Frazier & McD's defensive strategies a potential postseason liability

[Joe Ferguson]

McDermott and Frazier are the reason the Bills lost playoff games the last two years. As long as these two are on the sidelines, the Bills will be perennial playoff losers.

I'm hoping to God Josh Allen will be able to beat the opposing playoff teams, refs and these two Bills coaches to finally get the Lombardi trophy.

Edited December 19, 2022 by Joe Ferguson

[Buffalo_Stampede]

34 minutes ago, Brianmoorman4jesus said:

I’d rather not have the offense use motion and shifting to create a situation where Taron Johnson becomes the MLB and an olineman is blowing him up on the 2nd level for gash runs. If Miami never stopped running on their own we would have lost that game last night 

Miami had the perfect game plan and beat themselves. I don’t understand coaches sometimes. The Bills definitely weren’t ready for that matchup by Miami. Each game is about different matchups. I don’t think the Bills will get caught like that again. They’ll make some adjustments. Most likely having Johnson shoot the gap instead of take on a blocker.

[Buffalo_Stampede]

32 minutes ago, balln said:

for sure. Im screaming at the TV after the very first drive. ADJUST leslie. cuz i knew this wasnt gonna work. its not just personal its alignment. they need to get 5 guys on the Line / get LBs up. 

 

its this whole "dare team" to run concept - KC game at buff. thats fine if they dont beat you over the top or have big pass plays. but whoof. waddle and cheetah roasted them for tds. 

It’s not that simple because the failure happened in the game planning. They obviously felt defending the short to intermediate middle of the field passing game was more important than stopping the run game. Bills LBs and Johnson played very passive vs the run all game. 
 

Waddle TD was also a result of worrying about that intermediate passing game. Bills defensive coaches didn’t have the defense prepared. Simple as that. It happens sometimes. Luckily we had Josh Allen.

[balln]

3 minutes ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

It’s not that simple because the failure happened in the game planning. They obviously felt defending the short to intermediate middle of the field passing game was more important than stopping the run game. Bills LBs and Johnson played very passive vs the run all game. 
 

Waddle TD was also a result of worrying about that intermediate passing game. Bills defensive coaches didn’t have the defense prepared. Simple as that. It happens sometimes. Luckily we had Josh Allen.

but they did the same thing against the first jets game, the colts game last year....there are many other examples

[Toyo321]

We will see how well Frazier makes adjustments for the Chicago game.  Are they going to spy Fields all game long,  like teams have been doing to Josh.

I would bet Frazier is just going to roll the dice again with zero adjustments.

 

Fields as of late has been a Lamar Jackson 2.0

 

Frazier does not instill any confidence for adaptability for this upcoming game.

Edited December 19, 2022 by Toyo321

[RocCityRoller]

38 minutes ago, Brianmoorman4jesus said:

I’d rather not have the offense use motion and shifting to create a situation where Taron Johnson becomes the MLB and an olineman is blowing him up on the 2nd level for gash runs. If Miami never stopped running on their own we would have lost that game last night 

 From your lips to God's ears. I usually don't agree with you, but how can a Bills fan not see this?

 

The defensive scheme is based on the Bills having some mythical double digit lead in each game. May not be the best scheme for a pair of 30+year old safeties and a small nickel back to be playing defacto LB in a one score game early on.

 

Poyer, Johnson and Hyde have had 3 years of absolute abuse. Poyer is playing through ridiculous pain and injuries. I don't know how Johnson has held up, Hyde is on IR. How many times are these guys fighting off blocks, being the first to tackle etc?

[balln]

its not game to game adjustments, its a multi season D philosophy. they should be high pressure / attack / heavy blitz / man to man. bc they have JA and this offense

[Buffalo_Stampede]

17 minutes ago, balln said:

but they did the same thing against the first jets game, the colts game last year....there are many other examples

Somewhat. I’ve not seen Taron Johnson literally taking on FBs and OL like a MIke LB before.

