Injury could cloud Bills' sunny forecast

[The_Philster]

We've got plenty of talent but the one thing that we lack at certain positions is depth. AVP can't carry the load if something happens to Drew for more than a few games. There's a big drop off in talent after Spikes and Fletcher. And Dainon Sidney and Kevin Thomas don't come close to Winfield and Clements as far as ability.


This sunny weather is getting us too giddy. So let's take a look at the dark side of the Bills, the worst-case scenario for a team which had created so much anticipation in Western New York.
Football people, much less football fans, don't like to ponder such negatives as losing their star quarterback, but it has to be done.
...more (http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20030629/3045513.asp)

[mybills]

For some reason, I think they'll go with Brown over AVP if anything happens to Bumblesoe.

But this makes me laugh happy...

:lolpoint: "New England will open the season here with Tom Brady backed up only by quarterbacks with a few scribbles on their resumes."

[THenPitBull]

That's why no one gets hurt.

[MDFINFAN]

It's called the nature of the game, this statment is true of just about all teams, the starters get the big money, and you have to supplement them with so so depth, to keep within the cap..This cap football now, and it dictates a lot of what a team will keep and let go..you'll properly find a number of surprising releases at the end of TC, and I bet it has a lot to do with the Cap situation and planning...so it leave you with little or no experience as backups, but they're cheap..who da thug it.

[LABillsFan]

Injuries are part of the game and the Bills are in a good position. They went out and got starters to replace some of last years starters. There is depth albeit not at every position but enough to keep the team moving forward and the taste of playing by those players getting bumped down a notch will help them to work harder for playing time. The commitment to the running game will lessen the effect of an injury to DB. Brown or AVP won't be asked to win games, just keep them in there and not lose them. A stellar D, power running and short passes will be the plan. Preseason will tell TD and GW if Brown is capable, if not, then they will look to make a move. There's still a lot of time.


On a personal note, I'd rather have a guy miss 1 or 2 games with an injury than a guy who gets suspended for violations. Injuries happen because you're playing the game of football, violations happen because you're just playing around. We should consider ourselves lucky that TD has brought in players with a lot of character.

[Turf]

Welcome to the new NFL. The league of the paper thin lineup.

[Demon]

Originally posted by The_Philster
We've got plenty of talent but the one thing that we lack at certain positions is depth. AVP can't carry the load if something happens to Drew for more than a few games.

And why can't AVP "carry the load" if Drew got hurt for a few games?? If Van Pelt plays vs Dallas and Houston, i'll have the faith he could win a 31-28 type of a game. If he has to play vs a Philly or a Kansas City, how do you know our defense will play awsome and we win 10-7? If Bledsoe got hurt for a few games i wouldn't worry about it too much because AVP is a solid backup, but if Bledsoe got hurt in week 4 and was out all season, then yes i would be worried.

Think Miami has a chance to beat us if Ricky Williams gets hurt? Or if the Colts have as good as a chance beating us without Payton Manning?

This is just a "What if" and personally i think thats dumb because i could name 20 what if's on how we will miss the playoffs and 20 what if's how we could win the super bowl.



re's a big drop off in talent after Spikes and Fletcher. And Dainon Sidney and Kevin Thomas don't come close to Winfield and Clements as far as ability.


Winfield got injured last season and players just tend to step up. From Clements to the backups to the defensive line. When a starter gets hurt, someone else will step up.

[The_Philster]

Originally posted by Demon


And why can't AVP "carry the load" if Drew got hurt for a few games?? If Van Pelt plays vs Dallas and Houston, i'll have the faith he could win a 31-28 type of a game. If he has to play vs a Philly or a Kansas City, how do you know our defense will play awsome and we win 10-7? If Bledsoe got hurt for a few games i wouldn't worry about it too much because AVP is a solid backup, but if Bledsoe got hurt in week 4 and was out all season, then yes i would be worried.

Think Miami has a chance to beat us if Ricky Williams gets hurt? Or if the Colts have as good as a chance beating us without Payton Manning?

This is just a "What if" and personally i think thats dumb because i could name 20 what if's on how we will miss the playoffs and 20 what if's how we could win the super bowl.



Winfield got injured last season and players just tend to step up. From Clements to the backups to the defensive line. When a starter gets hurt, someone else will step up. [/B]


I said for more than a few games. I don't think our depth is good enough to help us for any long period of time.

[Demon]

Originally posted by The_Philster



I said for more than a few games. I don't think our depth is good enough to help us for any long period of time.

I see, my bad. I misread your post. I went to sleep late last night and i woke up at 8am today to watch Formula One, then had to go to the mall with my girl and worked from 4pm so i'm a lil tired. Sorry again. :)

[The_Philster]

No prob....getting dragged through the mall by a woman would screw anyone up. ;)

[Tatonka]

you mean AVP isnt the starter?

[R. Rich]

Originally posted by The_Philster
No prob....getting dragged through the mall by a woman would screw anyone up. ;)

Aaaaaarrrrrrgh!! Where's my holy water, garlic, and crucifix? You need it to fight that kinda' evil.

[Patrick76777]

Worst Story ever, I swear Felser is losing his mind. He does that small piece every sunday and it's always CRAP. What a Jinx this article is.

