I came back for this?????

Really! Just got off the plane late last night from a holiday trip to Florida - visiting family, my dad in particular. Great weather, 81-83 and sunny. But that's almost to be expected - certainly not the 60-degrees I was greeted with jumping off JetBlue's Flight 1120. What a pleasant surprise!

Was it a sign? A premonition of things to come? Could the Bills do the unthinkable - almost like 60+ weather after last week's blizzard - sink the Patriots for the first time since, well, since Lawyer Milloy played his first game as the Bills' starting safety?

Well, of course not! PUh-leeze. The Patriots strode into Orchard Park and do what always do whether the game's in OP, Foxborough, Toronto or Timbuktu. They toyed with the Bills. The final was 13-0, but I suspect the howling 50-plus mph gusts had far more to do with the Pats' low score than anything the Bills did on defense, which didn't play that poorly all things considered.

New England was its usual model of consistency - no make that professionalism. They did EXACTLY what was needed to win. Matt Cassell was just 6-for-8 for 78 yards, but made key plays on the Pats' 43 yard TD drive with a 4th and 5 pass to Wes Welker on the Bills' 14 and on two third down conversions on an 80-yard drive which led to Steve Goskowski's 23-yard field goal.

And Bill Belichik just must chuckle that evil Darth Vader-Dick Cheney-esque chuckle every time he matches up against Dick Jauron. Time-outs in the first quarter with the wind at your back? Brilliant. Cassell's quick kick in the third quarter? Uber-brilliant! Belichik matching sidelines with Jauron is harder to watch than a game of one-on-one between Barack Obama and John McCain.

The Bills spent their final pregame week lauding Jauron - Trent Edwards told the media how much he "loved" his coach. Well they sure have a funny way of showing it. The offense looked like it has much of the season, like a fire drill gone horribly wrong. They did nothing with what few opportunities they had.

With 22 seconds left in the first half, Jauron's offensive coaches inexplicably called for a run, which ran the clock down to 12 seconds. But Duke Preston and Derek Schoulman suffered co-brain cramps and traded shoves with Patriot defenders - like undisciplined players would - while the rest of the offense ran off and tried to get the field goal unit on.

Forget it. No field goal. No field goal attempt. Just Jauron and his players left with beleaguered looks on their faces. Time after time - as they have so many times this season - the Bills couldn't get the right plays in from the sideline in time.

If this is how they play when they love the guy, imagine if they hated his ass ...

I think they do love the Jauron. He runs a light camp. His practices are easy. He doesn't throw anyone - coaches or players - under the media bus. He doesn't build any animosity. Why should he?

He reminds me of the teacher who wants to be the students' pal, or the parent who tries to be his kids' best friend. There's no pressure. He doesn't motivate. He doesn't become the burr under the saddle. He makes them comfortable, and the results show it - three straight years of 7-9.

But every pupil needs to be pushed, to be motivated, to be kicked in the pants when necessary - and here's a "secret" - they crave it. Is it any wonder Jauron's players only get motivated when they're two scores down, or when they're out of the playoff race. In that regard, Jauron is a dismal failure.

There's a lot of coaches with better records who will be out of work in a few weeks. Jerry Jones has said his coaching staff is "in play", yet Ralph Wilson won't commit to Jauron's future. Ralph - for better or worse - isn't Jerry. Too bad, since Bills fans deserve that same commitment to a winning team. Jauron is 55-75 as a head coach, 21-27 with the Bills. The time has come for Jauron's tenure as coach to become "in play." He simply cannot coach the Buffalo Bills.