Defense vs Green Bay and their performance

[uninja]

Classic bend/don’t break. Let ‘em chew up time, get yards but deny them points or force them to settle for FGs. 
 

Also think GB was trying to run us out of the nickel D but we refused to budge because it was doing exactly what the Bills wanted.

[Einstein]

Just took a gander at the Chiefs forum.

 

They're convinced that the Packers defense  found out how to stop Allen & Co and they’re going to copy it in the playoffs

[Amarillo Bills Fan]

Milano and Phillips were our top defensive players last night.  Milano was all over the field making tackles.

 

I especially liked when Phillips laid a hit on an rb.  It's like the rb hit a concrete wall.

[The Firebaugh Kid]

Call me crazy but after the first half it seemed like they really weren’t offering up much effort. It honestly seems like the whole team was screwing around a little bit in the second half and I think that nonsense with Alexander got to them.

[Big Turk]

Analytically speaking:

 

 

[Jauronimo]

Just now, Einstein said:

Just took a gander at the Chiefs forum.

 

They're convinced that the Packers defense  found out how to stop Allen & Co and they’re going to copy it in the playoffs

Giving up 24 points in the first half and losing by two scores is a hell of a blue print.  I hope they try it.

[The Frankish Reich]

1 minute ago, Amarillo Bills Fan said:

Milano and Phillips were our top defensive players last night.  Milano was all over the field making tackles.

 

I especially liked when Phillips laid a hit on an rb.  It's like the rb hit a concrete wall.

330 pounds of shoulder stopping him dead. 

[Einstein]

1 minute ago, Jauronimo said:

Giving up 24 points in the first half and losing by two scores is a hell of a blue print.  I hope they try it.

 

Exactly.

[Big Turk]

1 minute ago, The Frankish Reich said:

330 pounds of shoulder stopping him dead. 

 

He did that downfield to one of their TE's and I thought he may have concussed him...dude came off the field and seemed hurt after the play.

[BillyBilliams]

3 minutes ago, Einstein said:

Just took a gander at the Chiefs forum.

 

They're convinced that the Packers defense  found out how to stop Allen & Co and they’re going to copy it in the playoffs

 

Because Kansas City is a rushing juggernaut that we need to watch out for.  Nothing says we're scared like CEH just pounding us.

[SectionC3]

25 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

There was definitely an element of letting the Packers kill their own time too. I said it at Half Time in the GDT. They were 17 down and their scoring drive took 8 and a half minutes. Was going to be hard at that rate for them to close the gap. 

 

I think the Bills were fine with them being run heavy but they will have wanted to be better in terms of their run defense. They didn't need to go to more 3 linebacker sets or a bigger personnel grouping or bring a safety up. The tacklers just needed to make the plays that were there ti be made at and around the line.

 

Agreed.  There was a rope a dope element to last night, too.  I think we traded field goals to start the second half, at the expense of about 10 minutes of clock.  Sitting (standing) in the stadium I figured they either hate their receivers, were terrified of Allen, or were gambling that eventually Jones would get loose and bust a long one.  (A different opponent might have made me question whether the stuff is out to lunch, but LaFleur is no dummy.)

17 minutes ago, bigK14094 said:

There was a lot of poor tackleing for sure.  Edmunds was knocked downfield 5 yards a number of times.  He wraps the runners up, but he doesn't deliver the blow to stop them.  Thats the wrap I see on him.

I don’t think Edmunds was great last night, but that was big boy football and he was part of a lot of collisions.  That kind of violence does not lend itself to a perfect game. 

[blacklabel]

They seemed fine to give up yards and then tighten up near their own end. That ol' bend but don't break. They also prefer having Taron Johnson out there over Tyrel Dodson. I said it in another thread but Taron is the most experienced secondary player aside from Poyer so that's probably one of several factors as to why they stuck with nickel all night. 

 

GB and Aaron Jones are also pretty good at running the ball. They probably wanted to take a deep shot off play action after so many handoffs but it looked like the Bills never really fully stacked the box to give them that type of chance. Guarding against the big play is basically the hallmark of McDermott's defense. 

 

I hope Poyer is alright but he's also super beat up this season. Feels like one more solid hit could send him to IR for the year. I see a lot of folks saying Beane should send a late rounder to Atlanta to get Dean Marlowe back, sounds good to me. Even if Poyer is good I'd think an insurance policy of some sort would be good. I wonder if they'd consider trying Xavier Rhodes there or something? Probably not, I'm just spitballin'. 

[GunnerBill]

30 minutes ago, Einstein said:

 

I get this point, but I have a hard time thinking McD and Frazier were actually content with letting them rip off 5 to 10 yard runs every play.

 

I assume they’d rather let the offense have the 7 minute drives than the defense.

 

Yea I agree. I think the 7 yards a carry or whatever it was will have been a disappointment to the coaches. 

[The Frankish Reich]

1 minute ago, Big Turk said:

 

He did that downfield to one of their TE's and I thought he may have concussed him...dude came off the field and seemed hurt after the play.

He’s playing like a man possessed. 
A. He’s happy being back, and Frazier knows how to use him and surround him with talent. 

B. He’s finally healthy again this year (not counting the brief hammy lay off)

C. He’s a big man playing for his last (final?) contract and that made him get in shape and stay motivated. 
D. All of the above. 

[3rdnlng]

Thank you GB for running your 10 minute offense down by 17 points in the 2nd half. 

[NoSaint]

2 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Yea I agree. I think the 7 yards a carry or whatever it was will have been a disappointment to the coaches. 

it’s never the goal to allow 7 per carry 

 

but when missing 3 elite players in the secondary, and protecting a 3 score lead, I’m sure they weren’t losing too much sleep about it. You keep the safeties back protecting the big play and if you give up a couple 10 yard runs so be it. 

[CSBill]

Simple answer: They were outnumbering us in the box, and we were fine with that as it allowed them to be slow and methodical, and we kept everything in front of us. Minus the long TD in the 4th Quarter.

 

 

Edited October 31, 2022 by CSBill

[Ethan in Cleveland]

47 minutes ago, Einstein said:

Has anyone watched the game again yet? Curious to hear what you noticed on second watch (or even first watch) about the defense. 
 

Perhaps i’m a bit spoiled but we are not used to seeing this elite defense give up over 200 yards rushing and over 6 yards per play this season. Green Bay also won Time of Possession by 7 minutes. 

 

Did Green Bay exploit a weakness in our defense or was it something else? This year, we typically stop the run even in nickel.

 

Go Bills!

 

.

Getting gashed on the ground in a game or two happens almost every year to this McD defense. Its really hard to explain.

Go back to year 1 and the Saints, last year against the Colts and Patriots, and now this game. 

He usually gets things corrected and they have had some great rush defense games too.

[colin]

as bad as the run d looked, given the score, time left, and where the ball was on the pitch, the D did well enough all considered.

 

once again, i think the issue w the team is the sloppiness w the ball on O.

 

if we stay healthy and get that sorted, this is going down as an all time team.

[Big Turk]

19 minutes ago, Jauronimo said:

Giving up 24 points in the first half and losing by two scores is a hell of a blue print.  I hope they try it.

 

Maybe they saw how giving up a big lead worked for the Bengals in the AFCCG and want to try their luck at it...