MDH

Probably because a Brown came up with the ball.

Hopefully he's okay...for next week's game.

I saw a quote from Byrd where he said it was Marrone's call on whether he played or not Until I hear differently from Marrone or the Bills I'm going to assume this is accurate. http://blogs.buffalonews.com/press-coverage/2013/10/jairus-byrd-stresses-he-wants-to-play-remains-uncertain-this-week.html

You think the Bills get no attention/press now. Imagine if they were in your "Dying City Division?"

Let's hope the Bills dominate the Dojo!

We won't know if this is the same old Bills team until the regular season ends. Over the past 13 years this team has won plenty of games early in the season and looked like they've turned things around only to tank the second half of the season.

I kinda feel for SJ. That stat line last week was brutal and his play wasn't bad. He was wide open over the middle on the first drive for what would have been a 10-15 yard gain but EJ threw the ball behind him. He had a spectacular 10 yard catch wiped out on the first drive because of a pass interference penalty against him which the Bills accepted (the penalty was a guaranteed first down instead of being a measurement.) He was also wide open down the sideline for an easy TD but the pass rush forced EJ to get rid of the ball quickly and he overthrew SJ. Those are all just off the top of my head. I have no doubt that if I looked at the all 22 I'd see him open plenty of other times.

You say EJ is a liabiity with ball security and then go on to criticize Hackett for a primitive offensive scheme. You don't think these two things go hand and hand? Until EJ shows the ability to run a more complex offense, make good decisions and not turn the ball over we're going to continue to see a simplified version of the offense. As to the OP's question. I don't see the Bills being able to run the ball at all tonight and I don't think they'll have much success passing either. It's going to be ugly and we have to hope the Bills D can make it just as ugly for the Browns' O. The team who either gets a TD out of their D /ST and/or gets one or two big plays from their O will end up winning. I'm not even sure the Bills winning the turnover battle in and of itself is enough given their struggles with their red zone offense. Two TDs and a FG will be enough to win this game, let's see which team can manage it.

Agreed, white jersey/blue pants is about as good as an NFL uniform gets.

1. I agree that defensive play counts need to be looked at as well but it's pretty safe to assume that if total offensive plays are up league wide then so are total defensive plays (since a D has to be on the field against those offenses.) 2. This is an interesting point and one I hadn't considered. I wonder if there are fewer injuries in the 4th quarter of games than in the 1st (or 2nd.) It seems like that would be a good indication that fatigue does or doesn't contribute to injuries. 3. The problem with your history is that nobody has really looked into it in any great detail. It seems pretty obvious that the more snaps a player plays the more likely it is for him to get hurt. Not because those extra plays are more dangerous but simply because they're additional chances to get injured. As I mentioned in the original post, the Bills are on pace to have 2 extra games worth of snaps this season. I don't think I've ever seen back to back games where absolutely nobody got hurt. It seems that with 168 extra plays there's a fairly strong likely hood that an injury or two would occur.

It's funny how he was an injury risk coming into the league. He's hardly missed any time during his career. Of course, he lost of lot of his explosion and was never the same player he was in college but he's been steady and solid.

You're assuming the injury bug isn't going to continue biting them...

I'm thinking 1-1 as well. I actually think the Cincy game is the easier of the two. At home vs. a good D is a lot easier than on the road vs. a good D.

If the Bills entertain any hopes of making the playoffs this game is almost must win given their upcoming schedule. They have to be able to win a few road games and this is the easiest of the bunch this season. Also, they don't get 17 days off, they'll get 9. But still your point is valid, they'll have time to nurse some of these injures and hopefully come back vs. Cincy almost full strength.

If they can stay healthy and continue to grow this draft class looks like the best one in a decade. I can't wait to get Goodwin back and see what he can do.

We're talking 4 games here. You think that for every 4 game stretch he should be on that list? Why not wait and see how the entire season plays out and then complain instead of looking at a tiny sample size? Also, that's purely a pass rushing stat, Mario is very good when it comes to stopping the run. I'd be interested to know what his entire grade is and compare it to the rest of the league.

I agree with pretty much everything you said except the car analogy. Driving in a car, if no accident happens, isn't damaging to you. Football is, even if you don't sustain an injury. The additional contact, the small trauma to the head, over and over again has a cumulative effect. Wouldn't you say the more you play the more injuries you're likely to have though? The league, on average, has more plays per game this year. It's up quite a bit so far (though it's a small sample size - only 4 games.) As far as the injuries in previous years, yeah, they have. But just because you play less plays from scrimmage in one year doesn't mean for that one year injuries will be down for a team. It's a matter of chance and with a smaller sample size (like one year) you'll have larger deviations. This is why the Bills injuries so far this year could just be an aberration. It'll take more games/seasons to really know for sure (and somebody putting in the time/effort to examine the data.)

Why does everything have to end up as JP vs. Flutie. Why do fans feel the need to pick "their guy" and make it a them vs. us mentality? Run them both. Keep them fresh. Who cares who is out there on the first snap of the game?

This has been a topic of discussion in college football for a few years but I haven't really seen it discussed here. If you do a google search of "hurry up offense injury risk" quite a few articles pop up from the past few years. Here's one from SI.com that's pretty good: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20130711/hurry-up-offense-safety-concerns/ There are a few arguments pointing to a higher injury risk with the hurry up. One, more plays equals more opportunity for injury. Last year the median number of plays a team ran on offense was 63.4 (I'm too lazy to do the mean and I couldn't quickly find the stat.) This year the Bills are averaging 72 offensive snaps per game (2nd most in the league.) That's a difference of 8.6 plays per game and 137.6 plays during the season. Divide that by the median and it says that over the coarse of the year that's over 2 games worth of plays - and hits - that the players go through. Remember all the hoopla about player safety and why the NFL shouldn't add 2 more games to the schedule? Well, there are your two games right there. There's also the argument about player fatigue causing more injuries. When players get tired their technique suffers and thus they are more susceptible to injury. With the Bills' injuries piling up it's worth raising the question.

Benching Spiller, as most have mentioned, borders on a moronic idea. The Bills do well with their two headed RB attack. Sitting Spiller for the Browns game is probably a good idea. The way Spiller runs his ankles are of upmost importance. His ability to plant and cut requires healthy ankles. If he plays tonight he'll be a shell of his normal self and he could injure himself further. I'd rather have a healthy Spiller moving forward than him trying to tough it out and making matters worse.

Not sure why it's absurd. Cleveland's D is very good and the Bills O has two injured RB's who may not be able to finish the game. Combine that with a rookie QB in a prime time road game and it spells tough to score. Without some turnovers that puts the O in good positions I don't see the Bills driving the length of the field and putting the ball in the end zone either.

The Browns D has shut down every running game. They're the best D in the league against the run allowing 2.9ypa. The longest run the've allowed all season was for 14 yards. With a limited Spiller/Jackson this will be very tough going for the Bills O.

Actually, that's the boldest prediction of all. It's the only one of the three that predicts a specific record. That being said, I wasn't bold, I picked below .500. Too many injuries to overcome.

I went Dareus. Nobody is getting picks if the DL isn't stuffing the run, forcing the pass and getting pressure on Flacco. That was Dareus' best game as a Bill and everything the Bills D did yesterday started in the middle of the Bills DL.

It was Spiller at the 1 before the half.