How do you deep down, really feel about this defense?

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

Very good defense, and if you push me I'd say you can win a SB with them provided the right matchup.

[DrDawkinstein]

4 minutes ago, Royale with Cheese said:

 

I don't know if it's the players or the scheme.  If we don't cause any confusion, they see the open WR much quicker.  

 

It isnt just against us though. They were talking averages across all games. Those guys just get the ball out quick.

[wjag]

Interesting topic.  They are the classic bend but don't break defense.  I think they are one elite pass rusher away from being truly great.  I'm fine with the LBs and Secondary.  Just one pass rusher that could completely blow up a play like Ed Oliver did a couple of times yesterday.  And do it 5 or 6 times a game.  Enough to draw a holding call, sack or make the QB move and take a couple ticks of time off of the QBs ability to work through their progressions. 

 

It's hard to assess on the Bills as most of the DL sees something like 25-35 snaps a game.

[FilthyBeast]

2 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

I think it is a top 10 defense. I don't think it is the best in the league but it will end up top 3 in numbers. Give a defensive brain trust as good as McDermott and Frazier this schedule and these opposing Quarterbacks and they will produce excellent defensive numbers. 

 

Given the shear amount of garbage QB's we'll have faced this year when the regular season is over, this team better be in the top 5.

 

But we've seen what happens when we play remotely competent QB's this year in Big Ben and Tannenhill. Yes we beat Mahomes but still think that's somewhat hollow given the Chiefs current state of affairs.

 

This is why I really don't know what to expect from this team come playoff time. We could be one and done or have a similar deep run like last year.

[Beast]

I actually love the defense. I believe they are built specifically for todays passing game. They are vulnerable to the run but give QB fits through the air.

[Dablitzkrieg]

I'll let you know after the Bucs game

[WideNine]

Wallace is a good zone corner who plays it safe giving up some cushion and is still a liability against QBs that can get the ball there with some zip.

 

So still would like to eventually see someone who could lock up the side opposite White in zone or man.

 

Star is a key cog that is helping others grow into their roles - like Edmunds and Oliver.

 

We have a decent rotation and having a natural NT is key for this defense to click up front.

 

Good pressure up front from the edges and pretty solid run defense.

 

If our offense hits pay dirt earlier in a game these guys can turn up the heat and create turnovers.

 

They are pretty solid.

 

 

 

 

[LeGOATski]

I'm there.

 

When you watch all 32 teams each week and compare, the Bills definitely stack up.

 

Awesome DBs and LBs, average DL.

[GunnerBill]

15 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

All the uncalled holds dont help, but the bigger thing (and they showed this in a graphic yesterday) is how quickly the QBs we have faced are getting the ball out of their hand. Ben, Tua, and Tannehill all get the ball out so quick, it's tough to get to them. But the pressure we DO apply forces those quick throws which sometimes forces mistakes.

 

Teams are definitely getting it out quick and to an extent that is what our scheme wants them to do. It wants to force QBs to try and take the short stuff and nickel and dime your way down the field without mistakes. Then once you make one mistake they will get you in 3rd and long and back themselves to get you off the field. That is why you see McDemott refuse more 2nd down penalties on his opponents than almost any other coach in the league. If McDermott has you in 3rd and 7 or more he backs his guys. He doesn't want to give you two shots to get 17. He wants you having one shot to get 7. That is his defense. I love all the talking heads treating Brandon Staley as a genius this year because he runs a defense that invites you to run on them. McDermott has been doing that since he has been here. It has hurt them at times but he wants to defend the pass. The pass is what beats you in the modern NFL. If you want to run and throw little 5 yard passes against McDermott's D be his guest. You have to be an elite execution offense to do drive down the field multiple times a game playing that way.

[Shaw66]

I keep saying it, because every week that goes by makes me think the same thing:   We're watching a young Bill Belichick.  

 

Belichick didn't have a star-based defense.   His defenses don't make lights out plays, and they also don't make mistakes.   

 

Belichick wants a shut-down corner, if he can get one.  Other than that, he'll assemble good players at every position, teach them a complicated defense, and then they'll do what they need to do to win.   When has Belichick based his defense on true All-Pro pass rusher?   So far as I can recall, never.   His guys are always around the ball, they're always good at taking the ball away, they're always well ranked, but they aren't the 85 Bears.  (Frankly, it's been so long that I don't think the 85 Bears are relevant.   And I'm not sure that even the 85 Bears were as good as we think we remember.)   I'm not sure that even the Ray Lewis Ravens are relevant any more.  I mean, what team has had a truly lights out defense in the last 10 years?   

