Dareus is great but . . .

[Buffalo Barbarian]

I watched the Jets game and noticed that Dareus did not start. Instead heard started. Any thought in why? I think Dareus came back to the lineup in the second quarter. I could be wrong, but Heard held his ground, and it might be a good idea to put Heard and Dareus together at DT positions. Go BIlls.

Or keep Heard at nose and Dareus at End where they belong.

[pBills]

Newton = huge impact

Miller = huge impact

Dareus = no impact

Green = huge impact

 

Let's be honest, so far he's been just an average player showing little evidence that he will ever become great.

 

 

 

Let's be honest. He's a rookie on the Defensive Line. Did you notice that when Kyle Williams was healthy our pass rush was pretty impressive? I may be wrong, however I believe that is the case because opposing teams had to account for both of them, not double team one player or the other.

[8-8 Forever?]

He was sick

+1. Let it go. this kid is going to be great.

[MarkyMannn]

Week 3, Bills Pats. 4th quarter Dareus pass rush penetrates pocket, Brady pass goes off his helmet to Florence who runs it in for a 31-24 lead. In the end we win breaking that huge long losing streak

 

That play alone makes his season a success

[1billsfan]

Week 3, Bills Pats. 4th quarter Dareus pass rush penetrates pocket, Brady pass goes off his helmet to Florence who runs it in for a 31-24 lead. In the end we win breaking that huge long losing streak

 

That play alone makes his season a success

 

I wasn't ripping him, I was just expecting a regular and sustained occurrence of disruption. When I say no impact, I mean that he's shown the same amount of impact as an average defender. Average players make great plays every now and then too.

 

Dareus needs to start imploding plays and imposing his will on a more regular occurrence. Warren Sapp was double and triple teamed too. We need Dareus needs to become a dominating star, not simply a space taker-upper.

 

Since Williams is out, so to will the jury till the 2012 season. I never said he won't become great, just that he isn't right now for whatever the reasons.

[Cash]

I wasn't ripping him, I was just expecting a regular and sustained occurrence of disruption. When I say no impact, I mean that he's shown the same amount of impact as an average defender. Average players make great plays every now and then too.

 

Dareus needs to start imploding plays and imposing his will on a more regular occurrence. Warren Sapp was double and triple teamed too. We need Dareus needs to become a dominating star, not simply a space taker-upper.

 

Since Williams is out, so to will the jury till the 2012 season. I never said he won't become great, just that he isn't right now for whatever the reasons.

 

Warren Sapp is a poor comparison - all his success was as an "under" 3-technique DT in a Tampa 2 scheme. Fundamentally different position from what Dareus plays:

 

http://subscribers.footballguys.com/2009/09bramel_idpguide.php

 

Scroll to "How the "Under" Front Made Warren Sapp a Star" - also remember how big a flop he was in Oakland, who played a 3-4. Sapp was very very good, but interior D-lineman will only put up those kind of sack or tackle for loss numbers in a scheme that makes them hard to double-team. Note that Ndamakong Suh also plays in a similar role, and Nick Fairley did in college as well.

[RuntheDamnBall]

Newton = shiny sports car

Miller = flashy sack master.....still iffy in run support

Dareus = Ron stopper....foundation guy (WHY IS IT SO FRIGGEN HARD TO UNDERSTAND THIS) we are in fact stopping the run

Green = flashy sports car

 

For christ sake

Someone missed the part where Cam Newton was "leading" his team to a 3-8 record, by the way. I think the kid is good, but it's just one example of where a single player can't do it all. Someone also missed the wisdom in looking at the first season of a guy like Bruce Smith on a bad team.

 

NEWS FLASH: The Bills need PLAYER(S), with a capital S. They need more talent. 1BF and co want to see this thing torn to the ground again when we are just beginning to assemble NFL talent and need to add to it with more starters and NFL depth. Because somehow, looking at what's going on in the NFC West tells us something about coaching, and looking at what other rookies are doing in completely different situations tells us everything about our rookies.

 

Dareus will be fine and I am happy with what he's doing as a rookie.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

I watched the Jets game and noticed that Dareus did not start. Instead heard started. Any thought in why? I think Dareus came back to the lineup in the second quarter. I could be wrong, but Heard held his ground, and it might be a good idea to put Heard and Dareus together at DT positions. Go BIlls.

 

 

Good question and good post, when I first read the subject line it came into my eyes as "Dareus's Great Butt"

 

Hey, change two letters and there ya are!

[Hapless Bills Fan]

Let's be honest. He's a rookie on the Defensive Line. Did you notice that when Kyle Williams was healthy our pass rush was pretty impressive?

 

I didn't, actually. Giving the benefit of the doubt, Kyle Williams may have been playing hurt all season. But even with Williams and Merriman in there early in the season, our pass rush has consistently made average QB like Jason Campbell and rookies like Andy Dalton look top-of-the-league.

 

I will grant that QB only had time to scan through their progressions and throw completions at that point in the season.

