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All depends on the pass. If they finish top 7 in sacks I think there is a chance. The secondary is very good and so are the LBs in coverage. If Oliver does what he did at Houston and Edmunds takes a big step, there is a good chance.

Just got the game, looking at things now...man, they really screw the Bills. How is Denzel Ward and Marcus Lattimore "superstars," but Tre'Davious White isn't? How is Leighton Vander Esche a "superstar" and Tremaine Edmunds isn't? How are guys like McCoy, Hughes, Poyer, Morse, Hauschka, Milano, and Ford rated so low? It's crazy...and it's impossible to play online with the Bills, you'll just get smoked every time.

Ed, Hughes, Tre, Jordan Phillips, Edmunds....I think the intensity level is going to be off the charts with the defense this year and I can't wait to see it.

Actually Dareus has played mostly nose tackle(0-tech) for Buffalo and Jax since he signed that Bills contract. In the 1-technique for his entire career Lotulelei has been better positioned to make tackles and plays in the backfield than Dareus has been since Rex moved him to NT. Dareus was tremendous in his partial season at the 1-tech for Buffalo in 2017 and of course the impact of his loss was massive in the subsequent two months. Star just fell off a cliff last year. He wasn't that good in 2017 which is why the signing was almost universally panned as one of the worst if not the worst value of the 2018 crop.......but he was BAD on the field in 2018. I've heard excuses about Edmunds...........but if Edmunds struggles would have lead to anything it would have been more attempts by Lotulelei to make plays. It was the exact opposite.......he simply couldn't impact OL and disengage.......he was running in quick sand all season. I entirely expected some physical excuses but apparently he just sucked. As for Dareus..........it's my understanding that he will return to starting at the 3T position this year for the first time since his 2014 first team all pro season. Contrary to what Bills fans want to think Dareus has been playing well in Jacksonville and his base salaries weren't prohibitive the first couple seasons...........he had to re-do his deal because the backloaded base salary portion of his Bills contract came up.

I've watched them play quite closely and based on those observations, Milano a)makes plays, and b)isn't out of position. You don't think the Pats took advantage of his absence? Milano is a stud. Edmunds has GOT to improve his recognition or I'm not sure he's a MLB. It's quite possible that Edmunds would be an even better WILL than Milano, but that's not what the team is looking for out of the number 16 pick.

I think Edmunds is the key to the defense improving. The reason the Pats ran so effectively versus the Bills in game 2 is because belichek devised his game plan at misdirecting Edmunds or running right at him. The one factor to remember is the kid is in fact a kid last year at age 20. Here are some of his weaknesses identified before the draft and ALL of them were on display last year. Instincts are average and relies on athletic gifts Can be a step slow to diagnose Lured by misdirection Will take random downhill paths that trap him in the quagmire Patience is lacking Races ahead of plays and voids his leverage and run fits at times Mental busts in man coverage hurt his team Takes time to process moving pieces

I actually think Edmunds might be the key this year for our defense to improve. Last year he had flashes of greatness, also had games, notably versus the Pats where he was a liability. belcihek ran right at him and/or had him faked out constantly out of position mis-pursuing plays.

what has Milano proven exactly? He has had less than a full year as a starter, has shown flashes of being productive...but he hasnt proven anything yet. All of our LB corp is unproven (lorax I guess has had a few good years of production but he isnt even being mentioned in here for obvious reasons). Edmunds is the captain and leader of the defense, everything runs through him. Milano being a year older than Edmunds is not even close to an argument that "Milano is the leader" of this unit lol

Oddly enough, I have a similar concern. Against the run especially, Edmunds has never shown the physicality and playmaking ability that the NFL's best MLBs, even early in their careers, display regularly. He strikes me as more of a freak athlete who's pretty good at football, rather than a heckuva football player who happens to be a good athlete. 250 not heavy enough? I agree he has the frame for more mass, but I've not heard his weight used against him, until now.

Draft Diamonds: Negatives: Tremaine doesn’t have great instincts and I believe part of that is due to his young age. He can be a little slow in his decision making as well as be lured in by misdirection plays. Edmunds will have to try and strengthen his upper and lower body strength. (That will come in due time as he get’s older and his body fills out.) He will from time to time have a bust in man coverage from time to time, Which isn’t due to his lack of playing ability. It’s more due to his mental mistakes.

