It sucks we got derailed by injures

[zone]

The Pat's are bad, their defense is terrible and other than Grankowski their offense isn't all that either.

The Jets are not good either their defense is pedestrian and Sanchez is a crappy QB at best.

The division was our for the taking.

[zone]

BTW for anyone watching the Pat's game that call on the Fletcher hit on Brady was such bull crap you would have thought Fletcher was still a Buffalo Bill.

[THE END OF ALL DAYS]

if ifs and buts were candy and nuts
every day would be Christmas

:)

[Albany,n.y.]

It sucks that we didn't draft better the past few years & have more depth.

[Mr. Pink]

For the taking? Did you not watch our crappy defense and incompetent D coordinator all year?

Teams simply caught up with our college based offense and started to stop it. Then we couldn't stop anyone's offense.

5-7 has nothing to do with injuries.

[BADTHINGSMAN]

IMHO Buffalo is lucky to be 5-7.

[YardRat]

Every team deals with them, we just don't have the ability to overcome them because...

-our depth is poor.
-our defensive coordinator sucks.
-our offense is limited (extremely) because of lack of talent and experience on the offensive line

[zone]

5-7 has nothing to do with injuries.

Right...

[zone]

Every team deals with them, we just don't have the ability to overcome them because...

-our depth is poor.
-our defensive coordinator sucks.
-our offense is limited (extremely) because of lack of talent and experience on the offensive line
This is the second year of the new regime, you have to build depth.

Everyone but Wang and our two 7th rounders (who were cut) from the 2010 draft has contributed or is starting although 3 of them are IR'd.

Every one of the 2011 picks has contributed or is starting except Jasper and White who is on IR.

Looks like we are building that depth to me.

[Borosai]

IMHO Buffalo is lucky to be 5-7.

I'd say unlucky as well.

[imbondz]

injuries aren't allowed to be an excuse anymore. every team is plagued w/ injuries. if anything, our team sucks at conditioning.

[ZacGriffi~82]

sucks we got derailed by reality.

[Mr. Pink]

So what injury are you blaming for the score being 16-0 and the Chargers scoring on all 3 possessions thus far?

[bluerosekiller]

The Pat's are bad, their defense is terrible and other than Grankowski their offense isn't all that either.

The Jets are not good either their defense is pedestrian and Sanchez is a crappy QB at best.

The division was our for the taking.

Have to disagree. Especially while watching this, thus far, horrific game today.
Had they remained healthy, I believe the best that they'd have done was .500, MAYBE 9-7.
Reflecting back on September/October now, I think The Bills burst out of the gate had a lot to do with the lock out. Some teams benefited from it. like Buffalo, while others struggled, like The Jets. But, by the midway point of the season, everything has pretty much course corrected itself & now, the quality teams are pushing toward a play off spot while the mediocre & bad teams have fallen by the wayside. Like The Bills.

[jamze132]

So what injury are you blaming for the score being 16-0 and the Chargers scoring on all 3 possessions thus far?
They're blaming the refs.

[ZEUS]

BTW for anyone watching the Pat's game that call on the Fletcher hit on Brady was such bull crap you would have thought Fletcher was still a Buffalo Bill.


Yeah, I saw it total BS and Brady was clapping when they threw the flag. People will say what they want about Fitz, but you won't ever see him doing that crap.

[Philagape]

The worst injury this year has been to Fitz's ability to play QB.

[Ickybaluky]

The Pat's are bad, their defense is terrible and other than Grankowski their offense isn't all that either.

I'll give you the defense is playing awful, but you are showing your bias with their offense. I know Gronk is great, but Wes Welker is leading the NFL in receptions and yards. Hernandez is pretty good as well, and that Brady guy isn't terrible.

They have the 3rd most points in the league and the 2nd most yards. That isn't due to one player.

[more cowbell]

Or it could just be that...the Bills suck...worse than the Jets...who will be going to the playoffs again....along with the Patriots...again

and Miami is about to sweep us.

this team flat out S U C K S....again

[BillsFever21]

The Pat's are bad, their defense is terrible and other than Grankowski their offense isn't all that either.

The Jets are not good either their defense is pedestrian and Sanchez is a crappy QB at best.

The division was our for the taking.

Take a breather and come back down to reality. If you really believe we would be 10-3 right now then you must be wearing your rose colored glasses.

Sure we had some injuries. Every team does at one point or another. Up until we lost Jackson and Wood for the season outside of the Williams injury not any of them players were star core players. We were also 5-5 when we lost Wood and Jackson.

