Without Tre White

[Heitz]

7 hours ago, BarleyNY said:

 

This is very weak sauce IMO.  Firstly, it’s not like KC wasn’t missing some key pieces of their team Sunday night.  In fact, they were missing more than the Bills were.  Secondly, some people myself included, discussed how egregiously thin our CBs and secondary corps were during the off-season.  IOL too.  Meanwhile tremendous cap and draft capital was poured into the DL, but we have only seen average to good results out of that so far.  It’s been a poor value for what’s been spent. 
 

While we weren’t going to find anyone who could fill Tre’s shoes, we could’ve gotten both another decent CB and S who could spell our starters without being total liabilities.  That might’ve been nice to have against KC.  McDermott went all in on the DL so they would have a very deep rotation and they could stay fresh.  But the secondary was paper thin going into the season and that definitely cost us Sunday. 

 

I don't think our back-ups were TOTAL liabilities, but to think that Tre White wouldn't have made any difference seems a little shortsighted (which is what some other posters are saying). 

 

And who cares who was out on KC?  We're talking Bills D here and all I do know is one of our best defensive players was out, so that probably made some difference on our team's performance...  

[LABILLBACKER]

8 hours ago, BruceVilanch said:

The only silver lining is Dane Jackson looks like at minimum solid depth. I'm wondering what we do with Levi in the off season. And I think we win that game with Tre as CB1. 

If we play in Buffalo (thx Jags) and Tre is playing we win comfortably. I think Levi will test FA. Dane is nice depth like Taron but I'm almost 100% sure we pick CB2 in round 1. Tre probably won't be back until November. 

[BarleyNY]

1 minute ago, Heitz said:

 

I don't think our back-ups were TOTAL liabilities, but to think that Tre White wouldn't have made any difference seems a little shortsighted (which is what some other posters are saying). 

 

And who cares who was out on KC?  We're talking Bills D here and all I do know is one of our best defensive players was out, so that probably made some difference on our team's performance...  

What back ups?  Our starting 3 CBs (Wallace, Taron Johnson and Dane Jackson), our starting 2 Safeties (Poyer and Hyde) and our 2 starting LBs (Milano and Edmunds) played every defensive snap.  76 total.  We were in dime for two plays and Neal came in for a DL.  He was the only other back 7 player to see the field.  No wonder they were gassed by OT.  I didn’t say that Tre would not have made any difference.  I said we were so shallow at coverage positions that no one could take a breather.

 

Meanwhile the DL had a robust rotation with only Hughes and Oliver having over 50% of the snaps at 44 and 43, respectively.  Of the 9 DL rotating through the game I only saw Oliver make a real impact.

 

As for KC having players out, that was in response to people comparing the two defenses/teams and using Tre’s injury as an excuse.  Every team has injuries.  It’s a cop out to say “if we were totally healthy we’d have won” while ignoring the fact that the other team was more banged up than yours.  Just a horribly weak argument in general and doubly so when your team ignored depth at that position. 

[BidsJr]

IMO, after seeing how the D performed after Tre went out, I am using his money for a tippy top tier DE.

 

I think we would be better of with a better 4 man rush and no Tre, than what we have with him.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

9 hours ago, Thriftygamer83 said:

Without Tre can remember sportswriters and analysts saying we were done.  Our defensive unit was forced to rely heavily upon safety zones and man coverages to catch up.  Let's be honest Tre is a future hall of fame corner back.  And, he brought more to the corner spot then anyone else.  We weren't even supposed to be in the playoffs or even get past the wild card without Tre.  A pick by Poyer changed the complexion of the Bills and Patriots game.  We should've of had to rely so heavily on Tre but he's the bread and butter of helping the defensive front get their pressure and generating the coverage sacks.  It showed in the end when we blew out KC earlier this season and had Tre.  

 

Haven't seen us playing more man since we lost Tre

The contrary - Tre could support some man coverage, I don't think Dane Jackson is "up" to it.

[JoshAllin]

White is clearly the missing piece to defeating KC otherwise you will have coinflip games with them

[Real McClappy]

Watch closely what White does here to Kelce in our win against them this year.

 

Tell me White wouldn't of mattered or set a tone again?

 

[Mynamemike]

9 hours ago, Thriftygamer83 said:

Without Tre can remember sportswriters and analysts saying we were done.  Our defensive unit was forced to rely heavily upon safety zones and man coverages to catch up.  Let's be honest Tre is a future hall of fame corner back.  And, he brought more to the corner spot then anyone else.  We weren't even supposed to be in the playoffs or even get past the wild card without Tre.  A pick by Poyer changed the complexion of the Bills and Patriots game.  We should've of had to rely so heavily on Tre but he's the bread and butter of helping the defensive front get their pressure and generating the coverage sacks.  It showed in the end when we blew out KC earlier this season and had Tre.  