I think he will be fine NFL Rookies of the Month - December PLAYERS OF THE WEEK/MONTH 2018 REGULAR ENGLISH RAVENS QB LAMAR JACKSON & BILLS LB TREMAINE EDMUNDS NAMED NFL ROOKIES OF THE MONTH OF DECEMBER Quarterback LAMAR JACKSON of the Baltimore Ravens and linebacker TREMAINE EDMUNDS of the Buffalo Bills are the NFL Offensive and Defensive Rookies of the Month of December. OFFENSE: QB LAMAR JACKSON, BALTIMORE RAVENS DEFENSE: LB TREMAINE EDMUNDS, BUFFALO BILLS

I encourage everyone to read up on the historic '85 Bears defense. It was absurd at how dominant that group was in all statistical aspects of the game. They tore through the playoffs and had only one bad game all year: against Marino's offense. They remain the gold standard for professional defenses after 99 NFL seasons. I see nothing wrong with trying to compare our current defense to the 1985 Bears defense. Our current DC was the starting CB on that unit. Our DB's and overall depth might even be better than that of the '85 Bears. The difference lies with the front-7 and specifically the pass rush. There is clearly no Hampton, Dent, or Singletary currently on this roster. I can actually imagine Milano - Edmunds - Joseph emerging as a sort of modern version of Marshall - Singletary - Wilson, but not this season. The beauty of that Chicago LB corps, though, was that they contributed 20 or so sacks worth of pass rush in the 46 D system. I can't imagine our LB's doing that, even with Lorenzo Alexander's specialty Sam LB role. The Chicago DL was also good for about 40 easy sacks each year. Oliver will need to be the next Aaron Donald before this unit can begin to approach that level of pass-rushing ferocity. Hughes is very good at applying constant pressure, but he's over 30 and has never topped 10 sacks in a season. Murphy has never topped 9 sacks in a season. Lawson, Yarbrough, Harold, etc... are decent backups and nothing more. Find me 1 elite DE and another very good pass-rushing DE and we can talk about a historically great Buffalo Bills defense next year!

"Historically good?" I doubt it. I've heard that before, and we had a better all around defense than the one we have now, yet never lived up to expectations. However, all 5 points you make are solid. On paper, it definitely seems like our defense should improve, though there are reasons to think it may not improve quite as much as some may think. Losing Kyle also means losing the heart of that locker room & a lot of leadership. We still have players that have strong voices, but replacing Kyle's passion and the respect his teammates had for him won't be easy. Ed Oliver & Edmunds are still unproven. Oliver SHOULD be a solid player from day 1, but nothing is a given with rookies. It's safe to say Edmunds didn't live up to expectations last seasons, but he was also very young. Right now he's getting the benefit of the doubt based on where he was drafted and the "potential" argument, but on the field he hasn't been impressive with the exception of a few rare glimpses. If he plays like he did last year, that will be a huge problem. Lastly, Lorenzo's age will catch up to him eventually. At his position, his age should already be affecting him quite a bit, but somehow he's managed to be one of the best pieces of our defense anyway. Aside from performance dropping off, he's at a higher risk for injury too. Losing him at any point will leave a pretty sizable hole in our defenses. Anyway, your points are all still valid, and we very well could see a year over year improvement in all categories if all goes right. Our secondary is still top notch, as White & Johnson proved they only get better the more play time they get, and Hyde & Poyer are a fantastic duo, no doubts about their abilities whatsoever. It's just a matter if everything else will come together, and I certainly am optimistic they will.

People have to remember that he was the youngest player in the entire league last year. Even this year he's among the youngest. He just turned 21 in May. I see Edmunds being among the best ever in two seasons. We'll see. Starting LB-ing and Secondary (starting and depth) on our team are strong, otherwise, not so much.

I was a Kyle Vanderesch guy, and you make a good point, but Edmunds is a freak of nature. I've been hard on him, but a guy 6'5" or so and 250 lbs is old school LB size, but has nu school stats, and should help make him be a 3 down LB and make the center of the D stout. His December really impressed me. the only thing missing is a folding table!

Going by how his improvements have occurred from college through his rookie year... I’m inclined to believe that we aren’t going to see a massive jump in Edmunds performance. Rather, he’ll just continue to never make the same mistakes he made before, and eventually we will all be trying to figure out how he got so good.

If Edmunds doesn't become what Beane and McD thought he would become, that is a big black eye moving up to draft him. And if so, move Edmunds outside and get another MLB, possibly through FA if they want to win now and not go through another learning curve.