[WG]

LOL 76!

I know, I know, it's totally uncharacteristic of "Ostrich Club" guidelines. :D

I'm not at all worried if Drew goes down. I know this is gonna cause a rash sh**storm, but if Drew goes down, sure, we lose a potential "ton of attempts, completions, and possibly yardage", but we may also lose all the stupid errors that do more harm than all those yards, attempts, and completions did good last year. Who knows, maybe our TD production would actually increase from the 1/game that we had over the last 10 or 11 games last season too! Wouldn't that be nice! Actually getting some TDs w/ all those yards and attempts! Gosh, revolutionary! :D

Where we really have to worry and where Felser completely drops the ball, is on the OL. I measure depth by players who are at least in their third seasons w/ some starting experience or who have started their first year or two. We only have one such player in Marcus Price! That's it! And he's a T for the most part. After that all we have is a bunch of stiffs who haven't played at all and are in their 1st or 2nd seasons. Anyone thinking that we can count on them protecting Drew, a QB w/ the mobility of a turtle on sedatives, is smoking some good stuff.

Felser has it exactly correct on our LBs. Posey's not even a given, but we have no depth to make us better than last year at that position should he not pan out the way he's 'supposed to.' Even if he does, an injury propels us right back to where we were last year there. Same w/ Spikes and Fletcher. Spoon couldn't do much when called upon to replace Cowart as our D completely fell apart as a result. Sure, he's gotten some better experience, but even w/ a bump in play, he'd likely be only somewhat better. He's not proven he's anything beyond average on a good day. Less than average normally.

WR, although not particularly deep for starters, we can make due w/ an injury w/ Shaw and/or Jett or pickup another. TE, same. Secondary is deep. RBs are deep enough.

So the real issues are at LB, but Spikes is not injury prone and seems as solid as they come as does Fletcher although I still don't believe that Fletcher's anything more than average or very slightly better. But if he stays healthy, that'll be huge.

So given that Fletcher and Spikes are not prone to injuries, our OL is the primary concern there. This has me tremendously worried. I'm not hoping for Drew to go down either, sorry those of you who thought so, but if he did, I have the utmost confidence that we'd get the exact same TD production w/o all the effort (yardage, attempts, & completions) outta Brown and be that much more efficient.

GO BILLS!!!

[The_Philster]

Originally posted by R. Rich


Aaaaaarrrrrrgh!! Where's my holy water, garlic, and crucifix? You need it to fight that kinda' evil.


Just wait...watch your wife drag you through the Millcreek Mall this weekend. :snicker:

[Patrick76777]

I don't care who he thinks will get injured. I just hate the fact that he's starting the Jinx. I don't want any injuries.

[TigerJ]

The Bills are making noise like they hope Travis Brown is ready to displace AVP as the second QB on the depth chart. I don't think it'll make much if any difference in Buffalo's ability to keep playoff hopes alive with a longer term injury to Bledsoe, but if Travis Brown can move past AVP look for Buffalo to jettison the Pill after 2003 and bring in a younger guy to develop.

[WG]

If they feel Brown is ready, then I don't think it's beyond reason that AVP may not be on the opening day roster.

I really think Brown is gonna surprise. As well, if Brown can limit his errors, the same errors that Drew makes, I don't see why his coming in would limit anything!!

Many of us talk as if Drew really lit things up last season in the passing game. Well the reality is that even though there were tons of yards, attempts, and completion, the passing game production was horrendous over the last 10 or 11 games of the season averaging only very slightly more than 1 TD/game.

To suggest that there aren't any QBs out there capable of putting in 1 TD/game is ridiculous to me! Especially w/ all of the offensive talent Drew had around him. Meanwhile, everyone completely ignores the majorly costly TOs that plagued Drew's play.

So in essence, any QB that can put up at least 1 TD/game and not make all those bumbling INTs and errors, can easily outperform Drew! I mean everyone speaks as if Drew had no talent around him. WTH, he had two all-pro WRs, a 1,400 RB who wasn't even used much in 2/3 of all games, two very good TEs, and an excellent OL, practically w/o any injuries all season long.

Any QB who can't put up 24 TDs under those circumstances shouldn't be playing in the NFL. Other QBs did more w/ far less than that last season.

QB isn't an area where we need to worry about the starter getting hurt. In fact, if there are injuries to our OL, I'll say right now that Brown may very well be more effective than Drew simply for the fact that Drew isn't very good at all when pressured. Worse than most QBs under pressure in fact.

[WG]

I'll even step out and say this;

This team won't lose a beat if for some reason Drew were to get injured. I have no trouble that Brown would easily put up more TDs on less yardage and fewer attempts w/ Moulds, Reed, Moore, Henry, and the OL that we have.

Drew is easily the league leader, and certainly the leader amongst QBs purported to be of "franchise caliber", in having to throw the most yards per each TD achieved. And that's over his entire career, not simply last season.

i.e., he's extremely inefficient! Yards, attempts, and completions aside, it's scoring that matters and let's face it, for all those yards, attempts, and completions, Drew doesn't set any standards other than low ones when it comes to measuring his TD production against all those yards, attempts, and completions! That's a fact.