Playoff defense not just bad, next level awful

[KOKBILLS]

20 hours ago, Dick_Cheney said:

There are only two possible reasons for this. Historically bad luck with key defensive injuries, or coaching.

 

It's coaching. 

[bouds]

Watching the Ravens D get worked early in the game, and then just force punt after punt put things in perspective for all of us.

 

On the one hand, the Ravens O just looked bad, and the Chiefs were under no threat to press for point, yet we all know Mahomes and Reid would light up the board even if they weren't pressed and yet the Ravens D just clamped them.

 

We need to get our ***** in gear on D.

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

2 minutes ago, Bleeding Bills Blue said:

I find it hard to judge the 2024 games simply because i think we all knew missing these guys was a lot to overcome.  

 

Milano

Bernard
Spector

White

Benford 

Phillips

 

With banged up players also playing 

Dodson

Douglas 

T. Johnson

DQ Jones

 

Starting a 3rd string LB, and a backup LB in a sling - neither of which can handle a player like Kelce on their best day.  A CB with a knee injury, another coming off a concussion.  Not to mention... the regular dings players pick up over the course of a long season.  Just too much, KC caught us at the right time and their offensive line was able to pretty much dominate the LOS.  

 

As much as we need a WR, we need a lot of help on the defensive line - and likely a pair of safeties.  Von was a swing and a miss - and they can't really swing again til he's gone after next year most likely.  3T was oliver and no one.  1T was DQ and Joseph (both free agents).  

Were beaten down by losing to kc in the playoffs so many times which is understandable but it’s honestly kind of crazy that game was close given the LB situation lol and not only was it close, we probably win if we make one more play.  Klein got absolutely victimized all night 

 

von was ironically really the only noticeable defensive player for me in that game 😂. Maybe there’s a shot he bounces back next season 

[BuffaloRebound]

We need a more violent downhill defense.  Those are the defenses that perform in the playoffs.  Players are banged up and the film is out there after 18 or 19 games.  Undersized defenses that rely on confusing guys like Mahomes or even Burrow don’t hold up.  

[HomeTeam]

It's a tough decision because we've been competitive but at the end of the day, it feels like we could be doing more. Watching the AFCG yesterday, at no point did I think that Baltimore or KC were above the Bills in any way. But in these big games, with the margins so tight, we are coming up short and a lot of that has to do with the defense not holding its end of the bargain and game time coaching errors.

 

It appears whatever your opinion of McDermott is, he will be back next year but it is no longer such a contrarian thought to want to move in a new direction. I'm slowly starting to come around with this idea but I will reserve my judgement until the next season is complete.

 

I do still think favourably of Beane even though the Von Miller contract is a real wart in his resume.

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

Just now, BuffaloRebound said:

We need a more violent downhill defense.  Those are the defenses that perform in the playoffs.  Players are banged up and the film is out there after 18 or 19 games.  Undersized defenses that rely on confusing guys like Mahomes or even Burrow don’t hold up.  

I think you’ve gotta play man and hold in the playoffs because it’s likely not getting called 

chiefs got away with a lot of questionable grabs on big plays as they often do lol 

[Maynard]

Cool, let’s run it back then. Insanity now. 

[colin]

aside from scheme issues, mcd is too addicted to smaller, older, and unathletic players.

 

they get worn down, and injured.

 

i know gunner bills will say williams shouldn't be in football because he doesn't know how to line up, but our only stop of kc came when get got the nod over a man who literally decided he should no longer play football.

 

im not saying mcd needs to be as good or creative as billicheck on d, but he should have some kind of adaptability so that he doesn't need to bring players out of retirement to start in the playoffs (same with our o last season with beez and brown getting taken off teh couch as we were super bowl hopefuls).

 

the mix of some kind of super complication that evidently keeps our more talented young players on the bench, with a simply predictability that has us dropping huge turds in the playoffs just gets old.

 

we def need a new dc.

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

10 minutes ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

Were beaten down by losing to kc in the playoffs so many times which is understandable but it’s honestly kind of crazy that game was close given the LB situation lol and not only was it close, we probably win if we make one more play.  Klein got absolutely victimized all night 

 

von was ironically really the only noticeable defensive player for me in that game 😂. Maybe there’s a shot he bounces back next season 

 

I mean Buffalo limited them to 50 plays on offense... 2 field goal stops.  A Takeaway in the red zone.  What we failed to do was create more 3rd downs - they were 1/5.  I'd assume Von came in some of those situations.  

 

23 pass plays at almost 10 Y/A.  17 RB carries for 128.  They were moving in chunks all night - just a couple of plays here and there makes all the difference.  

[BuffaloRebound]

3 minutes ago, Maynard said:

Cool, let’s run it back then. Insanity now. 

I think mcdermott showed the last 2 months he’s capable of evolving.  But let’s see what he does this off-season.  The Epenesa’s and light in the ass Defensive Ends are useless come playoff football.  Hyde’s replacement needs to be a physical safety.  I’d like to see a 1 tech upgrade to a guy like Reader.  I like Douglas, Benford, Taron, and Poyer.  Bernard and Milano are playmakers but undersized.  Oliver is good but undersized too.  All the defensive additions the off-season need to be stout, violent dudes.  The defense needs to get bigger and more physical.  

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

1 minute ago, BuffaloRebound said:

I think mcdermott showed the last 2 months he’s capable of evolving.  But let’s see what he does this off-season.  The Epenesa’s and light in the ass Defensive Ends are useless come playoff football.  Hyde’s replacement needs to be a physical safety.  I’d like to see a 1 tech upgrade to a guy like Reader.  I like Douglas, Benford, Taron, and Poyer.  Bernard and Milano are playmakers but undersized.  Oliver is good but undersized too.  All the defensive additions the off-season need to be stout, violent dudes.  The defense needs to get bigger and more physical.  

