GunnerBill

They get a pass yesterday because by the 2nd series they were down: Their best defensive player Both starting corners Their best EDGE player (at least until Von proves himself healthy) And their 1T By the end of the game (when the Jags scored two touchdowns) they had a practice squad defensive tackle on their 1st team DL as an edge.

The Bills ended up on Sunday with a PS defensive tackle playing defensive end on the first unit (he is at best their 7th choice at the position). The other defensive end out there is probably their 4th best guy when everyone is healthy. So whether you think Rousseau was average or whatever last year (he was better than that) the drop off from him to what was out there yesterday is still significant. They were down both starting corners. And then while I agree with you re. Daquan Jones's career and the lack of demand for his services (I have said that myself recently in response to people who were desperate to extend him) there is absolutely zero doubt that he has been a really important and consistent player in this defense since he signed. And then they also lost their best defensive player a first team all pro last year who was trending that way again. That explains what happened yesterday (plus Taron missing some plays though he returned to the game). It is really simple. They ran out of players. If the Bills had to play that defense without all those guys the rest of the year it would be a bottom feeder defense. And that wouldn't be a GM problem. It would be an injury problem. Luckily, they don't. They have lost 3 important players for the year. Two of the 3 former first team all pros on this unit and Jones. That hurts. But Floyd isn't serious by the looks of it and they will get Rousseau, Von, Kingsley and Shaq all back healthy. Add that to AJE who has really come on since the middle of last season they should still have some horses to rush the passer. They will get Benford back and that helps at corner. They will miss Jones but they at least have some vet depth there (even if neither Settle nor Ford really float my boat much). Milano is the biggest miss. He is our best defensive player. It is like taking Chris Jones off the Chiefs (they are immediately noticeably worse) or Nick Bosa off the 49ers (when he missed most of 2020 they went from 6th in sacks in 2019 to 27th in sacks). You can't replace those elite players. Nobody in the NFL can. That is why when you lose them it sucks so hard. In short I expect the Bills defense to still be top half of the league. But without the 3 guys it has lost for the year it won't be top 5 IMO. However, if they had to end up with the guys who were on the field at the end of the game yesterday playing all year across the board.... then they would be towards the bottom of the league defensively. And one final point... injuries were a problem on defense at the end of last season too. I have said it they were without Von at the end of the year, had Tre not back to his best and then Oliver and Poyer held together by sticky tape and Jones missed the playoff loss too. The pattern here is simple.... when you take or severely handicap 5 or 6 starter off a defense and they are among the best players on that defense the defensive performance declines. That is the NFL. EDIT: please do not do your usual and stretch this to "the GM is blameless." Because I haven't said that. I have talked to you before about the fact that there are legit questions in my mind as to some of the team building decisions. And I have even agreed with you on some of them (e.g. going with two old safeties off injuries and the middle linebacker position as it looked before the season). But putting the collapse of the defense at the end of the game yesterday down as a "GM issue" is ridiculous. It was an injury issue.

Most of Vickers's snaps came at edge from what I saw. Was a result of Von being on a strict pitch count, Jonathan getting hurt and Floyd being nicked up too.

My sleep is always all over the place for 72 hours.

It always takes me 3 days to get right. Can only speak for myself but that is what it takes.

Okay, fair, regular season.

The Bills haven't lost by more than 1 score in almost 2 years.

Thank you. Makes sense to me.

Agree. Although I don't think a factor in the Milano injury. I think that was just one of those unfortunate things that can happen. The turf was more of a factor in that than the exhaustion / jetlag IMO.

It was right infront of me. Diggs had his man beat. He had to come back to the ball. It was underthrown there is no doubt about it. I need to watch back to see just how much pressure Josh was under when he let it go... it might explain it. But it wasn't an elite throw that Diggs should have come down with. It was an underthrown ball that was a 60-40 DB pick.

I mean lots of teams are trying. There are Shanahan disciples all over the place - Houston, Miami, Green Bay, the Rams etc.. but none of them have the same collection of talent - perfectly cultivated for the scheme - nor do they have Kyle Shanahan. He is the best play designer of his generation and possibly one of the best ever.