I think Tre is a really good cornerback and perfect for our system but I wouldn’t call him a future hall of famer.  I do think we win the game Sunday if he was healthy. I wouldn’t be upset to see us use our first round pick at the position to one get better but more importantly not have to rush Tre back from injury. 

[billsfan714]

No team is completely healthy in game 19.   Weak sauce excuse.

[FilthyBeast]

9 hours ago, Call_Of_Ktulu said:

Tre White can’t cover Hill anyways, nothing would’ve changed.

 

There's pretty much nobody in the league that can hence the reason Mahomes can throw to wide open guys so much between Hill and Kelce.

[starrymessenger]

9 hours ago, strive_for_five_guy said:

Love Tre and think he was definitely missed the other night.  But he’s got a long way to go before being considered Hall Of Fame level.

Agree but he’s the only true star we have on that side of the ball. 

Edited January 25, 2022 by starrymessenger

[HappyDays]

No doubt in my mind the difference between Tre White and Dane Jackson was enough to swing the Bucs game and Chiefs game. Jackson made critical errors in each that directly led to points scored, and both games were decided by one score. Without any real game changers in the front 7 the loss of our elite CB was too much to overcome.

 

Edited January 25, 2022 by HappyDays

[Patrick Duffy]

1 minute ago, HappyDays said:

No doubt in my mind the difference between Tre White and Dane Jackson was enough to swing the Bucs game and Chiefs game. Jackson made critical errors in each that directly led to points scored, and both games were decided by one score. Without any real game changers in the front 7 the loss of our elite CB was too much to overcome.

 

Agree 100%. I stated in a thread after the Pats game that this was going to be the game Tre's absence will be felt the most. Which was no secret, but still....

[Hapless Bills Fan]

On 1/25/2022 at 7:23 AM, mjfbillsfan said:

Just curious what, if any, news there is on his injury and time table to get back.  As a corner I can’t imagine he will be 100 percent next year.  

 

Good question.  McDermott addressed him and Zimmer briefly saying "on track".  But what does "on track" mean?

 

ACL injuries are said to take 9-12 months to rehab.

Tre tore his ACL on 26 November and had surgery on 15 December.

 

9 months would be mid-August.

 

Here's an article on Tre's injury from PT Dr Kyle Trimble (BangedupBills)

https://bangedupbills.com/2021/11/27/buffalo-bills-cb-tredavious-whites-acl-injury-outlook/

 

Some points of interest are that he says players who return prior to 9 months are at substantially increased risk of re-injury.

He also discusses some players who returned to play at a very high level, and concerns that some players do not.

[Buffalosouth]

While we played well without him for a chunk of the season to say he wouldn't make a difference in that game is silly imo. He locks down his side of the field and allows for more specialized coverage. He wasn't there to play the game so we won't know but I think if he is on that field we would've had a better chance of pulling it out.

[HomeskillitMoorman]

Spoiler alert: We will have injuries next season too. And the year after that. And the years after that. 
 

Every team does. 

[Pbomb]

On 1/25/2022 at 8:16 AM, Call_Of_Ktulu said:

Tre White can’t cover Hill anyways, nothing would’ve changed.

Chip kelce every chance you can and put Tre on him, double hill every play 

[Dr.Sack]

Tre was widely considered a top 3 player on our roster.

 

KC top 3 includes Hill Kelce and Mahomes.

 

Take away 1 of those guys and they would struggle. 
 

 

[T master]

But what makes Tre a great player is not only his skill but like Kelsey when he saw how the Bills were playing that formation he brought it to someones attention would Tre if being on the field have that same insight because of him being that guy on our D ?

 

Lets just say IF Tre was out there & even though that D formation was called would he be that player that said I'm not playing back if Kelsey wants this he's going to have to beat me or go through me to get it & busted him coming off the line that is something we will never know .

 

But what i am saying is that those players like a Kelsey, Mahomes, Tre, Josh are recognized in the NFL for who they are & that special almost 6th sense that they have for playing the game & although we will never know if he could have been the guy that made just 1 play like Diggs did on the 2 point play because of his extraterrestrial skills .

 

But i'm sure he was watching & even he will learn from it ! 

[Ethan in Cleveland]

White is a very good corner but he is not an elite CB. Only way he makes HOF is if he moves to safety and plays another decade.

No doubt he makes a difference in that game.

But just about any corner in the league has the sped to stay with Kelce. Had Wallace simply not given him that ridiculous cushion he would not have been so wide open.

I suspect he was coached to lone up like that. The whole defense was playing to prevent a TD not to stop them from getting precious yards.