How good is the Bills new starting defense?

[GoBills808]

Should still be good enough for a SB run 

 

Might be forced into playing the kind of defense that does better in the postseason than we've seen in the past tbh

 

 

[EmotionallyUnstable]

I think one of the biggest changes will be how McD adjusts schematically from a philosophical stand point. 
 

With the injuries mounting, does he pull back a bit and play things safer, or instead lean into it and step things up a knotch.

 

I have no idea what his answer will be. I don’t have any ideas what the right answer WILL be (regardless of if he chooses to do that or not). 
 

White, Jones, Milano losses hurt a ton. But football is played with 11 guys. And the players stepping in aren’t peewee level. It’ll be up to McD to craft a plan to cover any significant deficiencies they perceive and cover them up how they see fit. This might come at an expense in numerous ways. Although I do think McD is up to the task.

 

I still see this D as a top 10 unit, which should be fine enough to win most games. 

[hondo in seattle]

McD's coaching gets the D to perform at a high level.  It's a case of the sum being greater than its parts.

But the parts do matter.  Every team has jags.  A defense rises above average largely due to the quantity and quality of its star defenders. 

 

Hyde and Poyer were among our stars but I'm beginning to worry Father Time is catching up to them.

 

Von is a star when he's healthy.

 

Tre was a star.  Not sure if he had yet returned to stardom but maybe he would have if he hadn't torn his Achilles.  

 

And Milano was the brightest star on the D.

 

Losing two stars (maybe 1.5) is huge.  But we still have Von, some slightly faded stars, and maybe one or two up-and-comers.  And McD has a talent for getting this D to play well together.  It'll still be a solid D - top 5 or 10.  

[Eastport bills]

24 minutes ago, BillsUberAlles said:

 

I'm just happy professional athletes don't have the mental toughness of the posters on this board who fold like a cheap tent the second any type of adversity strikes. 

 

Makes me shudder to think what must happen in their personal life when they burn toast...must ruin their whole year and force them to go see their therapist for hours of intensive counseling to help them thru the trauma.

Before psychoanalyzing the mentally challenged posters, you might want to look in the mirror. You’re the guy who accepts mediocrity using the excuse “if we didn’t get injuries to 3 of our best defenders we could have won it all.Next season will be different.” We have not gone to the conference championship in the Josh era. The Chiefs got their best wideout for their SB run(Toney) for the 100th and 108th pick in the 2023 draft. Von Miller became the biggest reason the Rams won the SB for a 2nd rd and late rd pick. Even McCaffrey is worth all the picks because he is the piece SF needs to win it all. But thankfully we have eternal optimists, accepting bad outcomes because the team makes the playoffs every year. Small market mentality, limited expectations. The NFL depends on loyal fans like you to keep watching, buying merchandise and not caring if a team ever wins is ring. Don’t complain, it’s just entertainment.

[BillsUberAlles]

1 minute ago, Eastport bills said:

Before psychoanalyzing the mentally challenged posters, you might want to look in the mirror. You’re the guy who accepts mediocrity using the excuse “if we didn’t get injuries to 3 of our best defenders we could have won it all.Next season will be different.” We have not gone to the conference championship in the Josh era. The Chiefs got their best wideout for their SB run(Toney) for the 100th and 108th pick in the 2023 draft. Von Miller became the biggest reason the Rams won the SB for a 2nd rd and late rd pick. Even McCaffrey is worth all the picks because he is the piece SF needs to win it all. But thankfully we have eternal optimists, accepting bad outcomes because the team makes the playoffs every year. Small market mentality, limited expectations. The NFL depends on loyal fans like you to keep watching, buying merchandise and not caring if a team ever wins is ring. Don’t complain, it’s just entertainment.

 

I am not using that as an excuse at all, I am saying the injuries on D will not be the reason why they don't win if they don't. The D will be plenty good enough.

 

Perhaps you should actually read the entire thread to see my previous posts before making up bedtime stories.

Edited October 15, 2023 by BillsUberAlles

[Royale with Cheese]

2 hours ago, newcam2012 said:

When was the last time this Bills defense stepped up in the playoffs? 

