Cam Newton, recognizing coverages, disguises and Sean McDermott

[appoo]

 

 

I'm a Bills/PSU/Syracuse/Knicks/Mets/USMNT guy, he's been the best coach on any of my teams since I can remember - and Cam here lands on one of the reasons why. He is an absolutely brilliant defensive coach. Start at about 1:40 to get to the McDermott part, but the whole clip is pretty good if you're interested in how to read a coverage pre-snap

[Einstein]

That was great. Thanks for sharing.

[schoolhouserock]

That was very cool!

[Mikie2times]

Also makes a degree of sense why we might struggle more vs the very best and totally dominant the average to below average. 

[appoo]

4 minutes ago, Mikie2times said:

Also makes a degree of sense why we might struggle more vs the very best and totally dominant the average to below average. 

 

Poyer and Micah were pretty pedestrian athletes, and there are limits to what you can do with them, no matter how brilliant your scheme is, when the opposing team has elite athletes and a QB that could do work

[benderbender]

Heard about someone with anxiety that needs to constantly have head coverings. It feels like Cam Newton may have the same issue.

[Mikie2times]

12 minutes ago, appoo said:

 

Poyer and Micah were pretty pedestrian athletes, and there are limits to what you can do with them, no matter how brilliant your scheme is, when the opposing team has elite athletes and a QB that could do work

I don't disagree. But when is that a problem for Beane? We have been scheme over talent on defense for a long time. 

[GoBills808]

2 minutes ago, Mikie2times said:

I don't disagree. But when is that a problem for Beane? We have been scheme over talent on defense for a long time. 

Beane wasn't employed by the Bills yet when they brought in Hyde and Poyer

[Mikie2times]

1 minute ago, GoBills808 said:

Beane wasn't employed by the Bills yet when they brought in Hyde and Poyer

Not talking about our safeties. Talking about our defense. It makes sense how we can confuse the easily confused but when we face the better QB's our lack of talent is on full display. 

[WotAGuy]

1 minute ago, Mikie2times said:

Not talking about our safeties. Talking about our defense. It makes sense how we can confuse the easily confused but when we face the better QB's our lack of talent is on full display. 

But isn’t this also true for almost every team that faces a Brady or Mahomes?  Those guys can outsmart defenses as well as outplay them. The Bills are not a special exception. 

[GoBills808]

1 minute ago, Mikie2times said:

Not talking about our safeties. Talking about our defense. It makes sense how we can confuse the easily confused but when we face the better QB's our lack of talent is on full display. 

I usually end up making the Bengals comparison here tbh

 

Theu have similar defensive talent as us imo and they have no problem slowing down the Allen/Jackson/Mahomes of the world

[GunnerBill]

It is well known that McDermott is one of the best at designing disguised coverages (Belichick I think called him "the best" at one point) but you gotta have smart players on the backend to make it go. That is one of the reasons I am far less chilled about safety than some are. Yes, it's just safety.... not a premium spot.... but if you don't have the right guys there in *this scheme* it forces you to be way more vanilla. 

[Mikie2times]

1 minute ago, WotAGuy said:

But isn’t this also true for almost every team that faces a Brady or Mahomes?  Those guys can outsmart defenses as well as outplay them. The Bills are not a special exception. 

Most defenses don't post top 5 finishes year after year then get get completely torched when it matters. Our defense isn't a playoff defense. It's a regular season defense. See the Bengals, 49ers, Ravens, etc. All have shown much more capable when it matters.  

[WotAGuy]

1 minute ago, Mikie2times said:

Most defenses don't post top 5 finishes year after year then get get completely torched when it matters. Our defense isn't a playoff defense. It's a regular season defense. See the Bengals, 49ers, Ravens, etc. All have shown much more capable when it matters.  

Those teams you mentioned have all lost playoff games during McDermott’s tenure.  It’s not like they all went to the Super Bowl every year. 

[Mikie2times]

2 minutes ago, WotAGuy said:

Those teams you mentioned have all lost playoff games during McDermott’s tenure.  It’s not like they all went to the Super Bowl every year. 

They have all slowed down KC  better than we ever have. In addition none of them have another team that owns them like Burrow/Bengals does us.  

