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When did it start?
The first of these dozen seasons of woe was in 2000. We actually that year had a pretty good team, in my mind better than any the Bills have had since.
On December 3 of that year the Bills were flattened by Miami, 33-6, to drop to 7-6 and near playoff extinction. After the Miami loss Bills coach Wade Phillips said, "Obviously we have not had a bad game all year until this one."
Thusly, Phillips is the last Bills coach to be able to say such a thing in December.
Soon thereafter John Butler was ousted, followed by Phillips, and, to coin a phrase, the drought was on.
Lately I can't get past how little has changed all these years. I thought today that I'd illustrate that in quotes. These are not (necessarily) the most famous or recognizable statements made by Bills coaches through the years. I'm hoping you enjoy placing the quote with the coach -- moreso at least than we enjoyed listening to all this garbage.
I think more than anything else these gems are an example of how hard it is to explain why a losing team loses without indicting players. We know, frankly, that these guys when it comes to oration are not usually JFK.
Let's call the Phillips quote Question #1. That's a freebie. The rest of the answers, all Bills coaches since 2000, follow the questions so be careful to scroll down slowly.
Who said it?
Thusly, Phillips is the last Bills coach to be able to say such a thing in December.
Soon thereafter John Butler was ousted, followed by Phillips, and, to coin a phrase, the drought was on.
Lately I can't get past how little has changed all these years. I thought today that I'd illustrate that in quotes. These are not (necessarily) the most famous or recognizable statements made by Bills coaches through the years. I'm hoping you enjoy placing the quote with the coach -- moreso at least than we enjoyed listening to all this garbage.
I think more than anything else these gems are an example of how hard it is to explain why a losing team loses without indicting players. We know, frankly, that these guys when it comes to oration are not usually JFK.
Let's call the Phillips quote Question #1. That's a freebie. The rest of the answers, all Bills coaches since 2000, follow the questions so be careful to scroll down slowly.
Who said it?
Question 2. "When you don't score touchdowns in this league, it's pretty hard to win. We've got to get answers, we've got to get touchdowns."
A: I won't blame you if you guessed Dick Jauron, as it sounds like something he'd say. But the correct answer is Gregg Williams. November 9, 2003. Cowboys 10, Bills 6. In defending Williams for this explanation, I'd say this: He was right.
Question 3. "We just didn't have enough firepower. We just didn't have enough to make the game what we wanted to make it."
A: Again, there are a lot of sensible possible answers here. (You'll notice that as a theme.) The correct answer is Perry Fewell. December 27, 2009. Falcons 31, Bills 3. Presumably by "firepower" Fewell was referring to injured quarterbacks Trent Edwards and Ryan Fitzpatrick. The Bills posted 11 first downs that day; incredibly (or not) they had four games that season with fewer.
Question 4. "It's not where we want to be, obviously. It doesn't feel like a freefall, at least not to me. I can tell you, being around them, they hurt."
A: The Bills' fourth straight loss after a 5-1 start in 2008 didn't "feel like a freefall" to the Wordsworth of this bunch, Dick Jauron. November 17, 2008. Browns 29, Bills 27. The Bills finished on a 2-8 streak that year and a 13-point loss to New England, which might seem bad except last year they finished on a 1-8 streak with a 28-point loss to New England. A belated thank you to Jauron here for informing us that losing made his team unhappy.
Question 5. "They were able to get the ball in the end zone and we weren't able to get the ball in the end zone. That's the bottom line."
A: Growing more Jauronian with every media session is current Bills coach Chan Gailey. (Note for new people: This is not a compliment.) November 5, 2012. Texans 21, Bills 9. These coaches seem to spend a lot of their time telling us things we know already. The question was why, Coach. We saw the game.
Question 6. "The option play is really difficult to defend."
A: I've never known a coach to be more focused in his comments on how hard being good at football was than Jauron. November 15, 2009. Titans 41, Bills 17. This was Jauron's last game. His tenure here is really, really difficult to defend.
Question 7. "We just have not capitalized. I wish I could explain. It's not that we don't have guys open or don't have the ability to run down there."
