Bills' defense remains banged up heading into Week 8

by Brian Galliford on Oct 30, 2009 2:12 PM EDT in News Comment 19 comments

More photos » by David Duprey - AP

The Buffalo Bills have released their Week 8 injury report, and as usual with this team, it's mostly bad news.

Six players have been ruled out for Sunday's game against the Houston Texans. Quarterback Trent Edwards (head), fullback Corey McIntyre (knee), tight end Shawn Nelson (migraines), tackle Jonathan Scott (ankle), defensive tackle Kyle Williams (knee) and safety Donte Whitner (ankle) will not dress. In addition, safety Bryan Scott - who hasn't played in a month with a high ankle sprain, but who did practice on a limited basis all week - is listed as doubtful.

Williams will miss his first start since being drafted by the Bills in the fifth round of the 2006 Draft. Whitner and Scott, the team's opening-day duo at safety, will (probably, in the case of Scott) miss their fourth and fifth straight games, respectively, though Whitner did make a brief appearance in a Week 6 win over the Jets before succumbing to his ankle injury. Spencer Johnson starts for Williams. Jairus Byrd and George Wilson - who have combined for six interceptions over the past two weeks - will continue to get the call at safety.

Defensive end Chris Kelsay (back) and cornerback Terrence McGee (knee) are listed as probable. Both are likely to suit up.

Ryan Fitzpatrick will make his second straight start at quarterback in place of Edwards; he's won his last five starts dating back to the end of the 2008 season, when he was with Cincinnati. Jamon Meredith will make his third straight start at right tackle in place of Jonathan Scott. The Bills will once again enter a game with just two healthy tight ends (Derek Fine and Jonathan Stupar), and they do not have a replacement fullback for McIntyre, who has seen more action than usual in recent weeks as a lead blocker.

Meanwhile, two key Texans starters - receiver Andre Johnson and linebacker Brian Cushing - will start on Sunday.

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This is depressing n/t

by LABillsFan on Oct 30, 2009 2:20 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Does Nelson have a history with migranes

or is this something that popped up since playing with the Bills? They’ve caused me to have several as well.

Why do today, when it can wait til tomorrow; the games on!

by UtahBillsFan on Oct 30, 2009 2:28 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Too funny

Bills-fan-who-wants-a-GM

by can on Oct 30, 2009 2:34 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Is it possible Nelson’s migraines are concussion-related?

Or in the case of Bills fans, ethanol-related?

Official ledge-talker-offer of the Buffalo Bills.

by WhyBillsWhy on Oct 30, 2009 3:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

In that case though, you usually don’t get the migraines until monday morning.

by quantumuprising on Oct 30, 2009 3:14 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

That would be my guess

by live6453 on Oct 30, 2009 3:08 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

3 WR sets

We will see lots of 3 and 4 WR sets.

We will miss both B. Scott and Whitner v. Owen Daniels.

I am not as concerned about Slaton running up the guy on us so this may not be the worse game for Williams to miss.

I worry about our OLB staying with Slaton.

Offense is the same as it’s been the last 2 weeks. I assume Denney will be used in the DL rotations and Ellis may see 5-10 snaps on the outside.

by Berg79 on Oct 30, 2009 3:14 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

This is pretty much the same D we had last week, for better or worse.

Wilson and Byrd have played better every week they’ve been in action. It is disappointing that we won’t have Scott available to shadow OD. I think Wilson is somewhat capable of running with him and is 6 feet tall so that’s better than having a linebacker attempt to run with him. We need the pass rush to be there in order to force Schaub into sailing a couple passes for our newly opportunistic secondary to turn the ball over. It is possible to get to Schaub, but he’s been protecting the ball very well this year, but so had Brees and we were able to for the most part rattle him for a great deal of this game. Our offense/special teams will have to have a good day to pull this one out. That’s of course asking a great deal from a extremely mediocre unit. TO, quit being a douche and giving up on balls thrown your way. He needs to use his large stature to haul in a jumpball like the old days because we know Fitz isn’t likely to put many right on the money.

by live6453 on Oct 30, 2009 3:18 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

eh, same old same old

I expect this one to be a 2 score loss as I can’t envision the offense putting enough points on the board this week.