Well, that's what the coaches have said about him, but saying it and getting him to do it are two different things. No one could teach CJ Spiller how to run in the NFL, even though he had all the talent anyone could ask for. If Edmunds can play with intelligence and instinct, he can be great. He can be dominant. And he can make this a great defense. But it's quite possible that he never will rise to that level.

It's interesting to see how McDermott and Beane have been building this defense. Each level of it (DL, LB, DB) now has a recent first round draft pick with the talent and potential to become regular First-Team All-Pro candidates (Oliver, Edmunds, White). Then you have a bunch of under-the-radar free agent signings (Hyde, Poyer, Murphy, Kevin Johnson, etc.) and day 2/3 draft picks+UDFA's who fit the scheme perfectly (Milano, Joseph, Harrison Phillips, Wallace, Neal, the other 3 Johnsons, etc.). The only big splash in free agency was Star. Alexander, Lawson, and Hughes are the only players on defense remaining from the previous regime. I also like how Leslie Frazier (60 years old) is probably at the point in his career where he is no longer looking for another head coach position, meaning that we may have him as our DC for a very long time. At the moment, to me this defense is probably an elite DE and a backup MLB away from on-paper perfection. They also need to spend a lot of the summer focusing on their 3rd down and red-zone packages. Historically one of the best NFL defenses of all time? Not sure about that one. But best defense in franchise history? By next year, it could be a very real possibility!

Milano is the most proven by far. Edmunds represents tremendous upside, but he wasn't exactly "great" as a rookie. You know what you're getting with Milano and that's big plays and range. Only downside is he's not strong at the point of attack, but that's not what they ask of him. Like Gunner, I feel like this could potentially be the best NFL LB trio by 2020. Big fan of Vosean Joseph. I wouldn't be SHOCKED if he was starting by the end of the year, but agree that it's not likely.

I wanna just break up some of the bashing, and say that I am STOKED to see Milano this year! He’s going to be an absolute beast. The way he reads a play and is able to run downhill to make a play, while avoiding blockers is something only 25% of NFL linebackers can do. Edmunds hasn’t been able to do this yet, but he’s still very good. Milano reminds me so much of Lavonte David from the Bucs. He’s a gem! Probably should be the face of our defense.

As you note, a lot of things point to improvement. Last year they were tied for 7th in INTs. With greater stability at CB2 and more experienced players, notably Taron J in the slot and Edmunds in the middle, there’s no reason they can’t be #1. It’s actually quite a feat that they did so well last year.

Concur, although I was addressing some of your more specific comments. In my estimation we're going to see more from Phillips than we saw last season, I think he'll become very good but not premier or impact however. We'll see to what extent Oliver does the same, we'll find out if he's a "hell of a football player" in the NFL. Phillips was the third youngest defender on the team last year older than only Edmunds, who was the youngest in the entire league, and Taron Johnson, the next youngest on the D.

