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Buffalo Bills’ coach Chan Gailey hit the nail on the head earlier this season when he said the problem with his team was that they couldn’t “finish”. It’s great that the coach had a handle on what his team needed to do to get over the hump, but unfortunately, it’s also his job to figure out HOW to get them over that hump. He and his staff have failed miserably in trying to accomplish that, and Sunday’s crushing 15-12 loss to the St. Louis Rams turned out to be another case of same stuff, different day for long-suffering Bills’ fans. So far this year, the Bills have blown the lead in a shootout game, losing to an inferior Tennessee Titan team 35-34 by allowing a late winning TD drive, and lost another shootout game at New England in which they continuously fought back and put themselves in a position to win at the end, only to have Ryan Fitzpatrick throw a maddening red zone interception to kill the comeback. On Sunday, they found a new way to lose, as their improving defense played a terrific game, playing a hard-fought low-scoring game against the Rams in which they led up until the last few minutes, only to have that defense revert to early-season form and allow an 87 yard touchdown drive to give the Rams the win. Critics will say that once again, Gailey under-utilized C.J. Spiller, as the dynamic back only got 7 carries for 37 yards. That certainly isn’t enough, but at the same time the Ram defense did bottle up the run for the most part, and the Bills did have success throwing. The bottom line is that whatever scheme or attack or defensive alignment that the team uses, they have to find players who execute when it counts – who make plays when the game is on the line and who have a “refuse to lose” attitude. I believe that the current roster already has some of those type of players, but they are being hamstrung by the coaching staff. For instance, the Bills’ defense did a great job of keeping the pressure on Ram QB Sam Bradford for most of the game, then went into a soft zone on the last drive, figuring, I suppose, that Bradford wouldn’t be capable of completing the long drive, especially since his team needed a touchdown to win. It’s actually a sound philosophy that a lot of teams would play the same way. It’s even more sound when the team reaches the red zone – rushing three and flooding the end zone with coverage people to ensure that the opponent doesn’t score. So why have the Bills allowed easy touchdown completions on two separate occasions in that scenario this year? Because this team does not know how to win, and the current coaching staff has shown no sign of being capable of leading them to the point where they will learn how to win.

So now it’s on to three meaningless games to play out the season. It’s imperative that the coaches give some of the young players an opportunity to show what they can do. Among other things, that means giving Marcus Easley a chance to make some plays at receiver and on special teams, and moving Da’Norris Searcy into the starting lineup at safety to build on the flashes of good play he’s shown this year. The fans certainly don’t need to see any more of Ruvell Martin, and they already have ample evidence that George Wilson, a former wide receiver, can’t catch the ball.