Playoff defense not just bad, next level awful

[billrooter]

4 hours ago, C.Biscuit97 said:

I would be helpful to know how the offenses we played in the regular season were ranked compared to the offenses in the postseason. You can pad stats against bad qbs/ teams on the regular season. A little different against Mahomes and Burrow.

The zone defense has been atrocious against the Elite and sometimes even good QBs during the playoffs, they pick it apart. I like McDermott but wish he would have been hacked and we could have brought in a real defensive scheme, I miss that Schwartz defense we had even though it was just 1 year we had it, it was a real defense.

[Billsturfwars]

"Sean McDermott's Bills Defense in the last four playoff eliminations: (Chiefs x 3, Bengals x 1)

 

38 Drives

 

16 Touchdowns

8 Field Goals

6 Punts

6 Kneel-downs/End of Half

1 Missed Field Goal

1 Turnover

 

134 Points allowed"

 

yeah; I think the playoff defense has pretty much sucked.

 

[Philly McButterpants]

5 hours ago, BBFL said:

I think the majority of people claim the offense is at fault because we know what they are capable of and have underperformed. No one is relying on the defense to win the game. Big difference. 

It’s been a consistent theme of guys not showing up except Josh…

 

🤷‍♂️

That was certainly evident this year. The one year someone other than Josh “showed up” was Davis in the 13 seconds game.  

[Mikie2times]

14 minutes ago, billrooter said:

The zone defense has been atrocious against the Elite and sometimes even good QBs during the playoffs, they pick it apart. I like McDermott but wish he would have been hacked and we could have brought in a real defensive scheme, I miss that Schwartz defense we had even though it was just 1 year we had it, it was a real defense.

The scheme doesn't hold up against the better QB's. We basically don't play man defense. If we do we don't have the players to execute it at a high level. The Tampa style defense has a long history of folding in the playoffs. Glad we are married to it 👍

[Yobogoya!]

51 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

All year the book on the Chiefs was score more than 20 points and you win the game. The Ravens game ends up being the same script.

 

The Bills end the season being the ONLY team all year to score more than 20 on the Chiefs and lose the game. Another frustrating end to the season caused solely by our defense. And I see no path to fixing it next year. We're stuck in neutral. ****

 

Come on now Happy it wasn’t solely in the defense.. special teams helped out a little bit as well. 😅

[BADOLBILZ]

4 hours ago, FireChans said:

Is Hunter that guy?

 

 

Probably not.

 

But his 16.5 sacks would have been the 3rd most in a season for a Buffalo Bill behind Bruce Smith with 19 in 1990 and Bryce Paup with 17.5 in 1995..........and its the 3rd 70+ tackle and 14+ sack season he's had in the last 5 years.    He is a freak of nature and we haven't had anyone with his pass rush skill since the 1990's.   As great as Mario was he wasn't a pure pass rusher.  

 

And as we saw with Von Miller in 2022......if you can force QB's to step up in the pocket Greg Rousseau has a special knack for finding them.   

 

[Capco]

I think I know what DVOA is.  But what tf is EPA?

[billsfan714]

Same as the Superbowl years, defense isnt championship caliber.  We argue about the offense missing a play here and there, when the defense misses a lot of plays.

[Toyo321]

Our D this year has been the walking dead of the NFL.  We have had more guys with bad, bloody, banged up body parts playing out there than any other team that I could remember,  it has been unreal.

[Jrb1979]

Seeing those stats proves McDermott is a great regular season coach when you play more average teams than good. When the playoffs hit he struggles against the top tier teams. 

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

9 hours ago, FireChans said:

Why don’t you include playoffs on a whole instead of losses

 

Even playoffs on the whole, off the top of my head they have only been "meh" compared to their regular season dominance. 

 

Colts wild card they were total garbage and bailed out by the offense.

 

Ravens divisional. they were great in a game that had weather conditions that clearly hampered both offenses to a great deal. Honestly hard to even gauge how great they were given the conditions. 

 

Patriots wild card, they were good in a game where the offense was literally perfect. Both units beat up on the trash units of the Patriots. But the Patriots defense was the strength of that team, top 5 in both ppg and ypg, and yet the Billf offense had a perfect game. The Patriots offense was average that season and the defense still allowed 14 points. They couldn't even hold them to under 10 and the offense was literally the worst unit on that Patriots team. 