He would frustrate the hell out of Kyle Shanahan. The 49ers offense is a paint by numbers offense. If you don't paint by the right number Shanahan hates it. He doesn't want ad libers. He wants people who run his plays. Because he is the best play designer in football and he is an arrogant so and so. It is why his best success has been with system QBs.... Schuab in Houston, Ryan in Atlanta, Jimmy and Brock in San Fran. But if Josh could learn to just run Kyle's plays it would be deadly.

Pour it in the turf at Shite Hart Lane?

Eisen is a Jet fan. He is an excellent anchor. Never thought much of him as a play by play guy.

Milano, White, Rousseau, Von Miller, Daquan Jones. I mean those 5, plus Oliver, are our best defensive players. Take 5 of the 6 best defensive players off ANY defense in the NFL and they struggle. I don't think that is a GM issue. It is an injury issue. The only place where you can, IMO, point to Beane based on defensive performance so far is at safety. You expressed that concern in pre-season (and I agreed it was a legit concern) about two old safeties both coming off injury. So far it does look like bringing both back was an error. We look slow back there. That might be a GM mistake. The rest is just injuries that tbh no team in the league would be able to sustain without significant drop off.

I don't think our defense was overrated through 4 weeks. It was playing incredibly well bar some alignment issues in the first game. What happened today was they ended up talent deficient and that is what showed up. Nothing more, nothing less. Not Xs and Os. Jimmies and Joes. If a defense of: AJE - Oliver - Phillips - Vickers Lewis - Bernard - Dodson Elam - Hyde - Poyer - Jackson Played 17 games it would finish bottom or very close to bottom in all categories.

I definitely think the time difference was a factor. It is fine if it is the same for both teams. But it wasn't. Jax had a significant advantage. But the injuries are just bad luck I think.

Nobody ever argued that losing Milano wouldn't be a problem. But Bernard played a good game, again. Even with clowns to the left of him and jokers to the right. I have certainly never told you we'd be find with Dodson or Williams in. In fact before Bernard came out and showed us he can play I called that position a liability based on pre-season. And we didn't have Floyd all day today. He came out of the game too nicked up. We ended the game with a practice squad DTackle playing defensive end on our first unit. We were already down both our starting corners. And our best player on D was gone and replaced by two guys who have no business out there (one not good enough and one currently an overmatched rookie). Add to that Taron missed time... I mean the personnel we had out there at times today on defense was exactly the sort of defense I'd expect a good QB - which Trevor is - to exploit. He had to kill that play if it is the one I think you are on about. That was on Josh. Should have killed the play and it should have been a quick pass out to the other side.

I just don't think we had the horses on defense. We ended up with a practice squad defensive tackle playing defensive end with our 1s and Dodson and Williams splitting time at WILL. But on the decision to fly out late.... I tend to agree. I am sure they went with the sports science and I am no expert but I know I always take like 3 days to get right after that journey. On the penalties.... like I say I didn't see the hands to the face. Will want to watch that back. Ed was round his waist so I struggle to see it. I thought the one in the middle of the field (was that called on Poyer) was a joke. The Jags receiver ran into him. That was egrigous. Equally the RTP they called for the DT on Josh on the Gabe TD drive.... that was a bad call as well IMO. Yes he "landed" on Josh but he didn't piledrive him to the ground to my eye. He just completed the tackle.

Bernard was. It was a shambles at the will. Dodson and the rookie were all over the place. Out of position, slow to react, biting on fakes.

He didn't have the momentum. He was trying to come back to the ball. The DB was attacking it. Just the laws of physics favoured the defender. Would have been an incredible grab if he came down with it.

Maybe. Will watch back. My instinct was flag.

I think he hit Lawrence after the ball had gone.

That may well be the case. That is something I immediately thought but it was a definite underthrow. There may well be a reason.

He should have recongised they were in a ton of man and ran some man beating concepts. He was still running our dink and dunk vs zone offense.