 

Edited August 25 by Mikie2times

[JerseyBills]

He turned a JAG in Poyer and a good , not great player in Hyde to All pros

[BarleyNY]

1 hour ago, appoo said:

 

Poyer and Micah were pretty pedestrian athletes, and there are limits to what you can do with them, no matter how brilliant your scheme is, when the opposing team has elite athletes and a QB that could do work

Safety is played from the neck up. Being an elite athlete on top of that will make a safety great, but an elite athlete at safety busts if he doesn’t have it upstairs. 

[appoo]

50 minutes ago, Mikie2times said:

Most defenses don't post top 5 finishes year after year then get get completely torched when it matters. Our defense isn't a playoff defense. It's a regular season defense. See the Bengals, 49ers, Ravens, etc. All have shown much more capable when it matters.  

This is also a function of the Bills being really successful under McDermott. They didn't make the playoffs twice, and in each of the subsequent drafts they landed Josh Allen, Ed Oliver, and Tremaine Edmunds in the top 15. 

 

The Bengals are paper tigers. In each of their 2 playoff games they've given up 23+ first downs and 50% 3rd down conversions. In our most recent playoff game they held Mahomes to 215 yards passing, 20 first downs, and just 1 of 5 on 3rd down.  And this was with the defense gutted. 

 

But take a look at the Ravens defense and Niners defense. Keep in mind the Bills have exactly one defender drafted in the top 10, and then Edmunds who was what, 12, and then Kair Elam and Groot as the first round picks on the rest of the defense that's in its prime. 

 

2023

 

Ravens: Roquon Smith (8), Oweh (31), Marlon Humphrey (16), Kyle Hamilton (14)

49ers:  Bosa, Nick Young, Javon Hargrave, Chase Young, Leonard Floyd

Bills: Groot, Oliver

 

The Ravens and Niners SHOULD have better defenses than the Bills. They've put more resources into that unit. The Bills had to give away multiple first rounders to get Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs. The Ravens lucked their way into Lamar Jackson at the end of the first round, and meanwhile the Niners haven't paid a QB though they wasted a first round pick on Trey Lance

 

Imagein the Bills having that extra first rounder?

 

 

Edited August 25 by appoo

[Rochesterfan]

1 hour ago, Mikie2times said:

They have all slowed down KC  better than we ever have. In addition none of them have another team that owns them like Burrow/Bengals does us.  

 

 

That is complete BS.

 

The 49ers are 0-2 versus KC and have been blown out much worse than the Bills have by the Chiefs.  They are dominant in the NFC right now, but it has been a much easier road.

 

The Bengals get dominated by Cleveland much worse than we get dominated by KC or Cincinnati. It is a terrible matchup for them and they have also missed the playoffs multiple times since 2020.

 

The Ravens struggle against Pittsburgh and have been man handled multiple times in the playoffs including by Buffalo and KC whom they have not beat.

 

There is 1 dominant team in KC right now and everyone else is hoping they get knocked out so the path gets easier.  The Bills have not stopped them, but the Bills have kept up with them scoring wise throughout.  KC is less aggressive versus other teams like Baltimore, Cincinnati, and SF as they have not scored the way the Bills do against them, but all of them have lost to KC in the playoffs just like Buffalo and only Cincinnati with a lucky OT win beat KC whereas the Bills lost on possession 1 in OT and did not get a chance to match.

Edited August 25 by Rochesterfan

[Mikie2times]

38 minutes ago, Rochesterfan said:

 

That is complete BS.

 

The 49ers are 0-2 versus KC and have been blown out much worse than the Bills have by the Chiefs.  They are dominant in the NFC right now, but it has been a much easier road.

 

The Bengals get dominated by Cleveland much worse than we get dominated by KC or Cincinnati. It is a terrible matchup for them and they have also missed the playoffs multiple times since 2020.

 

The Ravens struggle against Pittsburgh and have been man handled multiple times in the playoffs including by Buffalo and KC whom they have not beat.

 

There is 1 dominant team in KC right now and everyone else is hoping they get knocked out so the path gets easier.  The Bills have not stopped them, but the Bills have kept up with them scoring wise throughout.  KC is less aggressive versus other teams like Baltimore, Cincinnati, and SF as they have not scored the way the Bills do against them, but all of them have lost to KC in the playoffs just like Buffalo and only Cincinnati with a lucky OT win beat KC whereas the Bills lost on possession 1 in OT and did not get a chance to match.

Vs Mahomes in the playoffs. It sucks when actual data exists doesn't it.