 

Dolphins wild card. Mixed bag. They give up 24 points. They were put in tough situations by an offense that turned the ball over three times but still managed to score 34 points. But they were playing a third string QB and you would think they could have kept the Dolphins offense to 20 points or less even with the turnovers. 

 

Steelers wild card. I won't get on them too much for this game. Sure, it would have been nice if they had a dominating performance from start to finish. In the end they gave up 17 points against a well-known bad offense that averaged 17 ppg for the season. I'd say that is the definition of a "meh" defensive performance. Had they given up just one more FG on the day it would have been a straight up bad defensive performance. 

 

As for your question of why just point out the elimination games and not all the playoff games, well because one side of the ball is at least showing up half the time or more against the best competition. The defense is literally a no show against the stiffest competition every single postseason. How are we supposed to make a super bowl if we can't get both units clicking against the best playoff competition? 

 

Why are the Chiefs going to yet another Super Bowl? Is it because their unbelievable offense scored 17 points against the Ravens? No, because their defense held the Ravens to 10 points. I can't even fathom a Bills defense holding a divisional or conference championship opponent to such a low total. I'll be happy if they can just hold the next team they play in such a game to 24 or less. The Bills defense in their last four divisional / conference championship games: 38, 42, 27 and 27 points given up. So basically, the Bills offense has to be great every single game against the best coemption. They can't have an off day where they only score 20 or 24 points and still expect to win. 

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

9 hours ago, BBFL said:

I think the majority of people claim the offense is at fault because we know what they are capable of and have underperformed. No one is relying on the defense to win the game. Big difference. 

It’s been a consistent theme of guys not showing up except Josh…

 

🤷‍♂️

 

Is it true that the offense has underperformed though? I think the offense performed almost exactly to their regular season standard last week against KC. The only divisional/championship game they really fell totally flat was last year against the Bengals. 

9 hours ago, Mikie2times said:

 

 

 

 

In the Ravens and Bills game, both teams had the worst EPA of the season on offense. I'm guessing the wind played a roll in that.

 

 

 

FireChans, doesn't believe in wind. It's just a total coincidence that Bass and Tucker (GOAT kicker by the way) both missed 2 FG's each of gimmie 40 yard distance. Nah, wind wasn't a factor in either team being able to move the ball. 

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

9 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

It's why I wouldn't be entirely shocked if the Bills took a swing at signing Danielle Hunter in UFA if he gets there.    Despite their cap issues.

 

 

 

How about Josh Allen?? You can't not make it to a Super Bowl with two Josh Allen's. 

9 hours ago, HappyDays said:

 

One thing I will say in Beane's defense on this is that every GM has these misses. Just look at the Chiefs under Brett Veach. They used a 1st round pick on a RB which is a cardinal sin of modern football, and worse that RB didn't even turn out to be a good player. This past offseason they also failed to sign Hopkins, instead choosing to give out a massive contract to a RT which again is a cardinal sin, and again the RT didn't turn out to be a good player. These two awful mistakes could have sunk the team. But the Chiefs happen to also have an elite coaching staff, so they have more than overcome it.

 

Or look at the Eagles. Most people consider Howie Roseman to be the best GM in football. But his team was undone late in the season and then in the playoffs because of poor coaching.

 

So I guess looking at the totality of Beane's work in recent years I think overall it is actually pretty good relative to other Super Bowl contenders. Coaching, especially in the playoffs, is where we are seeing a big discrepancy between us and the other contenders IMO.

 

And to your point, there's a lot of stats out there that will show that since 2019/2020, or the last 4-5 years, the Bills are easily the second-best team in the entire NFL, only behind the Chiefs. They have been consistently great for 4-5 years now. Only the Chiefs can claim the same. 

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

7 hours ago, Fetou said:

What we do against the Bengals can't even be called a defense.

 

Bengals absolutely own McDermott. If Hamlin doesn't die on the field, we are literally talking three straight games where the Bengals offense starts the game with TD's on each of their first two possessions. 

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

I’d give mcd an injury pass this year but no other years.  One more divisional round exit or worse I’d probably move on if someone is available that they like 

 

I don’t see a lot of teams winning in the playoff with lbs that had to cancel vacations to be available because 3 linebackers are injured lol 

[CaptnCoke11]

9 hours ago, KDIGGZ said:

How about just have an offense that scores a ton of points like what we used to have with Daboll?