 

The current state of affairs where enemy QB have time to dial up Jimmy Jones, receive delivery, and eat half a sandwich before scanning their progressions and throwing completions, only occurred when Merriman and Williams went out

 

The point is: our D was bottom of the league BEFORE the starters went out.

[3rdand12]

Right now we have very little production on defense. There are glimmers from the youngters.

Merriman was playing hurt, Williams was playing hurt, and now its seems Troup (a true NT) has been playing hurt. So we have not seen our potential by any means. Oh yes dont forget Dareus was playing injured too. We can talk about depth etc but for now my point should be that we have not fielded a healthy front seven since preseason. I just dont think its very fair to grade out these guys right now. Yes i am aware thats part of the game, but have not had a solid group to even set the bar yet!

Let me point to last weeks secondary play. We had miscommunications and rookie errors that probably was the real cause of our loss. But they know what they did wrong and the young guys did play mighty hard all game.

Lets agree MD is not as outstanding as i expected him to be this season.

I revert to a Buffalo favorite " wait till next year " but i really feel that. Couple more key players on that side of the ball and pray for health and continue developing depth, maintain fundamentals and consistent coaching for another season and we really might have something starting here.

Go Bills!

A lot of chatter on the OP has been good reading

[Dorkington]

This is nitpicking stats, which anyone can do.

 

You fail to mention that the Bills had BY FAR the most rushing attempts against (571), last year. Because our rush defense was so bad, we had the second fewest passing attempts against us (473). That wasnt due to our incredible pass rush, or our scary secondary. It was because teams didnt need to pass against us. They just handed it off and pounded us into submission on the ground. They were able to control the game at will. That is NOT the case anymore.

 

We are now 16th in rushing attempts against, and 14th in passing attempts. We have forced our opponents into having to be more balanced. We successfully stopped the 2nd (Philly) and 4th (Oakland) best Rushing Offenses.

 

But yeah, "Yards per Attempt" tell the whole story...

 

Hey, lets hold the eye rolling for someone else, ok?

 

You can call it nitpicking, I call it filling in the story.

 

If you think Dareus has been "great", then fine, I agree to disagree.

 

You guys act like I'm saying he's a bust. I'm just saying, as a *rookie* he hasn't had a huge impact (again, imo) so far. As others have said, players similar to him came into to their own later in their careers. I hope Dareus improves and becomes a stellar player.

 

But right now? I don't see much difference between him and last years players or this years backups.

 

I hope he becomes a disruptive force on a regular basis. I hope he becomes a perennial pro bowler. Right now, he's not at that point. Can we at least agree on that?

[Orton's Arm]

This is nitpicking stats, which anyone can do.

 

You fail to mention that the Bills had BY FAR the most rushing attempts against (571), last year. Because our rush defense was so bad, we had the second fewest passing attempts against us (473). That wasnt due to our incredible pass rush, or our scary secondary. It was because teams didnt need to pass against us. They just handed it off and pounded us into submission on the ground. They were able to control the game at will. That is NOT the case anymore.

 

We are now 16th in rushing attempts against, and 14th in passing attempts. We have forced our opponents into having to be more balanced. We successfully stopped the 2nd (Philly) and 4th (Oakland) best Rushing Offenses.

 

But yeah, "Yards per Attempt" tell the whole story...

There are two possible reasons why teams are passing the ball against us more often this year than had been the case last year:

 

1) The run defense has gotten better, forcing teams to pass.

 

2) The pass defense has gotten worse, rewarding teams for passing.

 

With the injuries to Bills' DBs, and with guys like McGee and Florence not getting any younger, this year's Bills pass defense isn't exactly keeping offensive coordinators up at night. I suspect that teams are passing more often because of both 1) and 2). I also fee that the best single measure of the Bills' run defense is yards per carry. (This is for the same reason that you evaluate a RB by his yards per carry, not by how many rushing attempts he had.)

 

The fact that the Bills' run defense only improved by 0.3 yards per carry isn't an inditement of Darius. For one thing, Kyle Williams has been out much of the year. Also, while Donte Whitner was highly overrated and a liability in pass coverage, he was better than George Wilson at stopping the run. It's also possible that the Bills' defensive play calling has changed to increase the emphasis on pass defense while decreasing the emphasis on run defense. Finally, you have the fact that guys who have absolutely no business whatsoever playing OLB--such as Spencer Johnson--are nevertheless lined up there. Stuff like that has to take a toll on the Bills' rushing defense.

Edited December 1, 2011 by Edwards' Arm

[34-78-83]

It's interesting to re-confirm year after year how few football fans really have any clue what they are seeing or talking about when it comes to evaluating play away from the ball. If I can help just a little for a moment.... You notice how when teams run up the middle on a 1st or 2nd down (non-nickle or dime downs) against the Bills in 2011, that they basically get nowhere? That's Dareus. You notice on those other plays when our whole D- line gets pushed back except for one guy? That guy is Dareus. He's been very good. Oh that at good NT's and 3-4 DE's generally make between 0 and 2 tackles per game... so it's easy to see where a lot of this stems from.