Bills switch to man coverage vs Steelers

[NewEra]

13 minutes ago, jeremy2020 said:

 

Not quite a "I know you are, but what am I", but close. Really close. 

Not quite like I give a flying **** what you think

[Jerboski]

They played well the first half 

the Steelers scored on every second half drive… 

[NoHuddleKelly12]

2 hours ago, Dr. Football said:

I’m not sure why they haven’t pursued some speed at corner, especially with all the trouble we had with covering Tyreek Hill!! Big problem as I see it. 

Parrino/Talbot in their last podcast before Labor Day referenced this very point, to say that this regime values sure handed open field tackling/immediate wrap up after catch above a straight line speed metric. If only we could have both?

[machine gun kelly]

I don’t see our defense as crumbling or anything descriptive with only 16 offensive pts. By Pittsburgh.  It’s as simple as offensive plays, play calling, and a terrible line performance against on of the best defensive lines in football.  Allen and company blew it.  The Bills offense didn’t execute.  Our defense looked better than the first half of last year.

 

We avg. 31 pts a game last year.  16 is never going to cut it.

[CSBill]

8 hours ago, Dr. Football said:

We need CBs that can excel at both man and zone!! I think T. White can but the others have a way to go. IMHO 😬

 

Yeah, I'm sure every team in the league says the same thing. Ugh 🤪

[CSBill]

6 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I'll try one more time. 

 

The oft-quoted metric is that if a team holds their opponent to less than 20 points, they should generally win.

Let me say that again a little louder for the guys in the back: if a TEAM holds their opponent to less than 20 points, they should generally win.

 

It's a TEAM thing.  The defense doesn't get to sit back and say "hey 23 points?  Well ***** only 16 of 'em were ours, so who the ***** cares if we let the opponent score on every single drive in the 2nd half while the offense needed time to come from behind?  We did OUR job!"  That's not how football works.

 

Not sure anyone was saying that Hap. I think we all understand the total points is what really counts 🙂 - I think? The point of this discussion was the points the Defense gave up, which, if my math is correct, was 16. That is a pretty good day.

 

My general concern about the Defense: It seems the Steelers made adjustments at half-time and figure out how to move the ball. But the Bills Defense did not make any counter moves. Maybe that was the time to go back to the zone coverage. It was obvious to all, because of the short routes and intentional quick release strategy of Big Ben, we weren't going to get much pressure on him, so stay back, keep them in front of you. But having said that, we were one pass interference call and a bobbled ball that fell into the receivers hands away from a win--and in close games, those plays get magnified.

 

Having said that, while not perfect, they still played well. The Defense did their part. It was the Offense and ST that contributed the most to this loss.

 

I'm not worried about our D. It looked improved this weekend.

[Beast]

9 hours ago, Dr. Football said:

We need CBs that can excel at both man and zone!! I think T. White can but the others have a way to go. IMHO 😬

If you are expecting shut down corners across the roster you can wish in one hand and ***** in the other and see which one fills up quicker.

 

You guys and your expectations are straight from Never-Neverland.

 

The Bills have very good corners.

Edited September 14, 2021 by Beast

[GunnerBill]

7 hours ago, LeGOATski said:

Two time the CBs were beat (long throw to Claypool; TD to Johnson) White and Wallace had perfect position, but the WR just made a great play.

 

Agree. Wallace and White did nothing wrong on those plays. The other guys get paid too. They made great plays on those balls. Wallace got beat and then failed to adjust on the DPI and there was one time Taron got beat in the slot in the 2nd half where he hesitated and let his guy get across his face rather than maintaining his leverage but otherwise I thought our corners played a really good game. 

[vincec]

9 hours ago, Dr. Football said:

We need CBs that can excel at both man and zone!! I think T. White can but the others have a way to go. IMHO 😬

Good man v man CBs come at a premium and there's no way that the Bills could afford two of them and still spend like they do on the DL, while still having some money left over for offense. Their decision is to spend on the DL (which generally has more impact on the game - "it all starts up front"), keep the DBs in zone most of the time and hope that the pressure generated helps the DBs in coverage. Against certain matchups it can be a problem, but overall I think it's a sound strategy.