Great stuff there! And thanks! I'll respond to the bold after this, but think about what you just said? Essentially you implied that the secondary was built all but by accident and in spite of their best efforts elsewhere. Hyde was always a good pick-up outta the gate, but the others as you say they more or less "lucked" into. "Cheap free-agents" as you put it and day-3 draft picks, and I concur. But then, consider, their bigger moves haven't really panned out as such which raises several questions, doesn't it? Phillips (3rd round) hasn't worked out particularly well. I think he'll take a big step this season but until that happens ... Here's the thing, their (McBeane's) entire MO seems to be "cheap free-agent contracts," particularly involving players with known injury histories. It almost reads as if it's a sling as much "acquisition mud" up against the wall that you can and hope that enough sticks and sticks well to effectively build the team. That's my take, but I also don't think that's how championship teams are built. I can't think of any other teams that have used such an approach while getting as little from their day 1 & 2 draft picks as we seem to be. Agreed although I would add C to that list along with MLB if you're running a 4-3. But let's take a closer look at that. #1 CB they've done well with in White although he was inconsistent from his first to second season. QB - jury's still very much out until this season. LT - Dawkins, jury's also out there but for a 3rd he's fine, but I don't really see any big effort to fill that role, hence my draft strategy of having taken Dillard. Pass rusher - Murphy, with a signicant injury history was their solution. He was never great to begin with and questionable straight up. I don't see that signing as a great move by any measure. #1 WR - Jones was their big effort and that's failed. I don't see that changing this season. If Jones manages to put up 1,200 yards and 8+ TDs we can discuss further when it happens. Not seeing anything even close however. If anything I think that Jones is closer to being off the roster next season. C - Morse, again, another player that they're heavily relying upon that has a very significant and recent injury history having kept him out of nearly half of his games over the past two seasons. It's already an issue. MLB - LOOOOVE the Edmunds pick, as I've oft said, I'd have taken him at 12th. But the long and short of it is that they're overall strategy, as I said above, appears to be one of mass 1-2 year low-risk signings, often featuring players with previous significant injury histories apparently hoping that those histories don't arise here. But as you said about the stats and data above, it's about averages etc., which means that probably at least half of them will again rear their injury-issue heads. Either way, their draft strategies and results certainly aren't earning them league honors at present, and if Allen and Oliver don't pan out to anything besides the sales pitch associated with each, their strategies as such will have been pivotal in terms of them being shipped out of Buffalo. Well, sort of. I'll assume that you have a working knowledge of statistics. But you can take two averages, one with a standard-deviation of say 1 sigma, and the other with 2-sigma, and the 2-sigma one means far less consistency. The closer that s.d. is to zero the better. Statistical Process Control typically applies to other things, like production processes and the like, but it can quite easily also be applied to sports as such although it rarely is at this level. That's what sites like Football Insiders and PFF do generally speaking. The closer a production/manufacturing process can get to hitting the mean/average every time, the better for overall quality. That's what "6-sigma" quality that no doubt you've heard about is all about. The "6-sigma" is the error or "unsatisfactory" part of it, meaning that fewer than one in one million pieces fails. The same applies here although to a far higher (less minute) level. Either way, the consistency of a defense, offense, or any aspect of a team definitely falls into this category. Chicago and the Ravens were much closer to their "means" than we were. This means far greater consistency regardless of the opponents. The greater your s.d. is the more one must look into the reasons why. This is particularly true for production/manufacturing processes but again, equally so in this case. Our s.d. was notably higher and I explained why, but that shouldn't be dismissed for a thorough and proper understanding of the workins behind it. Again, our schedule is absurdly favorable this season for both O and D. For D, we only face three teams that were ranked among last season's top-10 passing teams. The Pats, Eagles, and Steelers. If our defense plays lights out ball against them we can consider it an improvement. All other things remaining equal, that would narrow down that s.d. If not however, then we'll have two straight seasons of history w/o any indication whatsoever that our pass D, including secondary, is even capable of hanging with playoff caliber offenses with great passing offenses. But it's statistically erroneous to assume that two teams with the same average in one area are necessary equal in that area, as in this case, particularly given the plethora of varying factors that influence the average in question. In short, it doesn't actually value them the same at the "end of the day" analysis. In trying to conjure up an analogy I can't really come up with a good one, but I will add that when a standard deviation is larger than another, it's a very good idea to look at the individual data to see if there are any trends or patterns that explain it. That's what I did and do, constantly, the proverbial nine-ways-to-Sunday. It's not popular if it's not favorable amongst fans, hence the entirely objective mathematical approach, which takes most (never say never) of the subjectivity out of it. Someone here constantly posts that "stats are for losers" - Bill Belichick. But consider, the man that Belichick leans on the most is long-time analyst Ernie Adams, who does specifically that as a full-time job for Belichick. I had no idea before I looked, that our pass D simply didn't play well against passing teams that couldn't run all over us on those game days. That includes teams like Minny or GB that had crap for RBs. I only noticed that trend/pattern upon looking specifically for trends and patterns as such. Frankly, the team, all teams in fact, should be doing this for themselves, it would DRASTICALLY help them improve, in many ways. I don't know why they don't other than to suggest that the likely reason is that the people that tend towards football admin and coaching do not have Operations Research & Analysis masters degrees, Industrial Engineering degrees, or Management Science degrees. The field is littered with people possessing liberal arts degrees, communications degrees, sports admin, etc. That's why when James Lofton threw his hat into the mix for coaching us years ago I was all over him, he has an Industrial Engineering degree from Stanford no less. I have no idea how he would have worked out, but he got stuck coaching college for WRs, which is likely because no one saw what I saw in him, but I would have loved to have found out.

Weird to see Edmunds over Allen. Both are going to be studs this year though! Go Bills! edit: NM, i totally misread this article.. ? Thought it was ranking by sales or something, like most popular jerseys over all not who was best wearing that said number.. Please ignore me... lol