 

Maybe NE with a poor Jones QB, Balt with a one dimensional Lamar at QB, or a third string Miami QB? 

 

The road to the SB likely goes through Cinci and or KC. Its hard to have confidence in the Bills D vs them. 

Man, you will make sure you will find the negative.

 

The year our defense stopped the Ravens, they were 7th in the league in scoring.  In their last 5 games, they scored 37, 47, 40, 27 and 38 points. 
Clearly, Lamar Jackson being one dimensional means they couldn’t score.

 

In 2021, New England was 6th in the NFL in scoring.  They were only .4 points less per game than the Rams who won the Super Bowl.  So clearly, the Pats couldn’t score that year either.

[Ya Digg?]

15 minutes ago, Eastport bills said:

Before psychoanalyzing the mentally challenged posters, you might want to look in the mirror. You’re the guy who accepts mediocrity using the excuse “if we didn’t get injuries to 3 of our best defenders we could have won it all.Next season will be different.” We have not gone to the conference championship in the Josh era. The Chiefs got their best wideout for their SB run(Toney) for the 100th and 108th pick in the 2023 draft. Von Miller became the biggest reason the Rams won the SB for a 2nd rd and late rd pick. Even McCaffrey is worth all the picks because he is the piece SF needs to win it all. But thankfully we have eternal optimists, accepting bad outcomes because the team makes the playoffs every year. Small market mentality, limited expectations. The NFL depends on loyal fans like you to keep watching, buying merchandise and not caring if a team ever wins is ring. Don’t complain, it’s just entertainment.

You should probably fact check your third sentence 

[SCBills]

9 hours ago, Billl said:

If Von is back close to what he was before, the front 4 is very good.  The LBs are okay, and the secondary is bad.  It’s serviceable overall, but the offense is going to have to be consistently elite if this team is going anywhere.

The secondary is not bad.  
 

-Benford, Jackson and Hyde are all solid.

 

-Johnson a top tier nickel corner.

 

-Poyer has been the weak link of those five. 

 

 

[Eastport bills]

1 minute ago, BillsUberAlles said:

 

I am not using that as an excuse at all, I am saying the injuries on D will not be the reason why they don't win if they don't. The D will be plenty good enough.

 

Perhaps you should actually read the entire thread to see my previous posts before making up bedtime stories.

“The D will be plenty good enough “ because they had Elam let Ridley run free and convert every 3rd down in the second half.of the Jags game. How will our corners do against Cinn.receivers or Philly’s, or Miami’s? Now we don’t have our best underneath defender(Milano) and our defense will be plenty good enough. To beat the G-Men, NE and Denver, sure. This team is not good enough to withstand the loss of White, Milano and Jones. I don’t scour the board to research your previous posts, I respond to the insulting response to my post.  You don’t even know what our new D looks like, they haven’t played yet.

[BillsUberAlles]

5 minutes ago, Eastport bills said:

“The D will be plenty good enough “ because they had Elam let Ridley run free and convert every 3rd down in the second half.of the Jags game. How will our corners do against Cinn.receivers or Philly’s, or Miami’s? Now we don’t have our best underneath defender(Milano) and our defense will be plenty good enough. To beat the G-Men, NE and Denver, sure. This team is not good enough to withstand the loss of White, Milano and Jones. I don’t scour the board to research your previous posts, I respond to the insulting response to my post.  You don’t even know what our new D looks like, they haven’t played yet.

 

They'll be perfectly fine just like they were last year with tons of injuries.

 

McDermott's D is premised on scheme being more important than the individual players in it. It's why they typically don't miss a beat.

Edited October 15, 2023 by BillsUberAlles

[Eastport bills]

12 minutes ago, Ya Digg? said:

You should probably fact check your third sentence 

What are you referring to?

[Ya Digg?]

Just now, Eastport bills said:

What are you referring to?