[GunnerBill]

12 minutes ago, vincec said:

Good man v man CBs come at a premium and there's no way that the Bills could afford two of them and still spend like they do on the DL, while still having some money left over for offense. Their decision is to spend on the DL (which generally has more impact on the game - "it all starts up front"), keep the DBs in zone most of the time and hope that the pressure generated helps the DBs in coverage. Against certain matchups it can be a problem, but overall I think it's a sound strategy.

 

The Bills still spend pretty high on their secondary because Hyde and Poyer don't come cheap. You can't have 4 paid studs up there. I'm sure they would have liked to find a #2 corner in the draft but it wasn't a deep corner draft so there were runs on them early. The four round 1 level talents had all gone before the Bills picked at #30, I only had two with 2nd round grades and they were both gone by #44 (and the third to go in round 2 who I had a 2/3 borderline on in Samuel) was gone by #47. Then the round 3 guys went at the top of the round too. So every time based on draft position the Bills would have been reaching down the board for need at corner. Just didn't fall for them. 

[vincec]

18 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

The Bills still spend pretty high on their secondary because Hyde and Poyer don't come cheap. You can't have 4 paid studs up there. I'm sure they would have liked to find a #2 corner in the draft but it wasn't a deep corner draft so there were runs on them early. The four round 1 level talents had all gone before the Bills picked at #30, I only had two with 2nd round grades and they were both gone by #44 (and the third to go in round 2 who I had a 2/3 borderline on in Samuel) was gone by #47. Then the round 3 guys went at the top of the round too. So every time based on draft position the Bills would have been reaching down the board for need at corner. Just didn't fall for them. 

If they spend a high pick on a corner and he works out, then he is almost certainly going to walk when his rookie contract is up because they couldn’t afford to keep him. So it would be a rental. I don’t think they see using their high picks in that way.

Edited September 14, 2021 by vincec

[MrSarcasm]

9 hours ago, jeremy2020 said:

 

The Steelers were 18/32 passing for 188 yards and only gave up 16 points. Can you point to specifics about where you think they should improve? 

Yes the should have been 9/32 90 yards and of given up only 9 points 😶

[GunnerBill]

1 minute ago, vincec said:

If they spend a high pick on a corner and he works out, then he is almost certainly going to walk when his rookie contract is up because they couldn’t afford to keep him. So it would be a rental. I don’t think they see using their high picks in that way.

 

Well, maybe... but Poyer and Hyde will be off the books then and by the time a rookie corner's deal came due after 4 years (or 5 if you went there round 1) then White will be 30 (or 31) and one would imagine his $15m would not be close to the top of the market then if the cap rebounds.... so essentially I think last year it was an option for them and is from here out if the draft falls the right way. I agree before that you don't want to spend a top pick on a guy that just causes you a cap crunch when he and Tre are both in their prime. But I think now you have to be thinking about having a guy who can start as a #2 corner but maybe means you ar enot having to reach for a #1 when Tre gets up there age wise. 

[BigBuff423]

I mentioned this in another thread, but the lack of Pre-Season for Levi Wallace, IMHO, is a missing factor in evaluating his game against the Steelers. Conditioning and game shape, as well as getting back into game speed - processing the Defensive calls and anticipating Offensive plays - takes a little to adjust to as well. I think Levi struggled, in part, due to the fact he had virtually no "game speed" practice in the Pre-Season. That's not absolving him of his responsibility to make smarter plays, for example he's been in the NFL for a few years and he knows when defending against a guy like Claypool you HAVE to get your head around to avoid the DPI, but I also think there's an element of lack of game shape and speed processing. 

[2020 Our Year For Sure]

8 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I'll try one more time. 

 

The oft-quoted metric is that if a team holds their opponent to less than 20 points, they should generally win.

