Innocent Observation

[billykay]

1 hour ago, RocCityRoller said:

Hey Dwight, the soft tissue injuries through three weeks around the league this season seem pretty bad.

 

A lot of teams are very banged up, not just our Bills, though we seem to be the poster child of injuries this year. The Chargers and Titans have been very injury prone too. We don't talk about the Titan injuries much, but they were in rough shape by game end with Buffalo. By the end of the Titans game Bills fans were thrilled and pointed out a big win, while Titan fans were noting their large amount of injuries. A week later Dolphin fans are thrilled with a win over Buffalo, while Bills fans point out the injuries.

 

I think the NFLPA felt they got a 'win' for their constituents by reducing training camp and pre-season games/ contact. I'm not sure that was such a victory.

 

The short week to prepare for an extreme heat/humidity situation in Miami did not help. We can look at trainers etc, but they had a short week to prepare. The product on the field yesterday was not a good look for the NFL. I don't say that as a Bills homer. Clearly Buffalo suffered worse from the elements coming from a cooler climate and off of a short week, but plenty of Dolphin players were struggling by game end too. The game got sloppy and attritional.

 

I think this last game is a statistical anomaly, we are seeing bad injuries around the league, but every year there are teams that suffer badly. We saw this last year with the Ravens and Giants too.

 

Anyone who follows statistics and large data sets is aware of the mean (average) and regression to the mean. In short, over enough data inputs for a relatively closed system, the results will almost always trend back to the average. Buffalo has been very lucky with injuries the past few years. The Bills are 'catching up' to the average injuries, but are doing it all at once, and in two or three units (DB/ OL/ WR).

 

 

Early season games in Miami should all be 4pm games.

[gobills404]

1 hour ago, KDIGGZ said:

These gen Z'ers need to man up. The most adversity they've had in their adult lives is when they ran out of toilet paper at the store during COVID.

 

Back in my day, we didn't have concussions. It was called getting your bell rung and if you sat out for more than 1 play then you were a sissy. One kid on my team got the wind knocked out of him and the coach chewed him out and said if you are laying on his field it's because they need to call in the ambulance, otherwise man up and get back in the huddle. If we broke a bone they would tape it up with athletic tape, duct tape, scotch tape, whatever they had and you would be back out there the next series. Kids these days have no idea 

Concussions are a myth manufactured by the big sports helmet companies

[RocCityRoller]

4 minutes ago, billykay said:

Early season games in Miami should all be 4pm games.

 

See, this is a smart idea. In know Miami/ Jacksonville etc have to gave some home games early.

 

Why not schedule the game at 4 pm. The sun will crest and start setting by 4 pm. Showcase the Dolphins/ Jags in divisional games at 4 pm. It would be better for players and fans.

 

I like it. +2 to you.

[chris heff]

2 hours ago, dwight in philly said:

I am an old guy.. been watching football for as long as i can remember (Colts /.Giants 1958 , vaguely was 6).. my point.. all thru the years watching the NFL , an injury was more of a happenstance.. yesterday , it was surreal, as play after play.. we saw it.. i realize the obvious, bigger, different style, get all that.. is it simply the size of the players? And/ or technique ? 

You and I are the same age, so I’ve been watching football as long as you. If yesterday’s game were played  in 1958 they wouldn’t have shown guys collapsing on the sidelines. The game is safer today. 

[TheBillsOrDie]

34 minutes ago, billykay said:

Early season games in Miami should all be 4pm games.

Hottest part of the day is 5pm

[billybrew1]

1 hour ago, Simon said:

Yeah, tired guys make mistakes and get hurt trying to recover from them.

Although I wouldn't be surprised if there was an element of overtraining for some of them.

I don’t think so….the Bills have led the league with the least amount of injuries since McD took over and I don’t think we did anything new this offseason.

Mostly….bad luck, it has happened to us now…hopefully we can bounce back from this…. Gotta take a close look at the injury report and find out who can come back and who cannot….. I think the Bills lost Micah Hyde - A huge loss of a big team leader…..

and Tom Doyle. A loss definitely but it is unknown how big of one as far as I know….