I said it last week, but Nelson still seems like he might be one of those guys who are always hurt. Let’s hope those migraines go away because they suck.

It’d be nice to know Williams’ injury and how long he might be out. Guess he’s expected back after the bye or else we’d have brought someone else in. Its time for McCargo to have some sort of impact.

BTW, Whitner hasn’t missed 4 straight. He played against the Jets but got hurt again…

~K
"As the governor of Louisiana once said, the only way Chris Kelsay can lose his job is if he got caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy."

by Kurupt on Oct 30, 2009 3:31 PM EDT via mobile reply actions 0 recs

BTW, Whitner hasn’t missed 4 straight. He played against the Jets but got hurt again…

Completely forgot about that. It was so brief.

Buffalo Rumblings. On Twitter.
"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. --Wayne Grezky" --Michael Scott

by Brian Galliford on Oct 30, 2009 3:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Whitner

He seems to get hurt a lot too. It’d be nice if he could get onto the field and stay there. We need to see if him and Byrd can be a good pair…

~K
"As the governor of Louisiana once said, the only way Chris Kelsay can lose his job is if he got caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy."

by Kurupt on Oct 30, 2009 3:39 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions 0 recs

Isn't this always the way it goes with the Bills?

The Bills are hopelessly banged up. Meanwhile, the opposing team is mostly healthy and the one or two key guys who might otherwise miss the game manage to not only play but play well.

It’s kind of like when opposing teams line up for last second 50+ yard field goals in howling winds. Improbable or not the field goal kicker invariably puts it straight through the uprights with plenty of leg to spare.

Of course we could make things more challenging, Lisa, but then the stupider students would be in here complaining, furrowing their brows in a vain attempt to understand the situation--Seymour Skinner

by Ron From NM on Oct 30, 2009 4:30 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

So weird that our supposed 2nd 3rd and even 4th string guys play better than our starters?

Why is that?

Richard has some mythical powers when it comes to getting the most out of career backups and younger folks.

"Maybe Fitzy just has a horsehoe up his ass winning the two games he has, but you don’t bench someone who has a horseshoe up his ass." - Applsoss

by norcaliangelsfan on Oct 30, 2009 5:03 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

takes one to know one

He can easily recognize below average talent because he sees one every morning in the mirror.

by fansince60 on Oct 30, 2009 5:51 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

3 sprained ankles and a headache

Sounds to me like these injuries would make Bill Parcells rip you a new one if he were in charge. And TO definitely wouldn’t be getting a day off every week. This is pretty weak.

by bruuuuce_02 on Oct 30, 2009 6:53 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Because Parcells had such a great relationship with TO, right? A “headache” is what you call migraines resulting from a concussion? Parcells has done well in his career but I would venture to say that it’s more because he’s a good evaluator of talent rather than a hardass as a coach.

Official ledge-talker-offer of the Buffalo Bills.

by WhyBillsWhy on Oct 30, 2009 10:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Parcells doesn’t tolerate prima donna’s. Everyone has to work hard on his teams or there are consequences.

I would say Parcells success has been a combination of bringing in good talent, and disciplining his team to make them better. Miami had nearly the same group they had when they were 1-15 as they did when they were 11-5. Parcells demands 100% effort out of his players and wants their mistakes to be limited. If you don’t buy into his system, you can bet that your job is on the line.

As far as the concussion thing goes, you’re probably right. But Jauron leans towards being conservative pretty often.

Take a look at Tim Tebow. He had one of the worst concussions I’ve ever seen a few weeks ago. He was literally knocked out cold. And after a bye week he came back and played against one of the top teams in the country. Compare that to Edwards. Yes it was apparently his second concussion this year. But it was a borderline concussion and the impact to his head was minimal. Regardless of the severity, this will be his 2nd week on the inactive list. I guess you could say this is a combination of Edwards being injury prone and Jauron being ultra conservative with his players. Either way, it’s incredibly frustrating watching this team operate. If you think otherwise, you must enjoy torture.

by bruuuuce_02 on Oct 31, 2009 3:12 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs