Schonert Rips Jauron

John Murphy of Buffalo News 4 spoke with Schonert about his dismissal.

He [Jauron] told me the offense wasn’t simple enough for him, we had too many formations, too many plays...I didn’t simplify to his liking. He wants a Pop Warner offense...He limited me in formations, limited in plays...he’s been on my back all offseason.

Zing! Criticizing Dick Jauron’s conservative play-calling is always a crowd pleaser (isn’t that right Bears fans?). But was it warranted in this case? Let’s recap the Bills’ offseason. Schonert installed a no-huddle attack as the Bills’ base offense. The offense - particularly the first string, who did not score a touchdown in the preseason - struggled picking up the new scheme. Jauron asked Schonert to scale-down the playbook due to the apparent difficulties the players were having with it. Schonert refused. Jauron fired him. Schonert complained that Jauron is a football dinosaur.

But was Jauron being unreasonable here? The best that can be said for Schonert is that Terrell Owens missed the entire preseason, and that his presence would have made the no-huddle click. This seems highly unlikely. Trent Edwards would still be the starting quarterback, and whether he’ll ever be anything more than a slightly below average starter in the league is not clear. Why put the offense entirely in his hands - which the no-huddle does - when the Bills have a solid 1-2 rushing attack with Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson? Shouldn’t they be running the ball to set up deep play-action passes to Owens and Lee Evans?

I can’t believe I’m typing this, but here it is: Dick Jauron was right.