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The Bills defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars 34-18 Sunday. The only team capable of losing to the injury-plagued, talent-poor Jaguars Sunday was probably the Jaguars themselves. When John Murphy said Monday that the Bills played "the right team at the right time", I took that to mean "a terrible team at whenever it's convenient for you". But hey, a win's a win, right?
No joke, if you asked me before the season to chart out the absolute worst way it could go, game by game, I'm right at where the season actually has gone. Lose big to the good teams, scratch out Jauronian wins against the bad ones and lose just enough of those to keep fans from buying into the playoff idea.
This is exactly what's happened.
Let the record show that no one asked me to do that season-charting exercise and neither did I do it on my own. You were optimistic about them and so was I. The goal here, as always, is to be right. But I've said in years past that the two biggest misses I've ever made on the Bills were taking their modest successes in 2008 and then 2011 to mean too much. To a lesser extent this is what happened last summer. I dare say that the people you think are the most negative over time have also been the most accurate.
Why is 5-7 the worst of existences? Because, as we've learned more than once, this is the most direct road to nowhere.
The simple draft logic -- teams with worse records get first crack at the better prospects -- is only part of it. The Bills are "led" by a 94-year-old man, and they insist he's in control*. The coach is reportedly on a five-year contract -- because when you're courting a deposed coordinator from a fellow loser, Kansas City, you want to lock him up long term. The general manager by all accounts is squarely on the coach's side.
*(I happen not to believe that. I think the owner is ailing and empowered members of Bills management, always falling short in the creativity department, don't know how to handle it other than to pretend he isn't. Instead of acting as though Wilson provides direction, I think they should explain better how decisions get made and that as team owner Wilson is made aware of each one and given an opportunity to be heard, rather than speaking of Wilson as an almighty authority figure. Buddy Nix has done a better job of addressing Wilson's role within the context of what's believable than has Russ Brandon, who should be the more capable one.)
*(I happen not to believe that. I think the owner is ailing and empowered members of Bills management, always falling short in the creativity department, don't know how to handle it other than to pretend he isn't. Instead of acting as though Wilson provides direction, I think they should explain better how decisions get made and that as team owner Wilson is made aware of each one and given an opportunity to be heard, rather than speaking of Wilson as an almighty authority figure. Buddy Nix has done a better job of addressing Wilson's role within the context of what's believable than has Russ Brandon, who should be the more capable one.)
What do Wilson's age, Gailey's contract and Nix's loyalties add up to? Firing a coach and going about a new search is both difficult and expensive. Do the Bills, a model example of a team that's failed to establish any continuity on these levels of middle management, strike you as an organization priming for an overhaul?
Not to me they don't.
Because of their cake schedule, the Bills had a chance this year to end their league-worst 12-year NFL playoff drought without beating a single good team. Losses to the Jets and Titans though have realistically already cost them that outcome.
Wins like Sunday's don't provide hope, they make things worse. They strengthen Gailey's, Nix's and even Ryan Fitzpatrick's holds on their jobs.
In my opinion there are two outcomes that would precipitate major changes from the Bills this off-season. The first is if they take a step backward record-wise, as they did in 2003 (Williams fired) and 2005 (Mularkey quits).
The second of course is if Bud Adams swears at them.
Neither of these is happening. Beating Jacksonville and Arizona and the like have all but guaranteed that.
Fate is often cruel to Bills fans and this year it was again. That "easy schedule" we looked forward to all off-season came to bite us in the butt.