Bills pass D with 2+ score leads in the 2nd half has been atrocious lately. What gives?

[Big Turk]

We used to LOVE when teams had to drop back and pass, it was rare they got to 200 yards passing in a game...now we are seeing 300+ games against us with regularity. It's concerning...more so because the Bills seemingly offer no resistance whatsoever on D for much of the time. The pass rush is dangerously close to going back to the "lots of pressure but no sacks" defense we had with Hughes here. The DLine was ALL OVER Brissett yesterday but only brought him down for a sack once on a blitz by Milano. Is the pass rush not staying in their rush lanes which offers easy escape routes?  Is the D playing too soft thinking the QB won't have time to get the ball deep due to the pressure?

 

I'm not sure what has happened but the turning point was the Steeler game...although we easily won, Pickett had 300+ yards passing. Since that point it's been like a giant sh**show on D when we are up big...players running wide open, easy drives for TDs against us...not sure what the answer is, but it needs to change back to the way we were in the beginning of the year.

[WyoAZBillfan]

Lack of our all pro safeties in too many games. 🤷🏼‍♂️ Other than that…I’ve never ever been a fan of prevent style defenses, which we seen to revert to. 

Edited November 22, 2022 by WyoAZBillfan

[H2o]

The last two 2nd halves have both been without Tremaine Edmunds. For as much crap as I, and everyone else, have given the guy, the stats don't lie. This defense is better with him on the field. 

[Fallser]

Injuries and for some reason we just LOVE prevent defense. 

[Saint Doug]

Tre’davious White’s money pile. 

[uninja]

It’s almost like when our all pro corner, all pro safeties and one or both of our probowl linebackers don’t play it’s a lot easier to pass the ball on us 🤔 

 

Bills have fielded a second string, sometimes 3rd string secondary for large parts of season this year. 

[Big Turk]

3 minutes ago, uninja said:

It’s almost like when our all pro corner, all pro safeties and one or both of our probowl linebackers don’t play it’s a lot easier to pass the ball on us 🤔 

 

Bills have fielded a second string, sometimes 3rd string secondary for large parts of season this year. 

 

I know that's part of the issue but even against the Fins they barely gave up 200 yard passing, and that was due to the one deep shot they hit mid 4th quarter.

4 minutes ago, uninja said:

It’s almost like when our all pro corner, all pro safeties and one or both of our probowl linebackers don’t play it’s a lot easier to pass the ball on us 🤔 

 

Bills have fielded a second string, sometimes 3rd string secondary for large parts of season this year. 

 

It's a recent issue...the Bills to begin the season and going back to last year when White was out actually gave up LESS yards to teams than they did with him...

[RiotAct]

Brissett is a baller.  Not only did he escape the rush like a magician, he was very good at finding the safety valve throw most of the time.  Give him a lot of credit.

[NickelCity]

1 minute ago, RiotAct said:

Brissett is a baller.  Not only did he escape the rush like a magician, he was very good at finding the safety valve throw most of the time.  Give him a lot of credit.

 

Honestly he was quite good and made a lot of really nice throws. 

[Big Turk]

3 minutes ago, RiotAct said:

Brissett is a baller.  Not only did he escape the rush like a magician, he was very good at finding the safety valve throw most of the time.  Give him a lot of credit.

 

Only game he had over 300 yards passing and 3 TDs this year was against the Bills...

 

He had 212 against the Fins last week and 266 against the Pats, although he was 21 of 45 with a completion percentage of under 50%.

 

not used to seeing the Bills struggle like this in pass D.

 

He played well but we made him look better than he was.

Edited November 21, 2022 by Big Turk

[Roundybout]

2 hours ago, NickelCity said:

 

Honestly he was quite good and made a lot of really nice throws. 

He ain’t a bad QB. High-end backup, low-end starter. Better than Zach Wilson. I see why the Browns had high hope he could hold down the fort until Captain Sexual Assault shows up. 

