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Most of the Bills' injuries have been on defense...Why is that?


mannc

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Over the past few seasons, it seems that the overwhelming majority of the Bills' serious injuries (injuries that result in multiple lost games) have been on defense...Tre White, Von Miller, Matt Milano, Daquan Jones, Damar Hamlin, Micah Hyde, Jordan Poyer, Terrel Bernard, Baylon Spector, and Christian Benford is only a partial list of Bills' defenders who have missed a lot of time because of injuries.  And I suppose we can add Mike Edwards and Cole Bishop, too.  On the other hand, it's hard to name any starter on offense who has missed much time.  Mitch Morse, Dawson Knox and Spencer Brown might have missed a game or two, but injuries have really had no measurable impact on the Bills' offense for a couple years running.

 

Anyone have any explanation for this?  Is it just luck, or does it have something to do with the scheme or the type of players the Bills have been drafting and acquiring on defense?  My sense is that it's more than just luck and that it might have something to do with the Bills favoring smaller, more mobile, more versatile defenders.  I can't remember ever seeing a team with so many key injuries on one side of the ball and almost none on the other, especially over an extended period of time.  Curious what others think.       

Edited by mannc
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Just a few years ago the Bills were a very healthy team for a few years in a row. I think most of it is just bad luck, honestly. That's why depth and player development is so important.

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Posted (edited)
16 minutes ago, MJS said:

Just a few years ago the Bills were a very healthy team for a few years in a row. I think most of it is just bad luck, honestly. That's why depth and player development is so important.

The Bills are still a relatively healthy team, if you look at their injuries as a whole...it's just that almost every single injury has been on defense.  It's pretty amazing, and difficult to write off purely to chance. 

Edited by mannc
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I’ve said this for two years.  They utilize a scheme that relies on two undersized Linebackers who have to play sideline to sideline.  They get to shine by making a ton of plays, but that comes at a price.  For as many plays as Milano makes, he leads the NFL in missed tackles since he’s been in the league.  When you’re in that role, you make a lot of plays, you miss a lot of plays, and you take a lot of lumps.

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18 minutes ago, mannc said:

The Bills are still a relatively healthy team, if you look at their injuries as a whole...it's just that almost every single injury has been on defense.  It's pretty amazing, and difficult to write off purely to chance. 

I think the fact that injuries are so streaky like this indicates it really is purely by chance.

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4 minutes ago, LeGOATski said:

I think the fact that injuries are so streaky like this indicates it really is purely by chance.

Don't you think it suggests the opposite?  It's a pretty significant sample size...were talking about more than just one season...  

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8 minutes ago, Billl said:

I’ve said this for two years.  They utilize a scheme that relies on two undersized Linebackers who have to play sideline to sideline.  They get to shine by making a ton of plays, but that comes at a price.  For as many plays as Milano makes, he leads the NFL in missed tackles since he’s been in the league.  When you’re in that role, you make a lot of plays, you miss a lot of plays, and you take a lot of lumps.

Milano has always been a bit injury prone. But it isn't just linebackers getting injured. The defense was missing multiple starters at all three levels last year.

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5 minutes ago, mannc said:

Don't you think it suggests the opposite?  It's a pretty significant sample size...were talking about more than just one season...  

And we had a significant sample size of very little injuries. The big change is indicative of the fact that injuries as a whole are super streaky. The only trend you can depend upon is by individual player. Milano is clearly injury prone.

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6 minutes ago, MJS said:

Milano has always been a bit injury prone. But it isn't just linebackers getting injured. The defense was missing multiple starters at all three levels last year.

Seems like the Linebackers get injured the most, though.  That and McDermott and/or Beane tend to favor older players on defense.  The non-Linebackers who have been hurt have largely been older players.  Tre being an obvious exception.

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53 minutes ago, mannc said:

Over the past few seasons, it seems that the overwhelming majority of the Bills' serious injuries (injuries that result in multiple lost games) have been on defense...Tre White, Von Miller, Matt Milano, Daquan Jones, Damar Hamlin, Micah Hyde, Jordan Poyer, Terrel Bernard, Baylon Spector, and Christian Benford is only a partial list of Bills' defenders who have missed a lot of time because of injuries.  And I suppose we can add Mike Edwards and Cole Bishop, too.  On the other hand, it's hard to name any starter on offense who has missed much time.  Mitch Morse, Dawson Knox and Spencer Brown might have missed a game or two, but injuries have really had no measurable impact on the Bills offense for a couple years running.

