BY NICK ST. DENIS
New regime, same results. Familiar media, same story.
The Buffalo Bills haven't finished the season with a winning record since 2004, and they're on their way to extending that drought another year, sitting at 3-7 under their fifth head coach in a decade.
Doug Marrone, the latest man to lead the Bills, took a moment Monday to thank reporters for covering his team despite its constant shortcomings. It was an unusual way to open a press conference but showed he's clearly distraught by how the season has unfolded.
"I appreciate the guys that are here and I understand that it gets tiring, after a while, of covering a team that's not able to get themselves over the hump," Marrone said, via ESPN.com. "It becomes very difficult what to write."
The Bills have lost five of their last six games, most recently in a very disappointing offensive showing against the reeling Pittsburgh Steelers.
"There's not a guy here right now that I think wants to write about how well we're doing or how well we're going or how things are in the right direction," Marrone said. "But when you play a game like that, you can't write that. Nor can I get up here and defend that."
Buffalo is all but mathematically eliminated from the playoff race and will almost certainly miss the postseason for the 14th consecutive season. It hosts the division rival New York Jets next Sunday in a last-gasp effort to stay alive.
