John Kryk: Bills' Defense First Model is Backward in Today's NFL

[26CornerBlitz]

 

The prime example, though, may be the Buffalo Bills.

 

First-time, second-year GM Brandon Beane and first-time, second-year head coach Sean McDermott deserve credit for a fabulous job in delivering a sharp upgrade on defence via the draft and free agency, and coaching up that defence on the field.

 

Too bad it’s come at the expense of the offence, at the worst possible time maybe in NFL history.

 

For instance, last year McDermott (before Beane arrived as GM) passed on drafting either Patrick Mahomes or Deshaun Watson with the No. 10 overall pick. Instead McDermott traded down with Kansas City, to No. 27, thereby enabling the Chiefs to gladly snare Mahomes at 10th overall, beating out Houston and Arizona (then coached by Mahomes-loving Bruce Arians) for that right.

 

Of all Bills blunders this young century, that might go down as the worst.

 

McDermott and Beane have only compounded the mistake with a series of further QB misjudgements.

[BigBuff423]

I completely disagree. Mainly because you can't take a generalized approach and apply it in blanket terms. The Defense was on the uptick and is the specialty of McD and so you build on your strengths. He didn't get the Offensive Coordinator he wanted - who ironically has now been fired mid-season in his second year - and then waited for his GM to help construct the Offense. The first order of business was to get rid of guys who didn't hold a team first mentality and the second was to clear dead Cap to allow for 2019 full on rebuild.

 

Moreover, Mahomes or Watson in this Offense would NOT be having the same success they've found with their respective teams....for so many reasons. Additionally, taking Defense now helps to cradle a young and developing Offense because they don't feel the pressure to have to do it all right. The blow outs this year have been far more on the Offense, just like this past Sunday, 14 points came directly on TOs and another came with a poor TO in Buffalo's own end. The Defense did a decent job, not great against the Run but pretty darn good against the pass so meh job...but in other weeks they've been outstanding. 

 

Point being, building on the strength of the coach, while allowing a new GM to define the Offense and taking a year to get financially healthy so you CAN build your Offense takes time and patience, but it doesn't mean it's wrong. It just means we all need to see the vision for the future and not focus on the present, which we knew this year wasn't about. 

[Cheektowaga Chad]

The bills building defense first does actually make sense in that McDermott is building what he knows first. Getting the defense set so he can focus on offense next. 

 

Now to have completely neglect/tear down the offense like they have is a different story

[jrober38]

Sean McDermott has nothing in common philosophically with any of the top coaches in the NFL.

 

He's conservative, and believes in running the ball, playing defense, establishing the line of scrimmage and playing field position.

 

He constantly ignores basic probabilities by always punting on 4th and short when we're in opposition territory.

 

In a league that's becoming more and more innovative and aggressive on the offensive side of the ball, our coach is holding on to the way things used to be 10 years ago, and accordingly isn't cut out to be an NFL HC right now. 

[The Firebaugh Kid]

19 minutes ago, BigBuff423 said:

I completely disagree. Mainly because you can't take a generalized approach and apply it in blanket terms. The Defense was on the uptick and is the specialty of McD and so you build on your strengths. He didn't get the Offensive Coordinator he wanted - who ironically has now been fired mid-season in his second year - and then waited for his GM to help construct the Offense. The first order of business was to get rid of guys who didn't hold a team first mentality and the second was to clear dead Cap to allow for 2019 full on rebuild.

 

Moreover, Mahomes or Watson in this Offense would NOT be having the same success they've found with their respective teams....for so many reasons. Additionally, taking Defense now helps to cradle a young and developing Offense because they don't feel the pressure to have to do it all right. The blow outs this year have been far more on the Offense, just like this past Sunday, 14 points came directly on TOs and another came with a poor TO in Buffalo's own end. The Defense did a decent job, not great against the Run but pretty darn good against the pass so meh job...but in other weeks they've been outstanding. 

 

Point being, building on the strength of the coach, while allowing a new GM to define the Offense and taking a year to get financially healthy so you CAN build your Offense takes time and patience, but it doesn't mean it's wrong. It just means we all need to see the vision for the future and not focus on the present, which we knew this year wasn't about. 

How dare you speak rationally on this website. 

[Wayne Arnold]

What difference does it make? Do people think this team would be good with a Top 10 offense and the worst defense in recent NFL history?

18 minutes ago, jrober38 said:

Sean McDermott has nothing in common philosophically with any of the top coaches in the NFL.