Who else? Hopefully all the rest can slowly make their way back but these next few games are a real gut check missing a lot of talent. 
We need Gabe Davis and Dawson Knox to produce some offense. We need to greatly improve our redzone O from a week ago….

I don’t know who plays three-tech for us this week or who plays CB…. We’ll havta see…

Meanwhile, I hope Tre White is feeling stronger every single day….

[Billz4ever]

2 hours ago, dwight in philly said:

I am an old guy.. been watching football for as long as i can remember (Colts /.Giants 1958 , vaguely was 6).. my point.. all thru the years watching the NFL , an injury was more of a happenstance.. yesterday , it was surreal, as play after play.. we saw it.. i realize the obvious, bigger, different style, get all that.. is it simply the size of the players? And/ or technique ? 

Just in general, it feels like I've seen a big uptick in injuries happening all across the league so far this season.  Hopefully the trend reverses itself, but so far, this year has been scary for a lot of players and teams, ours especially.  Not sure what has changed or what could be causing it.

Edited September 26, 2022 by Billz4ever

[HOUSE]

2 hours ago, dwight in philly said:

I am an old guy.. been watching football for as long as i can remember (Colts /.Giants 1958 , vaguely was 6).. my point.. all thru the years watching the NFL , an injury was more of a happenstance.. yesterday , it was surreal, as play after play.. we saw it.. i realize the obvious, bigger, different style, get all that.. is it simply the size of the players? And/ or technique ? 

These young kids are wimps, one broken leg and they don't even practice 

[Shaw66]

2 hours ago, Ralonzo said:

I reckon the weather factor compromised them, made them more susceptible.

I think this is correct.  As heat exhaustion approaches, they're ability to do the things they normally do is compromised.  But their desire to do those things is unchanged, so I suspect some of those guys were to do things they just couldn't.  

[nedboy7]

27 minutes ago, TheBillsOrDie said:

Hottest part of the day is 5pm

 

It usually is but it is much hotter in the 1pm sun than the 5pm sun. 

[Old Coot]

2 hours ago, KDIGGZ said:

Back in my day, we didn't have concussions. It was called getting your bell rung and if you sat out for more than 1 play then you were a sissy. One kid on my team got the wind knocked out of him and the coach chewed him out and said if you are laying on his field it's because they need to call in the ambulance, otherwise man up and get back in the huddle. If we broke a bone they would tape it up with athletic tape, duct tape, scotch tape, whatever they had and you would be back out there the next series. Kids these days have no idea 

Boy, you had a soft coach.  In my day for a bell rung you rubbed some dirt on it & got back in the game -- broken bone, have some smelling salts & get back in.  Head torn off -- tape it back on and get back in.

[Tommy Shelby]

People are so soft now, I remember when I was 9 being a few minutes late to practice and the coach making me run laps. My Dad was the coach and he drove me to practice 🤔 

[3rdand12]

9 minutes ago, Tommy Shelby said:

People are so soft now, I remember when I was 9 being a few minutes late to practice and the coach making me run laps. My Dad was the coach and he drove me to practice 🤔 

Okays I just laughed out loud. Thanks for that Tommy !!!

[HappyDays]

3 hours ago, KDIGGZ said:

These gen Z'ers need to man up. The most adversity they've had in their adult lives is when they ran out of toilet paper at the store during COVID.

 

Back in my day, we didn't have concussions. It was called getting your bell rung and if you sat out for more than 1 play then you were a sissy. One kid on my team got the wind knocked out of him and the coach chewed him out and said if you are laying on his field it's because they need to call in the ambulance, otherwise man up and get back in the huddle. If we broke a bone they would tape it up with athletic tape, duct tape, scotch tape, whatever they had and you would be back out there the next series. Kids these days have no idea 

 

Back in my day when you got a serious head injury you pretended it was a back injury and came out in the 2nd half.

[CoffeeDrip]

3 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

You must have missed the Ravens season last year.

 

Their entire team seemed to get injured in the span of 3-4 games.

They don’t seem to be doing a ton better in the early going this year either. Not as banged up as Buffalo but some significant injuries. 

