patriots on a 4th-and-2 on the opening drive of the game.  When Bills' quarterback Trent Edwards tossed an 11-yard strike to rookie tight end Shawn Nelson late in the first quarter, it gave Buffalo a surprising seven-point lead.

After the Patriots dominated time of possession in the second quarter and Fred Taylor punched in a one-yard score to tie the game, it seemed as though the momentum had swung back to New England and the rout would be on.  But Aaron Schobel's amazing one-handed interception and subsequent return for a touchdown gave the Bills the lead back at 14-10, which they held at halftime.

The Bills remained calm and in control throughout the second half, particularly on a 14-play, seven-minute drive that resulted in a Fred Jackson touchdown reception and gave the giant underdog a seemingly insurmountable 24-13 lead with just five minutes to play in the game.

Tom Brady was hell-bent on celebrating his comeback.  The Patriots marched down the field at will, converting three third downs on a four-minute touchdown drive that took them 81 yards and ended in an 18-yard touchdown strike from Brady to Benjamin Watson.

This was the game for Bills fans.  They (I) could taste the victory.  With 2:06 to play, the Patriots had missed the two-point conversion and were kicking off holding all three of their timeouts.  If Buffalo could manage one first down on the ground, where they had been successful all game, the Patriots would be out of time and the Bills would walk away with the franchise's biggest win in a decade.

It never got that far.

Buffalo's second-year return man Leodis McKelvin fielded the ball near the goal line, paused, and decided to bring the ball out for a return.  A kneel down in the end zone would have resulted in a touchback, though McKelvin said after the game that he wasn't fully sure he was behind the line.  McKelvin was stood up by Meriweather at the 25, and held up just long enough for Woods to come along and strip the ball, even with McKelvin doing his best to keep two strong hands on the ball.  Of all people, Pats kicker Stephen Gostkowski came up with the recovery.

You can guess the rest.  Brady takes the field, throws another touchdown to Watson from 16 yards out, the Bills can't answer with 50 seconds left and two timeouts and the Patriots walk away victorious, 25-24.

Every Bills fan I know said the same thing after the loss.

"I knew it would happen."  "What could we expect?"  "Same old Bills."

But a couple days after the loss, the heartbreak has healed and some perspective has dawned on this fan.

The Bills legitimately beat the Patriots for 55 minutes on Monday night.  A team they haven't beaten in 12 tries, and have never beaten in New England.  "Moral victory" is a term that gets thrown around a lot to excuse losing, but I don't think that applies here.  The talent is there, the heart is there, and the effort is there.  The winning will naturally come next, but when?

Tom Brady celebrated his return in typically amazing fashion.  While his timing and accuracy were obviously rusty through the majority of the game, he turned it on when he needed to, putting the ball in the endzone two times in the final two minutes to come away with a win.  He tied a career-high with 39 completions for 378 yards and was the reason New England was 10-for-16 on third down.

The Bills have a lot to learn from this game.  How to win under pressure, how to stop Tom Brady (basically, you can't) and how to hold onto the ball late in the game.  But we learned some things from the young team, as well.  They aren't the doormat they've been the past couple of years.

Their three new starters on the offensive line can be effective at protecting Edwards and providing holes for Buffalo's new star, Fred Jackson.  The no-huddle offense wore down the Patriots aging defense and Edwards looked in full control running the complex schemes.  New offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt can call a game better than Turk Schonert ever has in two years with the team.

When the Patriots come to Buffalo later this year, we'll see if this Bills team has grown up at all from this experience or if their youth will once again come back to bite them where it hurts.

I don't think Leodis McKelvin will be returning kicks in that one.  Just a hunch.