"Mistake on the Lake Bowl?" Toilet Bowl? Whatever you want to call it, it was raw sewage. In what some are calling the worst game in modern NFL history, the Bills and Browns tried to outdo each other in making mistakes. In the end, it was a huge mistake by Roscoe Parrish, a mishandling of a punt that gave the Browns the ball in the red zone with just over 2 minutes to go.

Try as they might, the Browns still tried to bungle their attempt to win the game, and couldn't get a touchdown. But they made a field goal and that was enough to beat the Bills 6-3.

The Bills can now say they are the worst team in the NFL by losing this game. There may be other winless teams, but give them the opportunity to play the Bills and they will find victory ready to embrace them.

The Parrish fumble was just the icing on the cake. Take away the fumble and the Bills still would have found a way to lose. It was late in the game and the Bills were receiving the punt. Parrish allowed it to land on the 32 and it rolled all the way back to the 16 where he made an effort to pick it up an run, however he never could get the ball in his grasp and the Browns pounced on it and eventually the win.

"I was undecided back there," admitted Parrish. "I just thought I was going to get that bounce, and it comes back to my hands because earlier in my career I had returned a ball like that. It was just a tough deal for me. But I have to keep my head up and keep going. This is what I do, return punts and be able to make plays. One play can change all that."

False starts from the getgo

Nine false starts by the patchwork offensive line! Penalties are directly the responsibility of the head coach and his assistants. They had had the whole training camp, preseason and now 5 games to work them out of the system. When they keep on happening, and even increase dramatically, then the head coach gets the blame. He's not getting the message across.

Dick Jauron must take ownership of the 13 penalties the Bills committed. It shows that his team is ill-prepared for the games. Instead of having a "Club Med" atmosphere during training camp, where the players hardly ever hit and do walk throughs, the Bills need a tough coach to whip the players into shape.

The most laughable (yet maddening) fact is that the last time the Browns won a game, it was nearly a year ago, last November. Leave it to the Bills to account for their two wins in 11 games. Ten straight losses and coming into Buffalo limping. There was that Monday night loss last November and that loss the year before in that Cleveland Blizzard.

With the Browns coming in 4-0, this was the chance for the Bills to finally right their ship. Instead the Bills played down to their competition and then some.

The two quarterbacks should be kicked out of the league for their performances. Browns QB Derek Anderson had a total of 2 out of 17 attempts for a horrendous 23 yards. His counterpart, Trent Edwards had better numbers, but that didn’t satisfy the Bills fans who constantly booed him off the field. Edwards was 16 of 31 for 152 yards. Neither team could get into the endzone, and it was the kickers who were the only salvation to what could have ended up in a 0-0 tie.

The fish rots at the head

The writing has been on the wall for years now. It message is clear, but fans just don't want to acknowledge it. The message is from owner Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. It reads: "The commitment of this franchise is all about making money, not about winning on the field."

In line with that philosophy, if the Bills do win on the field, it's an extra bonus, mostly for the fans. What Wilson demands is that he gets the games all sold out, including his one or two games in Toronto. If attendance starts to slip, then he makes threats about moving to another city. This is what it's all about, lining Ralph's pockets so that he has enough money to take with him when he goes to the Field of Wilson's Dreams.

Fans can yell and scream at the owner, threaten to boycott the team if they don't produce on the field, but they still end up buying up the season tickets. And Ralph laugh's all the way to the bank.

Wilson was supposed to receive his Hall of Fame ring during a halftime ceremony. Wilson apparently didn't want to face the wrath of the fans and chickened out. There wasn't a ceremony and it wasn't even announced to the crowd that ring presentation wasn't happening. It was typical for the organization. The team didn't show and their owner didn't either.

It came as no surprise when Wilson announced that he will not make a change at head coach Monday afternoon. As of now and probably for the rest of the season, Dick Jauron will remain as head coach. With a $8 million contract weighing him down around his neck (the remainder of Jauron’s 3-year, $9 million contract), Wilson doesn't want to eat that salary. All one has to do is to ask Wade Phillips about how Ralph feels about paying off contracts after he has fired his coach.

"Yesterday was so bad that it's hard to make a decision right now," said Wilson Monday. "I'm not going to make any decisions during the middle of the season right now. At least right now."

So the Bills fans will have to decide whether they want to continue to shell their hard earned dollars for season tickets next year (when Jauron is still the HC) or to find better place to spend their money.

Copyright © 2009 Bills Thunder & Rick Anderson, all rights reserved.