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Blame For Defensive Injuries


mjt328

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Human nature is always looking for someone to blame when things go wrong.

I notice a lot of people trying to lay all these injuries on our training and conditioning staff, but I'm not sure that's really fair.

 

Up until the end of 2021, the Bills were actually one of the healthiest teams in the entire league.  And if you recall, our training staff and facilities were getting a lot of credit (which honestly was probably just luck and was really undeserved).  Then on Thanksgiving of that year, everything started unraveling.  And it's been a mess ever since.

 

2021 - Tre White - ACL

2022 - Micah Hyde - Neck

2022 - Von Miller - ACL

2023 - Tre White - Achilles

2023 - Matt Milano - Leg

2023 - Daquan Jones - Pec

2024 - Matt Milano - Bicep

2024 - Terrel Bernard - Pec

 

As you can see, most of these injuries are freak occurrences.  

Miller did have a previous ACL tear to the same knee, but it was 9 years prior. 

Milano gets a bad rap for being injury-prone.  But anyone would have gotten hurt getting caught in a pile like that.  His bicep injury happened hitting a bag.

Bernard is undersized, so I can sorta understand the point being made there.  But Jones is not, and he completely tore it.

 

The crazy thing is, everything is on the Defensive side of the ball. 

Our Offense has remained relatively healthy.  Josh Allen has the longest streak of starts for a QB in the NFL.  Our O-Line was the only unit to start the same five guys every game last year.

 

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Yea some of it is just pure bad luck. The ACLs, neck and achillies injury are not the sort of things your conditioning staff can solve, sadly. The muscle injuries you would definitely want to look at what you are doing in that department. I don't buy that Bernard's size has anything to with it though. 

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I don’t know that we have more injuries than your average team but it seems like they unluckily find the best players 

 

Kc was unreasonably healthy for the playoff push last year I don’t think it was really us that was the outlier there.  Usually teams are missing a few high impact players at that point 

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The Bills have had some bad luck with things but referencing Milano, Bernard, and Johnson they are all undersized for the things they are asked to do in the NFL. Johnson is one of the best slot CB's because not only can he cover but he's a really good player coming down and tackling but that involved a guy under 200 pounds constantly taking on offensive lineman, TE's and bigger running backs.

 

Milano and Bernard are 230 pounds at best and constantly taking on 300 pound lineman. Those battles take their toll over time. 

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18 minutes ago, TheyCallMeAndy said:

Dolphins lost their QB, LT, and LG, effectively ending their season.

 

Im tired of Bills fans bitching about injuries. Every team has them. Every. Single. Team. 
 

It’s always our stars because we have a ton of them. 

Kc really doesn’t seem to have any stars suffer long term injuries and that’s all that anyone really focuses on lol the 31 other teams I’d agree with you though. 

 

kc has a horseshoe jammed so far up their a** 😂. Its more them being lucky than us being unlucky though 

Edited by Generic_Bills_Fan
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The blaming of the strength staff for injuries is so annoying.   Can it impact things?   Yes but if you think they have some internet doctors creating the plans and they never thought to invest in sports science you are ridiculous.   A couple years ago the bills had low injuries so the narrative is the bills have the best sports science in the history of the world.  The numbers catch up with them because the nfl is a 100 percent injury sport and now they are just clowns.  So dumb

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24 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

Yea some of it is just pure bad luck. The ACLs, neck and achillies injury are not the sort of things your conditioning staff can solve, sadly. The muscle injuries you would definitely want to look at what you are doing in that department. I don't buy that Bernard's size has anything to with it though. 

There are definitely risk factors that can lead to those sorts of injuries. (Example, stiff calves/poor ankle dorsiflexion can cause more stress on the Achilles)

 

But ya there is definitely a luck factor as well as it is football at the end of the day

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Read the book TB12 Method (I know I know, but it was an interesting book). Most injuries happen because the muscles or tendons are tight and when you work out/lift weights they get tighter and denser and then they rupture. When you are a baby you are like Gumbie, think of how flexible you were and how you lose that flexibility more and more as you get older. Players need to work more on flexibility and pliability. I honestly can't believe Brady did what he did for as long and nobody has tried to replicate that since.

 

Additionally, there are certain imbalances that lead to injuries. Everyone works out their quads (squats, lunges, running forward) but how many people work their hamstrings equally as much? You work the front of the muscle but not the back. It's a give and take relationship, ying and yang, and that's why there are so many hamstring injuries. It's pretty common sense. If you work the flexion you have to work the extension equally to keep them in balance.

Edited by K D
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Some of it is bad luck..

 

Also, you can get really talented linebackers in RD3 & RD5 for a myriad of reasons…

 

The position is devalued and the player is raw (Dorian Williams).   Or.. because they’re undersized (Terrel Bernard & Matt Milano)

 

Undersized players are always going to be a bigger injury risk.   Taron Johnson falls into that category as well.  
 

If the Bills want to keep going this route with the Defense, they’d be wise to draft a mid-round linebacker, like they do Day 3 corners, every year.  
 

Keep a deep stable of young guys ready to fill in.   I thought Williams & Spector looked really good out there.   Problem now is, who’s behind them. 
 

The other injuries just happen.. it is what it is.  Daquan, Von, Rousseau in past years.  We don’t even typically play heavy usage on the DL.  

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41 minutes ago, TheyCallMeAndy said:

Dolphins lost their QB, LT, and LG, effectively ending their season.

 

Im tired of Bills fans bitching about injuries. Every team has them. Every. Single. Team. 
 

It’s always our stars because we have a ton of them. 

Chiefs didn't for the most part when they won the super bowl the past two seasons.... let's aspire to be them and hold them up as the standard. 

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2 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Certainly could. Doesn't have to be, but could be. But you'd want to go and look at what you are doing and evaluate it. 


Agreed.
 

There are so many philosophies too on strength training, and I suspect it’s a whole other level at the NFL level. But you sort of wonder if there needs to be more of a focus on rest, muscle endurance, and flexibility, and maybe less on hypertrophy— but that’s me speculating. 

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