 

Yes, the Bills give up some easy yards, or at least it looks that way.  After all, how much easy yardage can you give up and still lead the league in yards per game defense?   The offense isn't dominating time of possession (fourth at 32:23) that much to keep the defensive stats down.  Every team gives up some easy throws every game - it's just gotten a lot easier to pass.   And Tennessee kills you with play action because they threaten on every play to send Henry rumbling through the middle.  

 

I think McDermott knows what Belichick knows, which is that JJ Watt doesn't win championships, Von Miller doesn't, Kahlil Mack doesn't, name whatever flashy defensive player you want, they don't win championships.   Really solid team defense wins championships.  

 

On one play, are the Bills at a disadvantage because they don't have Aaron Donald or a JJ Watt clone?  Sure.   Over the course of 60 minutes, I'm just not so sure those guys matter.  

 

I'll take first in yards defense and first in points defense, however impressive or unimpressive it may look. 

 

 

[The Wiz]

1 minute ago, Ethan in Portland said:

The only answer is who knows. They gave up 6 scoring drives in a row to the Titans. We have yet to beat a team with a winning record. What they did to KC gives me all kinds of optimism.  That was a great performance on the road on national TV. All the other wins were against QBs that are awful. 

They won't face another competent QB until Brady and I guess the next most competent would be Mac Jones. 

 

They did but they were playing the run pretty much all game as most teams do against Henry.  They won't face another team with such an explosive/powerful RB the rest of the year.

 

I think they are strongest in the back (Wallace would probably be the weakest link, even Johnson has looked good again so far in his nickel position).

 

LB/DL seems to be a feast or famine type of deal with these guys.  I know Edmunds is the go-to whipping boy but he still takes up space in the passing game and doesn't get many balls thrown over the middle.  Milano is obviously good but feel like he is still not 100% from the injury.

 

I like the idea of rotating the d-line but at the same time, they need to let some of these guys just stay out there and go to work.  AJ, Ed, Greg in particular.  They are the future and need to get as much playing time as they can.

[Scott7975]

I don't think they are the best in the league.  I do think they are better than last season and give the Bills complimentary football that they didn't have last season. Id say top 10 at least though.

[DrDawkinstein]

1 minute ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Teams are definitely getting it out quick and to an extent that is what our scheme wants them to do. It wants to force QBs to try and take the short stuff and nickel and dime your way down the field without mistakes. Then once you make one mistake they will get you in 3rd and long and back themselves to get you off the field. That is why you see McDemott refuse more 2nd down penalties on his opponents than almost any other coach in the league. If McDermott has you in 3rd and 7 or more he backs his guys. He doesn't want to give you two shots to get 17. He wants you having one shot to get 7. That is his defense. I love all the talking heads treating Brandon Staley as a genius this year because he runs a defense that invites you to run on them. McDermott has been doing that since he has been here. It has hurt them at times but he wants to defend the pass. The pass is what beats you in the modern NFL. If you want to run and throw little 5 yard passes against McDermott's D be his guest. You have to be an elite execution offense to do drive down the field multiple times a game playing that way.

 

As usual, spot on. And exactly why I've said we simply dont match up well against the Titans (and to a lesser extent the Steelers in the opener). They are built to take full advantage of our weaknesses.

[FilthyBeast]

6 minutes ago, D. L. Hot-Flamethrower said:

Very good defense, and if you push me I'd say you can win a SB with them provided the right matchup.

 

Whose the right match up though?

 

Packers? They have played a very physical balanced offense this year similar to the Titans and Rogers is on a whole other level than Tannenhill especially in big moments/games.

 

Cowboys? Very similar to the Packers but much better overall offense.

 

Cardinals? We obviously know what happened last year against a much worse team, but Murray is on another level this year and is among the hardest QB's in the league to defend because of this.

 

The worse matchups IMO are the Rams and Bucs given their passing offenses and it scares me to think about our defense against either of those teams given Frazier and McD tendencies to drop in soft zone and let offenses like this pick us apart with hopes of simply holding them to FG's in the redzone. At least we play one of them this season though to get a possible preview of what to expect in the SB if we get there.

[Buffalo Boy]

  We are getting pressure with four.

  Star is back and playing well. Oliver has taken a step forward ( Mea culpa, I doubted he would) 

   WE ARE STOPPING THE RUN. Which we didn’t do last year. 

