BillBoard

No doubt a lot of Bills fans were unhappy to hear that Dick Jauron is still in place as the team's head coach. The decision to keep Jauron may have caught people by surprise, especially after that 6-3 loss to the Cleveland Browns.

But owner Ralph C. Wilson Jr. said Monday afternoon that he did not want to make a change in the middle of the season, though he did reserve the right to change his mind at a later date.

"[Sunday] was so bad that it's hard to make a decision right now,'' Wilson said prior to the Monday Quarterback Club luncheon at HSBC Arena. "I'm not going to make any decisions during the middle of the season right now. At least right now.''

Asked if that meant Jauron was safe for the rest of the season or at least beyond this week, Wilson added, "I don't know. I'll tell you what. Whatever I say now is going to be twisted around. If I say exactly what I think, whether it's right or wrong, it's going to be twisted around, so I just don't want to talk about it [further].''

Whether Wilson is willing to acknowledge it or not, it is clear that Bills fans have had enough of Jauron. He's got to be the most unpopular of the four coaches who succeeded Marv Levy, who stepped down after the 1997 season. A Buffalo News poll showed that 90 percent of the 5,000 voters want him fired. Jauron also received the lowest approval ratings (four percent) of all 32 NFL head coaches in an ESPN poll.

Perhaps Wilson wants to see how the team responds on Sunday at the New York Jets. The Bills travel to Carolina following week before returning home to face Houston before the bye week. If the Bills lost the next two games, especially by lopsided margins, it would be hard to believe that Wilson could let Jauron coach another game at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Then again, it's hard to believe that Wilson didn't cut the cord with his coach before this season.

Wilson tried to lay the blame for the Bills' troubles on their young offensive line, but he failed to mention that their O-line problems were self-inflicted. The Bills traded Pro Bowl left tackle Jason Peters and then decided Langston Walker was an adequate replacement before choosing to cut him loose in favor of second-year pro Demetrius Bell. The Bills have the second youngest offensive line in the NFL this decade.

Jauron wouldn't address his job status during his Monday news conference, but was willing to accept the blame for the Bills' failures.

"That's the job in that position, and I clearly haven't been able to reach them to help them particularly in these last three games to get them over the hump, to get us where we win,'' he said. "I understand the criticism.''

---Allen Wilson