I'm not upset about this season...

[mannc]

I've always suspected it had to do with players playing out of position and with poor technique. No idea if that's empirically correct, though.

I think it is the result of being physically outmatched on both sides of the line of scrimmage, week after week. They are a finess team that just gets the crap beaten out of them.

[tbonehawaii]

Two reasons. First, Donahoe/G. Williams were dumb enough to let the best strength and conditioning coach in the NFL go, that is Rusty Jones. We had better conditioned athletes under him and several players swore by his methods (rather than swearing at him). Do you think Dareus would have a flabby gut with Jones around? If Dareus can do the conditioning and weight loss that Jones had Bruce Smith do, Dareus might become an impact player (rather than impacted).

THAT RUSTY MOVE IN PARTICULAR I NEVER UNDERSTOOD. DURING THE SUPERBOWL YEARS THEY WERE ALWAYS RELATIVELY HEALTHY. WTF?

[NoSaint]

Pretty basic formula

 

1) playing from behind, the other team can get more physical (run the ball!)

2) we aren't saving guys spots in the 53 for January like a good team needs to

3) we were undersized

4) losing teams have bad players, bad players make mistakes, mistakes injure you

5) every team gets injuries

[Wilson's Ears]

another reason is that we like to sign the re-treads of the nfl and other leagues as well as the large number of undrafted free agents. durability issues are a reason why most of these guys fall through the draft and are frequently released by other teams.

[Dark Fan]

I keep hearing people make excuses for Buffalo being injured, with rebuttals that injuries are no excuse, RE: 2010 Packers. My question is this: Why does Buffalo always seem to be one of the leaders in the NFL in injuries, guys put on IR. I'm not talking out for a few weeks, I mean out for the season. My observation is, yeah, we have little depth on both sides of the ball, but damn! We seem to have guys go down all the time. Is this a coincidence? Is something wrong with our strength and conditioning coaches? Do we not know how to tackle? Fall right?

 

I watched Fitz today be off the mark a lot, with (I almost hate to say it) Brad Smith making a few nice plays to bail out what could have been a disastrous first half. Nelson caught a slant today with his ribs clearly exposed and (this time) he held on after a big pop. Spiller missed a cross when the ball was behind him. Fitz' lack of accuracy cannot help, but that doesn't explain injuries at every position.

 

Thoughts?

Injuries to top line players exposes little depth which directly results from a combo of poor front office drafting and a cheap owner.As far as why key players tend to get IR'd for the season, its a maddening trend that Im convinced it has to do with a perennial losing organization/culture, Im just not sure how exactly.

[8-8 Forever?]

I've always suspected it had to do with players playing out of position and with poor technique. No idea if that's empirically correct, though.

 

Not sure what we have right now. I hope the loss of Fred and Eric Wood and Easley and Parrish and Evans and Jones has made a difference. Not completely sure about Fitz.. whatever. the draft will be interesting. We still have 4 rookies starting on defense and that is scary.

[Wilson's Ears]

...and yes, every team has injuries, but the good teams are able to compensate for them with quality reserves. something we don't have because our starters would be reserves on other squads...!!!

[billsfreak]

I keep hearing people make excuses for Buffalo being injured, with rebuttals that injuries are no excuse, RE: 2010 Packers. My question is this: Why does Buffalo always seem to be one of the leaders in the NFL in injuries, guys put on IR. I'm not talking out for a few weeks, I mean out for the season. My observation is, yeah, we have little depth on both sides of the ball, but damn! We seem to have guys go down all the time. Is this a coincidence? Is something wrong with our strength and conditioning coaches? Do we not know how to tackle? Fall right?

 

I watched Fitz today be off the mark a lot, with (I almost hate to say it) Brad Smith making a few nice plays to bail out what could have been a disastrous first half. Nelson caught a slant today with his ribs clearly exposed and (this time) he held on after a big pop. Spiller missed a cross when the ball was behind him. Fitz' lack of accuracy cannot help, but that doesn't explain injuries at every position.

 

Thoughts?

