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Gregg Williams failed to make the playoffs in three years as coach of the Buffalo Bills. He will not get another chance.
The team on Monday announced Williams, who just completed the final year of his contract, will not return in 2004.
Williams compiled a 17-31 record with the Bills, including a 6-10 mark this past season. Buffalo dropped seven of its last nine games and ended the year with a 31-0 loss to the New England Patriots on Saturday.
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Ironically, Buffalo opened the season with a 31-0 shutout of the Patriots. They
followed with a 38-17 victory at Jacksonville, but struggled offensively the
rest of the way and collapsed down the stretch.
"We weren't able to do as well as I thought we would this season, but I believe this club has a good strong nucleus and can take the next step," Williams said at an afternoon news conference. "I'm just sorry I wasn't able to get us to the next level."
Williams was done in by an offense which ranked among the league's worst a year after finishing among the NFL's best under coordinator Kevin Gilbride.
The Bills were tied for 30th in the NFL with an average of 15.2 points per game, ranked 30th in total yards with 271.8 and 28th in passing yards with 167.8.
Quarterback Drew Bledsoe threw for just 11 touchdowns, his worst total besides the 2001 season, in which he appeared in only two games. And the 11-year veteran passed for 2,860 yards, his fewest in a year in which he's started 13 or more games.
"It has been surreal," Bledsoe said after Saturday's season-ending loss at New England. "Based on the way that the season started, you never would have guessed that that is the way that it would've ended."
Williams spent 11 years
with the Tennessee Titans, including four as defensive coordinator, before taking
the Bills' job in February 2001.