Bills nipped by Jaguars, 18-15

The Buffalo Bills got an outstanding effort from wide receiver Terrell Owens but still came up short in a 18-15 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Owens made up for his outburst last week by hauling in a 98-yard touchdown pass. Owens finished the day with 198 yards receiving and that touchdown.

Buffalo’s defense deserves a lot of credit for holding down running back Maurice Jones-Drew to under 70 yards rushing.

Still, the Bills couldn’t get anything out of their ground game, and their lack of balance came back to haunt them. They also lost running back Marshawn Lynch due to an injury.

The loss is the first for the Bills since the firing of head coach Dick Jauron, so it doesn’t look like his termination did anything to help the team.

Thursday, November 26, 2009 at 12:05 pm by steve

Bills interested in Shanahan

The Buffalo Bills are expressing a lot of interest in Mike Shanahan as a possibility as their next head coach.

Shanahan, who has two Super Bowl rings, is expected to receive a lot of interest in the offseason.

The Bills recently fired head coach Dick Jauron, so they are looking for a permanent replacement.

Defensive coordinator Perry Fewell was named the interim head coach, but it’s highly unlikely he could win the full-time job.

It will take a lot of money for the Bills to hire Shanahan, but owner Ralph Wilson has made it clear he is prepared to do just that.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009 at 6:12 pm by steve

Jaguars Rally Late, Beat Bills 18-15

After an emotional week which involved the firing of their head coach and the benching of their starting quarterback, the Buffalo Bills could only watch as the Jacksonville Jaguars rallied late to a 18-15 win.

In former defensive coordinator Perry Fewell’s first week as a head coach, QB Ryan Fitzpatrick made him look smart for benching Trent Edwards in his favor. Fitzpatrick threw for 297 yards, by far the most a Bills QB has thrown in the past few weeks, and single-handedly revived the career of WR Terrell Owens.

Owens, who has remained mostly quiet this season, broke out with a huge game, catching nine passes for 197 yards and a TD. Fitzpatrick and Owens hooked up on the longest receiving score in Buffalo Bills history in the third quarter – a 98-yard bomb that tipped the score in favor of Buffalo once again.

But the Bills couldn’t hold on, as Jaguars QB David Garrard led a second game-winning drive in as many weeks.

“All for nothing when you don’t get the win,” Owens said. “I’m glad for the opportunity to make big plays, what I’ve always wanted to do. We came up short.”

“Emotional week for all of us and this was an emotional loss for us,” Fewell said. “I thought our guys fought their hind ends off. They battled down to the wire. We just didn’t get it done.”

at 1:48 am by bryan

Owner Wilson Prepared For Changes

Count Bills owner Ralph Wilson as someone who refuses to stand pat.

Wilson spoke to the Associated Press on Thursday on a telephone interview, where he promised more changes for his team in the offseason.

“I tell you, we have a lot of work to do,” Wilson said to the AP. “We’ve got to revamp and take a look at the whole operation and that’s what we’re going to do.”

“We’re going to sit down and see where we stand and, I hate to use the term, but then we’re going to go forward,” Wilson said, giving his first lengthy interview since firing coach Dick Jauron on Tuesday.

He warned that no position on his team is safe, and says that he remains open to going after a high-profile coach, with Mike Shanahan and Bill Cowher on the market.

His decision to retain Jauron after three straight 7-9 seasons appeared a mistake after the Bills stumbled out of the gates this year to a 1-4 record. Wilson laid the hammer down on Jauron this week, replacing him with defensive coordinator Perry Fewell for the time being.

Fewell wasted no time in making a QB change for this weekend, benching Trent Edwards in favor of Ryan Fitzpatrick, and the Bills signed former Louisville QB Brian Brohm off the Green Bay Packers’ practice squad this week to give themselves a third option at QB.

Friday, November 20, 2009 at 8:26 pm by bryan

Bills Sign QB Brohm From Packers

The Bills signed former Louisville QB Brian Brohm to a two-year contract on Thursday, pulling him off the Packers’ practice squad. The Packers made a last-ditch effort to retain Brohm’s services, but he opted to go to a Buffalo team clearly in transition.

“The last 24 hours have been good to me. I went from being on the practice squad to having pretty much two offers,” he said after his first practice with the Bills. “I just wanted a fresh start, a new start, and I think Buffalo gives me that.”

With the Packers set at QB with Aaron Rodgers at the helm (and with an offensive line like a sieve), Brohm opted for a team who just benched its starting QB, Trent Edwards, in favor of backup QB Ryan Fitzpatrick this week.

Regarding Edwards, the Bills’ offensive coordinator put blame squarely on the shoulders of the QB.

“A little bit of it is our fault for asking him to do some of the things we have,” Van Pelt said. “But the bottom line is we’ve got to find ways to make plays. Sometimes it’s a fine line between forcing the football in there and making the smart decision. And with our guys right now, we felt like we needed to get some of those balls thrown that weren’t.”

As for Brohm, he remains optimistic that he can make an impact on this Bills team.

“I felt like I’ve grown as a player,” he said. “And hopefully, I can come out here and just show the coaches and scouts here that I have gotten better and show them what I can do. And hopefully, they like it.”

Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 11:10 pm by bryan

Bills fire Jauron

The Buffalo Bills have fired head coach Dick Jauron after the team got off to a 3-6 start to the season.

Jauron has been under fire for a couple of years now but many thought he might make it through the season.

It seems that the team’s struggle against the Tennessee Titans coming off the bye week was the final straw.

The head coach fired his offensive coordinator right before the start of the season, and that move seems to have backfired.

Coordinator Perry Fewell has been named the interim head coach, and it will be interesting to see if he can bring anything to the table.

at 6:09 pm by steve

Fitzpatrick to Start at QB This Weekend

Interim coach Perry Fewell wasted little time shaking things up with the Buffalo Bills.

A day after being promoted to interim head coach (at the expense of now-former head coach Dick Jauron), Fewell announced that QB Ryan Fitzpatrick would be his starter on Sunday, not opening day starter Trent Edwards. This news comes after Edwards returned last weekend from a concussion that left him sidelined for a month.

Fitzpatrick appeared pumped about the opportunity after the news broke, and delivered kind words about his coach.

“He’s got some fire in him and I like what he did in the first meeting,” Fitzpatrick said. “He’s here to kind of break us out of our little funk, and I think he’s a good guy to do it.”

Edwards was benched in favor of Fitzpatrick after he threw a pick-6 against the Tennessee Titans with three minutes left on Sunday, with the game still in hand. Fewell believes Fitzpatrick gives the Jets “the best opportunity to win.”

While Fewell told the media that the QB job was Fitzpatrick’s on a week-to-week basis, the Harvard graduate seems to believe otherwise.

“I think right now it’s my job,” Fitzpatrick said. “I think right now he’s handing me the job and I’m going to go ahead and try to take it.”

at 12:47 am by bryan

Bills Contact Mike Shanahan About Coaching

One day after releasing head coach Dick Jauron, the Bills were reportedly already working the phones.

The Bills reportedly inquired with former Broncos coach Mike Shanahan about whether he’d be interested in their new coaching vacancy, and are going about setting up a meeting with him, according to two NFL sources.

The Bills appointed defensive coordinator Perry Fewell as the interim head coach, but the organization appears to have its eyes on big names for its next head coach.

Along with Shanahan, who reportedly is willing to listen to the Bills, the team has potential interest in New York Giants defensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride and Florida Tuskers coach Jim Haslett, both of whom have ties to the franchise.

at 12:42 am by bryan

Bills Fire Coach Dick Jauron

The NFL coaching carousel has officially begun spinning, as the Buffalo Bills fired coach Dick Jauron on Tuesday, effective immediately.

“I am announcing today that I am relieving Dick Jauron from his duties as our head coach, effective immediately,” Bills owner Ralph Wilson Jr. said in a statement. “I have tremendous respect for Dick and thank him for all of his efforts during these past four years. While this was a very difficult decision, I felt that it is one that needed to be made at this time for the best interest of our team. We will now focus on moving forward and preparing for our game this week in Jacksonville.”

NFL.com reports that defensive coordinator Perry Fewell will likely assume Jauron’s vacant spot as head coach, on an interim basis.

Since being hired by Bills general manager Marv Levy in 2006, Jauron compiled a 24-33 record with the Bills, always managing to turn in mediocre-but-never-great seasons with Buffalo. He has two years remaining on his contract that will pay him a total of $6 million in 2009 and 2010.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 12:05 am by bryan

Johnson Leads Titans’ Romp Of Bills, 41-17

RB Chris Johnson is making his case for being called the best running back in the NFL.

Johnson became the first RB this season to reach the 1,000 yard rushing plateau, as he accumulated 132 rushing yards on Sunday to help the Tennessee Titans beat the Buffalo Bills, 41-17.

After starting the season 0-6 and being absolutely thrashed by the Patriots (to the tune of 59-0), the Titans re-examined their situation during a Week 7 bye, replaced QB Kerry Collins with former University of Texas star Vince Young, and have reeled off three straight wins.

“Defenses, they have to choose,” Johnson said. “Do you want to stop 10 [Young]? Or do you want to stop [28]? That’s what me and Vince say every day. Whichever one you choose to stop, the other one is going to have a good day.”

The Titans defense managed to turn a game that was knotted at 17 in the fourth quarter into a quick blowout. After Johnson pounded in the go-ahead TD (where he plowed into two Bills defenders before bouncing right and easily running into the end zone), the Titans D took over with two game-clinching pick-6’s.

Vincent Fuller of the Titans intercepted Bills QB Trent Edwards’ pass from the 26-yard line for the first TD with three minutes remaining in the game, causing Titans owner Bud Adams to dance in his luxury box. Then, with QB Ryan Fitzpatrick replacing Edwards in a last-ditch effort, cornerback Rod Hood picked off an errant pass by Fitzpatrick and ran it back 31 yards for another TD in the game’s final minute.

In fact, the Titans’ Adams may have gotten a bit too excited after the second interception, as he was filmed flipping off the Bills sideline after the game. He promptly issued an apology today, but not before immediately becoming most college males’ favorite 86-year-old man of the week.

Monday, November 16, 2009 at 11:36 pm by bryan