Rainy Tuesday Night Update

The Bills Letdown

It was quite strange when I turned to the Taxwife not 10 minutes after the Bills lost last night and said "well, they deserved to lose that game - if you can't win getting six turnovers, you deserve to lose". In other words, serenity now.

This morning, before even going on the blogs to check out others' reactions to the games (links below), I thought a little more critically about the game...

-- The Bills gave up an easy 3 at the end of the first half by attempting a 53 yard field goal on a 4th and 3. Not to go all Gregg Easterbrook or anything, but going for it on 4th and 3 has a higher positive outcome than attempting a 53 yarder. Punting may have been the best move there.

-- They sent Roscoe Parrish on an end around (it may have been a reverse) on 3rd and 2 in Dallas territory. It was predictably blown up and the Bills needed to punt. A simple run up the middle or toss over the middle to Lynch or Royal (who was a great weapon in the game (would have obviously been much more productive).

-- Jauron misused times out in the second half, resulting in a bad onside kick defense formation.

-- Defensive playcalling down the stretch was atrocious, giving up easy yards over the middle and then the inexcusable 8 yard sideline route with 7 seconds left. Again, they could have called a time out if they had the wrong personnel on the field, or to make sure the young defense was on the right page.

-- The decision to pass on third and medium deep in Dallas territory in the 4th quarter is inexcusable. That should have been a fireable offense.

I realize that most of the above decisions were not made directly by Jauron, they were made by his coordinators, Brian Fairchild and Perry Fewell (Dr. Z really tears Fewell a new one in particular). Still, Jauron is the HEAD coach and has to ultimately take responsibility for the overall schemes and the decisions to try trick plays on third and short. Most importantly, it is clear that the Bills young players are trying extremely hard and giving it all they have, but they are young. They need a solid gameplan that will not let them down and a coaching staff that knows when to take a breather, settle the troops down and focus that energy. That is sorely lacking this year and it is clear to me that Jauron is not the right man for the job.

Others' more precise takes on last night:

Bflo Blog (special thanks to BfloBlog for linking to the Taxman, by the way)

Buffalo Rumblings

The Goose's Roost

I guess the silver lining I was looking for is that Jauron can't screw up the Bills this Sunday.

In happier news....

The Baseball Update

The ALCS and NLCS are set. Word from Boston is that Schilling will start Game 2 for the Sox, with Dice-K going in game 3. This makes sense insofar as Dice-K has been about 3/4 of a run better on the road than at home this year; however, the way the series lines up, that would have Dice-K going in game 7. I'm not sure how I feel about that, except that the Cubs-D-Backs series showed the fallacy of planning too far ahead in the tournament (although fundamentally, I think Lou was in the right pulling Z).

I'm sticking by my previous prediction of Sox in 6 over the Indians. I only got half of the NLCS teams correct, but I'll stick with the team I did get right - Rockies in 7.

The Taxes Update

Senator Reid announced today that no carried interest legislation would make it through the Senate in 2008. No surprise. Makes for an interesting election year issue. Romney has already pledged no new taxes if he is elected.

The Death Update

A rather obscure one today. Nolan Herndon passed away Sunday at the age of 88 from pneumonia. He was a member of the famed Doolittle Raiders who engaged in one of the most daring aerial missions of World War II. The mission, a bombing raid over Tokyo in the Spring of '42 was memorialized in the book and film Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, with a screenplay by blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (ironic that a writer of a film known as borderline propaganda was later blacklisted for refusing to name names).

Anyway, back to Mr. Herndon, he retired from the military shortly after the war ended and passed away apparently at his home in South Carolina. The obit is here.

FIRE DICK JAURON

All I can say after last night's game is that the Bills' coaching staff is an abortion of an enigma of some bad sea urchin.

Go here for a blog advocating the termination of Coach Jauron, forthwith.

And take Fairchild and Fewell while you're at it!

Sunday Evening Update

Yuck.

Nasty.

Nachos! (at least my lunch wasn't ruined)

The Bills were putrid in nearly every phase of the game today. (The punting was, as usual, good). Losman looked lost (Lostman?). Lynch was mainly shut down (mostly because the blocking up front was not good). Even against the non-stop blitzing, the playcalling did not adjust - didn't see any screens, draws, etc. Where was the coaching staff? And at some point you have got to take the training wheels off. Let Losman throw the ball downfield. I only counted two attempts over 25 yards in the entire game. Unacceptable.

On the other side of the ball, the Bills played a bend but don't break defense in the first half, which absolutely killed them on third downs. The Steelers converted 7 of their first 9, including a 3rd and 7 and a 3rd and 10 (at least). They could not get any kind of pressure on Roethlisberger and when they did could not contain. At some level I understand the Steelers are simply better, but apart from holding them to field goals at the end of drives, the Bills just did not look interested.

Now, the Kevin Everett situation may have been weighing on the team, but I don't think so. They didn't look flat, at least in the first quarter. Lynch was fired up. Defense was fired up. They just executed really, really poorly, and then gave up late in the game.

Two plusses: Moorman, as usual. And i do applaud Jauron's decision to go for it on a 4th in Steeler territory (around the 40 iirc). Even though they didn't convert, it was the right call.

Buffalo Rumblings has a good pseudo-live blog.

Also putrid so far - My NFL Picks. 5-8-1 through the late afternoon games. Thankfully, my Bears pick in my suicide pool is still alive.

Off to watch 60 Minutes (the highlight shows are now unwatchable), then flipping back and forth between the Pats-Chargers (27-17 Pats) and the Sox-Yanks (4-1 Sox). See you all later.