The Buck Stops With Dick

Consider me twice bitten. I'm a Buffalo native now living in Chicago. I've suffered a double shot of Dick Jauron and I'm reeling.

It should be clear by now that Dick Jauron, as nice as he may be, as much as the players may like him, as intelligent as he may be, Yalie that he is, is not head coach material.

Like most Buffalo fans, I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Unlike most Buffalo fans, I'd already suffered through his under-achievement in Chicago and I still gave him the benefit of the doubt.

There is only one reason I gave him this; Marv Levy.

Marv liked him. Marv hired him. I was willing to assume that Marv knew something I didn't. Now I'm concluding that Marv was blinded by friendship.

Like the past three head coaches Buffalo has suffered through, Jauron is a notable coordinator. Like Wade Philips, Gregg Williams, and Mike Malarkey, he should have remained a coordinator. His future is as a coordinator.

In the meantime, the buck stops with Dick. What can be said of his coordinators and assistants? It flows from the head coach on down.

Bobby April is the one exception, the one bright spot on the Buffalo sidelines.  April has created and maintained the league's best special teams.

Perhaps April should be the head coach. Special teams can win games, especially close ones, and more than a few Bills games in the Jauron era have been won by special teams.

On the other hand, more than a few have been closer than they should have been because of the coaching. More than a few have been lost because of the coaching. Conservatively, three games in '08 could have easily been victories. The Bills would have been 10-6, in the playoffs and likely division champs.

One could argue that in 2007 the Bills lost at least three games due to coaching errors in close contests. Again, they could have been 10-6 and in the playoffs, despite a mid season injury to Trent Edwards.

Having the bi-city perspective on Dick Jauron, it is significant that the same things have been written and said about Jauron in Buffalo that were said about him in Chicago.

In both cities, he has taken talented teams into reverse. There has been a great deal of instability at key positions, especially quarterback under Jauron in Buffalo, just as in Chicago.

It's as if he can't make up his own mind who his starting quarterback should be and the indecision infects the quarterbacks themselves.   

Another popular complaint about Jauron is that he is dispassionate. Fans want to see him get excited about something. They want to see anger and elation. They want to see a pulse.

So the question is; is coaching a tragic flaw for the Bills in 2009?

The answer; more likely than not.

It is still possible that Jauron can find his groove and the team with him? If things go well with TO, then who knows?

Perhaps those who defend Jauron as being a victim of hauntingly similar circumstances in Chicago and Buffalo and having done well, according to his supporters, to achieve a 7-9 record the past two years given the cards he was dealt, will be proven right.

Perhaps if he'd been kept on in Chicago another year or two he would have had a break out year there. Perhaps this will be his break out year. We doubt it, but would enjoy being proven wrong.