Dopey Posted July 1, 2019 Posted July 1, 2019 16 hours ago, Ethan in Portland said: OP you are forgetting the team will play a nickel defense on nearly 60% of the snaps. The base defense no doubt will have Star at zero technique. My bet is J. Phillips and Oliver will be the main pair in the nickel front 4. Also will see Lawson move to DT in the nickel from time to time to get Hughes and Murphy at DE. H. Phillips did nothing last year and has a long way to go to get more reps. DT is incredibly difficult transition to NFL. I would not be surprised to see Star and J. Phillips in the base defense more than people think. The experience will be helpful in the base defense especially the run game. Oliver's best skill is penetration which can be a liability defending the run but crucial to generate more pass rush. By year's end and barring inury Star will probably see 45% of snaps, H.Phillips 35%, J.Phillips and Oliver around 50% with the remaining being three man fronts and rotations with guys like Lawson. As far as the d-line, H. Phillips was tied with K. Williams in total tackles and only Jerry Hughes had more, by 2. He did this as a rookie, with limited snaps. I thought he played well for a rookie and should see a lot more snaps spelling Star and Oliver. Aside from Edmunds, I think he will be the most improved defensive player on the Bills.
TigerJ Posted July 1, 2019 Author Posted July 1, 2019 2 hours ago, gjv001 said: A glance at our upcoming seasons scheduel shows that our defense will be going up against most of the leagues formidable rushing offense. Not minimising the need to rush the passer, but if we don't stop the run first, we will probably have a sorry season. I agree that improving run defense is at least as high a priority as being more disruptive in pass defense (generating sacks and turnovers). How do the Bills achieve that? I presume the answer has a lot of factors: including the defensive linemen winning the battle at the LOS and not getting pushed out of position allowing the creation of running lanes, linebackers making better reads and getting better run support from DBs. Where were the most obvious breakdowns last year?
Ethan in Cleveland Posted July 1, 2019 Posted July 1, 2019 1 hour ago, Dopey said: As far as the d-line, H. Phillips was tied with K. Williams in total tackles and only Jerry Hughes had more, by 2. He did this as a rookie, with limited snaps. I thought he played well for a rookie and should see a lot more snaps spelling Star and Oliver. Aside from Edmunds, I think he will be the most improved defensive player on the Bills. Hope you are right. H. Phillips may have been credited with tackles but he made no impact plays last year. As I said, very difficult position to transition to NFL.
Chandler#81 Posted July 1, 2019 Posted July 1, 2019 Good topic. I’m hoping Morse gives many tips to Oliver & our DTs. He’s been near perfect as a Center in pass blocking. He’d know more about what can be tried than McDermott, imo.
RoyBatty is alive Posted July 1, 2019 Posted July 1, 2019 Speaking o D Lines, what i have been fearful of with our small D Line is the Pats running there bigs against us, Oliver is not going to help in the run department, not sure where we got any better against the run, And the Pats get their ist rd Tackle from last year that was hurt plus they added a 3rd RB and OC/G and a 4th rd T. Brady wil barely have to pass to beat us.
eball Posted July 1, 2019 Posted July 1, 2019 Penetration into the backfield is most certainly helpful for the run defense, particularly if it forces a RB to stop or change direction away from where the play was intended.
RoyBatty is alive Posted July 1, 2019 Posted July 1, 2019 5 minutes ago, eball said: Penetration into the backfield is most certainly helpful for the run defense, particularly if it forces a RB to stop or change direction away from where the play was intended. Yeah i was thinking that but with Brady running the offense in real time he can direct the flow away from our one great (hopefully) penetrator oliver or "let him penetrate then run right through the gap.
ghostwriter Posted July 1, 2019 Posted July 1, 2019 20 hours ago, TigerJ said: Yes, it is the slowest period of the year for football discussion, but here'a topic I find interesting. How are things going to shake out on the defensive line. Specifically, with the addition of Ed Oliver, who, by virtue of being a 9th overall pick becomes the presumptive starter at 3 tech, is there a way for Jordan Phillips to get enough reps to be a good value to the Bills. The Bills have kind of an odd setup on the interior of their D-line. Typically, with a four man front, defenses will have one big, strong dude playing the one or zero tech and a smaller, more disruptive player manning the 3 tech spot. The Bills have that - sort of - with Star Lotulelei starting at nose, and Ed Oliver (possibly) starting at 3 tech. Lotulelei isn't the biggest nose tackle in the league, but he's big enough, and very strong. Interesting, the other two interior linemen, the ones who will make the roster at least, are atypical. Jordan Phillips if Buffalo's biggest defensive lineman, but he plays mostly 3 tech. Harrison Phillips, is kind of smallish, (not as small as Oliver) but his skill set makes him a better nose at this point. Jordan Phillips is currently listed as starter at 3 tech. That's where he got most of his reps last season. His ambition and expectation is he's going to remain a starter. The problem with that is virtually everybody else is hoping Ed Oliver will eventually beat him out because his rare explosion at the snap gives him the potential to be unusually disruptive as an interior pass rusher. Since Oliver is on the small side, I can see Jordan Phillips getting a pretty fair number of reps in an effort to keep Oliver fresh. The question is, will it be enough? My question is, can Jordan Phillips be effective as a nose tackle. He easily has the size. Especially in passing situations, might Jordan Phillips' quickness for a big man be more of an advantage than Lotulelei's strength? While we're at it, I wonder if Harrison Phillips can develop more explosion off the snap and use that to become more effective at 3 tech. Ed Oliver played a lot of nose in college, but I doubt that Buffalo sees him in that role. Likewise, I think Lotulelei is pretty much stuck at nose. But if Buffalo can get some position versatility from the the PHillips "brothers" that could be a nice bonus for this defense. Thoughts? Yes to everything.
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