Buffalo Bills Analysis: Botched QB Sneak Helps to Seal Jauron's Fate

Every close NFL game has one, two or maybe three plays that turn out to be the big momentum-swinging plays and ultimately decide the contest. If you are on the losing side, those are the plays that you wish you could have a chance to say "do over" or get a mulligan off the tee. 

For the Buffalo Bills, that play occurred towards the end of the third quarter Sunday at Tennessee. The Bills came out of the locker room trailing by a field goal at 17-14, but had driven down the field to score and tie the game up at 17.

The Bills much-maligned defense had forced the Titans to punt and were getting the ball back. All of the aspects that the Bills needed to show improvement in seemed to be clicking.

Their offense was staying on the field for more plays than normal. They were seeing longer drives, and churning up minutes in time of possession. When you hold the ball for 10 plays or more on a drive, that is considered to be a successful drive.

The Bills were last in the NFL at doing that, as they had only been able to muster five drives of 10 plays or more in the first half of the season. So far, they had already done it twice in the game, which had to make the Bills feel good.

Of course, it helped they were facing the Titans defense, which isn't exactly known as the Steel Curtain. They were next to last in the NFL at passing yardage allowed, and they demonstrated that they can still give up the long pass play with the best of them.

Turning Point of the Game

So, with three minutes left in the third quarter, the Bills began a drive at their own 10 yard line. Drive the ball down the field, eat up some clock, and try to score to take the lead was the objective.

The Bills gained nine yards on the first two plays and were faced with a 3rd-and-less-than-a-yard for a first down. This, to me, was the turning point of the game. Trent Edwards attempted a quarterback sneak.

Edwards stood up and was met at the line of scrimmage. He didn't get low enough to avoid getting hit. Edwards was stopped dead in his tracks and the Bills were forced to punt. How often does a QB sneak not work?

In the post-game press conference, Jauron said that the quarterback sneak on 3rd-and-1 was their most successful play. That might have been the case normally, but what Jauron failed to mention was the offensive line at the time happened to include both Seth McKinney and Jake Chambers.

Of all the plays that were available, the Bills found one that would come back and haunt them. The Titans forced the punt. They drove down the field and ultimately scored a touchdown on a one-yard run by All-World RB Chris Johnson and never looked back.

Johnson scored on third down from the one yard line. He was met at the line of scrimmage on a hard hit by Bryan Scott and Paul Posluszny. It almost seemed that the force of impact from both Bills defenders made them bounce off of Johnson, and he was able to absorb the hit, and went in to the end zone to score.

From then on, it was all Tennessee, as they went on to score the final 24 unanswered points that accounted for a final score of 41-17.

The Bills loss gives them a record of 3-6, and the six losses all but guarantees that the Bills will miss the playoffs for the entire decade, and with it fail in the final chance that Dick Jauron had to lead them to the playoffs.

The Bills will probably ask Jauron to finish out the year, but from this point forward, he is now officially a lame duck coach. Quack quack.

Chris Johnson Put on an Amazing Show

After nine games this year, the Bills have only had one player crack the 100 yard mark, when Fred Jackson rushed for over 100 yards against Tampa Bay in Week Two. Chris Johnson was able to single-handedly crack the mark twice in the same game.

Johnson had 100 yards receiving and 132 yards receiving. Very impressive feat. Breaking 100 yards receiving and rushing by the same player is a brand-new feat for the Titans franchise. That has never been done in the history of the team.

Speed Kills

The Bills defense was not fast enough to keep up with Johnson. His ability to outrun the defense was on display all day. Paul Posluszny and Chris Draft in particular looked to be too slow to be able to run him down.

The younger, more athletic Bills like Aaron Maybin and Nic Harris did not have a tackle for the entire game. I don't know how many plays they were in for, but you would think the Bills would have tried to utilize their speed and athleticism.

Being short-handed and without the services of leading tackler Keith Ellison, their fastest defensive back in Terrence McGee and defensive lineman Kyle Williams was too much for the Bills to overcome.

When the Bills seemed to have an answer for Johnson on some plays, that meant there wasn't anyone left to keep an eye on Vince Young. The quarterback was able to use his legs and elusiveness to scramble and pick up some key first downs that kept drives alive.

Converting on Third Down

The Titans converted on third down 11 out of 17 tries, and the majority of those came on runs by Chris Johnson, swing or screen passes to Chris Johnson, or scrambles by Vince Young. The Bills defense lacked the speed, mobility or athleticism to stop them on most 3rd-and-long scenarios.