Still pretty much the same defense.. same results 

[Jrb1979]

5 minutes ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

I’d give mcd an injury pass this year but no other years.  One more divisional round exit or worse I’d probably move on if someone is available that they like 

 

I don’t see a lot of teams winning in the playoff with lbs that had to cancel vacations to be available because 3 linebackers are injured lol 

I will give them a pass for the KC loss this season due to the injuries. 

 

I will add to my earlier post is that one thing McDermott has been terrible at and hasn't gotten better is half time adjustments. 

 

 

[Governor]

5 hours ago, Billsturfwars said:

"Sean McDermott's Bills Defense in the last four playoff eliminations: (Chiefs x 3, Bengals x 1)

 

38 Drives

 

16 Touchdowns

8 Field Goals

6 Punts

6 Kneel-downs/End of Half

1 Missed Field Goal

1 Turnover

 

134 Points allowed"

 

yeah; I think the playoff defense has pretty much sucked.

 

Damn. It felt that bad too. Continuously shredded in playoffs. 

[Governor]

5 hours ago, Mikie2times said:

The scheme doesn't hold up against the better QB's. We basically don't play man defense. If we do we don't have the players to execute it at a high level. The Tampa style defense has a long history of folding in the playoffs. Glad we are married to it 👍

Yeah. It really is the scheme. It’s also undersized and when 1 guy goes down in a game, the entire defense collapses.

 

It takes McD 2-3 weeks to adjust his defense to injuries unlike the Chiefs that just adjust on the fly in the same game. That’s not acceptable when all of your team’s resources are being spent on that side of the ball.

Edited January 29 by Governor

[FireChans]

44 minutes ago, Sammy Watkins' Rib said:

 

Even playoffs on the whole, off the top of my head they have only been "meh" compared to their regular season dominance. 

 

Colts wild card they were total garbage and bailed out by the offense.

 

Ravens divisional. they were great in a game that had weather conditions that clearly hampered both offenses to a great deal. Honestly hard to even gauge how great they were given the conditions. 

 

Patriots wild card, they were good in a game where the offense was literally perfect. Both units beat up on the trash units of the Patriots. But the Patriots defense was the strength of that team, top 5 in both ppg and ypg, and yet the Billf offense had a perfect game. The Patriots offense was average that season and the defense still allowed 14 points. They couldn't even hold them to under 10 and the offense was literally the worst unit on that Patriots team. 

 

Dolphins wild card. Mixed bag. They give up 24 points. They were put in tough situations by an offense that turned the ball over three times but still managed to score 34 points. But they were playing a third string QB and you would think they could have kept the Dolphins offense to 20 points or less even with the turnovers. 

 

Steelers wild card. I won't get on them too much for this game. Sure, it would have been nice if they had a dominating performance from start to finish. In the end they gave up 17 points against a well-known bad offense that averaged 17 ppg for the season. I'd say that is the definition of a "meh" defensive performance. Had they given up just one more FG on the day it would have been a straight up bad defensive performance. 

 

As for your question of why just point out the elimination games and not all the playoff games, well because one side of the ball is at least showing up half the time or more against the best competition. The defense is literally a no show against the stiffest competition every single postseason. How are we supposed to make a super bowl if we can't get both units clicking against the best playoff competition? 

 

Why are the Chiefs going to yet another Super Bowl? Is it because their unbelievable offense scored 17 points against the Ravens? No, because their defense held the Ravens to 10 points. I can't even fathom a Bills defense holding a divisional or conference championship opponent to such a low total. I'll be happy if they can just hold the next team they play in such a game to 24 or less. The Bills defense in their last four divisional / conference championship games: 38, 42, 27 and 27 points given up. So basically, the Bills offense has to be great every single game against the best coemption. They can't have an off day where they only score 20 or 24 points and still expect to win. 

This is a legitimately absurd criticism, and more evidence that this agenda has reached its zenith of inanity. That Pats team was averaging 27.2 PPG (good enough for top 6 in the league, certainly meh lmao) and they had 3 points and 2 turnovers until 4 minutes left in the third Q when the game was no longer a game (because they were down 30 points).

 

"They couldn't even hold them under 10" is an absolutely bananaland argument.  As if any team would care that they racked up some garbage time points.

 

Btw, the Pats had put up 21 on the Bills like 3 weeks prior.

 

Enjoy the crusade against McD that won't matter.