[BigAl2526]

4 hours ago, Ralonzo said:

I reckon the weather factor compromised them, made them more susceptible.

That's my guess.  I'm just hoping that besides Tommy Doyle's torn ACL they are all very short term.

[LOVEMESOMEBILLS]

2 hours ago, nedboy7 said:

 

It usually is but it is much hotter in the 1pm sun than the 5pm sun. 

 

 I agree and this time of the year by 6pm the sun is pretty low in the sky. It's not the temperature or the humidity that's going to get you, it's baking in direct sunlight on a clear day that's going to do you in. 

 

[without a drought]

For the last couple years, everyone has been praising the Bills training staff. Now after the last few weeks, people want answers as to why their training and conditioning is subpar.

 

 

[DrPJax]

5 hours ago, RocCityRoller said:

Hey Dwight, the soft tissue injuries through three weeks around the league this season seem pretty bad.

 

A lot of teams are very banged up, not just our Bills, though we seem to be the poster child of injuries this year. The Chargers and Titans have been very injury prone too. We don't talk about the Titan injuries much, but they were in rough shape by game end with Buffalo. By the end of the Titans game Bills fans were thrilled and pointed out a big win, while Titan fans were noting their large amount of injuries. A week later Dolphin fans are thrilled with a win over Buffalo, while Bills fans point out the injuries.

 

I think the NFLPA felt they got a 'win' for their constituents by reducing training camp and pre-season games/ contact. I'm not sure that was such a victory.

 

The short week to prepare for an extreme heat/humidity situation in Miami did not help. We can look at trainers etc, but they had a short week to prepare. The product on the field yesterday was not a good look for the NFL. I don't say that as a Bills homer. Clearly Buffalo suffered worse from the elements coming from a cooler climate and off of a short week, but plenty of Dolphin players were struggling by game end too. The game got sloppy and attritional.

 

I think this last game is a statistical anomaly, we are seeing bad injuries around the league, but every year there are teams that suffer badly. We saw this last year with the Ravens and Giants too.

 

Anyone who follows statistics and large data sets is aware of the mean (average) and regression to the mean. In short, over enough data inputs for a relatively closed system, the results will almost always trend back to the average. Buffalo has been very lucky with injuries the past few years. The Bills are 'catching up' to the average injuries, but are doing it all at once, and in two or three units (DB/ OL/ WR).

 

 

Great post and points.  I think after watching yesterday the NFL needs to think about moving games to a later time when this type of extreme heat is involved. There is no way to prevent heat illness without time over days to acclimate beforehand.  They are actually fortunate no one was hospitalized or worse. Every year we lecture about heat illness / exhaustion/ stroke etc and still you see reports o young athletes dying from situations like this ; thankfully it’s much less common as staffs are more aware of early warning signs and treatments.  
 

The NFL is better than what happened yesterday , and while the NFLPA is so worried about Tua and the concussion protocol, they exposed two rosters to severe heat and injury risk for no reason. When temps are above 100 degrees on the field, why not rotate to a 4 pm start time?   It makes no sense to play that game at the worst time / hottest part of the day and the product was affected while also sending a message that disregards all known health science regarding prevention of heat illness and it’s risks of severe consequences.  Plus it will continue to have lingering effects as it is hard to recover from and increases risk on subsequent exposure. Just a bad look and the evidence is all the injuries and players still having issues.  
 

it’s not the old days where players are just expected to suck it up and just play. We know the risks , and that was a dangerous playing condition yesterday.  They delay for lightning which is a much lower risk than heat illness is given those conditions, so a delay is a simple solution.   Let’s see if the NFLPA /NFL  look at this for future games.  No one benefits watching a product like yesterdays game. Jmo. 😊

[CSBill]

I wonder, there are the unaffiliated medical doctors on the sidelines: Can, would, do, they have the authority to say to the officials, we have to stop this game because of unsafe conditions (heat, in this case)? I know it is the all-powerful NFL, but at what point does player and fan safety take precedent? We do see it for lightening and severe weather, is not heat a severe weather situation?