2014 Draft Defensive Line

[Rob's House]

As my son would say, I "nerfed" the players' name. It was bugging me, but through the process of elimination of the D Linemen you can see in the clips that I found I believe the DT that got mandled by the Jags center was either Branch or Charles maybe someone has a better high res view.

 

I have looked at that play more than I care to admit because it irks me how every RB seems to be able to gash our defense and I am trying to understand is it scheme or personnel that is failing. The Robinson run seemed like a classic example of how running backs just seem to blow through our line untouched.

 

When the defense first lines up they had #97 Corbin Bryant heads-up on the guard to the play side and Mario playing the 6 technique, then presnap Mario moves back, Bryant shifts out to the 6, and Mario takes a 2-point stance slightly behind him more 5 technique. So basically on the line they leave the playside guard uncovered and Bryant is shading outside shoulder the RT.

 

The Jags RT takes Bryant out - Bryant is on his outside shoulder so is easy to seal him outside, and this is where it gets messy - I have no idea what Mario was trying to do on the play because it just looks like he hides behind Bryant and gets his inside shoulder hit by the lead block of the FB; he definitely did not make a real effort to fill the gap and take on the FB and even pop warner boys know to key on the fullback because he is blocking for someone.

 

The net result was that Kiko gets swallowed by an unblocked guard while the nose, Branch or Charles, was sealed off to the left of the play and pancaked by the center... The reason Robinson shot out of the backfield like he was fired out of a canon was there was just such a huge gap between Dareus who was still on his feet but was on the strong side away from the play and the sealed off Bryant/Mario on the weakside. The only ones with a real shot of doing anything about it were either Mario or the DT over center but they both epically failed.

 

I don't like Mario's effort on that play at all, and I think the scheme was designed so that Mario and the DT who shifted to NT could and should stop that run - if Mario hadn't gone all Nancy on the play and the player lined up over center was capable of holding his ground and not getting turned. By design Kiko was going to end up taking on an unblocked guard - I don't expect him to win those match ups.

 

Mario isn't going anywhere and he is a decent pass rusher, but his effort on that play makes me think that Pettine may want to limit putting him in a position where he has to act more like an extra MLB. I get the idea, but it "aint" working. Also, they need a DT that can play nose.

 

I could be wrong, but I thought it was Lawson rather than Mario that came up behind Bryant and got blocked out by the FB.

[ColdBlueNorth]

I could be wrong, but I thought it was Lawson rather than Mario that came up behind Bryant and got blocked out by the FB.

 

Dammit - stop being right all the time Yeah it was Lawson adjusting his skirt rather than taking on the FB... I can just imagine Mario asking me, "when exactly did I play like a Nancy?".

 

Obviously, I would owe him a drink or five, and he seems like a good man and the forgiving sort so he would probably let me off easy with single punch to the ol' sprinkler.

Edited December 19, 2013 by ColdBlueNorth

[3rdand12]

Dammit - stop being right all the time Yeah it was Lawson adjusting his skirt rather than taking on the FB... I can just imagine Mario asking me, "when exactly did I play like a Nancy?".

 

Obviously, I would owe him a drink or five, and he seems like a good man and the forgiving sort so he would probably let me off easy with single punch to the ol' sprinkler.

lol purty hard on that one CBN. ....the Ole sprinkler .

HA !

[ColdBlueNorth]

My thought would be move Kyle and and Dareus to DE's, Mario and Hughes @ OLB's, get Brandon Spikes to bang @ ILB with Kiko, draft a big boy like Louis Nix from Notre Dame in the 1st, and we can go with the all out attacking 3-4 like Pettine was running in NY. All of these would be IF we are going to focus on the Defense early.

 

This is kind of where I would like to see them go... one poster responded (and I agree) that a majority of the longer runs have not been up the gut. My recollection is that we were burned a lot earlier this year by the stretch and cutback runs. The defense has gotten better at snuffing those out, but they still give up the occasional long one outside as they did against the Bucs. I think a dominating wide body that regularly absorbs two blockers allows everyone along the line and the linebackers to elevate their play. And regardless of Kiko's size, most linebackers will lose a head-on battle with an unblocked guard, that is why you want your linebackers hitting those gaps clean. Most great linebackers had great defensive linemen in front of them.

 

As for the priority of drafting offense... with the exception of NE who (although it pains me) has a future hall of famer at the helm, and ditto for Denver, the vast majority of teams that make it to the post season do so on the backs of a very stout defense. A defense that can keep opponents off the board and give an average offense more chances to score from decent field position is a great thing for any young QB and average offense to have.

 

It seems like the Bills have a quicker path to having a dominating defense than they do having a dominating offense, so why not get the last few pieces of that puzzle in place and address the core needs on offense: guard (the draft is deep for these) and TE (there are a few decent prospects here as well). As to receiver, they have Easley who is a larger go up and get it kind of receiver with decent speed they just have to use him more. How bad can his route running be... I have seen some serious slow-blinkers at receiver over the years - Peerless Price and Plaxico interviews made Kiko's sound like a Harvard lecture.

Edited December 22, 2013 by ColdBlueNorth

[Big Turk]

Actually, my view is that Kiko is making some rookie mistakes, and overrunning his assignment. some of these big runs are on him not being in position. Of course, with all the free lance Pettine calls, its sometimes hard to judge if he is out of place or not. Anyhow, I am not sure these long runs are all on the D-line. some of it is LB group out of position, some of it is the chance taking defense that Pettine dials up. when with the Jets, they always gave up some big plays, thats the tradeoff for all the sacks they get. When robie or Byrd are in the backfield, they aren't covering receivers. whne a lb stunts, something is uncovered. And, sometimes the offense hits the uncovered slot. I think we have good D line folks, and the scheme is part of these long breakdown runs.

 

I agree, when the DLine holds up the Oline from being able to get to the second level and leaves a LB one on one with a RB in the hole, that's not on the DLine if he pops a big run...the DLine is not always going to tackle an RB at the LOS...as long as they are keeping the LBs "clean" by preventing Oline from getting to them, its on the LBs to make those tackles

[ColdBlueNorth]

I agree, when the DLine holds up the Oline from being able to get to the second level and leaves a LB one on one with a RB in the hole, that's not on the DLine if he pops a big run...the DLine is not always going to tackle an RB at the LOS...as long as they are keeping the LBs "clean" by preventing Oline from getting to them, its on the LBs to make those tackles

 

On the long run in question the play side guard was left uncovered and he ignored our DT playing Nose and just launched himself directly at Kiko and swallowed him right off the line. I just don't see any Linebacker holding up to an offensive linemen coming clean especially when they are playing close to the line.

 

Normally on that type of play your guard would come over to chip or double the NT. In this case the Jags felt that their center could handle the DT we had lined up at NT all alone and not only did he handle him he turned our DT away from the play and planted him on his butt. I can just about guarantee if it was the Jet's Harrison or Tampa's McCoy playing Nose that guard would have been helping the Center throw the double-team on him.

 

I guess the defensive moral of the story is that just because you move a DT to nose does not mean offenses have to respect his ability to play NT and double-team him:)

[San Jose Bills Fan]

This topic would be a lot more clear if the OP had simply titled it "Draft a two-gap run stuffer."

 

And yes, though the Bills run more of a one-gap scheme there are plenty of teams who utilitze a two-gap nucleus surrounded by one-gap scheme.

 

Remember though that a two-gap run stuffer is one of the more rare types of football players out there, more rare than an elite pass rusher.

[TPS]

Anyone see how he did in tonight's game?