Buffalo Bills Scrubs Stampede Indy Colts Scrubs

For the past six years, the Buffalo Bills have ended their season with a loss. It is bad enough to miss the playoffs for ten straight years, but to end the year on a loss for six straight times to reinforce failure is overkill, or like throwing salt on an open wound.

You know, kind of like kicking a dog when he is down. Perry Fewell determined that he didn't want to end the year that way, and it meant leaving unproved players like Brian Brohm and James Hardy on the sidelines as a result. His priority was to win, and let some other coach worry about experience and player development down the road.

The Bills season came to an end Sunday with a 30-7 trouncing of the Indianapolis Colts in Orchard Park, N.Y. The first game of the new decade allowed the Bills to end their six game losing streak to the Colts, in addition to breaking the Colts franchise-record setting streak of 11 straight road wins.

The Bills wanted to end the year on a high note, and with all the buzz created by the hire this week of new G.M. Buddy Nix, the win helps to crystallize that feeling of optimism. The head coach interview process, which will begin in earnest Monday, is due to start off with a formal interview of interim coach Perry Fewell.

Fewell ended his interim coaching assignment with a 3-4 record. Not good, but not terrible.

Fewell showed some promise, but didn't show enough spark and creativity with the offense to be a true candidate in my opinion. Fewell has plenty of charisma and passion, and I hope that he will remain with the team as its defensive coordinator.

The Bills will clean out their lockers next week with some good footage on tape to show the new head coach. The players have to feel good about winning and thoroughly trashing the Colts, holders of the best record in the NFL, in the process.

Sure, some of you reading this article will say that the Colts rested their regulars and used their backup players for the final three quarters. But when you consider that the Bills have now seen their season-long-expanding I.R. list grow to 20 players, it makes you wonder. 

You will realize that the Bills second, third, fourth and in some cases, fifth teamers were the players that were up against the Colts' second team, and they destroyed them going away.

Whenever the Bills were sending up the second or third team guys week after week this season, there were no sympathy cards being sent in to One Bills Drive suggesting that other teams were sorry they were thrashing our back ups. So, if you are expecting us to show pity on the Colts for resting their starters for three quarters, guess again.

Based on today's performance, if Indy loses any starters to injury over the two weeks they have to prepare for their first playoff game, or if they lose a player to injury during that first playoff game, then you realize that the Colts will be in dire straights.

What Was Up With the Regular Starters on Offense For the Colts ?

Peyton Manning played for the entire first quarter and for the opening play of the second quarter. It was very clear what Peyton's game plan was. He had an objective—getting enough passes to Dallas Clark and to Reggie Wayne, so that both players could have 100 catches for the season.

It was so clear what Manning was up to, that he threw 15 of his 18 passes to the Wayne and Clark duo, disdaining the rest of the team.

The fact that Peyton was able to accomplish this special moment against a secondary without regular starters Terrence McGee, Leodis McKelvin, Bryan Scott, and Jairus Byrd, since all four were on injured reserve, and starter Donte Whitner, who was out due to illness, must be something that makes Archie and his sons real proud.

Boy, guess they can't wait to tell the grand-kids about this one. We threw 15 passes in the snow against third team secondary players to have two receivers on the same team with 100 catches! Peyton will have some exciting stories to tell Justin Timberlake during their next commercial shoot.

Indy fans, when you lose your first playoff game, like you typically do, you can polish up all those shiny stats and print them up on your Colts toilet paper, because that is what they are worth. That flushing noise you hear is this year's Super Bowl aspirations going down the drain.

In fact, it was so painfully evident that Manning wanted to help his teammates reach these plateaus, that he actually passed the ball backwards to lose yards on these momentous catches. 

The final catches for Wayne and Clark had no bearing on the integrity of the game, just a necessity for personal accomplishments and recognition above all else.

With the upcoming NFLPA squabble with the NFL due to hit the news wire this upcoming year, maybe something could be worked in to the agreement to cover this situation.

If a team plays its regulars for one quarter of a game, they only get one quarter of the original gate receipts they were due. The Colts team demonstrated that they are a team that is all about personal goals and individuals, not about team, in my opinion.

It is laughable that Manning appeared for just one play in the second quarter while the Colts continued a drive that carried over from the first quarter. He stayed in to throw the one pass needed for Dallas Clark to reach 100 catches for the year.

To me, that was like a slap in the face to backup QB Lance Painter. The insinuation was that Painter wouldn't be able to complete a pass to Clark with three quarters left. Well maybe there was something to it, as Painter wound up going only 4 for 17 for 39 yards, no TD's, an interception, and a QB passer rating of 15.1

It was as if Peyton was saying, you know, nobody else knows how to throw to Dallas but me. It has to be a pass from me to Dallas, or else it wouldn't really count, or be special. Are you kidding me? The Bills defensive line would have loved to sack Manning, but he insisted on throwing the ball quickly, before any pressure arrived.

That Manning was intercepted by rookie cornerback Cary Harris, well that was pretty cool. In fact there was almost a second interception when a Manning pass hit a referee, but that would be the kind of play Jairus Byrd would have gobbled up in a heartbeat.