We don't have any more injuries on average then any other team, it is just that our starters are borderline starters in alot of cases, and in the majority of cases our depth and backups are pathetic, it just highlights the injuries more. The Packers had more players on IR then anyone last year, but because they have a clue they had good depth to keep it rolling. Most teams don't throw millions at players like Merriman either, when everyone outside of his immediate family knew he wouldn't last more then 5 or 6 games.

Edited December 4, 2011 by billsfreak

[opfball91]

Donahoe/G. Williams were dumb enough to let the best strength and conditioning coach in the NFL go, that is Rusty Jones. We had better conditioned athletes under him and several players swore by his methods (rather than swearing at him). Do you think Dareus would have a flabby gut with Jones around? If Dareus can do the conditioning and weight loss that Jones had Bruce Smith do, Dareus might become an impact player (rather than impacted).

Dareus played a great game today, he was shedding blocks and making tackles parallel to the line of scrimmage. He's not a pass rusher, at least not yet, he's a defensive tackle and he's good.

[bbb]

Less talented football players get beat up by more talented football players. I think it's as simple as that.

[BobChalmers]

Injuries are a factor -- for sure. But they are not the only reason. A lot of the injured players you noted would not have made a big impact if they were healthy. Shawn Merrimen was non-existent when he was playing. Donald Jones has a few nice catches but was no game changer. Chris Kelsay, as usual, was often very silent.

 

You can rely on injuries alone for the reason this team fell apart. Coaching and the overall low talent level collectively caught up to them

 

Merriman actually was helping a lot. He was creating some pressure, even without getting sacks.

 

Their pass-rush has gotten even worse since he (and KW) have been out.

 

Hard to believe - because it wasn't great before - but they are record-setting bad now.

 

The last few games they haven't even gotten close to the opposing QB - it's actually bizzarre - far and away the worst I can ever remember seeing.

Edited December 5, 2011 by BobChalmers

[Buffalo Beeeews]

Good teams know how to overcome and compensate accordingly when injuries occur. PERIOD!

[BillsVet]

Still waiting on another thread for someone to name me the NFL franchise that is THREE-DEEP at OLT.

 

The losing streak began when they started moving Levitre around.

 

They've looked better since getting Hairston back - but then they were missing Freddy and Wood, and a lot of the defense.

 

I didn't know Buffalo was one deep at OLT. Bell is healthy, but does not play which tells me the coaching staff thinks little of him. Have you been to a game and looked at Chris Hairston up close? He's got one of the worst bodies I've ever seen on an OL. He has knock-knees and isn't anything I'd consider solid depth at this point. This is a guy who needs a lot of work, which is what scouts said when he was drafted.

 

The losing streak began when the Bills were figured out. It happened in Cincinnati, and since then they've proceeded to go 2-5. Press their receivers, force Fitz to throw outside the hash-marks, and it shuts them down. George Edwards runs the defense, so no problem there for opponents.

[DFITZ1]

Dareus played a great game today, he was shedding blocks and making tackles parallel to the line of scrimmage. He's not a pass rusher, at least not yet, he's a defensive tackle and he's good.

 

I bet if he turns that belly flab into muscle, he will be a great one, including a pass rusher. Bruce Smith went from good to HOF by conditioning to Rusty Jones's methods.

[TPS]

My two assumptions for predicting a 10-6 season were a healthy Merriman and a healthy Bell.

 

Of the two, I'd say the KEY issue for the Bills has been the absolute lack of pressure on the QB. This is the #1 priority next year.

[BADOLBILZ]

Injuries are the excuse of bad franchises. Our D was bad before the injuries. And our slide started before most of the injuries occurred.

 

This is the truth. They weren't going to keep winning with that defense. Even with Merriman and Williams they were getting rag-dolled for 450 yards per game. They did not have the LB play to keep up their turnover pace.

[GeorgeEdwardsTeeth]

Merriman actually was helping a lot. He was creating some pressure, even without getting sacks.

 

Their pass-rush has gotten even worse since he (and KW) have been out.

 

Hard to believe - because it wasn't great before - but they are record-setting bad now.

