Bills lose Mitchell, Buggs to knee surgery
Published: October 13, 2009, 12:32 am
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Job posting: NFL middle linebacker.
Location: Buffalo.
Experience: Preferred, but not required.
At this point, can such a classified ad be far off?
The Buffalo Bills were hit with another pair of season-ending injuries in Sunday's woeful 6-3 loss to the Cleveland Browns — to players at the same position, no less. Middle linebacker Kawika Mitchell, who was making his first start with the Bills at the position, and backup Marcus Buggs both will require knee surgery, coach Dick Jauron revealed Monday.
"It's just so disappointing for all of us," Jauron said. "Particularly for the players, but certainly for the team too."
With regular starter Paul Posluszny still not fully recovered from a broken arm suffered in the season opener at New England, the Bills are on to Plan C at the position. With two roster spots soon to be open, Jauron indicated the team will look for help outside the organization.
"We'll clearly be bringing some people in," the coach said. "We'll work out some people, we'll look at some different things."
Signing a middle linebacker off the street and plugging him into the lineup is far from ideal, but the Bills are out of options. Injuries, as well as decisions in recent seasons to keep younger, inexpensive backups at linebacker over veterans with experience, have put the team in a precarious situation.
That includes this year, when Buggs earned job of backup to Posluszny, beating out five-year veteran Pat Thomas, who made nine starts last year for Kansas City. Mitchell was moved to middle linebacker after Buggs proved inadequate at the position. With Buggs starting, New Orleans and Miami combined for 472 rushing yards.
After Buggs was hurt in the third quarter, Keith Ellison shifted to middle linebacker from the strong side, which meant Orchard Park native Jon Corto saw the first defensive snaps of his career, as did weak-side linebacker Ashlee Palmer, an undrafted rookie free agent who was starting his first game.
As it stands now, those three are the only healthy linebackers on the roster, after rookie Nic Harris was shifted to safety two weeks ago because of injuries at that position. If both Donte Whitner (thumb) and Bryan Scott (ankle) are unable to return Sunday, Harris would need to stay at safety to back up Jairus Byrd and George Wilson.
"We're thin," Palmer said. "We were thin when [Mitchell and Buggs] were there and we're even thinner now. The coaches I'm pretty sure are upstairs going over what they want to do about the whole situation."
They're also smaller. At 253 pounds, Mitchell was the biggest linebacker on the roster.
One option that Jauron quickly shot down Monday was moving first-round pick Aaron Maybin from defensive end to linebacker. The coach offered a simple "no" when asked if that was a possibility.
Whitner said Monday he's almost ready to return.
"We've got a couple tests to do, but I feel like I'm close and they [team trainers] feel like I'm close, so we'll see," he said.
Injuries have been nothing new for Whitner in his career, but that doesn't mean he's gotten any better at dealing with them.
"I've been trying to rush it [back] pretty much since it happened. My initial thought going into surgery was I wanted to play that week. Just put a cast on it and play, but they felt that was dangerous," he said. "It's a couple weeks down the road so I feel like I'm really close.
"I don't really need this thumb for the rest of my life, you know," he joked.
The lone bright spot in Sunday's game came in the third quarter when Jairus Byrd picked off Browns quarterback Derek Anderson. Predictably, the second-round pick wasn't reveling in his first career interception Monday.
"It was special. I'll definitely remember it," Byrd said. "But we didn't win, so it wasn't just what I wanted."
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