Do we need to start blitzing more?

[EmotionallyUnstable]

2 hours ago, EmotionallyUnstable said:

I would be more inclined to think this way if they were getting home when they blitz/stunt. They don’t appear to be any more successful in rushing the QB than when they rush 4. My biggest issue up front is when they swap DE/LB roles and drop Boogie Basham or some rando into coverage. It almost never works.

 

Actually I’ve found that as of late, they’ve been really bad with these stunts. They do wreak havoc, but as we’ve seen, a calm and collect QB (even Brissett) can take advantage of their undisciplined rush when they are over aggressive up front. 

 

 

The issues on the defense are not up front IMO. The back-end has been brutal. CBs are not in position to make plays. When they are in phase, technique has been poor. I’d pay good money to know what McD and Fraiser teach these guys about playing the ball vs hands while in phase, and also what their trail technique is. We’ve seen a lot more press coverage, and they mixed in a ton of man and zone throughout the CLE game. It hasn’t helped. Guys are out of position, or in position and not making plays, or ridiculous plays are being made on O.

 

Look at the first Cooper TD. We blitz, QB heaves it home, Johnson was beat with his inside leverage and Hamlin was no help over the top. Cooper and Brissett just made a heck of a play.

 

There is no cure-all for their defensive woes. It starts by getting healthy and remaining disciplined in your rushing lanes.

 

With Elam (hopefully) back this week, I expect a ton of man

coverage vs this team, but I don’t necessarily think that means they’ll blitz or stunt more. 
 

Upon further review- 3rd & 9 with 12:29 left in the fourth. Bills rush 5 will Taron and Milano off the edge, dropping Basham into coverage. Milano gets home for the sack, as the OL is completely confused and he is unblocked 

 

So it does work at times, but is very frustrating when it doesn’t, it frustrates the hell out of me! 

[Dr.Sack]

I love blitzes like the one that led to the Milano sack. Frazier’s face of joy was priceless. 

Edited November 23, 2022 by Dr.Sack

[Einstein]

Going into the Bills/Jets game, Zach Wilson was 9 of 47 (yes, only 19%) with 3 yards per attempt, 1 TD and 5 INT for the season when pressured.

 

You would think that would tell our coaching staff to put pressure on him by any means necessary, including blitzing.

 

Instead, we played our normal defense and Wilson went 12 of 15 for 6.3 yards per attempt, 1 TD and 0 INT with a 115.3 QB rating when the Bills didn’t blitz him. 

 

Belichick, likely learning from McDermott/Frazier’s folly, blitzed Zach Wilson like a mad man. He was even sending EIGHT MAN blitzes, leaving only 3 to cover the rest of the field. That’s how important pressure is to attacking Wilson.

What happened?

 

Jets scored 3 total points and Wilson went 9 of 22.

 

 

[Billever76]

Before the jets game I saw that Bills blitz rate was 16.6% good for 28th in the NFL smh 

6 hours ago, freddyjj said:

Imagine Frazier will make this game plan specific.  Goff really struggles with pressure as completes only 45% of throws and has a 50 point lower QB rating vs pressure.  

 

Pressure him and it should pay off

Don't Hold your breath lol

[GunnerBill]

7 hours ago, EmotionallyUnstable said:

Upon further review- 3rd & 9 with 12:29 left in the fourth. Bills rush 5 will Taron and Milano off the edge, dropping Basham into coverage. Milano gets home for the sack, as the OL is completely confused and he is unblocked 

 

So it does work at times, but is very frustrating when it doesn’t, it frustrates the hell out of me! 

 

I mind it less when it is Greg they are dropping, his wingspan suddenly in space tends to make QBs hold the ball. Not sure it is quite as effective as a rule with the other ends. But was well called blitz on Sunday. 

[Repulsif]

in a word : yes

 

rushing 4 while not having a secondary who can consistently lock receivers is a recipe for a failure

[Buckets]

17 hours ago, clayboy54 said:

Sure. Let’s leave the inexperienced secondary on an island, while we’re at it.

 

It’s always a compromise. One or two well-timed blitzes is enough for me. Too much investment is DL to need to keep bringing 5-6 every down.

How about some safety blitzes since they can't cover down field anyway. 🤔

[blacklabel]

I know the numbers weren't as good but in 2020 they had to mix it up on defense like halfway thru the season. They became more aggressive, more of an attack style rather than a sit back and let it come to them style which is what they usually do. I'd like to see them be a little more aggressive at times. The front four usually can generate some pressure. They're like notorious for getting within an inch of the QB and he gets rid of it at the last possible second. So frustrating. 

 

But with being more aggressive that can leave them open for big plays and they're all about shutting down the big plays. Or trying to anyway. 

 

Edmunds not being out there is huge. He's a major part of this defense and if I'm Beane I'm finding a way to retain him. 

Edited November 23, 2022 by blacklabel

[Snappysnackcakes]

I’d expect our defense to start mixing in different, situationally appropriate blitz packages for the rest of the season - as needed. However, we’ve been slow, very slow, in recognizing screens and this will make the defensive play caller hesitant to dial-up these plays. Aside - I was surprised to see Bernard, Dodson, and Milano playing together early in the game against Cleveland, while Cleveland was deep in their own territory, too. It wasn’t many plays and they had a difficult time getting set before the snap, which is disconcerting that it happened, but likely a result of almost no real practice time together the week prior. 