A: He didn't often impress with his intellect, but Mike Mularkey came to do one of the smartest things any of these guys has done. Five games after this beauty -- November 27, 2005. Panthers 13, Bills 9 -- Mularkey bolted.
Question 8. "I have no answer. I have no answer. I have no excuse. But I have to find the answer. That's my job."
A: Chan Gailey might be the most convincing of them at telling you that he knows winning matters. So that's something, I guess. Actually no it isn't, it's meaningless. October 7, 2012. 49ers 45, Bills 3.
Question 9. "I'm not trying to make excuses, it's unacceptable. I'll take responsibility for it. It's not getting done."
A: This one really could belong to anybody. It's perfectly generic. Gailey's a good guess here but the answer is Mularkey. September 18, 2004. Patriots 31, Bills 17. Unacceptable is an interesting word for the Bills, as it seems just about all this losing we've been through has been pretty well accepted.
Question 10, the last one. "We've got to play this way every week. It was as outstanding a defensive effort as I've been around for a long time against an outstanding offensive unit."
A: Hmmm. They were great but we were great, or greater? What Bills coach was satisfied to this extent?
Question 4. "It's not where we want to be, obviously. It doesn't feel like a freefall, at least not to me. I can tell you, being around them, they hurt."
A: The Bills' fourth straight loss after a 5-1 start in 2008 didn't "feel like a freefall" to the Wordsworth of this bunch, Dick Jauron. November 17, 2008. Browns 29, Bills 27. The Bills finished on a 2-8 streak that year and a 13-point loss to New England, which might seem bad except last year they finished on a 1-8 streak with a 28-point loss to New England. A belated thank you to Jauron here for informing us that losing made his team unhappy.
Question 5. "They were able to get the ball in the end zone and we weren't able to get the ball in the end zone. That's the bottom line."
A: Growing more Jauronian with every media session is current Bills coach Chan Gailey. (Note for new people: This is not a compliment.) November 5, 2012. Texans 21, Bills 9. These coaches seem to spend a lot of their time telling us things we know already. The question was why, Coach. We saw the game.
Question 6. "The option play is really difficult to defend."
A: I've never known a coach to be more focused in his comments on how hard being good at football was than Jauron. November 15, 2009. Titans 41, Bills 17. This was Jauron's last game. His tenure here is really, really difficult to defend.
Question 7. "We just have not capitalized. I wish I could explain. It's not that we don't have guys open or don't have the ability to run down there."
A: He didn't often impress with his intellect, but Mike Mularkey came to do one of the smartest things any of these guys has done. Five games after this beauty -- November 27, 2005. Panthers 13, Bills 9 -- Mularkey bolted.
Question 8. "I have no answer. I have no answer. I have no excuse. But I have to find the answer. That's my job."
A: Chan Gailey might be the most convincing of them at telling you that he knows winning matters. So that's something, I guess. Actually no it isn't, it's meaningless. October 7, 2012. 49ers 45, Bills 3.
Question 9. "I'm not trying to make excuses, it's unacceptable. I'll take responsibility for it. It's not getting done."
A: This one really could belong to anybody. It's perfectly generic. Gailey's a good guess here but the answer is Mularkey. September 18, 2004. Patriots 31, Bills 17. Unacceptable is an interesting word for the Bills, as it seems just about all this losing we've been through has been pretty well accepted.
Question 10, the last one. "We've got to play this way every week. It was as outstanding a defensive effort as I've been around for a long time against an outstanding offensive unit."
A: Hmmm. They were great but we were great, or greater? What Bills coach was satisfied to this extent?
OK, it's a trick question. The answer is Dave Wannstedt, September 21, 2003. Dolphins 17, Bills 7. Wannstedt of course was the Miami coach then. He was calling "outstanding" a Bills offense that would finish ranked 30th in the league. Probably so low because they had to face Wannstedt's defense twice.
This game is memorable to me because it was the first postgame show I hosted with Bulldog, the first of around 150 (and counting). After that game we talked about dubious coaching decisions and whether or not the Bills' overall talent measured up. Not long after that were we talking about the job security of the head coach.
So long ago, and not.