[Bubba Gump]

2 hours ago, balln said:

issue with tackling is just inferior athletes. the bills coaches / specifically D is who they draft / sign to run the D they want. basham and AJE are just not everydown DE in the NFL. i dont even know what basham is. Hes too slow to be a DE and hes not big or stout enough to be a DT. horrible pick. 

 

just need to draft BPA it really is that simple. How we have not  drafted ANY guards or C since wyat teller (cody ford was drafted to be RT folks). Thats 3 positions. in what 4 -5 years ? just wyatt teller! thats crazy

 

Basham is just lazy, you can see it even when he's on the sidelines. But he loves that paycheck. He should be cut immediately.

[ganesh]

3 hours ago, Buffalo Junction said:

Those teams basically adapted Frazier’s week 3 gameplan to their personnel. The big differences for the 49ers was they had Bosa while Von was out for us, and they tackled well. The fish also changed up a bit and attacked the perimeter more this game. Unfortunately our guys lost a lot of one on ones and missed out on a few turnover opportunities. 
 

I am kind of curious if they made a poor equipment choice with regards to cleats for the first half as the line play of O & D improved once the snow started falling. 

We are continuing to miss Epenesa and Basham...  Epenesa had a great game last week against the Jets, but has been invisible for most of the season. 

 

Our current best player on the front-seven is Shaq Lawson and that is saying something!

[Buffalo Junction]

7 minutes ago, ganesh said:

We are continuing to miss Epenesa and Basham...  Epenesa had a great game last week against the Jets, but has been invisible for most of the season. 

 

Our current best player on the front-seven is Shaq Lawson and that is saying something!

I’d say Jones, Rousseau, or Milano, but the rest leave a lot of room for improvement. Particularly since Jones and Rousseau aren’t exactly game wreckers, and we need one of those at each level to really reap defensive success. 

[GunnerBill]

6 hours ago, In Summary said:

Additionally, McDermott isn't powerless to influence the defense either in-game or in general scheme/philosophy. I can't dump on Frazier other that to say it was a bad night for run D. We'll never know, but hopefully there was some kind of old school ass chewing at halftime. 

 

Oh yea the idea that we move on from Leslie and hire someone who is going to run a super aggressive, blitz heavy D (which is what the Frazier detractors want) is for the birds. McDermott would not change his ethos. 

[HappyDays]

13 hours ago, Gene1973 said:

49ers and Chargers showed how to stop the Dolphins offense. But nope. Frasier sticks with nickel. Either he's stupid or stubborn.

 

The 49ers didn't stop the Dolphins. Tua just played an awful game. He missed a ton of wide open WRs including a couple that would have gone for TDs. Tua has played most of the year like he did on Saturday, a limited style of QB play but good enough to get the ball into the hands of one of his elite weapons in space. The Shanahan scheme IMO is the best in football, very hard for even elite defenses to stop when the right personnel is in the system. My biggest disappointment was not our scheme, it was missed tackles and underwhelming pass rush. Hamlin is a disaster and our DL without Von Miller doesn't have a ton of juice. I think Oliver might still be feeling the effects of his pec injury too, he was invisible all night. Only so much the coaches can do. On defense more than ever now it's about the players more than the coaches. For offense a little more responsibility falls on the coaching IMO.

[GunnerBill]

7 hours ago, Brianmoorman4jesus said:

I have been very vocal about my displeasure with Fraizer. I feel like our talent on defense far exceeds our performance. I can’t stand the way Fraizer calls a defense and I hope that he gets a HC job. The constant refusal to come out of nickel regardless of situation is as frustrating as it is dumb. The fact that our LBs can run and cover as a strength is even more of a reason to play a 3rd LB. Of all the teams in the NFL that can cover a guy without a NB, we are at the top. That stubbornness is why we can’t stop the run and that’s why physical teams make us pay. The Bears are going to pound the ball down our throats. This is not the time to mess around. The Bills better put Klein on the field and take our chances with a conventional base defense. We should be able to beat the Bears but if you let them run it on you, they can steal one.

 

Arguably true in previous years. Not at all true this year. 