Before the laws of averages caught up with themselves and we crashed down to earth we were in the hunt. We didn't lose any of our main players until Jackson and Wood and we lost by about a combined 90 points during the 3 game losing streak before they were injured.

The rest of the guys through the season outside of Kyle Williams were mostly backups or were only missing for a short period of time. They didn't have any influence in us losing by an average of 30 points a game over the first half of our 6 game skid.

Spiller had a good game against the Jets and we had a shot to win it but we fell short again. The Titans score ended up close due to a late TD but the game was mostly a two score game up until then. None of them guys would've made up for our almost 30 point loss against the Chargers either.

Quit using injuries as an excuse. Every team will go through them. The Texans have lost Mario Williams, their starting RB and are down to their 3rd string QB and yet they are still winning.

Sure if you lose a lot of star core players that your team is built around it can help derail your season but our biggest blows came when Jackson and Wood got injured and we were going downhill long before then. If you think we would be in the division hunt then that's just plain homerism.

The losses to guys like A.Williams who was our 4th CB at the time, Kelsay and Bell were all players that a decent team should be able to work around. We even had Kelsay back before our collapse you can't use that one and Aaron Williams was back shortly after to only get hurt a couple games later and we were still losing with him.

We happened to win a few of our games early in the season in mostly lucky fashion and it raised the expectations of too many. Especially people who wear rose colored glasses and who always overrate our team and players.

Any realistic person could see that the way we were winning wasn't sustainable and it would eventually lead to an average finish through the rest of the year. Had we not had ANY injuries all year we might have been an 8-8 team. It's just homerism to blame injuries to marginal starters as the reason why we suck. Them are guys you most teams can plug in and out and they don't play a huge factor in the games.

The crushing injuries were to Wood and Jackson and our plane was crashing before and during that time leading up to their injuries. After our lucky 3-0 start we were merely an average team over the next 4 games and after that the wheels came off altogether.

Every season there are a couple bad teams who start the season off good but fade away. We were just another one of them this year just like in 2008. Over a 16 game schedule the good consistent teams separate themselves from the rest and you are what your record says you are.

Injuries has nothing to do with a defense that can't stop anybody and gives up 30 points a game and would even be more if the teams didn't let up in the 3rd/4th quarters. Our only big loss on defense was Kyle Williams and they were bad with him in the lineup. Once we quit getting a lot of fortunate turnovers that wasn't sustainable it just got even worse.

Even with Jackson and Wood our offense showed after the 3rd week of the year we were not good enough to score 27+ points a game on average. Outside of a couple other decent outings our offense was good for the first few games of the season and that was it. A lot of that had to do with some short fields from turnovers and an unrealistic RZ success that no team could keep up with. After we eventually fell within the NFL average RZ efficiency we were an average offense and have only gotten worse since.

Every season we have people blaming our losing record on injuries, etc. If that's the case then injuries have cause us to have losing record in 11 out of our last 12 seasons I guess. Damn injuries which only happen to the Bills and no other teams.

[Jan Reimers]

We were derailed primarily by: an overall lack of talent and no depth; a terrible D Coordinator; not even a semblance of a pass rush; the complete lack of a receiver that could stretch the field; a very inconsistent QB; and a Head Coach who made some really bad play calls at critical times.

Injuries played a part for sure. But the factors listed above are the bigger problem.

[Johnny Bugmenot]

Every season we have people blaming our losing record on injuries, etc. If that's the case then injuries have cause us to have losing record in 11 out of our last 12 seasons I guess. Damn injuries which only happen to the Bills and no other teams. You do realize this team seems to consistently lead the league in injuries, right? This dates back to the 1990s.

[Jan Reimers]

You do realize this team seems to consistently lead the league in injuries, right? This dates back to the 1990s.
I think it dates back more to the loss of Rusty Jones.

[ServoBillieves]

... I'm going to keep calm.

Yes, Edwards sucks, we know. He has NO pass rush, he doesn't know how to overload, he doesn't know how to inflict zones and mixed D's, I know. We have NFL caliber players, they're big boys, they know what to do.

But if you 100% honestly can say that injuries had nothing to do with this teams downfall, I will laugh at you hysterically.

Merriman - top 20 pass rusher, even if he didn't get to the QB he still was double teamed and sealed the edge, making it easier on Edwards, Williams and Dareus.

Oh wait, did I say Williams? Who is also injured, and it doesn't matter when he was put on IR, if it was bugging him that whole time, he's not completely up to par.

With that situation, Dareus (if you forgot, our starting LDE) had to move to nose tackle, moving backups in to both the NT position and End. Well at least he could get some breathers while Troup came in to... OH WAIT, he was also IR'd.