[Warriorspikes51]

This should really be matchup dependent.   We should have brought lots of exotic looks against the Jets because Wilson is AWFUL under pressure.

How is Jared Goff when blitzed?  

[HoofHearted]

19 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

The complexity of this defense is on the backend. That is how they are schemed and designed. They have had to dial that back somewhat with the injuries. They are not designed to be super exotic up front. Jumping to that mid-season would be an ill advised desperation move IMO. 

Don’t even bother giving the guy a response. We run stunts/games all the time.

[HoofHearted]

15 hours ago, UConn James said:

Bills have been doing that for a very long time, through multiple GMs, coaches, owners, and even when we had Clements and Winfield. There’s always 5-10 yards of free space for WRs / TEs whenever we line up. I’ve seen other teams cover closer before the snap, but even when we would get dunked and dunked on quick outs in that gap space, we’d keep doing that. I dunno. 
 

As for the OP topic, I rarely see the blitz actually work in the McD-Frazier D. If it’s Edmunds, he just runs directly into a blocker… like he’s LOOKING to engage rather than actually get PAST them. And then the QB often hits a pass in the middle where he would have been. It really boggles the mind. There are times in the past two years where we literally blitzed 8 guys and still got stood up by the opponent’s OL and a chip from a RB. Granted our DLine last year and before was 🐕💩, but one might think 8 blitzers could get home, but they wouldn’t. ESPECIALLY when it was against Ratrick kittyfoot Mahomes

There’s no such thing as an 8 man pressure. It’s not schematically sound in any defense.

[GunnerBill]

3 hours ago, HoofHearted said:

Don’t even bother giving the guy a response. We run stunts/games all the time.

 

I know. It comes down to some people just want blitzes. It is normally people whose knowledge of football schemes comes largely from Madden. 

[FilthyBeast]

On 11/22/2022 at 8:55 AM, Toledo Bill said:

If Groot is out and Espenesa (who looks like a bust) is out and Basham is not impressing on pass rushing should we revise our strategy regarding blitzing?Our tackles have not been generating a lot of pressure and Miller is constantly doubled.

That was a great blitz last week with Milano coming on the outside of Miller. 
I am concerned that Detroits offense will kill us with a lack of pass rush and the way our corners are playing. Looking for opinions.

 

I'm all for more strategic blitzing especially on 3rd and long plays where the pass rush with just the front four never seems to get home when they need to and why all these absurd highlight reel plays against this defense keep happening.

 

And if White ever comes back maybe we'll see more of it but not going to hold my breath with this coaching staff.

[Alphadawg7]

On 11/22/2022 at 10:13 AM, nemhoff said:

definitely needed more pressure against the Vikings

Definitely needed Edmunds that second half.  D was doing fine until Edmunds didn’t return in 2nd half.  

[Alphadawg7]

37 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

I know. It comes down to some people just want blitzes. It is normally people whose knowledge of football schemes comes largely from Madden. 

Facts right there bud, good post.
 

One more thing I know is people are grossly under estimating the impact not having Edmunds the last 6 quarters has on our pass defense, not to mention our injured secondary and one of our best pass rushers in Groot.  
 

What so many people here forget or just flat out don’t know/understand is that the pass rush up front is greatly impacted by the quality of coverage.  Unless they get a free release, the pass rush needs time to get home on the QB, and that comes when the pass defense, (something Edmunds has a big impact on as well) takes away reads and makes a QB start having to go through progressions. 
 

This is one the reasons we blitzed more this past week than normal, we were missing Edmunds with a depleted secondary, along with Groot who had 6 sacks before getting hurt a couple weeks ago.  Credit Frazier with making adjustments to get more pressure when we were short handed.  

[GunnerBill]

4 minutes ago, Alphadawg7 said:

Definitely needed Edmunds that second half.  D was doing fine until Edmunds didn’t return in 2nd half.  

 

Yea and it was the cumulative no Edmunds, no Hyde, no Poyer too. Suddenly the three guys that normally patrol the middle of the field for you are ALL gone. If the Bills are down their entire starting secondary and their MLB and they hold a 7-1 (at the time) football team to 23 points and make a clutch stop at the 1 yard line and all your offense needs to do is execute one snap to win the game..... I frankly don't care how many plays they have given up earlier on. That is about as much as you can hope for. 

 

The loss was on the offense. 

[LABILLBACKER]

12 hours ago, FilthyBeast said:

 

I'm all for more strategic blitzing especially on 3rd and long plays where the pass rush with just the front four never seems to get home when they need to and why all these absurd highlight reel plays against this defense keep happening.

 

And if White ever comes back maybe we'll see more of it but not going to hold my breath with this coaching staff.

After 10 games were 24th @ 17.9% rate.  I think because of the high rate of 3rd & longs we've given up lately and with Groot out we have no choice. We have to bump it up to 25%. If Micah, Poyer and Tre were all available we could have the luxury of less blitzes. And honestly the only true blitzers on our D are Milano and Poyer. 

Edited November 24, 2022 by LABILLBACKER