Let me say that again a little louder for the guys in the back: if a TEAM holds their opponent to less than 20 points, they should generally win.

 

It's a TEAM thing.  The defense doesn't get to sit back and say "hey 23 points?  Well ***** only 16 of 'em were ours, so who the ***** cares if we let the opponent score on every single drive in the 2nd half while the offense needed time to come from behind?  We did OUR job!"  That's not how football works.

Even McDermott at his postgame press conference, when asked about the defense, was all "when you take away the blocked punt they only gave up 16 points." And as you know he's not a guy into excuse-making or fudging numbers.

 

When you're discussing the DEFENSE, not the TEAM but just the defense, it's perfectly logical to filter out non-defense points allowed. It's like when you want to know how accurate a quarterback is, adjusted completion percentage that filters out drops is more accurate and useful than raw comp%.

[SCBills]

I thought the defense looked much improved. 
 

-Run defense was fantastic 

 

-Pass rush was evident in the first half.  Second half they made adjustments, got the ball out quicker and Ben just made a really nice move in the pocket to escape, step up, and find Freiermuth for a big gain. 
 

-Even though they moved the ball on us in the 2nd half, we held to FG’s, even with some tough officiating breaks.   It took a circus catch on a well defensed ball from Diontae Johnson to get them a TD. 
 

Just like I won’t make giant assumptions on our offense, given the Steelers seem to be a bad matchup, I also can’t go crazy for our defense given the Steelers have playmakers but that OL should’ve been a major weak spot for them Week 1.  
 

I did really like what I saw from Milano and Edmunds though.  They stood out to me. Huge for us if Edmunds finds himself this year.  

[First Round Bust]

from todays BN - grades - 3.0 for the secondary - the run D was the best grade 4/0

 

The Steelers targeted Tre’Davious White four times. He gave up two catches for 32 yards. They targeted Levi Wallace 10 times. He gave up four catches for 25 yards and a TD, plus two penalties for another 31 yards. That’s 56 total yards allowed, not a bad total. But when the Steelers desperately needed to make a play, Wallace is who they attacked. The tackling by the secondary was excellent. Taron Johnson had a key third-down pass breakup vs. JuJu Smith-Schuster and an end-zone breakup vs. Eric Ebron. The Bills stayed in the nickel defense every play of the game. Jordan Poyer had six tackles, including a sack. He was sent to rush the passer four times.

Just now, First Round Bust said:

from todays BN - grades - 3.0 for the secondary - the run D was the best grade 4/0

 

The Steelers targeted Tre’Davious White four times. He gave up two catches for 32 yards. They targeted Levi Wallace 10 times. He gave up four catches for 25 yards and a TD, plus two penalties for another 31 yards. That’s 56 total yards allowed, not a bad total. But when the Steelers desperately needed to make a play, Wallace is who they attacked. The tackling by the secondary was excellent. Taron Johnson had a key third-down pass breakup vs. JuJu Smith-Schuster and an end-zone breakup vs. Eric Ebron. The Bills stayed in the nickel defense every play of the game. Jordan Poyer had six tackles, including a sack. He was sent to rush the passer four times.

Note - Bills played man 58% of the time which was a change - so the CBs were exposed 1:1 more than you may have known-expected

[Livinginthepast]

The defense over all was good but failed on some crucial plays in this game to get it done. But this tends to happen when any defense is on the field too often and under pressure. I just wish that on the PI calls that Levi would have just turned his head. His body positioning wasnt bad and had he turned his head he would have had the INT. I cant understand how this isnt instinctive or trained into him by now.

[Jobot]

I look at this flip as more telling towards the confidence shift in our D-line.

[Jerome007]

DBs played well enough. Some of you guys expect perfection? 

 

The DL, except Oliver, was MIA though. Steelers are a very good team.... but not on OL unless these rookies are gems we didn't know about.

 

Speaking of DBs, I still think White's INT should NOT have been reversed by a ghost penalty. A huge game changer right there.