Special teams had looked great when Christ White was flying down the field constantly on the ball and always around the play, shedding blocks and causing havoc. Searcy would be doing great if learning behind Wilson, getting his reps in at special teams and getting a feel for the team, but oh look, our once "looks like a pro bowler" safety who took over for that bum Whitner has a neck injury and had to force yet ANOTHER rookie in to a starting role. Oh, and also, White is IR'd.

Torbor, even though we were mad about it, was the D's plan starting at ILB, but was immediately IR'd. Kelvin Sheppard has done a fantastic job filling in, and I'm beyond pleased he has done well.

On offense, you're going to tell me that CJ Spiller is an adequate replacement for Fred Jackson? I'll repeat, you're going to tell me that ANYONE is an adequate replacement for Fred Jackson?

And how about that offensive line. Offensive is the perfect word, because you lose Wood, Urbik is hurt, you lose BOTH of your starting left tackles in Bell and Hairston, you shuffle the line some more, you move Levitre to 2 other positions, then you switch him back after he has completely **** the mind bed by having to learn so much on the fly.

Parrish, Easley, Jones at WR, Chan had plans and plays written up for their talents, and their gone, so again, it's rewriting on the fly. The Bills have lost elite players. We didn't lose backups, we didn't lose practice squad players, we didn't lose 1 or 2 starters, we've lost a LOT, and with no depth, this team was doomed from day 1.

I will 98% blame the injuries, the rest is poor planning and an awful DC.

Pull your head out if you want to see what really happened. "Oh well that's reality, injuries happen"

Not to this degree my friend, not to this degree.

[Bill Cody]

I think it dates back more to the loss of Rusty Jones.

Rusty Jones was awesome. I drove an 89 Maxima over 230k miles with hardly a rust spot.

[Bill Cody]

Injuries destroy teams with no depth. Like us.

[EDS]

... I'm going to keep calm.

Yes, Edwards sucks, we know. He has NO pass rush, he doesn't know how to overload, he doesn't know how to inflict zones and mixed D's, I know. We have NFL caliber players, they're big boys, they know what to do.

But if you 100% honestly can say that injuries had nothing to do with this teams downfall, I will laugh at you hysterically.

Merriman - top 20 pass rusher, even if he didn't get to the QB he still was double teamed and sealed the edge, making it easier on Edwards, Williams and Dareus.

Oh wait, did I say Williams? Who is also injured, and it doesn't matter when he was put on IR, if it was bugging him that whole time, he's not completely up to par.

With that situation, Dareus (if you forgot, our starting LDE) had to move to nose tackle, moving backups in to both the NT position and End. Well at least he could get some breathers while Troup came in to... OH WAIT, he was also IR'd.

Special teams had looked great when Christ White was flying down the field constantly on the ball and always around the play, shedding blocks and causing havoc. Searcy would be doing great if learning behind Wilson, getting his reps in at special teams and getting a feel for the team, but oh look, our once "looks like a pro bowler" safety who took over for that bum Whitner has a neck injury and had to force yet ANOTHER rookie in to a starting role. Oh, and also, White is IR'd.

Torbor, even though we were mad about it, was the D's plan starting at ILB, but was immediately IR'd. Kelvin Sheppard has done a fantastic job filling in, and I'm beyond pleased he has done well.

On offense, you're going to tell me that CJ Spiller is an adequate replacement for Fred Jackson? I'll repeat, you're going to tell me that ANYONE is an adequate replacement for Fred Jackson?

And how about that offensive line. Offensive is the perfect word, because you lose Wood, Urbik is hurt, you lose BOTH of your starting left tackles in Bell and Hairston, you shuffle the line some more, you move Levitre to 2 other positions, then you switch him back after he has completely **** the mind bed by having to learn so much on the fly.

Parrish, Easley, Jones at WR, Chan had plans and plays written up for their talents, and their gone, so again, it's rewriting on the fly. The Bills have lost elite players. We didn't lose backups, we didn't lose practice squad players, we didn't lose 1 or 2 starters, we've lost a LOT, and with no depth, this team was doomed from day 1.

I will 98% blame the injuries, the rest is poor planning and an awful DC.

Pull your head out if you want to see what really happened. "Oh well that's reality, injuries happen"

Not to this degree my friend, not to this degree.

My questions is this, why did the team play better at the end of last season then it has in the last 6 plus games?

Last year Wood was injured at the end of the year, Merriman never played, Torbor was injured, etc.

[better days]

Rusty Jones was awesome. I drove an 89 Maxima over 230k miles with hardly a rust spot.

That was a GREAT car, my brother owned one.

