Buffalo Bills: Way too Early to Worry About Penalties
By Paul Taylor
The Buffalo Bills opened the preseason with an undisciplined display against the Indianapolis Colts, but it’s too soon to be concerned that the team will have another penalty-filled year.
There were a lot of things the Buffalo Bills did wrong last season – this much is obvious. However, one of the biggest criticisms of the team, was their lack of discipline, best illustrated by how many penalties were called against them.
The Bills tied with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for most penalties in the NFL, with an average of 8.9 per game. In addition, Buffalo also averaged 78.1 penalty yards per game, highest in the league.
For what it’s worth, Rex Ryan has tried anything he can think of, to improve the situation. He previously punished individuals with push ups, while this year at training camp, he’s had players running a lap whenever they go offside or have a false start.
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Unfortunately for the Bills head coach, it’s pretty much status quo at this point, if Saturday’s preseason opener is anything to go by. The team suffered 11 penalties for 106 yards, in the 19-18 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.
Afterwards, Ryan talked about how many positives he took away from the game. However, he also discussed his frustration with yet another penalty-filled contest.
Speaking to The Buffalo News and the rest of the media, Ryan said: “Obviously we didn’t do our end as a football team.
“The mistakes we made, I pointed out to our team, it’s like we have to turn the page on that. That was last year’s team and we can’t have that (again).”
What’s most exasperating for the 53-year old, is how much he’s been concentrating on putting the team in a better position for the 2016 season: “We’ve been working extremely hard about some of those penalties we saw.
“We had four offside penalties and that was upsetting to me. I think we had three on special teams, so that blueprint was what last year’s blueprint was – as a team, there isn’t anybody in there that’s happy with that performance.”
Ryan’s frustrations are entirely understandable. However, it’s too soon to be concerned about the Bills potentially suffering another penalty-laden season.
At the end of the day, it’s Week 1 of the preseason. Mistakes and a lack of discipline are to be expected, especially with the majority of players participating in game action for the first time in seven months.
In fact, you could go further and say we should expect similar issues in the other three preseason games. While Bills fans may not wish to hear that, it’s the reality, especially with so many fringe and inexperienced players fighting for a place on the 53-man roster.
Ultimately, we realistically won’t get a true idea of the Bills’ discipline compared to last season, until the real action kicks off in September. Until then, it’s really not worth fretting about.
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What are your thoughts about how many penalties were called against the Bills on Saturday night? Are you concerned the team will be as undisciplined as last season, or are you confident in their ability to improve? Let us know in the comments section below.