Bills meltdown in Miami

The Miami Dolphins staged its second biggest comeback in team history, overcoming a 23-3 deficit to beat the Buffalo Bills with only 6 seconds on the clock 24-23. The Bills Nation is still in a state of shock and the aftershocks of this colossal meltdown may be felt for a long time.

After roaring to a quick 21-0 lead over the Miami Dolphins, the Buffalo Bills offense went conservative and never scored again. J.P. Losman hurled two long bombs ( 46 and 56 yards) to receiver Lee Evans to quickly take a 14-0 lead. Losman hit Evans for a 4-yard strike and then the Bills offense went to sleep.

Losman had a chance to seal the game away in the third quarter when he led the Bills down to the 3 yard line. Instead of trying to ram it in, the Bills coaches had Losman go to the air. His first pass was picked off and the Dolphins never looked back as they stole the momentum completely away from the Bills.

One of the key plays of the game was, ironically, when the Bills sacked Gus Frerotte in the endzone for a safety. Frerotte suffered a concussion on the play and never returned. Bills fans were rejoicing as Sage Rosenfels came in as the quarterback. Rosenfels had a horrid performance his last time he played, but against the Bills, he was more like John Elway. He led the Dolphins down the field for drives of 70, 49 and 73 yards, all of which resulted in touchdowns. The last one was on 4^th down from the 4 with 6 seconds left. Rosenfels tossed the ball to the left side of the endzone and Chambers leaped up over Jabari Greer to grab the winning touchdown.

VIEW FROM THE CHEAP SEATS

This has to go down as one of the most disappointing games in Bills history. There have been blowouts and games lost at the last second, and too many heartbreaks to remember. However, to be up 21-0 halfway through the first quarter and 23-3 in the 4th quarter, only to blow it has many Bills fans calling for the head of head coach Mike Mulakey.

Losman showed that he has great potential with his first quarter performance, but he also made two glorious mistakes that killed the Bills. One was the pick he threw from the 3 yard line. Losman was on the sidelines hitting the ground with his fists after and looking totally disgusted. Maybe he knew that could be the turning point of the game. The other was when he was sacked and fumbled the ball.

"I've seen it happen many times on TV, but to have it happen to you really smacks you in the face," vented a shocked Losman. "Nobody will know how this feels unless they've been in the locker room. I can't really describe it, because I'm no Shakespeare."

Losman’s total for the day were 13 out of 26 for 224 yards and 3 touchdowns to go along with the one interception and lost fumble. After hitting 3 TD strikes to Evans, the Dolphins started to put pressure on Losman and got to him several times.

The Bills defense couldn’t stop Rosenfels after he came in. The had sacked Frerotte three times and constantly were blitzing, but they never came close to putting a finger on Rosenfels. He had all day to set up and took full advantage of that.

The Bills coaching once again gets failing grades. The Bills had a chance to run out the clock after Aaron Schobel picked off a Rosenfels pass with just over 2 minutes remaining. But the Bills had three runs stuffed and had to punt. The had to put in at least one pass to try to extend the chains and run out the clock, but stuck to the run. Also, on the defensive side, they stopped blitzing once Frerotte went out.

"You can't play like the game was over, but maybe we played like the game was over," said Mularkey. "We didn't finish the job." Maybe after this letdown, his days with the Bills will be finished.

Bills owner Ralph Wilson has to make a big decision after the season about GM Tom Donahoe. He may also make a move to get a better head coach.

The Bills have never made the playoffs since Donahoe has been their GM. He also has made some dubious decisions, such as the hiring of two rookie head coaches, the Drew Bledsoe trade, the draft pick of Mike Williams, who is a bust after going 4th overall. Also, he has never really addressed the offensive line, outside of Williams. He is constantly bringing in 3rd rate players that wouldn't even make it as backups on most teams. Bledsoe is a good example of how important an offensive line is. In Buffalo, he was a sitting duck. In Dallas, Bledsoe is reborn again and has his Cowboys contending for the NFC Eastern championship.

The theory goes that Ralph Wilson is comfortable with Donahoe. At his ripe old age of 87, some say that old Ralph doesn't want to make a major overhaul right now. There was a report that stated Donahoe could still be on the hot seat and may get the ax after the season is over. The Bills have not made any progress since Donahoe has taken over...in fact, they've gone backwards.

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