We’ve really gotta lean into the playoff officiating more…db holds and OL holds just aren’t really called and kc really pushes the envelope on trying to use it to their advantage.  Small DEs are just gonna get held…receivers that aren’t very physical are gonna get held 

[dpberr]

The Bills defense has good players, but no great ones. There's no Josh Allen there.  

It doesn't have a lot of quick players. 

It's older too.  The age looms large because after 18+ games, the 30 year old body just doesn't have much left in the tank.  When the season was shorter, vets had something left to give.  

 

If I were the Bills, I'd take my lumps this coming season and give rookies and 2nd year players starter minutes on defense and resist the temptation to give contracts to any FA who are 29+.  That includes players like Rasul Douglas and Leonard Floyd.  Older players will get you to the playoffs, but they aren't going to deliver those game changing moments come January.  

[Gregg]

Just now, dpberr said:

The Bills defense has good players, but no great ones. There's no Josh Allen there.  

It doesn't have a lot of quick players. 

It's older too.  The age looms large because after 18+ games, the 30 year old body just doesn't have much left in the tank.  When the season was shorter, vets had something left to give.  

 

If I were the Bills, I'd take my lumps this coming season and give rookies and 2nd year players starter minutes on defense and resist the temptation to give contracts to any FA who are 29+.  That includes players like Rasul Douglas and Leonard Floyd.  Older players will get you to the playoffs, but they aren't going to deliver those game changing moments come January.  

 

Terry is not going to want a mini-rebuild/re-tool year next year. Soon he will be asking fans to pay for those increased ticket prices and PSL fees. This is not a good time for the team to take a step back. 

[FireChans]

46 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

The Ravens defense stopped him 6 times yesterday. We have stopped him 4 times in 3 playoff games.

 

Go on. Pretend you meant something different.

He’s playing in his 4th Super Bowl in 5 years. 

This is “Brady is a system QB” all over again.

[Your Brown Eye]

19 minutes ago, BuffaloRebound said:

We need a more violent downhill defense.  Those are the defenses that perform in the playoffs.  Players are banged up and the film is out there after 18 or 19 games.  Undersized defenses that rely on confusing guys like Mahomes or even Burrow don’t hold up.  

 

Yeap. I kept thinking about this since we started the playoffs. Sure we have a good-great regular season defense, but come playoff time our injury list on defense is a laundry list of who's who names. It seems like the past couple season's this is how it always plays out. Our defense is just not big enough for the pounding of a 17-game regular season. We a rolling out 2nd-3rd stringers across the board on defense come playoff time. Then we get all pissy that our defense falls apart in the playoffs. It's cause we got Joe-blow who should be working security at the Galleria Mall playing MLB.

 

I know McDermott loves his fast-undersized guys that can fly to the ball, but damn if you're 20-30 lbs undersized what good is your speed if your in street clothes on the sideline by the end of the year? I'll give you a coincidence if it's just one season, bad luck, fine whatever. But this is like the 2nd or 3rd post-season now.  This does not bode well. 

 

People want to take the high ground and say that Baltimore is full of thugs and bullies and are glad they did not win, but I will trade everyone on our defense, for everyone on their defense, every day of the week. You swap defenses and we are talking about which hotels we are staying at to go watch the Bills play the 49ers in the Super Bowl. It's frustrating.

[LABILLBACKER]

37 minutes ago, BuffaloRebound said:

We need a more violent downhill defense.  Those are the defenses that perform in the playoffs.  Players are banged up and the film is out there after 18 or 19 games.  Undersized defenses that rely on confusing guys like Mahomes or even Burrow don’t hold up.  

McDermott's late season playoff defenses have either been exhausted or injury riddled.  Everything is about zone disguises.  There's little or no physicality in our players.  He has no answer for elite qbs or coaches. 

[HomeskillitMoorman]

21 hours ago, Bermuda Triangle said:

Been told over and over on this forum that the offense has been at fault for playoff losses, including last week.  Guess those people probably won't respond in this thread.

 

There's a lot of McD propaganda here unfortunately. There's no way anyone can logically make an argument that he hasn't been our biggest liability and problem in the playoffs. 

Edited January 29 by HomeskillitMoorman

[HappyDays]

48 minutes ago, FireChans said:

He’s playing in his 4th Super Bowl in 5 years. 

 

His AFCCG opponents over the last two years scored 20 points and 10 points. Again, you know this. You're just playing your usual semantics game. Everybody with eyes can see that the Chiefs defense has performed better in the playoffs these past few years. Even in seasons when our regular season defense ranked higher than theirs, their playoff defense still performed better than ours. That's what the thread is about, yeah? Read the title. Read the original post. Then get back to me. Instead of repeating the same empty points that have already been debunked.

[dpberr]

1 hour ago, Gregg said:

 

Terry is not going to want a mini-rebuild/re-tool year next year. Soon he will be asking fans to pay for those increased ticket prices and PSL fees. This is not a good time for the team to take a step back. 

 

I don't think younger players on defense is necessarily a step back.  I think the remodel needs to occur in the 2024 season so you have those younger players on the inexpensive contracts peaking for the first couple years in the new stadium.    

 

The Bills teams of stadium Years 1 and 2 have to be awesome.  You don't want those years to be without legitimate Super Bowl potential.

 

 

 

[The Firebaugh Kid]

22 hours ago, BuffaloBill said:

Outside of injuries this year it is hard to understand just how badly the D falls off in the playoffs.  Some of the talking head shows postulate that the length of the season hits “aged” players harder. The Bills D is not a youth movement. Who knows maybe there is something to this thought.

It's age, injuries, and having to dig out of a hole to make the playoffs in the first place. 

Oh........... and it's coaching.