What Was Special About the Bills Win Today ?

Team MVP Fred Jackson wound up with a monster day. Fred had a career best 212 yards rushing, which allowed him to top the 1,000 yard mark for the year.

Okay, Colts fans are going, so what is up with the personal milestones for the Bills? I know, I know. But the fact is, the Bills team sucks and we are out of the playoffs. Your team is not, but will be soon enough.

Fred became the first Bills running back to rush for 200 yards in a game since Thurman Thomas did it in 1990. Fred wound up with 1062 yards for the year, and it couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Fred also caught the first touchdown pass of the day from Ryan Fitzpatrick.

Jackson can do it all. He rushes for 1,000 yards, he passes for a touchdown and runs the ball out of the wildcat formation, he catches passes out of the backfield, he returns kick offs, he picks up blitzing defenders against the pass rush and he maintains a low profile.

I will repeat an earlier comment—give me an entire team of Fred Jacksons and I will be happy to go to war with that team.

Nice to see Ryan Fitzpatrick hit on three touchdown passes in the first half and spreading the ball around to three different receivers, hitting Jackson, Lee Evans and Terrell Owens for scores, in what might be Owens' final game as a Buffalo Bill.

Fitzpatrick didn't have a 400 yard passing game, but he did have a nice outing, connecting on 16 of 25 passes for 155 yards, 3 TDs and no interceptions for a passer rating of 155. He even threw a down field block for Fred Jackson, as did Terrell Owens.

Nice to see T.O. have a moment of glory in the season ender. He did gain enough yards to pass Tim Brown, and now sits in third place all-time for NFL pass receiving yardage in a career. Congrats T.O. You can now keep the key to the city of Buffalo, as far as I am concerned.

Final noteworthy performance goes to Rian Lindell, as the Bills kicker has now eclipsed the 1,000 point career barrier. Based on his 11 points today, Lindell now has amassed 1,005 points during his career. He has been with the Bills for seven years, and has now averaged 105 points/year in being the Bills placekicker. Congrats to Rian.

Just How Bad Was This Beat Down of the Colts?

If this was a MMA event, the Colts would have been tapping out in the first minute of the first round. They were out-gained 403 yards to 157. Time of possession—Bills won 37 minutes to 22. Bills rushed 42 times gaining an average of 5.9 yards per rush, which totaled 248 yards for the game, compared to 25 rushing yards for Indy.

Consider that all of those numbers were the result of an offensive line that featured Jamon Meredith and Jake Chambers at starting tackle, and bad boy Richie Incognito at guard. The only starters all year on this line were rookie Andy Levitre and new free agent center Geoff Hangartner.

Meredith didn't even know he was starting until the Bills placed new starter Andre Waters on the I.R. list on Thursday.

The fact that the Bills inferior lineman were able to carve up the Colts so badly, proves that the Colts team didn't want to play and why their chances in the playoffs are in doubt. It is hard enough to win every week, much less turning the switch on and off like you are some big power plant.

So, What Is the End Result Of The Bills Win?

As a direct result of beating the Colts, the Bills are now the only team in the league with six wins. They will be drafting out of the number nine slot in the upcoming NFL draft.

The breakdown:

One win - St. Louis      Two wins - Detroit      Three wins - Tampa Bay

Four wins - Kansas City    Washington    Five wins - Cleveland, Oakland and Seattle

Six wins - Buffalo      Seven wins - Chicago and Jacksonville.

So, that places the Bills all alone at No. 9, with no tie breaker situations to figure out, and no rotation between one round of the draft and the next. No. 9 overall pick in first round, No. 41 pick overall in second round, etc...Go ahead and do the math if you want to lay out the projections.

The Bills get to engage people like Perry Fewell, Bill Cowher, Brian Billick, and Ron Rivera this week in formal interviews for the head coaching gig. If none of these four pan out or are willing to commit, which seems hard to believe, since I am positive Fewell would love the job on a permanent basis, then you can expect to see other names being considered.

Those other names would include the likes of: Jim Haslett, Brian Schottenheimer, Cam Cameron, Mike Martz, and Jim Fassel. For my money, I want to see the Bills name Bill Cowher as the next head coach. I think there is enough chips in place for Cowher to come in and have some success and be viewed as a hero for turning the franchise around.

Other Bills Bits of Note

Nice games were turned in today by rookie cornerback turned safety Cary Harris. The USC rookie started as Donte Whitner was too sick to play, and Cary came up with two interceptions.

Other strong defensive games were turned in by Paul Posluszny with 11 tackles, fill in linebacker Jon Corto had nine tackles, and Kyle Williams had the only sack of the game, in addition to four tackles for a loss.

Today was all about Fred Jackson, as Marshawn Lynch was a non-factor with one rush for zero yards. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

If you are a regular follower of my articles, you can go ahead now and pencil in Jacksonville as the final home opponent in 2010, as Tennessee will not be on the schedule.

In fact, due to the way the final weekend played out, which had a direct affect on the 2010 schedule, the Bills will be playing the Jaguars for the seventh time in eight years.

Stay tuned as we continue to address the coaching interview scenarios and what it means to the future of the Bills in 2010 and beyond.