dave mcbride Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 (edited) The most fascinating comment by Polian (for me at least) is the reliance of Rex's D (and the Pettine derivative) in recent years on this guy: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/L/LeonJi23.htm. This is even though he was probably running a 5.2 40 in his last couple of seasons. Note that he played for Pettine (running Rex's scheme) in 2013 for the Bills and in 2014 for Cleveland. He had 4 picks for the Bills in 2013 too. According to Polian, the D couldn't really be run without him because he was the only one who understood it. The Bills defense is obviously not populated by mensas [EDIT: except for Manny Lawson], and without one it appears that it can't work. The one guy who seems to fit the bill is Corey Graham, and surprise surprise: he's one of the only players to publicly buy into the system. Edited December 24, 2015 by dave mcbride Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HamSandwhich Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 Interesting take. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freddie's Dead Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 I loved that comment. Jim Leonhard was a baller, who played beyond his physical limitations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoloinOhio Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 Pettine begged him to come back in some capacity to the Browns this year. Interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GG Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 The most fascinating comment by Polian (for me at least) is the reliance of Rex's D (and the Pettine derivative) in recent years on this guy: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/L/LeonJi23.htm. This is even though he was probably running a 5.2 40 in his last couple of seasons. Note that he played for Pettine (running Rex's scheme) in 2013 for the Bills and in 2014 for Cleveland. He had 4 picks for the Bills in 2013 too. According to Polian, the D couldn't really be run without him because he was the only one who understood it. The Bills defense is obviously not populated by mensas, and without one it appears that it can't work. The one guy who seems to fit the bill is Corey Graham, and surprise surprise: he's one of the only players to publicly buy into the system. Yup, that was clear. What's surprising is that Ryan still fed the signals through Brown Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max997 Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 There is no reason for any defense to be that complicated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave mcbride Posted December 24, 2015 Author Share Posted December 24, 2015 (edited) He played for Baltimore in 2008 (possibly Rex's best D there) and for the Jets in 2009 and 2010 -- when they just dominated on D. It's all coming together for me. Read the "mental alertness" caegory on his scouting report: http://www.russlande.com/wp-content/docs/leonard_jim.pdf . He graduated with a degree in kinesiology. Edited December 24, 2015 by dave mcbride Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoloinOhio Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 (edited) Makes you wonder why they never signed Dewan Landry. At least he knew the defense and played well last year. It isn't like we had good safeties. Then again no one signed him and lots of teams have crap safeties so there is probably more to it Edited December 24, 2015 by YoloinOhio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave mcbride Posted December 24, 2015 Author Share Posted December 24, 2015 Makes you wonder why they never signed Dewan Landry. At least he knew the defense and played well last year. It isn't like we had good safeties. I thought the same thing myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloHokie13 Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 Makes you wonder why they never signed Dewan Landry. At least he knew the defense and played well last year. It isn't like we had good safeties. Then again no one signed him and lots of teams have crap safeties so there is probably more to it We didn't even have safeties, just a bunch of converted corners Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoloinOhio Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 We didn't even have safeties, just a bunch of converted corners and Dookie Williams, whatever the heck he is. Only thing we know about him is he's on Real Housewives of Atlanta and way too dense to play in this defense Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordio Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 You mean Mcdipshit & the Duke aren't smart enough ball players to run a complex defense & make the right calls. Shocking. They are possibly the 2 dumbest players in the league. Rex Ryan really is an idiot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsVet Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 The most fascinating comment by Polian (for me at least) is the reliance of Rex's D (and the Pettine derivative) in recent years on this guy: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/L/LeonJi23.htm. This is even though he was probably running a 5.2 40 in his last couple of seasons. Note that he played for Pettine (running Rex's scheme) in 2013 for the Bills and in 2014 for Cleveland. He had 4 picks for the Bills in 2013 too. According to Polian, the D couldn't really be run without him because he was the only one who understood it. The Bills defense is obviously not populated by mensas, and without one it appears that it can't work. The one guy who seems to fit the bill is Corey Graham, and surprise surprise: he's one of the only players to publicly buy into the system. IIRC, one of the top UFA targets Rex made with NYJ in 2009 was Bart Scott. They definitely overpaid, but on this defense having someone who knows it and can perhaps teach it is worth more. Now the question becomes is it worth it to make all these moves to have the defense Rex wants to run. RR isn't deviating from his scheme, so the only options are to get the players or get a new HC. Good post Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoloinOhio Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 This is why Rex loves Manny Lawson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain_Quint Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 I would love for the Bills to draft Tyler Metakevich from Temple and turn him into a safety. Hes a 230lb linebacker who has great hands, instincts, and tackles about as good as you can. Hes been running the Temple D for the past few years and just won the Bednarick award for the best defender in the country. The problem is that he'll never make it as a LB in the nfl since hes undersized. He'll end up like Kiko hurt all the time. I think he'll be better used as a DB who is asked to frequent the box alot of the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave mcbride Posted December 24, 2015 Author Share Posted December 24, 2015 (edited) This is why Rex loves Manny Lawson. Manny gets a lot of grief here, but he has been decent (at the very least) this year. Plus he's very, very smart: 43 on the Wonderlic and a BS in mechanical engineering. Edited December 24, 2015 by dave mcbride Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hapless Bills Fan Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 The most fascinating comment by Polian (for me at least) is the reliance of Rex's D (and the Pettine derivative) in recent years on this guy: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/L/LeonJi23.htm. This is even though he was probably running a 5.2 40 in his last couple of seasons. Note that he played for Pettine (running Rex's scheme) in 2013 for the Bills and in 2014 for Cleveland. He had 4 picks for the Bills in 2013 too. According to Polian, the D couldn't really be run without him because he was the only one who understood it. The Bills defense is obviously not populated by mensas [EDIT: except for Manny Lawson], and without one it appears that it can't work. The one guy who seems to fit the bill is Corey Graham, and surprise surprise: he's one of the only players to publicly buy into the system. I think this goes a long way to explain the drop-off of Preston Brown. He was very effective QB'ing a straightforward D last year. He was NOT effective QB'ing a complex constantly-changing D this year. He couldn't figure out his own role, much less what everyone else was supposed to do. "This Just In" Rex: Football players are not typically mensas, and even mensas solve problems better when they have a bit of time, not 'read and react'. Any scheme which requires a 1:100 football braniac to understand is a Bad Scheme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Formerly Allan in MD Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 There is no reason for any defense to be that complicated There is if you're Rex, who wants you to be impressed with his brilliance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Augie Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 Come on....what NFL defense ISN'T dying for a short, slow, white DB of advancing years??!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Formerly Allan in MD Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 Manny gets a lot of grief here, but he has been decent (at the very least) this year. Plus he's very, very smart: 43 on the Wonderlic and a BS in mechanical engineering. Manny has had a decent season. The same cannot be said for many others on this team. A number of vets have dropped off and some of them don't appear to understand what's going on. With Rex as coach, I'm with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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