[better days]

... I'm going to keep calm.

Yes, Edwards sucks, we know. He has NO pass rush, he doesn't know how to overload, he doesn't know how to inflict zones and mixed D's, I know. We have NFL caliber players, they're big boys, they know what to do.

But if you 100% honestly can say that injuries had nothing to do with this teams downfall, I will laugh at you hysterically.

Merriman - top 20 pass rusher, even if he didn't get to the QB he still was double teamed and sealed the edge, making it easier on Edwards, Williams and Dareus.

Oh wait, did I say Williams? Who is also injured, and it doesn't matter when he was put on IR, if it was bugging him that whole time, he's not completely up to par.

With that situation, Dareus (if you forgot, our starting LDE) had to move to nose tackle, moving backups in to both the NT position and End. Well at least he could get some breathers while Troup came in to... OH WAIT, he was also IR'd.

Special teams had looked great when Christ White was flying down the field constantly on the ball and always around the play, shedding blocks and causing havoc. Searcy would be doing great if learning behind Wilson, getting his reps in at special teams and getting a feel for the team, but oh look, our once "looks like a pro bowler" safety who took over for that bum Whitner has a neck injury and had to force yet ANOTHER rookie in to a starting role. Oh, and also, White is IR'd.

Torbor, even though we were mad about it, was the D's plan starting at ILB, but was immediately IR'd. Kelvin Sheppard has done a fantastic job filling in, and I'm beyond pleased he has done well.

On offense, you're going to tell me that CJ Spiller is an adequate replacement for Fred Jackson? I'll repeat, you're going to tell me that ANYONE is an adequate replacement for Fred Jackson?

And how about that offensive line. Offensive is the perfect word, because you lose Wood, Urbik is hurt, you lose BOTH of your starting left tackles in Bell and Hairston, you shuffle the line some more, you move Levitre to 2 other positions, then you switch him back after he has completely **** the mind bed by having to learn so much on the fly.

Parrish, Easley, Jones at WR, Chan had plans and plays written up for their talents, and their gone, so again, it's rewriting on the fly. The Bills have lost elite players. We didn't lose backups, we didn't lose practice squad players, we didn't lose 1 or 2 starters, we've lost a LOT, and with no depth, this team was doomed from day 1.

I will 98% blame the injuries, the rest is poor planning and an awful DC.

Pull your head out if you want to see what really happened. "Oh well that's reality, injuries happen"

Not to this degree my friend, not to this degree.

The Biggest problem I have with Edwards is he does not know how to scheme or coach a blitz. When a team can't get a rush with 4, they NEED to bring the blitz & the Bills can't do that worth a damn. I put that 100% on Edwards.

[PTI]

ANd dumb trades.......if the Bills had Lynch they might be above .500, if they had him for depth.

[Bill Cody]

That was a GREAT car, my brother owned one.

Absolutely

[zone]

Injuries destroy teams with no depth. Like us.
You can't build depth in 1 year, the only positives from these injures is it is giving guys valuable starting experience and building depth. Rome was not built in a day.

[better days]

You can't build depth in 1 year, the only positives from these injures is it is giving guys valuable starting experience and building depth. Rome was not built in a day.

Well, you can build depth in 1 year if you already have your starting line up set. The Bills are a long way from that yet.

[SABURZFAN]

We were derailed primarily by: an overall lack of talent and no depth; a terrible D Coordinator; not even a semblance of a pass rush; the complete lack of a receiver that could stretch the field; a very inconsistent QB; and a Head Coach who made some really bad play calls at critical times.

Injuries played a part for sure. But the factors listed above are the bigger problem.


yeah... you forgot to mention the owner too.

[Bill Cody]

You can't build depth in 1 year

So true. You can't build it in 10 either.

[ServoBillieves]

My questions is this, why did the team play better at the end of last season then it has in the last 6 plus games?

Last year Wood was injured at the end of the year, Merriman never played, Torbor was injured, etc.

Preparation. If this team, sans the lockout where they couldn't speak from coach to player, had all of it's time together and understood what the coordinators on both sides of the ball wanted from what they had, they would absolutely be set with both starters and backups.

I am glad that everyone understands that it is the injuries fault, but it truly is preparation and bad breaks as well. This team is cursed.

[EDS]

Preparation. If this team, sans the lockout where they couldn't speak from coach to player, had all of it's time together and understood what the coordinators on both sides of the ball wanted from what they had, they would absolutely be set with both starters and backups.

I am glad that everyone understands that it is the injuries fault, but it truly is preparation and bad breaks as well. This team is cursed.

