instead of endlessly whining about Pats.

[JÂy RÛßeÒ]

But he celebrates so hes not a team player

He just has to stop getting flagged for 'em

[BobChalmers]

I'm actually in the same boat, kind of. We really weren't very good last year, overall. But did pretty well the first half of the season. The biggest reason were injuries. BUT, those happen to every team, good teams deal with it.

 

You've said that before - it's generally true, but as I've responded before - two national sources (TSN was one, can't remember the other) rated the Bills' injury situation as the worst in the league last year. That's not a "good teams" issue - it's a really bad luck (or fragile players) issue. Either way, it has to be an aberration or the Bills need to do something to change it.

 

There is no team that looks good with their 3rd string OLT. None. The Bills lost Bell and Hairston in the same game if I recall correctly. They then lost Wood right before the first Jets game and their losing streak began. They were also missing their only returning pro-bowler among numerous others on defense. Again, this was injuries way beyond the norm. Comparable maybe with KC's problems, and the Bills had a much harder schedule.

 

The Bills depth to survive losing FredEx is remarkable - not many teams could handle losing the league leading rusher. At least they had CJ to step up.

Edited May 21, 2012 by BobChalmers

[Captain Hindsight]

You've said that before - it's generally true, but as I've responded before - two national sources (TSN was one, can't remember the other) rated the Bills' injury situation as the worst in the league last year. That's not a "good teams" issue - it's a really bad luck (or fragile players) issue. Either way, it has to be an aberration or the Bills need to do something to change it.

 

There is no team that looks good with their 3rd string OLT. None. The Bills lost Bell and Hairston in the same game if I recall correctly. They then lost Wood right before the first Jets game and their losing streak began. They were also missing their only returning pro-bowler among numerous others on defense. Again, this was injuries way beyond the norm. Comparable maybe with KC's problems, and the Bills had a much harder schedule.

 

The Bills depth to survive losing FredEx is remarkable - not many teams could handle losing the league leading rusher. At least they had CJ to step up.

This^

 

You cant have 3 starting caliber centers and LTs on your roster. You just cant plan for things like that. Its hard enough finding 22 starters much less 47

[BillsFan-4-Ever]

Miama game 1 the center was hurt and the backup couldn't snap the ball to save Fitz life or his injured ribs

[Gugny]

And who did our single win in the division come from? The Pats. I am more concerned about the 4 beating's from the Jets and fins.

It's time to take an honest look at last year, specifically Week 3. For any team in the NFL to come back from 21 down against the Patriots, is simply unheard of. Every bounce went the Bills' way. Bottom line is the better team did not win that game and the Bills got lucky. I loved it as much as everyone else and even have the SI cover with D-Flo running into the end zone hanging on my wall. But it is what it is ... and it was pure luck. The Bills could have played the Patriots 16 times last year and they would have gone 1-15.

 

As far as the Jets and the Dolphins ... I tend to agree that injuries were the main reason. But I will always maintain that the putrid play of our defense is the reason we had a losing season last year. I think, healthy, last year's Bills team was a little better than both the Jets and the Dolphins. And I think, healthy, this year's team is much better than both the Jets and the Dolphins.

 

Tom's logic is sound ... build a team to beat the best team in the division and you should be able to beat the other two with ease. I think that's the case this year.

 

Go Bills.

[Beerball]

Wow some sleepless Mods here. Amazing how fast these two threads got combined.

You forgot that you posted the original didn't you? I think that they fit seamlessly together.

[MClem06]

I haven't pulled out the tape on the Miami / Jets games but i remember largely that we played from behind on like 80% of the games we played all last year. I think if we want to beat anyone we need to stop starting at 14 points back. Fitz needs to find a rhythm sooner or we need to run/screen the first two plays until he's warm. Starting out slow is a big part of the problem with the production on offense.

[Gugny]

I haven't pulled out the tape on the Miami / Jets games but i remember largely that we played from behind on like 80% of the games we played all last year. I think if we want to beat anyone we need to stop starting at 14 points back. Fitz needs to find a rhythm sooner or we need to run/screen the first two plays until he's warm. Starting out slow is a big part of the problem with the production on offense.

Do you really have "tape" to pull out for these games? And there's a difference between starting out slow and having your defense give up time-consuming, scoring drives. Fitz was not the problem last year.

[Dorkington]

You've said that before - it's generally true, but as I've responded before - two national sources (TSN was one, can't remember the other) rated the Bills' injury situation as the worst in the league last year. That's not a "good teams" issue - it's a really bad luck (or fragile players) issue. Either way, it has to be an aberration or the Bills need to do something to change it.