The Titans successfully converted on all of these: 3rd-and-6, 3rd-and-8, 3rd-and-10, 3rd-and-9, 3rd-and-8, 3rd-and-10, and finally for further insult, 3rd-and-14. There is just no excuse for that. I know there have been a number of injuries, but you have to find ways to take away their best options and make the lesser players beat you.

Streaks Intact

Jairus Byrd came up with another interception as he picked off a Vince Young pass in the first half. That means he now has made picks in five straight games. Byrd is amazing and the Titans stopped throwing the ball down the middle of the field after the pick.

The Titans were convinced, so they just scrapped that part of their offense. They settled for short screens to Chris Johnson, and when they weren't throwing it to him, they handed it off to him. Then they handed it off to him some more.

Speaking of Johnson, he did manage to continue his streak of two rushing touchdowns for the third straight game.

More Bills Injuries

Bills tackle Demetrius Bell was injured in the first half and he did not return. The injury forced the depleted offensive line to make some changes, as the Bills had no healthy alternatives at tackle for Bell.

So, they operated with a makeshift line in the second half with Andy Levitre moving over to tackle and reserve Seth McKinney came in to play guard. The Bills played the second half with Seth McKinney and Jake Chambers, which helps to account for the lone field goal in the second half.

No wonder the quarterback sneak did not work. Maybe the Bills will finally go out and sign a free-agent veteran to plug in until Jamon Meredith returns. Paging Jon Runyan...

Also, Ashton Youbody was injured in the game, but no word yet on severity of the injury.

Trent Edwards Returned to Action

Trent Edwards had some reasonably successful drives today. It was good to see him back under center as he had been gone for roughly one month. Trent did some things well, but still does some things that drive you crazy.

Quarterbacks are either play-makers or they are not. Trent Edwards is not a play-maker.

He has trouble making something happen when a play breaks down and he has to improvise. As often as this happens to the Bills offense, Edwards' lack of improvisation skills is something that will always limit the Bills production.

Compare the improvisation you saw today from Vince Young to what you see from Edwards. The difference is as plain as night and day. Young constantly found ways to make plays that were not drawn up on the board, because he is mobile.

Edwards final drive resulted in a couple errant throws to T.O., and then on third down he kept watching the receiver Josh Reed the whole way on the pattern. It was very easy for the Titans to step in front of the pass and return it for an easy touchdown.

That type of play is something I could see a rookie doing. But in his third year, Edwards should be better than that, but he isn't. That is why there are so many questions surrounding his ability to be a top-flight quarterback.

T.O. Has Some Production then Blows Up on Sidelines .

T.O. was challenged throughout the day by the Titans defense. They hit him often and some of the hits could easily have been flagged as unnecessary roughness after the whistle blew. He did come up with over 75 yards receiving and caught two long passes. Better production was expected against a softer Titans pass defense.

After some more mistakes by the Bills offense, T.O. came off the field and started yelling at whoever would listen to him. It was the first true meltdown that we saw from him this season. I suspect that more of these outbursts will occur with each successive loss.

Losing is something that T.O. has not had to endure often. In his post-game press conference he said he has never been on a losing team before. T.O., welcome to the Bills.

More and More Penalties

The Bills already led the league in illegal motion penalties, and they padded their lead with at least four more of them today. Some of them came to guys that didn't play much like McKinney, but other flags in the game were attributed to rookies Eric Wood and Andy Levitre.

Bills Have Some Success in Wildcat...err...Wild Turkey Offense

I know the Dolphins run the wildcat offense, and the NFL is notorious for copying each other. Since it is almost Thanksgiving, and I feel like the Bills version should have their own nickname, so why not Wild Turkey?

Have you ever drank or ate a Wildcat? No. You can definitely drink Wild Turkey and it tastes better.

Anyway, the Bills ran out of the Wild Turkey with some running plays to Freddy Jackson. They ultimately threw the ball out of the Wild Turkey as Freddy hit Lee Evans for a 27 yard touchdown. It was a pretty pass, hitting him in stride.

This was something they practiced over the bye week. The other new wrinkle I saw was using both Marshawn Lynch with Freddy Jackson in the backfield at the same time while Edwards was under center. We have been asking for that formation for weeks.

That pretty well covers it. Bills travel to Jacksonville next Sunday for another game to see how well this team can respond to more adversity.