Possible, partial explanation for why D was bad

[Coach Tuesday]

It's a good theory and probably true. But it also depresses me. I'm not going to live forever, sadly. Is it ever going to click for this franchise?

[3rdand12]

If this was true, one would expect the defense to improve as the season progressed. It didn't. There were much bigger problems than neglecting to study the playbook in June.

 

What more likely happened was they didn't study the playbook in June. During training camp, they became confused, but chalked it up to learning a new system. By October, they were still confused and soon thereafter the players began to just give up and go through the motions. Now, they're sitting at home wondering what went wrong.

I thought the players did improve. Too slowly of course.

 

Dareus was good example.

 

Btw i think the players now know what went wrong.

Expect a much better showing next season

It's a good theory and probably true. But it also depresses me. I'm not going to live forever, sadly. Is it ever going to click for this franchise?

Me either. Hope my kids can say " gee, Dad would been thrilled if he was still with us".

[GG]

Linky thingy.

[MDH]

If true, the lack of leadership, by both the coaches and the players was in full effect here. Nobody held the players accountable it seems. If only there were a few guys on D who held their teammates accountable for not knowing the D as well as they should.

[GG]

I just saw a locker clean-out interview with Jerry Hughes. I saw it on Twitter and can't get it right now but it's on bills.com I think and someone will link it I'm sure.

 

It's possible I'm reading into this but Hughes sounded to me like the players didn't put the work in in training camp to learn the playbook. I don't think he was talking about anyone in particular but just that they should have had the defense down, they had time to get it down, even before the season, and they just didn't get it down. He was a very standup guy about it.

 

 

That's not the sense I got watching it. He said that they needed a full year to embrace the new system and that it was starting to come together as the season wore on. He sort of hinted that they had time to digest it, but only over the course of the season. I didn't see where he implied that they should have learned it by the end of camp. He did admit that it was on the players to execute the scheme, but gave them an out with the complex system.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

 

Me either. Hope my kids can say " gee, Dad would been thrilled if he was still with us".

 

Come on, man-- buck up!! If you have at least 10 good years left, I am confident that we will sneak in the playoffs at some point in the next decade.

[Utah John]

I remember an interview with Kyle Williams sometime during training camp or just afterwards, where he said something to the effect of the D was great on paper but they hadn't done anything yet. I think he saw his teammates not being serious about becoming the best possible, and this was his way of nudging them. If so, it was too little. At least he's enough of a leader to try getting them going but not enough to slap them upside the head.

[3rdand12]

 

Come on, man-- buck up!! If you have at least 10 good years left, I am confident that we will sneak in the playoffs at some point in the next decade.

Does this mean i need to eat healthy and exercise still? I hate this crap. stupid salads and granola.

 

Go Bills !

[Pete]

I want a no nonsense, disciplined Dcordinator. He can be bad cop, to Rex's good cop. But good God almighty, we need some discipline on defense!

[Alphadawg7]

I just saw a locker clean-out interview with Jerry Hughes. I saw it on Twitter and can't get it right now but it's on bills.com I think and someone will link it I'm sure.

 

It's possible I'm reading into this but Hughes sounded to me like the players didn't put the work in in training camp to learn the playbook. I don't think he was talking about anyone in particular but just that they should have had the defense down, they had time to get it down, even before the season, and they just didn't get it down. He was a very standup guy about it.

 

I was watching a Sabres game this year against the Columbus Blue Jackets. They were coming off an season where they ended on a 12-0-1 win streak but didn't make the playoffs. This year everyone everywhere thought they were going to be one of the better teams in the league and they have been terrible. The announcers were interviewing a guy who was there at the beginning of the season and he said it was immediately clear to him that these guys weren't prepared. They came into the season positive they were going to be great but didn't put the work in, didn't work their ass off in training camp, and just assumed they would start winning because of the way they played together at the end of last year.

 

I think that's very possible what happened to the Bills defense.

 

They just assumed they would be great because they had been great in 2014 and now had Rex. And they knew they knew how to play defense. But they may not have put the hours and work in to learn the new defense the way they should have.

 

So maybe it wasn't all Rex's scheme and the blame goes half on the players.

 

That said, I still think that Rex had an absolutely horrible year with his game plans and strategy and trying to be too cute. So even if it was more the players fault than we thought it wasn't less his fault for not pressuring, pressing, and doing what he does best in 14 of the 16 games.

 

Mario made recent comments too about better understanding the D or simplifying it. Seems there may be something to it

[Kelly the Dog]

 

That's not the sense I got watching it. He said that they needed a full year to embrace the new system and that it was starting to come together as the season wore on. He sort of hinted that they had time to digest it, but only over the course of the season. I didn't see where he implied that they should have learned it by the end of camp. He did admit that it was on the players to execute the scheme, but gave them an out with the complex system.

He said we had time to learn it. Or that was the impression I got that he meant from the start. Edited January 6, 2016 by Kelly the Dog

[3rdand12]

I remember an interview with Kyle Williams sometime during training camp or just afterwards, where he said something to the effect of the D was great on paper but they hadn't done anything yet. I think he saw his teammates not being serious about becoming the best possible, and this was his way of nudging them. If so, it was too little. At least he's enough of a leader to try getting them going but not enough to slap them upside the head.

and some folks want to let Kyle go!

I recall that too interview in general anyways. wise man that Kyle

 

 

idjits!

Linky thingy.

Jerry is not pleased whatsoever with his team mates even though Brownie tried to lead him to a happy place.

I guess he is the one who turned on Mario?

He said we had time to learn it. Or that was the impression I got that he meant from the start.

he did say exactly that.

he was a great resigning.

[GG]

He said we had time to learn it. Or that was the impression I got that he meant from the start.

Perhaps.

