The Buffalo Bills are losing training camp

Earlier this summer, Buffalo Bills head coach Rex Ryan insisted that his team “won the offseason.” If that’s the case, then their fortunes have descended quickly, because the Bills are currently losing training camp.

Injuries and suspensions have ravaged Buffalo’s defense, which strangely enough has been a problem under Ryan, who spent his entire career coaching on the defensive side of the ball before he became a head coach. Last year, the Bills’ defense collapsed during his first year in Buffalo. After finishing fourth in yards allowed in 2014, the defense sank to 18th last season.

To purportedly help address matters, Rex Ryan brought in his brother, Rob, who has been a defensive coordinator for the last 12 years. The problem is, Rob has presided over some of the worst defenses in the league recently. Under Rob’s leadership, the New Orleans Saints allowed the most and second-most points in the NFL over the last two seasons. His run in Dallas wasn’t much better, as the Cowboys never finished lower than 16th in points allowed while he was calling the plays.

There’s nothing the Ryan brothers can do about the injuries that have decimated the Bills’ linebacking corps, of course. First-round pick Shaq Lawson is on the physically unable to perform list while he recovers from shoulder surgery and fellow rookie Reggie Ragland is expected to be out for the entire year after tearing his ACL last week. IK Enemkpali — yes, the guy who punched out Geno Smith at Jets camp last August — was cut after ripping up his knee in Saturday’s preseason opener.

But those unavoidable injuries aren’t the only theme of Bills training camp. A troubling lack of discipline, which plagued the team on the field last season, continues to rear its ugly head. Except this time, it’s resulting in more than just leading the league in penalties.

Less than one year after signing a six-year extension worth more than $96 million, Marcell Dareus will be forced to miss the first four games of the season for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy. He later told the media it was due to a missed drug test.

The Bills reacted sternly to the Dareus news. The team issued a strongly worded statement Tuesday, saying it’s “disappointed Marcell chose to put himself first, before his teammates, coaches and the rest of the organization.” Ryan expressed his exasperation, too, saying he’s “frustrated and disappointed.”

Given that Dareus was also suspended for one game last season, it’s understandable that the Bills are so publicly upset. But the fact that he’s repeating his mistakes speaks to a lack of accountability. If Dareus’ situation were a one-off incident, it could be written off. But he’s not the only member of the team who will be suspended this year, and the Bills could face league sanctions because of it.

Currently, linebacker Manny Lawson is being investigated by the league for violating the personal conduct policy. The situation involving Lawson is murky, though. The Buffalo News cited two NFL sources that say he’s the subject of a league investigation into a reported domestic violence incident and could face a one-game ban. But Lawson denies he was involved in a domestic dispute, echoing the words of his agent, Jonathan Feinted.

The Bills offered no clarity, either.

“We are aware of an investigation by the NFL under the Personal Conduct Policy but we have not heard from the league regarding the results,” the team said in a statement.

The turmoil has carried over to the backfield as well. Though LeSean McCoy avoided league discipline for his alleged nightclub brawl, backup running back Karlos Williams will miss the first month of the season for a drug policy violation. That promises to put a heavy workload on McCoy, who was sidelined for four games last year due to injury.

It also places more pressure on Tyrod Taylor. The Bills recently signed him to a very team-friendly six-year contract extension, and he appears ready to lead a potentially dynamic offensive alongside blossoming young wideouts Sammy Watkins and Robert Woods. But since Watkins has been battling a foot injury all offseason, he might not even be 100 percent on Week 1.

Taylor may soon start getting paid like a top quarterback, but he’s still a former sixth-round pick who threw just 35 passes during his first four NFL seasons. Counting on him to carry a lot more weight is still a risky endeavor.

One of the biggest reasons why the Bills finished 8-8 in 2015 was their tendency to commit penalties. No team was flagged more last year than Buffalo, who picked right back where it left off with 11 penalties in its preseason opener.

“Penalties are a big issue. I mean that’s something that we had last year that made us lose games. That’s what we don’t want to have happen this year,” linebacker Preston Brown said this week.

Ryan, in his typically boisterous style, doesn’t appear to be concerned.

“I see the big picture. I also see this defense is improving,” Ryan said Wednesday, via ESPN. “I’ve said it from Day 1: we’re going to be better. We will definitely be better than we were last year, in my opinion.”

Thanks to years of unfulfilled promises with the Jets, the “Ryan guarantee” has lost its luster. He promised the Bills would break their 16-year playoff drought last season, but they never recovered from a sluggish start.

For the last several months, Ryan has batted down reports that owner Terry Pegula gave him a playoff ultimatum earlier this year. Judging by the way training camp has gone so far, questions about Ryan’s job security will probably continue to fester.