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That's the title of a Neil Young album. Sorry to his many fans for dragging him into this.
I would have preferred to call this 'Long May You Run' but for that to happen Chan Gailey would have had to remember that his two best players are his running backs.
Over the years, I have generally resisted the urge to finely criticize play call choices. I think if often diverts our attention from the real problem, which with the Bills, has been that they don't have enough talented players and arguing about running versus passing amounts to rearranging deck chairs on a certain famous ship.
Yesterday was not subtle, however. In a close game for most of the day, the Bills handled the ball to their running backs a grand total of three times in the second half. Three.
The explanation offered up by Gailey for this was that the Texans made it difficult for his team to run so he had to pass. You know, get them out of their scheme by making them respect your passing game and then the run game could take over. Basic stuff, right?
The problem with this is that the Bills passing game is about as respect worthy as a episode of the Kardashians. Awfully tough to get the opposition off the line of scrimmage when most of your passes travel within 5 yards of it. The Bills have no downfield passing game. That's not an overstatement. They just cannot count on their quarterback to accurately throw the ball down the field.
Should I repeat that? It's the NFL. The Bills have a quarterback who starts for them, without challenge, who cannot throw the ball down the field on any kind of a consistent basis.
Other than that, everything is great. Wait, no it's not. Things have been so bad for the defense that holding an opposing running back to the low hundreds is seen as progress. Gailey talked up his beleaguered D for their effort and for keeping them in the game. Fine. Just know that the improvement yesterday came in the form of holding the Texans to 386 yards of offense. Yes, praise worthy when you can keep 'em under 400 yards.
So you know, good times again in Buffalo, NY. Millions invested in a terrible defense and an impotent offense in need of a quarterback.
Brings to mind another Neil Young song.
Helpless.