3rdand12 Posted December 25, 2012 Share Posted December 25, 2012 Glad to hear we share similar view points on statistics. Anyone can read a stat. It takes time and effort to truly know your players. and I don't want to CC Dave. I wouldn't want to distract him from packing his bags... Oh dont worry about that. He doesn't make adjustments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tombstone56 Posted December 25, 2012 Share Posted December 25, 2012 MY POINT WAS OUR BIGGEST NEED IS AT LINEBACKER, my question was are we still going to be a 4-3 under a new coach and dc. is not then a 3-4 linebacker is likely .as far as his disk the combine docs will decide that reality.but so far hes still the number 1 linebacker on most boards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpberr Posted December 25, 2012 Share Posted December 25, 2012 I agree. The Bills need a complete overhaul at the linebacker position. I don't care how they do it whether it's FA or the draft but that unit got dismantled in almost every game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Doug Posted December 25, 2012 Share Posted December 25, 2012 What we should be discussing is what D we're should go with, 3-4 or 4-3, once we clean house and a new D coordinator is hired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dean Cain Posted December 25, 2012 Share Posted December 25, 2012 For the sake of continuity lets assume we retain our 4-3 defense. Our biggest weak link is any DE not named Mario, & Bradham being overpowered due to Moore / Merriman not holding up their edge. Dareus & Kyle are doing alright but are not consistently dominating the interior. Barnett is also not consistently winning his matchup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincec Posted December 25, 2012 Share Posted December 25, 2012 What we should be discussing is what D we're should go with, 3-4 or 4-3, once we clean house and a new D coordinator is hired. The Bills should switch from 4-3 to 3-4 every year to keep other teams on their toes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3rdand12 Posted December 25, 2012 Share Posted December 25, 2012 For the sake of continuity lets assume we retain our 4-3 defense. Our biggest weak link is any DE not named Mario, & Bradham being overpowered due to Moore / Merriman not holding up their edge. Dareus & Kyle are doing alright but are not consistently dominating the interior. Barnett is also not consistently winning his matchup. Remember Mark Anderson anyone? Never got to find out what he had, before injury. We are on our 3rd string defensive end ! Moore is a stuational pass rusher at best. For the sake of sanity lets assume we retain our 4-3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CardinalScotts Posted December 25, 2012 Share Posted December 25, 2012 Why is it every fan new the LB's were awful but the GM and HC did nothing to upgrade? I know they spent a ton of money on the DL but to rely on an old Barnett a DE turned OLB in Moats was dumb. I am sorry but Sheppard is a bust. I would rather see a new MLB and try him at OLB to see if he can give you anything there. I can't believe I am saying this but Poz probably was better. They need at least three new bodies in camp that have legit shots at starting not just making the roster. At least one needs to come via FA. I don't have an opinion on Bradham. I am hopeful but just don't know. Resigning Byrd and Levitre are critical so they can focus on WR, LB, and QB. yes exactly you knew what things looked like but didn't address it.......after listening to Nix he thought his front 4 would make all the plays you won't need good LB play. Barnett can't run anymore and he used to make all his plays chasing guys down from the back side, Sheppard does not look good- Bradham although he over pursues etc looks like he might be something. Does this mean blow up the whole thing ? No- that what bad teams do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob in STL Posted December 25, 2012 Share Posted December 25, 2012 What we should be discussing is what D we're should go with, 3-4 or 4-3, once we clean house and a new D coordinator is hired. No, this is precisely why we have the worst defense in franchise history for three years running. We need a creative defensive coordinator that has the ability to put our players in the best defense for the talent we currently have. If we stay 4-3 we just need a few better LBs to improve. We do that and show some more creativity (blitz packages, disguised coverages, etc) we can quickly improve on defense. Replacing Chan and Wanny is smarter than trying to get 11 players to play in yet another new scheme. As Levy said, "you don't win with schemes, you win with good players". So true. Get some decent NFL caliber LBs and we are better against the run. Create more pressure on passing downs and we are better against the pass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K-9 Posted December 25, 2012 Share Posted December 25, 2012 No, this is precisely why we have the worst defense in franchise history for three years running. We need a creative defensive coordinator that has the ability to put our players in the best defense for the talent we currently have. If we stay 4-3 we just need a few better LBs to improve. We do that and show some more creativity (blitz packages, disguised coverages, etc) we can quickly improve on defense. Replacing Chan and Wanny is smarter than trying to get 11 players to play in yet another new scheme. As Levy said, "you don't win with schemes, you win with good players". So true. Get some decent NFL caliber LBs and we are better against the run. Create more pressure on passing downs and we are better against the pass. Which would explain precisely why our players have failed regardless of the preferred "scheme." With all the sub packages used today, I'm not sure the word "scheme" really applies anymore. There are base defensive fronts but that's about it. Regardless, we have lacked playmakers on defense, particularly at LB, for several years now. I'm not convinced that different coaches would make that much of a difference without serious upgrades in talent. The sheer number of coaches over the last five years would convinces me of that. Jauron, Fewell, Edwards, Wanny have all failed and I can't believe it's solely because they forgot how to coach all of sudden. GO BILLS!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Cubed Posted December 25, 2012 Share Posted December 25, 2012 There has been much chatter on TBD about who to cut, who to sign and so on. A lot of it I seem to agree with. However, some people in certain cases rely too heavily on productivity, statistics and results. Tackles, points and rankings are good assessments for a defense, yes. But it is difficult to judge an individual player on this alone. This being said, I would like to argue that our biggest need, by far, is Outside linebacker. Positional roles in a 4-3 scheme are crucial to overall success. Frankly, many players on our defense do not play how scheme intends them to...Positionally, lets look at responsibilities of the front seven in run defense based on our 4-3 scheme. -Defensive Tackles: Must penetrate LOS and keep guards/center off our linebackers leaving them free to scrape -Defensive ends: Must compress and contain the football, forcing it inside to our scraping backers -Mike: Usually responsible for B to B gaps, should scrape closed doors and fill open windows -Sam: Meet lead blockers @ LOS, head on, keeping the flow dead in its tracks. -Will: Fill, fill, fill, often unblocked in run game. Must make plays!!! **In football, the Will is the hardest player to block...he is often removed by formation, or left unaccounted for to get lost in traffic. Buffalo's problem? There is no outside linebackers who can properly fill these roles. Too often is Sheppard (Mike) filling holes and eating guards. When this happens, we rely on guys like Bryan Scott and Nick Barnett to make plays. You think this is an accident? This is strategy. Teams feed off of this. i think if we acquire an outside backer who has a nose for the ball and is not afraid to blow up a 300 lb guard, our defense will greatly improve. I would love to see Kelvin Sheppard roam free in the middle. He makes good reads, is a reliable tackler and a defensive leader. Not a 3 down guy, but don't count this guy out. He does a lot more than make tackles. I am not spit balling here. But I will not pretend to know it all. This is merely my take. After 4 years of a collegiate career in football, I know a fair share of the x's and o's. I'd love to hear everyone's take on this. So do we really need a MLB? or is lack of execution in our scheme camouflaging our problems... To add to this a bit, I think Sheppard gets lumped in with a lot of bad play. Wannstedt has played nickel/dime for much of the season, so the MLB has been Scott. When teams see this, they run the ball. A lot. And get huge gains. Generally when the Bills have been in their base defense, they have been able to stop the run, except when they run towards Moore who has been terrible in containment. I think another problem has been at Safety. George Wilson has been horrible in run support. Im not sure if its the scheme or him, but he just doesnt come down in the box and help in the run game. Searcy looks like the guy of the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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