  We are trying and succeeding at keeping everything in front of us.

   Our DBs look better ( like some of us said they would) than last year because of improved line play.

    We bend but we aren’t breaking too bad. Tennessee was their worst game.

    Otherwise, the D IS doing it’s job on pace that is capable of getting us to the SB. If the O peaks at the right time and the D Holds serve , we are as good as any team in the league in 2021. 
   I’ve been watching this team since 1980. This is the most complete team the Bills have fielded in that time. 

Edited November 1, 2021 by Buffalo Boy

[Shaw66]

Just now, GunnerBill said:

 

Teams are definitely getting it out quick and to an extent that is what our scheme wants them to do. It wants to force QBs to try and take the short stuff and nickel and dime your way down the field without mistakes. Then once you make one mistake they will get you in 3rd and long and back themselves to get you off the field. That is why you see McDemott refuse more 2nd down penalties on his opponents than almost any other coach in the league. If McDermott has you in 3rd and 7 or more he backs his guys. He doesn't want to give you two shots to get 17. He wants you having one shot to get 7. That is his defense. I love all the talking heads treating Brandon Staley as a genius this year because he runs a defense that invites you to run on them. McDermott has been doing that since he has been here. It has hurt them at times but he wants to defend the pass. The pass is what beats you in the modern NFL. If you want to run and throw little 5 yard passes against McDermott's D be his guest. You have to be an elite execution offense to do drive down the field multiple times a game playing that way.

On the money, as usual.  And McDermott does one additional thing - he steels his guys to be tough at the goal line.  They're currently second in the league in red zone scoring defense.  If you're going to lead the league in scoring defense, you have to be good in the red zone.   So, not only does McDermott insist that you won't hurt him long, which allows teams to attack consistently for short yardage, he also insists that you won't hurt him with short yardage once you get inside the red zone.  It makes sense, of course, because there is much less territory to defend, but you can see that the rushing defense tightens up too.  It doesn't hurt so much to bite on play action from the five, because the guys in the box don't need to take deep drops.  

 

Again, whether we think it's pretty or not, whether he think it's flashy or not, there's no arguing that it's effective.  

[saundena]

I think we are a #8 - #12 type of defense.  Not elite, but very good.  We've gotten a lot of turnovers, but as we all know, turnovers are a streaky thing.  I expect that when we play better teams, it will be harder to get turnovers at the same pace.  As others have said, sometimes just having qb pressure isn't enough.  We really seemed to make Tanny uncomfortable last week, but we also let him escape from should be sacks just enough times in the 2nd half for him to convert 3rd downs.  

 

Overall, I think this team is playing at 85% and I suspect they will tighten things up as the year goes on.  Our Offense will definitely get sharper while our D might fall back slightly (at least statistically) as we play some better teams like NOLA, TB, NE & INDY, but it's still a very good defense and certainly not a liability.

 

I also think that we will "peak" in December and January- which is exactly what you want, simply because we have one of the most well rounded and DEEPEST team in the NFL.  As long as we are not disproportionately impacted by injuries during the next 2 months, the total cumulative "talent level" our 1st stringer and depth players should be better than just about every other team come December. 

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

4 minutes ago, FilthyBeast said:

 

Whose the right match up though?

 

Packers? They have played a very physical balanced offense this year similar to the Titans and Rogers is on a whole other level than Tannenhill especially in big moments/games.

 

Cowboys? Very similar to the Packers but much better overall offense.

 

Cardinals? We obviously know what happened last year against a much worse team, but Murray is on another level this year and is among the hardest QB's in the league to defend because of this.

 

The worse matchups IMO are the Rams and Bucs given their passing offenses and it scares me to think about our defense against either of those teams given Frazier and McD tendencies to drop in soft zone and let offenses like this pick us apart with hopes of simply holding them to FG's in the redzone. At least we play one of them this season though to get a possible preview of what to expect in the SB if we get there.

The Bucs are the toughest matchup because of Brady, the receivers and that line. We'd have to outscore them and hope we win the TO battle. We can slow down the rest of them with our style.

[Giuseppe Tognarelli]

Big receivers in the middle of the field are a problem.

[Brand J]

24 minutes ago, BuffBillsForLife said:

I certainly don't think they're the best in the league, that's crazy talk and is a result of our soft schedule.  But I do think they're certainly good enough to go all the way and haven't had any bad games except the Titans one (which was very bad).

Second half against the Steelers wasn’t pretty either.