PlayBills Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 The Bills defense has allowed more yardage than all but two other teams. But they've been dominant, and are statistically hindered by two blowout wins. Removing all second-half yards allowed when up by at least three possessions (17 or more points) gives a clearer view of Buffalo's defensive play. It's common belief that teams with large leads late in games will give up garbage yards at the expense of bleeding the clock, and that those yards aren't instructive of a defense's overall game effort. I'd agree with that. Against the Colts, the Bills gave up 133 yards on 43 plays in 37:40 of non-garbage time play. That converts to a full game of 68 plays for 211 yards. Against the Dolphins, the Bills allowed 124 yards on 33 plays in 30 minutes of non-garbage time play. That converts to a full game of 66 plays for 248 yards. Adding in the entirety of the Patriots game gives the Bills standardized season stats of 208 plays for 966 yards allowed, or 4.6 yards allowed per play. That'd put the bills in the top three in the league defensively, even when accounting for the Patriots debacle. The Bills likely aren't going to have a "top rated" defense this year. But that's more the fault of their surprising offense than it is of anything happening on the defensive side of the ball. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freddie's Dead Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 Ryan put a stake in the ground saying anything less than #1 was a disappointment. Fine. Stop giving up yards and TD's in garbage time. Somehow the Cheats D doesn't seem to do that (the Bills game notwithstanding). If the D wants that #1 ranking, they need to put up or shut up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlayBills Posted September 29, 2015 Author Share Posted September 29, 2015 (edited) The Patriots do exactly that. They've given up huge yardage when each of their games was no longer in doubt. Ryan's said a lot of things, some of them not necessarily relevant to the team's overall success. This is one of those things, I think. Edited September 29, 2015 by PlayBills Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John from Riverside Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 Ryan put a stake in the ground saying anything less than #1 was a disappointment. Fine. Stop giving up yards and TD's in garbage time. Somehow the Cheats D doesn't seem to do that (the Bills game notwithstanding). If the D wants that #1 ranking, they need to put up or shut up. Foot....enter....mouth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CSBill Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 Ryan put a stake in the ground saying anything less than #1 was a disappointment. Fine. Stop giving up yards and TD's in garbage time. Somehow the Cheats D doesn't seem to do that (the Bills game notwithstanding). If the D wants that #1 ranking, they need to put up or shut up. This! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloBill Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 I will take w's. Who cares about yardage in garbage time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsFan-4-Ever Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 The Bills defense has allowed more yardage than all but two other teams. But they've been dominant, and are statistically hindered by two blowout wins. Removing all second-half yards allowed when up by at least three possessions (17 or more points) gives a clearer view of Buffalo's defensive play. It's common belief that teams with large leads late in games will give up garbage yards at the expense of bleeding the clock, and that those yards aren't instructive of a defense's overall game effort. I'd agree with that. Against the Colts, the Bills gave up 133 yards on 43 plays in 37:40 of non-garbage time play. That converts to a full game of 68 plays for 211 yards. Against the Dolphins, the Bills allowed 124 yards on 33 plays in 30 minutes of non-garbage time play. That converts to a full game of 66 plays for 248 yards. Adding in the entirety of the Patriots game gives the Bills standardized season stats of 208 plays for 966 yards allowed, or 4.6 yards allowed per play. That'd put the bills in the top three in the league defensively, even when accounting for the Patriots debacle. The Bills likely aren't going to have a "top rated" defense this year. But that's more the fault of their surprising offense than it is of anything happening on the defensive side of the ball. Selective Statistics - Gotta Love it!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dorkington Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 Every team has garbage time, no excuses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlayBills Posted September 29, 2015 Author Share Posted September 29, 2015 (edited) Selective Statistics - Gotta Love it!!!I prefer to look at it as "statistics with context". I kinda think statistics without context are useless. I don't beleive all yards are created equal. Of course there is room for disagreement there. Edited September 29, 2015 by PlayBills Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricojes Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 I will take w's. Who cares about yardage in garbage time? No, This! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlayBills Posted September 29, 2015 Author Share Posted September 29, 2015 (edited) I will take w's. Who cares about yardage in garbage time?Thanks, I agree with that. Yardage given up toward the purpose of securing a win/maintaining the health of starters is acceptable in my mind. Not making excuses here; just giving perspective on the Bills' high yardage allowed, and how much their offensive onslaught has affected it thus far. Edited September 29, 2015 by PlayBills Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eball Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 I will take w's. Who cares about yardage in garbage time? Apparently a lot of callers to sports talk radio shows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoloinOhio Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 I will take w's. Who cares about yardage in garbage time?not me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlayBills Posted September 29, 2015 Author Share Posted September 29, 2015 Apparently a lot of callers to sports talk radio shows. This, too. The Bills gave up 300 yards to Tannehill, and people will look at that without context and say "Damn, the Bills secondary was suspect against the Dolphins." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoloinOhio Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 This, too. The Bills gave up 300 yards to Tannehill, and people will look at that without context and say "Damn, the Bills secondary was suspect against the Dolphins." there is actually a thread about that on the Giants message board. And they spelled Tannehill wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GunnerBill Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 Excellent post OP. The Bills D was dominant against the Colts and the Dolphins for three and a half quarters. What happens when the game is won bothers me not one jot. If there has been anything to worry us on D so far it was the terrible gameplan against New England.... not some garbage time numbers given up to the Colts and Dolphins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlayBills Posted September 29, 2015 Author Share Posted September 29, 2015 there is actually a thread about that on the Giants message board. And they spelled Tannehill wrong. Haha I've read some of that over there. There's a few guys saying the Bills defense is bad because they "gave up 40 points." Their memory must be selective, because they forget that the 2000 Ravens gave up 36 points in week two to an eventual 7-9 Jaguars team. That defense DOMINATED the Giants in the Super Bowl that year. Again, statistics without context. I follow the NBA pretty closely, and theyre light years ahead of the NFL in contextualizing game stats (though admittedly it's easier to do for basketball). I wish more of this stuff would seep into NFL analysis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDH Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 I'm of two minds about this. One, garbage time numbers aren't really that important when the games are essentially wrapped up. My second though is that this D gets complacent. They're not playing prevent D. They're also not sitting their starters with these leads. So the only conclusion I can draw is that they lack motivation and drive to play to the end of the game. That's mental weakness and isn't something you want to see out of your players (with or without a lead.) If the D isn't going to play to the end then get those starters off the field because guys not playing all out are going to get hurt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoloinOhio Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 The Bills have played 3 teams who didn't even try to run the ball. Two of them fell behind early and had to pass the whole game to try to catch up. The other was Brady. Where is the Pats pass D ranked? Guessing pretty low. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebandit27 Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 I prefer to look at it as "statistics with context". I kinda think statistics without context are useless. I don't beleive all yards are created equal. Of course there is room for disagreement there. I don't know you...and you appear to be new here, but... ...I like your style. Great job bringing context to the discussion. Now go get your shine box! This, too. The Bills gave up 300 yards to Tannehill, and people will look at that without context and say "Damn, the Bills secondary was suspect against the Dolphins." My cousin lives in NJ, and is surrounded by Eagles' and Giants' fans. He told me he's hearing non-stop about how Eli is going to shred the Bills' pass defense because it's so terrible...after all, they allowed Ryan Tannehill to throw for nearly 300 yards, and the week before they gave up 466! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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