[Buffalo_Stampede]

7 hours ago, Toyo321 said:

We will see how well Frazier makes adjustments for the Chicago game.  Are they going to spy Fields all game long,  like teams have been doing to Josh.

I would bet Frazier is just going to roll the dice again with zero adjustments.

 

Fields as of late has been a Lamar Jackson 2.0

 

Frazier does not instill any confidence for adaptability for this upcoming game.

The one thing the Bills have done is stop Lamar Jackson. Such a strange post. Also Frazier calls plays but this defense runs through McDermott. Whatever we do out there it starts with McDermott.

 

I think Fields will be tough to slow down on the ground but they’ve done it before vs running QBs.

[GreggTX]

By mistakes, I assume you mean injuries.

 

[BearNorth]

Eagles' Hassan Reddick on NFLN says that Eagles defense is based on stopping the run, everything else comes from that.  McD and Frazier - are you listening?

[djp14150]

18 hours ago, Toyo321 said:

It's great to be 11-3 and honestly if it were not for some really bad defensive mistakes this year,  we surely would be 12-2 or 13-1 at this point.

 

I said this last year and now it is a concern.  I believe that Frazier's and McD's reluctance to go away from the nickel D and zone coverage, and their adaptability is going to hurt us this year in the playoffs.

 

1) Our D-Line got annihilated last night by Miami.  And it's not the only time this year it's happened too.

2) Milano had a horrible game.  Not being able to contain to the outside on run plays killed us in this game.

3) The poor LB and DB tackling has become a major issue.

3) Lack of talk on the field, safeties and the LB's cost us with opposition putting points on the board again last night on big passing plays.

4) The D has not looked good on too many occasions, like last night, and this has happened numerous times this season.

 

Teams that have lit us up this year passing against our D, 300+ yards.     Vikes, Browns, Pitt, KC

Teams that have lit us up this year rushing against our D, 100+ yards       Ravens, Packers, Jets, Vikes, Phins

 

Frazier has lost his edge when it comes to preparing and executing game plans against other teams this year.

This team is so set on this Nickel scheme that I don't believe this year our D will be able to be relied upon in the postseason, especially without Von & Micah.

 

Plus I see Dorsey as a real handicap this year going into the postseason. 

That even makes the D's performance more important this year, than last year. 

Our D needs to evolve as we go to the playoffs this year.  If not we are screwed.

We are only going to go as far as our D is going to take us this year. 

JA17 is a like having Ace in the hole when playing poker.  But your Ace is not always going to be there for every game.  Especially in the postseason.

 

I hope I am wrong,  but if we play D as inconsistently as we did last night we are in trouble.

 

Like I said in another post, the upcoming Cincinnati game is going to be a real test where we stack up this year going into the postseason.

 

We will see after the Cinci game where we truly are.

 

you need to separate out garbage time stats when buffalo is playing soft prevent D.

 

look at the stats outside of a big play due to a bad tackle or missed assignment. Those have occurred.

 

our losses had to do with turnovers….

 

against jets and fins we turned the ball over inside our own 25. Minnesota we had the muffed snap TD. Against Minnesota and jets we turned it over when threatened to score score.

[biggerdaddynj]

Watching these soft Frazier defenses who also can’t tackle makes me miss the 4-3s with Pettine and Schwartz.  Statistically ranked high and I recall most people at TBD liked what they accomplished.

 

And, like a lot of others at TBD have said well before me, I’d like to see how Edmunds plays in a 4-3, too bad we might have to watch him wreak havoc playing in a more skillset friendly scheme on another team next year with the salary he’ll get.

[Cray51]

The lack of tackling was obvious last night - I do wonder if the cold had anything to do with it.

 

With that being said, Frazier's defense is strong when executed correctly.  Look at Miami's two big plays yesterday: 

1) Mostert breaks 4-5 tackles to turn a 4 yard gain to 60+

2) Clear miscoverage by the secondary on Waddle's touchdown.  The secondary was talking to one another, so they knew the coverage needed, but simply didnt execute.

 

Those two plays are 130 yards for the Dolphins.

 

The team NEEDS to execute better