So why are the Bills more affected by the lockout than other teams? And if indeed it is the lockout that caused the issues, why has the team gotten worse as the season has progressed?

[Cleve]

What sucks is, the front office/management/scouting/coaching has been unable to provide the depth of talent necessary on the team to weather the INEVITABLE injuries during a season.

Look at the Texans - they've had major injuries too, but they're still going strong in December.

The more successful teams in the NFL, like the Patriots, are have much better talent on their rosters - not just the starters, but also the backups.

[ServoBillieves]

So why are the Bills more affected by the lockout than other teams? And if indeed it is the lockout that caused the issues, why has the team gotten worse as the season has progressed?

How many teams had to completely reshuffle their line almost every week? How many teams lost two of their star lineman to injuries for the majority of the year? How many teams were playing with 2 backups at both OLB positions, let alone one of them who had to move from DE to OLB (Yes, you can say Mario Williams, but he's a freak of nature, I'm pretty sure that Alex Carrington doesn't cover that)? How many teams lost their anchor NT, who then had to move their star LDE to NT because the backup NT is also on IR, then start a 3rd string DE at LDE because their other backup LDE had to move to OLB? George Wilson ring any bells, ya know, that guy who was having a stellar season?

I'll take a break from the obvious to point out that all teams were equally affected by the lockout when it comes to conditioning, but coaching was also an issue but that didn't affect the Bills, that should have affected the Titans, Browns, et cetera.

Back to the obvious. What happened to our starting #2? Or who possibly could have been #2 receiver in Easley? Or that awesome slot receiver and punt returner who held some records for a couple of years? Hell, I'm halfway to saying that Jon Corto was a loss to this team. OH, OH, remember that second round draft pick we spent on a pretty good corner last year? Yeah, he looked GREAT until he had to fill in for the injured Terrence McGee, but then became injured.

You tell me, honestly, one team that has been so insanely DECIMATED by injuries. With no depth, let alone depth for your depth, can you win and not blame that as the decline?

Keep asking questions, I got answers.

[Jeff1220]

My basic stance is that the injuries stuck first and hardest, while the decline of Fitz's play is a close second.
There's plenty of blame to go around w/the sucktitude that this team has achieved over the past month and a half.

[Cleve]

You do realize this team seems to consistently lead the league in injuries, right? This dates back to the 1990s.

Likely because we have bottom shelf coaching staff, bottom shelf/bargain basement front office personnel, and consistently our team has less talent and depth than other teams.

And ultimately, most of this results from Ralph Wilson Jr's poor decisions. meddling, and tight purse strings when it comes to hiring quality personnel.

[TigerJ]

Obviously, injuries have played a role in how the season turned out, but the observations about depth and drafting are also correct. The present regime inherited a long legacy of drafting poorly in the early rounds. Nix and company didn't do themselves any favors drafting Spiller in 2010, though at least he was here to fill in for the injured Fred Jackson. That legacy is primarily responsible for the horrendous depth on the Bills. It would even be worse except that the same front office that wouldn't know a first round caliber player if he bit them on the face also seemed to find a bunch of serviceable starters and backups late in the draft and in free agency.

Part of zone's contention is entirely valid. New England has holes that can be exploited as does the New York Jets. The problem is Buffalo proved not to be capable of taking advantage. Buffalo's defeat of the Patriots not withstanding.

[madness]

Pro Football Weekly did an independent analysis of NFL clubs’ injury losses and ranked the 32 teams in terms of those most affected by injury to the least affected. Not surprisingly, the Bills ranked first in the league.

The devastating blow of losing their best offensive lineman and best defensive lineman as well as league MVP candidate Fred Jackson earned Buffalo the unfortunate distinction of being ranked number one. Here’s what was written about the Bills losses to injury.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a team with its best three players on injured reserve like the Bills, and it’s no coincidence their losing streak began when they lost Williams, then Wood and then Jackson. In addition to Parrish, Jones and Easley being on I.R., WRs Stevie Johnson and David Nelson have been banged up at times. OLT Demetrius Bell was very impressive early on before suffering an injury that has taken longer than expected to heal. CB Aaron Williams has suffered two injuries, curbing a promising rookie campaign. The loss of SS George Wilson in recent weeks also has hurt the secondary. He was playing at a Pro Bowl level.

Here’s the top 5
1. Buffalo
2. Jacksonville
3. Carolina
4. San Diego
5. Indianapolis

Here’s the bottom 5 (least affected by injury)
28. Dallas
29. New Orleans
30. Atlanta
31. Miami
32. San Francisco

http://blogs.buffalobills.com/2011/12/16/bills-rank-1st-in-injury-rankings/