 

The last few games they haven't even gotten close to the opposing QB - it's actually bizzarre - far and away the worst I can ever remember seeing.

 

This is extremely debatable. I think it's easier in hindsight to say this, but the defense actually gave up more yards with him starting. I don't recall anyone saying that Merrimen was an important part of the defense when he was active. He was regarded as "the invisible man."

 

My two assumptions for predicting a 10-6 season were a healthy Merriman and a healthy Bell.

 

Of the two, I'd say the KEY issue for the Bills has been the absolute lack of pressure on the QB. This is the #1 priority next year.

 

When he was playing Merrimen has hardly any impact rushing the passer.

[BobChalmers]

Less talented football players get beat up by more talented football players. I think it's as simple as that.

 

 

Uh huh.

 

So that explains why Wood, Kyle Williams, and Fred Jackson were lost for the year? Yeah, "simple as that". Whatever.

 

 

There's an awful lot of complainers here who want to find new excuses to whine about the front office. If that's your entertainment, go for it, but can anyone bring some actual facts that line up with reality?

 

And yet more depth comments, but still no answer to my question about all the other teams and their 3rd string OLTs.

 

 

Btw - I was watching some of the Ravens today - guess what one of the main themes was:

 

They have been lucky this year to have very few injuries. Only 3. Guess maybe that's why they're 9-3, huh? Injuries are "no excuse" - except that they have a lot to do with who wins and loses in the NFL - and it's often just bad luck.

[IronyAbounds]

Crappy drafting leads to less depth. Remaining considerably under the salary cap leads to less depth. Bad DC leads to bad defense. Relying on a mediocre QB as your future leads to lack of improvement. Someone noted earlier that the Bills have a lot of FAs after the year end, some of whom may be resigned but others won't. The NFL is a continual rebuilding project and good organizations know how to deal with that. It not only shouldn't take 3 or 4 years to turn a team around, it almost can't because of free agency and injuries. It isn't like you can keep all your good players every year and only jettison the bad ones. Players leave, are hurt or otherwise don't pan out. The best organizations (NE, Pittsburgh, Baltimore) win consistently because they are always able to adapt to roster turnover. The middling organizations have ups and downs, but take advantage of the NFL's scheduling breaks and the draft to make the playoffs at least once every two or three years. The utter crap organizations, with the Bills perhaps being the poster child for that particular category, are ALWAYS in rebuilding mode and never are able to put together a quality team. They make stupid drafting errors (McCargo, Maybin and Spiller being prime examples), hire mediocre coaches that are rejects from other teams (Jauron and Gailey, come on down!) and for the most part make all decisions based on the perceived financial consequences - in other words, sucking on the tit of the NFL's socialist system, while ignoring the financial benefits of actually having a winning team. Add in an owner who has one foot out the door (or, if you are less tactful, one foot in the grave) and not willing to commit to a city, and the result is what you have with the current incarnation of the Bills. A team that never makes the playoffs.

[bbb]

Uh huh.

 

So that explains why Wood, Kyle Williams, and Fred Jackson were lost for the year? Yeah, "simple as that". Whatever.

 

 

There's an awful lot of complainers here who want to find new excuses to whine about the front office. If that's your entertainment, go for it, but can anyone bring some actual facts that line up with reality?

 

And yet more depth comments, but still no answer to my question about all the other teams and their 3rd string OLTs.

 

 

Btw - I was watching some of the Ravens today - guess what one of the main themes was:

 

They have been lucky this year to have very few injuries. Only 3. Guess maybe that's why they're 9-3, huh? Injuries are "no excuse" - except that they have a lot to do with who wins and loses in the NFL - and it's often just bad luck.

 

It is often bad luck, but not when it's year after year. My father said in 1980 - our first division championship of my fandom - that he can tell this is a good team, because good teams don't get injured as much as they injure the other team. That year we lost Jeff Nixon and got Bill Simpson out of retirement to take his place. And, that was it. One major loss.

 

You think it's a coincidence that a tough, physical team like the Ravens have had few injuries? That's just like when the Sabres lost all the defensemen in 07. Was it a coincidence that we were the speedy, finesse team?