 

He's conservative, and believes in running the ball, playing defense, establishing the line of scrimmage and playing field position.

 

He constantly ignores basic probabilities by always punting on 4th and short when we're in opposition territory.

 

In a league that's becoming more and more innovative and aggressive on the offensive side of the ball, our coach is holding on to the way things used to be 10 years ago, and accordingly isn't cut out to be an NFL HC right now. 

 

If all of this were true, he would have kept Tyrod.

 

Forever. 

[Chuck Wagon]

Just now, Wayne Arnold said:

What difference does it make? Do people think this team would be good with a Top 10 offense and the worst defense in recent NFL history?

 

 

I think it would be more entertaining for sure.

 

But the Chiefs can't stop a nose bleed and they are 8-1.  The Falcons D was brutal in 2016 and they went to the Super Bowl.  Offenses like that can easily make up for mistakes, on the flip side when you are a good D / terrible O team you need the game script to go exactly right.

[jrober38]

4 minutes ago, Wayne Arnold said:

What difference does it make? Do people think this team would be good with a Top 10 offense and the worst defense in recent NFL history?

 

If all of this were true, he would have kept Tyrod.

 

Forever. 

 

All of it is true.

 

He says all of those things all the time and demonstrates his philosophies every game we play. 

 

He might want a better QB than Tyrod, but that doesn't change how he approaches the game of football and what he thinks a team should do to win games.

 

We could have Tom Brady and McDermott would still be punting on 4th and short on the opponents 40 yard line because that's who he is. 

[26CornerBlitz]

30 minutes ago, Cheektowaga Chad said:

The bills building defense first does actually make sense in that McDermott is building what he knows first. Getting the defense set so he can focus on offense next. 

 

Now to have completely neglect/tear down the offense like they have is a different story

 

With the way the rules are it's hard for the best defenses, no matter how well built, to contain teams like KC, NO, LAR, and NE.   That's why the approach should be called into question. 

[Wayne Arnold]

4 minutes ago, Chuck Wagon said:

 

 

I think it would be more entertaining for sure.

 

But the Chiefs can't stop a nose bleed and they are 8-1.  The Falcons D was brutal in 2016 and they went to the Super Bowl.  Offenses like that can easily make up for mistakes, on the flip side when you are a good D / terrible O team you need the game script to go exactly right.

 

Wins are entertaining. To me, there’s nothing more frustrating than watching my team’s defense getting curb-stomped drive after drive.

 

The Chiefs have the NFL’s 26th ranked defense (DVOA). If they had the worst defense in history, they wouldn’t be close to 8-1 right now. Same goes for Falcons in 2016.

[jrober38]

1 minute ago, 26CornerBlitz said:

 

With the way the rules are it's hard for the best defenses, no matter how well built, to contain teams like KC, NO, LAR, and NE.   That's why the approach should be called into question. 

 

To see where the NFL is going people should watch the Saints-Rams game from Sunday afternoon.

 

Those teams are playing a different sport than the Bills. 

 

They value possessions, and try to score every time they get the football. 

 

Our coach has nothing in common philosophically with Sean Payton or Sean McVay, and that's a major problem in my eyes. 

[Chuck Wagon]

2 minutes ago, Wayne Arnold said:

 

Wins are entertaining. To me, there’s nothing more frustrating than watching my team’s defense getting curb-stomped drive after drive.

 

The Chiefs have the NFL’s 26th ranked defense (DVOA). If they had the worst defense in history, they wouldn’t be close to 8-1 right now. Same goes for Falcons in 2016.

 

 

I just think if the current NFL, Best offense / Worst defense is going to win you a lot more games than Worst offense / Best defense.

 

 

[co_springs_billsfan]

5 minutes ago, jrober38 said:

 

To see where the NFL is going people should watch the Saints-Rams game from Sunday afternoon.

 

Those teams are playing a different sport than the Bills. 

 

They value possessions, and try to score every time they get the football. 

 

Our coach has nothing in common philosophically with Sean Payton or Sean McVay, and that's a major problem in my eyes. 

But he is a Sean.

[jrober38]

3 minutes ago, Chuck Wagon said:

 

 

I just think if the current NFL, Best offense / Worst defense is going to win you a lot more games than Worst offense / Best defense.

