"Give Chan Gailey credit for taking the bullet after the Bills' loss to the Dolphins. Gailey said he did a "poor job" of designing the running game. It showed.

The new coach had an entire offseason to prepare. You'd expect a man of his presumed offensive intellect to have his running game ready for the opener.

Gailey, who doubles as offensive coordinator, called only 14 running plays all day. After all the talk about having three starting running backs, he gave up on the run at halftime. Gailey put his trust in quarterback Trent Edwards, who had a miserable afternoon against a swarming Miami defense in the windy conditions at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

The coach was hard on himself, but he was a little protective of his quarterback. That's not surprising when you consider that he handed Edwards the starting job in a phantom competition. Gailey said Edwards made some "great throws." I recall just one exceptional throw, the 31-yard TD pass to wide-open Roscoe Parrish in the fourth quarter.

Lee Evans, the veteran wide receiver, wasn't quite so kind. Evans, asked about the lack of throws down the field Sunday, said the coaches called several deep throws. He said "most" of the plays on the final series were supposed to be down the field.

"We called some shots," said Evans. "We didn't always take them, for whatever reason."

Evans used that phrase more than once. "For whatever reason," deep balls are called but not attempted. Some of it, no doubt, is the abysmal pass protection. But we've been down this road before. Last season, Evans and Terrell Owens both said Edwards needed to take more shots downfield and trust his receivers.

It was an issue then. It was an issue until Edwards lost his job to Ryan Fitzpatrick, and it remains an issue today. The Bills got the ball back at their own 20-yard line with 29 seconds left in the game. Edwards threw short four times. In that situation, don't you heave it long once or twice, hoping for a penalty, a tipped ball, some sort of miracle?"