You said the Bills haven’t gone to the conference championship in Josh’s time, that’s not true 

[Success]

11 minutes ago, Eastport bills said:

“The D will be plenty good enough “ because they had Elam let Ridley run free and convert every 3rd down in the second half.of the Jags game. How will our corners do against Cinn.receivers or Philly’s, or Miami’s? Now we don’t have our best underneath defender(Milano) and our defense will be plenty good enough. To beat the G-Men, NE and Denver, sure. This team is not good enough to withstand the loss of White, Milano and Jones. I don’t scour the board to research your previous posts, I respond to the insulting response to my post.  You don’t even know what our new D looks like, they haven’t played yet.

 

How can you say that the team is not good enough to withstand the loss of the 3 players....and then we don't even know what our new D looks like?

 

[BillsUberAlles]

9 hours ago, Gugny said:

Not a playoff defense by any stretch. 

 

Exactly what constitutes a playoff defense these days?

 

They tend not to matter much at the end of the day against good offenses.

Edited October 15, 2023 by BillsUberAlles

[Eastport bills]

1 minute ago, BillsUberAlles said:

 

They'll be perfectly fine just like they were last year with tons of injuries.

You’re making my point. Is “perfectly fine”letting Miami’s 3rd string QB have the ball with a chance to eliminate us in our building, with the last possession of the game? Is “perfectly fine”getting embarrassed by Cinn in our building, eliminating us in the divisional playoff game? It’s OK for you not to care about winning, just don’t embarrass yourself criticizing people that don’t accept mediocrity. When teams are really good, coaches and GMs get fired when they can’t get further than our record the last few years.

[Saxum]

2 hours ago, streetkings01 said:

Overreacting! I was told on social media that the loss of Milano is the equivalent to us losing Josh Allen 🙄

 

Ignore social media; equivalent to sharing needles for drugs.

[Eastport bills]

10 minutes ago, Ya Digg? said:

You said the Bills haven’t gone to the conference championship in Josh’s time, that’s not true 

Who did they play in the conference championship? 

[SCBills]

18 minutes ago, Eastport bills said:

“The D will be plenty good enough “ because they had Elam let Ridley run free and convert every 3rd down in the second half.of the Jags game. How will our corners do against Cinn.receivers or Philly’s, or Miami’s? Now we don’t have our best underneath defender(Milano) and our defense will be plenty good enough. To beat the G-Men, NE and Denver, sure. This team is not good enough to withstand the loss of White, Milano and Jones. I don’t scour the board to research your previous posts, I respond to the insulting response to my post.  You don’t even know what our new D looks like, they haven’t played yet.

Elam isn’t a starter when Benford/Jackson are healthy, and even without Rousseau, Lawson and with Von on a snap count, the defense held Jax to 11 until into the 4th quarter when they finally wore down. 

[BillsUberAlles]

4 minutes ago, Eastport bills said:

You’re making my point. Is “perfectly fine”letting Miami’s 3rd string QB have the ball with a chance to eliminate us in our building, with the last possession of the game? Is “perfectly fine”getting embarrassed by Cinn in our building, eliminating us in the divisional playoff game? It’s OK for you not to care about winning, just don’t embarrass yourself criticizing people that don’t accept mediocrity. When teams are really good, coaches and GMs get fired when they can’t get further than our record the last few years.

 

Allen turning the ball over in the first game is what led to that and the offense doing nothing is what led to the loss against Cincy.

 

If you are expecting the D to hold a good offensive team to 7 points in the playoffs you are dreaming...that's not the way the NFL works anymore.

 

Did you watch the Super Bowl at all last year? How important was defense in that game? Not very.

 

 

Edited October 15, 2023 by BillsUberAlles

[Saxum]

3 hours ago, VW82 said:

We're fatally flawed unless we can trade for a one tech. Even if Williams and Elam work out and no one else goes down, we still won't be able to stop the run against the better offenses. We have too many data points of what it looked like minus Star/Daquon.

 

Fatal is extreme overreaction.   Bills will need to alter defense plan to give better run support.

Too bad NFLPA has imposed rules so much that teaching better practice techniques with practices is almost impossible during season.