 

 

 

It's hard to win if you're the "worst" on either side of the ball, but if you're talking top 5 O + bottom 5 D vs bottom 5 O + top 5 D the team with the top offense is winning a lot more often than the team with the top D in 2018. 

[Chuck Wagon]

7 minutes ago, jrober38 said:

 

To see where the NFL is going people should watch the Saints-Rams game from Sunday afternoon.

 

Those teams are playing a different sport than the Bills. 

 

They value possessions, and try to score every time they get the football. 

 

Our coach has nothing in common philosophically with Sean Payton or Sean McVay, and that's a major problem in my eyes. 

 

 

This point exactly.

 

The best teams in the league are playing a completely different game than we are.  A "good punt" doesn't exist in that world.

 

However, it kind of tough to judge McDermott's riskiness.  It's one thing to line up for a yard or two when you've got Kamara / Gurley / Thomas / the Rams WRs.  It's something else when you've got our motley crew.  Currently the book on McDermott is 1) he's done a tremendous job getting guys lacking talent to play very hard, but 2) he bares a lot of the blame for a roster filled with guys lacking talent.

Edited November 6, 2018 by Chuck Wagon

[Wayne Arnold]

11 minutes ago, jrober38 said:

 

All of it is true.

 

He says all of those things all the time and demonstrates his philosophies every game we play. 

 

He might want a better QB than Tyrod, but that doesn't change how he approaches the game of football and what he thinks a team should do to win games.

 

We could have Tom Brady and McDermott would still be punting on 4th and short on the opponents 40 yard line because that's who he is. 

 

Nope.

 

22nd in aggressiveness last season. With a bad offense - which is a huge factor whether you accept that or not.

 

https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stat-analysis/2018/aggressiveness-index-2017

 

If McD were nearly as conservative as you say then he would be dead last in this category and he would have signed Tyrod to a 10 year contract extension because he’s a conservative coach’s wet dream.

[jrober38]

Just now, Chuck Wagon said:

 

 

This point exactly.

 

The best teams in the league are playing a completely different game than we are.  A "good punt" doesn't exist in that world.

 

However, it kind of tough to judge McDermott's riskiness.  It's one thing to line up for a yard or two when you've got Kamara / Gurley / Thomas / the Rams WRs.  It's something else when you've got our motley crew.  Currently the book on McDermott is either 1) he's done a tremendous job getting guys lacking talent to play very hard, but 2) he bares a lot of the blame for a roster filled with guys lacking talent.

 

This goes back to last year though when we had a better line and LeSean McCoy and still refused to go for it on 4th and short in opposition territory. 

 

We're talking about a coach who time and time again has shown that he doesn't get the basic math behind certain situations. This is a coach who made a conscious decision in the Colts game last year to play for the tie, which was a result that would have eliminated us from playoff contention. 

 

At this point all McDermott is is a motivator. He gets his guys to play hard, but he doesn't understand or isn't willing to do the things needed in certain situations to increase his teams chances to actually win football games. 

 

He's Dick Jauron 2.0. 

3 minutes ago, Wayne Arnold said:

 

Nope.

 

22nd in aggressiveness last season. With a bad offense - which is a huge factor whether you accept that or not.

 

https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stat-analysis/2018/aggressiveness-index-2017

 

If McD were nearly as conservative as you say then he would be dead last in this category and he would have signed Tyrod to a 10 year contract extension because he’s a conservative coach’s wet dream.

 

I can't read the link. There are twitter icons and adds all over the data. 

 

All I can see is that we went for it 10% of the time when facing a 4th and short between the 31-27 yard line in opposition territory. 

 

I can't see the overall context because the page is a mess, but I don't think that's good enough. 

[RochesterRob]

59 minutes ago, Cheektowaga Chad said:

The bills building defense first does actually make sense in that McDermott is building what he knows first. Getting the defense set so he can focus on offense next. 

 

Now to have completely neglect/tear down the offense like they have is a different story

  The first pick for the Bills in the 2018 draft was an offensive player.  Eric Wood having a career ending condition was unforeseen.  So saying that McDermott completely neglected the offense is a stretch.  Nothing in the way of impact players for the positions of which we were in need of on offense were there to be had in free agency.  Further, run defense was top of the list of things to be addressed based on what we saw last season and was done through this past draft and FA period.

[K-9]

Good luck finding the personnel required.

[Mr. WEO]

This "break, don't bend" D is not so great.   7th worst in points allowed.

Edited November 6, 2018 by Mr. WEO