 

But there's no doubt that everyone bought into the summer hype and didn't put proper time and effort into it. That's why I hate vanilla preseason games for new coaches and systems.

[NoSaint]

i read on this very board that it is in fact Rex's fault. True story!

Your coach not identifying this issue and continuing to push a scheme players didn't understand is still a coaching issue. It's always been a combo between coach and players but in having elite talent underachieving with the line variable being coaching you certainly look that way more.

[BackInDaDay]

Ryan was trying to implement his D all season, and although they showed glimpses of getting on the same page - they were out of sync enough to get undressed by the better offenses they faced.

 

here's a glimpse into what Ryan was trying to accomplish in the Steeler preseason game.. it came during a post game response to a question about the 'secondary'.

now.. although this simple question explicitly asked about the 'secondary', i think Rex's answer was in the context of what he wanted to see from his complex pass coverages.

i may be wrong about that, but i don't think 'secondary' equates to only 'safeties and cornerbacks' in his D.. i think it's probably synonymous with everyone who's expected to drop into coverage on a given play. reading the bold red gives a glimpse into what may have concerned him back in August.

]b]Q: Are you concerned with the state of the secondary?[/b]

A: No I think I put us in a lot of situations, again challenging us, and even going into the game I was telling the TV people that I was gonna challenge us with different coverages, make them communicate, flip different cuts and quite honestly we werent as sharp as we needed to be. So I think it was great for us to see it. Well learn a lot off of tape but you cant just go out there and say Im a great player or whatever and not communicate, and I think that was a great thing for us, it was kind of a learning thing. Now we challenged the guys the second half, they really responded. I mean our guys did a tremendous job, and that teams talented enough. The kid from Clemson was killing us.

Edited January 7, 2016 by BackInDaDay

[PromoTheRobot]

i read on this very board that it is in fact Rex's fault. True story!

Well yeah. Who else's fault? Players? If they all don't get your scheme, you ain't coaching it right. Rex looked flummoxed too often. Is he a better coach than he looked this year? God, I hope so. Edited January 7, 2016 by PromoTheRobot

[Nihilarian]

Your coach not identifying this issue and continuing to push a scheme players didn't understand is still a coaching issue. It's always been a combo between coach and players but in having elite talent underachieving with the line variable being coaching you certainly look that way more.

Exactly, as this year was all on the defense being bad and actually worse than George Edwards-Dave Wannstedt type bad considering the talent on the defensive side. This year was all on Rex Ryan.

 

It seems like every week the excuses start in another thread about the injuries, with players poisoning the locker room with a bad attitude, with the players so inept, i.e. so stupid they can't grasp a defensive scheme. Or it will take a year to learn the scheme because it's so complicated. This is just all wrong.

 

You don't go from 1st in the NFL in sacks to 31st in one year with the same front four players unless you simply don't blitz enough or put the players in position to rush the passer.

 

It wasn't just the injuries as this year's defensive debacle started in week two against the Patriots in playing a prevent defense all game (DB's 10-15 yards off the line) with very little pass rush along with asking those elite rushers to drop into pass coverage on third down. Then asking those superstar elite rushers to concern themselves with gap control over rushing the passer. Ever watch a play where it looks like those D-linemen are just standing there doing nothing? That's gap control and they are doing exactly what they were asked to do in this years scheme.

 

ESPN noted that the Bills in week two only got pressure on Tom Brady 9.8% of the drop backs which was less than the Bills were able to do in every game last season. Then go back and rewatch the Monday night game Bills vs Patriots to see the Buffalo Bills get pressure on Brady 20 of his 40 dropbacks. That's 50% vs less then 10% pressure on the QB is the difference between the two games.

 

From a defensive man in Ryan who used to blitz as much as 50% of the time in his first two seasons with the Jets to 30-35% in the later season to now less than 10% blitzing in a lot of games is the real reason this year's defense stunk it up so badly. Think about it!

 

But it doesn't stop with just the lack of blitzing as it's a massive combination of problems concerning the coaches.

1. It's defensive plays coming in late as so often that even the players noticed that the slowest offenses would rush to the line because of those late plays calls.
2. It's also players out of position and not set when the ball is snapped
3. When Ryan does blitz nobody covers the out
4. The Penalties even going back to week 14 against the Eagles the Bills with 15 penalties for 101 yards
5. It's the lack of defensive line rotation is far less then the year previous
6. It's asking the players on the D-line to drop into pass coverage much too often and enough so the players themselves were complaining about it.
7. Marcel Dareus has been complaining that the scheme didn't fit the current players since preseason

This year's defense was alarmingly bad in sacks when you consider that George Edwards didn't have Mario Williams or Jerry Hughes the two edge rushers. 2011 Bills had 29 sacks-2010 Bills had 27 sacks. The 2015 Bills had only 22 sacks with two sacks coming against Fitz in that last game. I don't see why more Bills fans aren't shouting from the rooftops about this issue.

[Kelly the Dog]

I read today that this year's absolutely horrible defense, which it was, gave up less points than the Bills' Pettine defense that had all those sacks.

[Nihilarian]

I read today that this year's absolutely horrible defense, which it was, gave up less points than the Bills' Pettine defense that had all those sacks.

Sacks matter because it equates to getting pressure on the QB and disrupting the opponents passing game and frustrating the QB with hits, hurries, pressures. It's why the Buffalo Bills paid their front four 1/4 billion dollars to get sacks!

[Manther]

 

 

One would think a defensive genius coach would notice that his team was not properly absorbing material and preparing. Ours did not.

 

 

Cuz Rex Sux.

Yep

When the attitude is coupled with your HC trying hard to be your best frat bro, guessing things were warm and comfy for all! Would explain a lot of what we saw...penalties too.

Yep