Edited November 21, 2022 by Roundybout

[OldTimer1960]

4 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

 

I know that's part of the issue but even against the Fins they barely gave up 200 yard passing, and that was due to the one deep shot they hit mid 4th quarter.

 

It's a recent issue...the Bills to begin the season and going back to last year when White was out actually gave up LESS yards to teams than they did with him...

They miss Hyde and Poyer has been out and played, probably less than 100% yesterday.  In addition, Tre White hasn't played and first round pick Kaiir Elam has been out with injury as well.  Before that, Benford was out.  Right there, that is enough to explain it, but as another poster said, Edmunds has been out and his length really disrupts passing games in middle of the field.  Milano played yesterday, but has been out, too.  

 

Finally, don't underestimate the impact of Greg Rousseau being out injured.  He isn't a dynamic pass rusher, but he is capable, his height disrupts passing attacks and he is a very good run defender.  I will admit that Shaq Lawson has filled in well.

 

From the list of injuries, it is surprising that the defense has held up at all.

 

[GoBills808]

injuries

[FilthyBeast]

People will claim injuries, but the reality is this is what a true 'bend but don't break' defense has always looked like and why I have always loathed this type of scheme vs a traditional 4-3 or 3-4 defense behind a creative defensive coordinator.

 

And quite honestly yesterdays game looked a lot like Bills games of years past under this regime where the final score should have never been as close as it was if not for the defense and scheme.

 

This is why I have a hard time believing this team is truly a SB contender because not much is going to change even when they get some of these other injured players back at some point.

[GoBills808]

literally missing half the starting defensive lineup yesterday

[RiotAct]

13 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

 

Only game he had over 300 yards passing and 3 TDs this year was against the Bills...

 

He had 212 against the Fins last week and 266 against the Pats, although he was 21 of 45 with a completion percentage of under 50%.

 

not used to seeing the Bills struggle like this in pass D.

 

He played well but we made him look better than he was.

May be, but if you would have told me that our (depleted) defense would hold Chubb to 19 yards on 14 carries, I would have taken that all day.

 

Obviously we need Elam and White back in there to have any realistic shot of going deep in the playoffs again.

[thenorthremembers]

Not hard to answer missing lots of players on the back end.   

[Cheektowaga Chad]

My opinion is: Our defensive backs aren't very good but are generally in the right position

 

Just takes a team a half to test them, and when they do they find it quite easy 

[Lost]

1 hour ago, Big Turk said:

We used to LOVE when teams had to drop back and pass, it was rare they got to 200 yards passing in a game...now we are seeing 300+ games against us with regularity. It's concerning...more so because the Bills seemingly offer no resistance whatsoever on D for much of the time. The pass rush is dangerously close to going back to the "lots of pressure but no sacks" defense we had with Hughes here. The DLine was ALL OVER Brissett yesterday but only brought him down for a sack once on a blitz by Milano. Is the pass rush not staying in their rush lanes which offers easy escape routes?  Is the D playing too soft thinking the QB won't have time to get the ball deep due to the pressure?

 

I'm not sure what has happened but the turning point was the Steeler game...although we easily won, Pickett had 300+ yards passing. Since that point it's been like a giant sh**show on D when we are up big...players running wide open, easy drives for TDs against us...not sure what the answer is, but it needs to change back to the way we were in the beginning of the year.

 

The D-Line had tons of pressure on Sunday.  Having starting safeties LB and corners would probably provide that extra second of coverage needed for the D-Line to get home.  Also Brissett just played a good game.   

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

1 minute ago, Cheektowaga Chad said:

My opinion is: Our defensive backs aren't very good but are generally in the right position

 

Just takes a team a half to test them, and when they do they find it quite easy 

 

Well we played a bit more man, blitzed some more in this one.  They're definitely experimenting because of the issues.  

 

The pass rush didn't have a good game in this one either.