 

There is no team that looks good with their 3rd string OLT. None. The Bills lost Bell and Hairston in the same game if I recall correctly. They then lost Wood right before the first Jets game and their losing streak began. They were also missing their only returning pro-bowler among numerous others on defense. Again, this was injuries way beyond the norm. Comparable maybe with KC's problems, and the Bills had a much harder schedule.

 

The Bills depth to survive losing FredEx is remarkable - not many teams could handle losing the league leading rusher. At least they had CJ to step up.

Oh, I agree, we got hit *hard*. If we were a truly great team, we'd have the depth to deal with it. Green Bay was pretty injured in their Superbowl year, for example. I'm not sweeping the injuries under the table, I'm just saying they tell *half* of the story. We had injuries *AND* we lacked depth.

 

Now we have more depth (theoretically), and hopefully we'll have less injuries. Meaning, we'll be in better shape this year.

 

This^

 

You cant have 3 starting caliber centers and LTs on your roster. You just cant plan for things like that. Its hard enough finding 22 starters much less 47

Right, but you can have 1 starting caliber center, and 2 strong backups. We had one, and nothing behind him, essentially. That's the problem. If your star goes down, you want someone "ok" at the very least, behind him, and good enough players around him to pick up the slack. I'm not expecting the Bills to have multiple Pro Bowl players at every position.

 

Think about it this way. Most people can agree that Kelsay is a pretty solid player. He can be productive as a starter, but he's not a world beater. He was our starter, and now he's a backup. That's the way it should be. That solid, dependable guy, who can do if you have nothing better, should be your backup for depth. That's what I want.

[Jim in Anchorage]

You forgot that you posted the original didn't you? I think that they fit seamlessly together.

Yeah they did. Forgot? Impossible. Now if I could just find my car keys...

[Maury Ballstein]

We lost the 2nd Jets game because SJ made a fool out of himself in the EZ in the 1st half and dropped a TD pass (or close to it) in the 2nd half.

 

 

Yup....had nothing to do with Fitz's erratic passes.

[Doc]

It's time to take an honest look at last year, specifically Week 3. For any team in the NFL to come back from 21 down against the Patriots, is simply unheard of. Every bounce went the Bills' way. Bottom line is the better team did not win that game and the Bills got lucky. I loved it as much as everyone else and even have the SI cover with D-Flo running into the end zone hanging on my wall. But it is what it is ... and it was pure luck. The Bills could have played the Patriots 16 times last year and they would have gone 1-15.

 

As far as the Jets and the Dolphins ... I tend to agree that injuries were the main reason. But I will always maintain that the putrid play of our defense is the reason we had a losing season last year. I think, healthy, last year's Bills team was a little better than both the Jets and the Dolphins. And I think, healthy, this year's team is much better than both the Jets and the Dolphins.

 

Tom's logic is sound ... build a team to beat the best team in the division and you should be able to beat the other two with ease. I think that's the case this year.

 

Go Bills.

The Pats have had their share of luck winning games against the Bills the past decade, especially during that MNF game in 2009. And the Pats got some good luck in that season-ender where Stevie got flagged/benced for lifting up his shirt and gChandler got injured, essentially killing the already-depleted offense. So it works both ways.

 

As for the other divisional games last year, after the Washington game, the injuries really started to take their toll. Health will be the key for the Bills, although they have much better depth than they did last year. And the Dols and Jets only got worse over the off-season.

[John from Riverside]

As our defense goes......so will our team in those matchups this year.....

[Mr. WEO]

The Pats have had their share of luck winning games against the Bills the past decade, especially during that MNF game in 2009. And the Pats got some good luck in that season-ender where Stevie got flagged/benced for lifting up his shirt and gChandler got injured, essentially killing the already-depleted offense. So it works both ways.

 

As for the other divisional games last year, after the Washington game, the injuries really started to take their toll. Health will be the key for the Bills, although they have much better depth than they did last year. And the Dols and Jets only got worse over the off-season.

They did?

[Gugny]

They did?

I don't think either team got any better.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

So you feel with last years team healthy we beat fins-jets? No other changes? I don't have tape, but as I recall we got CLOBBERED. By two sad sack teams.

 

We got clobbered the first games with each team, 1 and 3 weeks after the Wash. game respectively.

 

We made a game of it the 2nd games with each team and could have won with a bit more on either side of the ball.

 

I think you asked this question before and got the same answer - suggest you check out the box scores of the games and highlights on nfl.com if you need to form your own judgement

[Doc]

They did?

The Dols traded Marshall, which will hurt their passing game. He was a problem and it may be addition by subtraction, but despite the troubles, he's still a talented WR. Moreover they didn't add anyone in FA and their 1st rounder is a guy who won't contribute for at least a season or two.

 

As for the Jets, bringing-in Tebow was subtraction by addition. Sanchez' ego is fragile enough. After a few losses, the boo-birds will be out in full force in Jersey.