ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) -With everything that’s gone wrong for the Buffalo Bills so far, Larry Tripplett knew better than to answer a question about whether things could get worse.
And yet, the defensive tackle shook his head and laughed Monday, a day after the Bills were thoroughly outplayed in a 38-7 loss at New England and lost another key starter to injury – this time rookie middle linebacker Paul Posluszny, who broke his forearm.
“We can’t worry about that,” Tripplett said. “What we’ve got to do is keep going and banging away, and eventually, we’ll pull through this. Thank goodness the season’s long.”
Three weeks and three losses in, the season might seem long enough already.
The Bills’ already-young lineup has been decimated by injuries, including reserve tight end Kevin Everett, who is unlikely to play again after sustaining a life-threatening spinal cord injury in the season opener against Denver. Posluszny, meanwhile, became the third defensive starter and sixth player overall placed on the season-ending injured reserve list on Monday.
Numerous regulars have also missed time due to injuries, such as linebacker Keith Ellison (high ankle sprain), Ellison’s replacement, Coy Wire (sprained knee), cornerback Terrence McGee (ribs) and reserve defensive end Ryan Denney (broken foot).
Now add quarterback J.P. Losman to the list. The starter is expected to miss two weeks after spraining his left knee during the first series against New England.
“It’s crazy,” punter Brian Moorman said. “It just completely floors me that we go into every game and lose somebody for a number of weeks like this. I don’t know what to think. We definitely need things to change in our favor.”
Little has gone right so far for a team that already began the season with lowered expectations after losing three defensive starters to trades or free agency this past offseason.
Since a 15-14 opening loss to Denver, the Bills have been outscored 64-10 in their past two games, including a 26-3 loss at Pittsburgh.
Buffalo’s defense has allowed 458 yards per game. Of opponents’ 30 possessions this season, 25 have finished in Bills territory and 16 resulted in scores.
The Bills didn’t hold an opponent to a three-and-out until limiting the Patriots to 2 yards on their second-half opening drive last weekend.
Things aren’t any better with an offense that returned mostly intact and expected to build off a strong finish to last season.
In three games this season, Buffalo has produced two offensive touchdowns and 600 yards offense – that’s just 115 more than what the Patriots had against them on Sunday. The Bills’ 24 points scored are the fewest in their first three games of a season since they scored just 20 in 1977.
With Losman out, the Bills will go with rookie third-round pick Trent Edwards, who had an inconsistent debut against the Patriots. After efficiently marching the Bills on a 12-play, 80-yard scoring drive during his first series, Edwards and the offense produced 104 yards total on their final 10 possessions.
“We just go, that’s what we do,” coach Dick Jauron said. “When things happen to you, you’ve got a choice. You can either feel sorry for yourself or move. … We need to move on.”
And yet, Jauron acknowledged his team’s deficiencies.
“Defensively, we struggle. And part of our struggle is we have no continuity,” Jauron said.
Jauron said part of the blame falls on the offense for failing to produce extended drives to provide Bills defenders time to rest.
The Bills’ schedule doesn’t help. After hosting the Jets (1-2), Buffalo plays Dallas (3-0) and Baltimore (2-1) in its next two games.
“It’s still really, really early in the season. We’ve been here before,” receiver Lee Evans said. “We’ve just got to keep pushing away. And sooner or later, things will turn.”
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