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Remember when the Bills beat Arizona back in October? I said that day that it seemed like Chan Gailey had done everything he could to lose the game but a few of his players bailed him out. Sunday against the St. Louis Rams Gailey had no such good fortune.
My favorite part of this latest performance was when the scoreboard fireworks accidentally went off after the Bills downed a punt at the St. Louis 3 yard line in the 4th quarter. Boos were raining down on the Bills like, well, rain at that point. The reason for the boos was because the punt followed an almost mind boggling sequence that saw the Bills trot Rian Lindell out to attempt a 52 yard field goal. Gailey changed his mind, panicked, called time out and ended up punting. Getting scared about trying the field goal is bad enough. Blowing the time out is pretty much inexcusable. Remember, the Bills are at the 34 yard line. Even if you can't get your head around the field goal, there certainly is no harm in taking the 5 yard penalty and saving the time out for later in what has been a close game all day.
To be fair, it wasn't like all the fireworks went off after the punt was downed. It was really more like a firework. Whatever.
Many fans have been done with Gailey for weeks as it is so it's not like they need me to push them. I usually take a little more time to blow up the coach, feeling that the players have far more impact on the wins and losses. This game today was damning for Gailey. Let's run it down, shall we?
C.J. Spiller, 7 carries, 1 reception. That's right, a whopping 8 touches for the Bills most dangerous player. Nice game plan. I don't really know what to say at this point. 8 touches for one of the most dangerous players in the NFL. 8. Touches.
Gailey mangled the end of the first half, going to the locker room with a 6-0 lead after settling for 40 yard field goal with 11 seconds left. I say settled because the Bills had the time to try at least another play to the end zone. Instead they stopped the clock with those 11 seconds remaining and kicked the field goal. To repeat, they stopped the clock with enough time that they had to kick off following the field goal. Why? If you're going to be so lame and are too scared to actually try and score a touchdown then the move is to let the clock run down and make the field goal attempt the final play of the half.
There is a reasonable argument to be made that the Bills should have gone for two on the PAT they botched so you've got that too if you want it.
I've already been through the preposterous field goal bail out punt fiasco. The blown time out in that sequence is a huge deal. As it turned out, the Bills didn't need 3 time outs because their fantastic quarterback threw an interception before it mattered. That's beside the point. You'd like to go into that situation with as many timeouts as possible needing only three points to tie the game. Instead Gailey burned one because he claims he didn't know how long the field goal try was. 50 yards was okay but 52 yards was too far and Gailey said that he was "scared" they were going to snap it so he called time.
Scared. How's that sound? Scared to kick a 52 yard field goal. Scared to try for the end zone at the end of the half. Scared to make C.J. Spiller tired or Fred Jackson mad, you pick. Either one is ridiculous.
Scared. Kind of says it all.