 

Anyone have any explanation for this?  Is it just luck, or does it have something to do with the scheme or the type of players the Bills have been drafting and acquiring on defense?  My sense is that it's more than just luck and that it might have something to do with the Bills favoring smaller, more mobile, more versatile defenders.  I can't remember ever seeing a team with so many key injuries on one side of the ball and almost none on the other, especially over an extended period of time.  Curious what others think.       


It’s really not that unusual in the NFL.  I’ve seen the “intelligent” fans on Twitter blame strength and conditioning. I’m positive it isn’t that or else all 5 of the Bills offensive lineman took every snap last season - a damn near anomaly.  
 

IMO it’s a lot of randomness and bad luck.  Last season, it was extreme

bad luck with all the injuries at linebacker and WR - positions that the Bills already had limited depth at.  
 

Football always has been a game of attrition.  If you have the good luck to stay healthy, it’s a big advantage in the post season.    
 

If you can’t…like most teams…the ones that win usually find ways to overcome losses.   Cincinnati had  done a good job for a few post seasons as has Kansas City last year who lost an All-Pro in Joe Thuney in the game against the Bills.  
 

 

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32 minutes ago, Billl said:

I’ve said this for two years.  They utilize a scheme that relies on two undersized Linebackers who have to play sideline to sideline.  They get to shine by making a ton of plays, but that comes at a price.  For as many plays as Milano makes, he leads the NFL in missed tackles since he’s been in the league.  When you’re in that role, you make a lot of plays, you miss a lot of plays, and you take a lot of lumps.

^This. Plus, we had two aging safeties. Luck hasn’t been on our side either.

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1 hour ago, mannc said:

Over the past few seasons, it seems that the overwhelming majority of the Bills' serious injuries (injuries that result in multiple lost games) have been on defense...Tre White, Von Miller, Matt Milano, Daquan Jones, Damar Hamlin, Micah Hyde, Jordan Poyer, Terrel Bernard, Baylon Spector, and Christian Benford is only a partial list of Bills' defenders who have missed a lot of time because of injuries.  And I suppose we can add Mike Edwards and Cole Bishop, too.  On the other hand, it's hard to name any starter on offense who has missed much time.  Mitch Morse, Dawson Knox and Spencer Brown might have missed a game or two, but injuries have really had no measurable impact on the Bills' offense for a couple years running.

 

Anyone have any explanation for this?  Is it just luck, or does it have something to do with the scheme or the type of players the Bills have been drafting and acquiring on defense?  My sense is that it's more than just luck and that it might have something to do with the Bills favoring smaller, more mobile, more versatile defenders.  I can't remember ever seeing a team with so many key injuries on one side of the ball and almost none on the other, especially over an extended period of time.  Curious what others think.       

 

I think several things are at play.  One is, the scheme does rely on some fast but undersized guys who compensate by going hard and hitting hard.  I don't think it's an accident that we had a rash of injuries playing on the turf-over-cement field in UK and then another rash of injuries during the Pittsburgh playoff game in cold weather that made the fill under our turf hard and unyielding.

 

A second is, bad luck.  When you have a player like Tre White who tore his ACL and then returned and tore his Achilles, that's just bad luck

 

A third is, we did "age out" on some players like Poyer and Hyde and are ageing out on others, like Milano.

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1 hour ago, Billl said:

I’ve said this for two years.  They utilize a scheme that relies on two undersized Linebackers who have to play sideline to sideline.  They get to shine by making a ton of plays, but that comes at a price.  For as many plays as Milano makes, he leads the NFL in missed tackles since he’s been in the league.  When you’re in that role, you make a lot of plays, you miss a lot of plays, and you take a lot of lumps.


Thats fair, but doesn’t explain why our DL has major injuries of late in Von & Daquan, plus Epenesa and Rousseau both dropped off a cliff when they sustained relatively major injuries that they played through last year.

 

Our safeties were aging out, so I get that, but Edwards & Bishop have barely even been able to practice so far.. nevermind Rasul Douglas was playing one leg against y’all in the playoffs last year, after replacing Tre White, who went down… again. 

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