Injuries/2nd game the FO lost for us

[mjt328]

I would like to start by saying that the Bills have the worst luck in the NFL when it comes to injuries.

With 2 minutes left, trying to drive the field and score a touchdown to win the game - I saw Jeff Tuel, Tashard Choice, Chris Hogan and Marcus Easley on the field.


However, with that said... I think a lot of the blame ABSOLUTELY HAS to go to the coaches and front office. With our team being ripped apart by injuries, how can we not bring in some veterans to compete for playing time? How can we not have a veteran QB on the roster to back up Manuel?


Our secondary was torched in every pre-season game. We bring in nobody.
Stephon Gilmore goes down, for what is expected to be half the season. We bring in nobody.
Justin Rogers gets burned for big passes and touchdowns each of the first 3 games. We bring in nobody.
Leodis McKelvin gets hurt. We bring in nobody (instead choosing to move Aaron Williams BACK to a position he sucks at).

[Novacane]

Who should they have brought in at QB and CB?

[Thurmal]

They were playing bare-bones most of the second half. Whether it's horrible luck or whatever, they went from a team totally in the game to a team that was playing 4th stringers within minutes. Absolutely decimated by injury. Unreal.

[SeatownBillsFan21]

Who should they have brought in at QB and CB?

Anybody show me your interested in winning. Could be a guy you like from another teams PS I don't care just show me you wanna win and you'll do whatever you can to do so. The OP is spot on worst FO in the NFL and it may not be close.

[mjt328]

Who should they have brought in at QB and CB?

Oh Lord. Absolutely anyone.


When EJ went down, it took about 1-2 passes by Tuel before everyone in the stadium knew we had ZERO chance of putting together another scoring drive. Did you notice the defensive players trying to strip the ball carriers? They knew a big turnover was our only chance. The coaches see Tuel play everyday. They should have known that he wasn't close to ready. There are plenty of veteran QBs (maybe someone like Charlie Batch, Dennis Dixon or David Carr) who have had some moderate success in this league. Why didn't they keep Thaddeus Lewis on the roster? And can you imagine ANY free agent cornerback playing worse than Justin Rogers? Guys like Nate Clements and Antoine Winfield are still on the street.

Consider this:
> We were a good 3rd down pass break-up or two away from beating the Patriots in Week 1.
> The entire Jets offense was built on attacking Justin Rogers with the deep ball. Take that away, we most likely win there.
> Tonight, we got torched by another deep touchdown. And then we curled up in a ball - with a tied game in the 4th quarter - because Tuel couldn't move the ball 5 yards downfield.


This team is SITTING on over $20 million in cap space. With some better play in key spots, the Bills could realistically be 5-0 right now. They have lost 3 very close games, arguably because they've been forced to rely on "3rd string talent" in the starting lineup. They could have taken a chance on a 1-year contract with a veteran. Yet management continues to sit on its hands and do absolutely nothing. Do they honestly believe Jeff Tuel and Justin Rogers are better options than some of the guys currently on the street? Of course not. But signing a free agent off the street would probably cost them a few million, and they simply don't want it that bad.

[X-Era]

INADEQUATE DEPTH!

The Jets game was lost with a lack of solid depth in the secondary.

This game was lost with inadequate depth at the backup QB spot.

Whether you didn't want to pay for real depth or can't evaluate the talent on your own roster, Tuel has no business being a primary backup. Robey and Rogers shouldn't be either.

Leonhard was an example of how to operate. But we do that few and far between. Both Tuel and Robey are PS eligible. You can stash them there while you have a solid backup that you can rely on to win games.

The second Kolb went down we needed to be adding veteran depth. And if it wasn't Leinart you keep trying. We should have had a solid QB vet for 5 weeks now. When EJ went down that guy should have stepped on the field and done enough to secure the win.

And there's just no excuse for no real depth behind Gilmore and McKelvin. Every team in the NFL goes 3 wide at times and that's without injury.

We have injuries every year and every year we lose games due to inadequate depth. Yet we sit on a a ton of cap room. It's inexcusable.

[Oldbillsfan]

holla

[Don't Panic]

There's a lot of irrationality/anger on this board right now, but I will agree that it's pretty inexcusable we didn't spend some of that extra cap space to shire up our depth a bit.

[Oldbillsfan]

Moneyball, leave no stone unturned...

[X-Era]

There's a lot of irrationality/anger on this board right now, but I will agree that it's pretty inexcusable we didn't spend some of that extra cap space to shire up our depth a bit.Yeah, I mean I'm not going to hijack my own thread.

But, I don't have any issue with EJ taking that hit. I think the coaching on defense is great. I think the offense still needs some work but (with EJ starting) they are good enough to win. Our ST's looked bad tonight but has been good. Clock management was an issue but is better. I like the possibilities but were allowing injuries to affect wins and losses by not having adequate depth. It's my biggest hang up. I mean we got 3 solid starters from this draft but we can't have a solid vet backup as a CB or QB? There's no need for a vet at either of those spots? Ridiculous.

[YardRat]

I certainly won't take issue with this team needing depth, as well as at least a half-dozen new starters, but this game was lost (just like the Jets game) because this offense doesn't know how to function on the road. That's Hackett's and the players' fault.

[Forward_Lateral]

After watching Tuel last night, it's clear that he is nowhere near being ready to play in the NFL.

[X-Era]

Merged. Mjt started my rant yesterday. :D:

[RedEyE]

I don't typically like to use the injury excuse but this team just can't win games with 9 starters sitting on the bench and/or banged up so much they shouldn't be on the field.


Still, I felt like the Bills could easily have won this game if EJ plays 4 qrtrs.

[X-Era]

I don't typically like to use the injury excuse but this team just can't win games with 9 starters sitting on the bench and/or banged up so much they shouldn't be on the field.


Still, I felt like the Bills could easily have won this game if EJ plays 4 qrtrs.Me too. And the fact that we feel like losing 1 player means we lose the game ought to then show that we again have no real depth.

Just to extend it a bit farther. Carrington goes out but because we signed Branch we didn't see a huge drop off which caused problems.

But at CB and QB we did.

[RedEyE]

Me too. And the fact that we feel like losing 1 player means we lose the game ought to then show that we again have no real depth.

Just to extend it a bit farther. Carrington goes out but because we signed Branch we didn't see a huge drop off which caused problems.

But at CB and QB we did.\

Yeah, absolutely. I think they've done an OK job at overcoming the injury bug at DB, but they should have put Kolb on IR in the offseason and signed another QB. This game level is too big for a guy like Tuel who is probably destined for the PS on any other team.

[TacklingDummy]

Who should they have brought in at QB and CB?

Joe Montana and Deon Sanders.

[DraftBoy]

The playcalling offensively last night was nearing suicidal. I don't know what they were doing.

A flea flicker with an undrafted rookie QB throwing to a rookie WR?

Btw Robert Woods was our best DB last night. Had three pass breakups.