So....what's up with the D?

[CircleTheWagons99]

Need to get healthy. Missing alot of pieces. 

[HappyDays]

18 minutes ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

Waddle was MIA. 

 

Well, yeah. They drafted him after all.

[The Jokeman]

54 minutes ago, ProcessImproverMan said:

All the first round picks and free agency money we invested in our front four isn't stopping the run and isn't getting consistent pressure, which puts pressure on the rest of the defense. Oliver, Jones, Rousseau and Miller should be playing better run defense than they are and getting more pressure than they are. Two first round picks and a bunch of free agency money thrown at 3/4 them and nothing really. Watch Watt, Garrett, Dexter Lawrence, Eagles front line of Carter, Davis, etc, Jones for the Chiefs, Hutchinson for the Lions when healthy, etc and you will see alot of guys taken with first round picks producing. Our guys are invisible alot. 

 

When your front four cannot do it, the rest of the team has to cheat some 

Many of the guys you mentioned were top 20 picks. Outside of this year and 2022 Lawrence's never had more than 5 sacks in a season. Carter and Davis have a combined 3.0 sacks on the season. 

[Shortchaz]

The dolphins got the game they wanted, they did a better job dictating how things went. The difference in this game was josh didn’t force anything and our defense was able to generate a turnover. 
 

The dolphins offensive game plan and execution accentuated our defense’s weakness. they were masterful, it just wasn’t enough.
 

This was not a game the Bills would’ve won in the recent past. I was impressed they stayed patient and pulled it off. 

[DrDawkinstein]

5 minutes ago, BillsFan130 said:

You wouldn't have tried to mix in more run blitzes on 1st down?

 

For the most part I'm good with keeping everything in front of you against Miami.

 

But I would have guessed run on some 1st downs and try to get them behind the sticks, especially after the 1st half when Miami showed they were committed to running 

 

Maybe. Considering McDaniel and the Dolphins is the one team McD has consistently absolutely owned over the last 5-6 years, I give him the benefit of the doubt. But maybe some 1st down run blitzes was the counter-adjustment we needed to make.

 

Although I'm not sure how aggressive we could get in any game where Elam is forced into a starting CB role.

 

I guess I'm mostly disappointed that our staff didnt have anything up their sleeve for that last Miami possession after Josh put us up 7. If no other time, that's when we needed to come up with a stop. And we were like warm jello out there.

 

 

[Maynard]

59 minutes ago, Royale with Cheese said:

I think I read that no player has ever returned in the same season with a torn bicep?  Should I have Milano in doubt this year?

Yes you should. Actually met his godfather last week. Weird I know. Said it was a worse than expected injury. 

[Shortchaz]

23 minutes ago, gobills404 said:

What’s up is they’re still a top 10 defense, but some of y’all have become spoiled from watching an elite defense each of the last 3 years.

The bills haven’t had an elite defense in a long time. 

[VW82]

Brady said the other night that Bills run more dime than anyone in the L. He might be right, but we also have LBers that look like DBs, and our best DB basically is a LBer (in the body of a soccer player). 

 

Offenses came out running vs. small teams in cover 2 to start the season. Some defenses adjusted. Ours hasn't because we're small and built to play the pass, except now we can't seem to do that either.

 

 

[BillsFan130]

3 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

Maybe. Considering McDaniel and the Dolphins is the one team McD has consistently absolutely owned over the last 5-6 years, I give him the benefit of the doubt. But maybe some 1st down run blitzes was the counter-adjustment we needed to make.

 

Although I'm not sure how aggressive we could get in any game where Elam is forced into a starting CB role.

 

I guess I'm mostly disappointed that our staff didnt have anything up their sleeve for that last Miami possession after Josh put us up 7. If no other time, that's when we needed to come up with a stop. And we were like warm jello out there.

 

 

Ya I think this was the game McDaniel finally learned from his past mistakes against McDermott .

 

Kind of reminds of that 2021 patriots game in New England when belichick dared Josh to be patient all game long, and he was and Just torched them.

 

It seemed like McDermott /Babich kept the same game plan for the most part and were betting on McDaniel being impatient at some point, but this time he was patient and just took what was there all game long

[cgg716]

Literally the same thing as every year, vastly undersized, non creative scheme 

[NickelCity]

Every game is a battle. We got the fins' absolute best shot, while simultaneously shooting ourselves in the foot throughout the game.

 

It was exactly what I worried about. And we still won. 

 

Addendum: two things are on my mind. 1) Coleman's health, 2) Bernard clearly wasn't all the way back imo. 

[Billz4ever]

1 hour ago, TD716 said:

Not holding gaps , d-line. Epenesa weak link for our run defense. Our 2nd string dline was stuck out there on Miami 2nd half TD run. Miami rushed to the line and we couldn’t sub. Still think we need a one tech d-lineman. Jones has taken a step back this year and holding point of attack isn’t Oliver’s strong suit. Looks like we need a Coleman replacement also b/c of injury 

When you play with such a light box like we do, success is highly dependent on the D line eating up blocks, holding lanes, and keeping the Oline from getting into the second level and engaging the LBs.

 

If the Dline is doing that, our LBs look great because they can fly around in space and make plays.

 

We got pushed up and down the field all game long.  Luckily we had the ball last.

[Don Otreply]

1 hour ago, Success said:

For starters, I am NOT a defensive mind, at all.  But from my viewpoint, it seems like we never press - our CB's and safeties generally drop back and give a ton of cushion, trying to prevent the "big play," but often giving up chunks of yards in the process and long, time-consuming drives.

 

I guess that's often called "bend, don't break."  Which can work. But today was rough.

 

Are we lacking personnel?  I feel like we have good LB's and a decent enough line, and I like our CB's.  Safety is a weak point, but overall, it seems like we're not playing up to our talent level or potential.  This is about as bad a defense as I've seen since Allen got here.

 

It’s the same scheme that they always use, it doesn’t work well against better teams, thats why Miami marched down the field so frequently, and has been the Bills “Bain” in every post season, that they continue to use it no matter the team or circumstances is indeed puzzling to say the least. 
 

Oh well, always hoping for the best, 

 

GO BILLS!!! 

[DrDawkinstein]

10 minutes ago, BillsFan130 said:

Ya I think this was the game McDaniel finally learned from his past mistakes against McDermott .

 

Kind of reminds of that 2021 patriots game in New England when belichick dared Josh to be patient all game long, and he was and Just torched them.

 

It seemed like McDermott /Babich kept the same game plan for the most part and were betting on McDaniel being impatient at some point, but this time he was patient and just took what was there all game long

 

Right on.

 

End of the day, the beauty of it is we got Miami's absolute best and it still wasnt enough. And we're one Keon Coleman catch and TD away from it being closer to a usual blowout.

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

1 hour ago, Royale with Cheese said:

I think I read that no player has ever returned in the same season with a torn bicep?  Should I have Milano in doubt this year?

That might be true for players who tore their biceps in-season.
 

Milano had surgery on his torn bicep about 3 weeks before the season started. Plus, we have the 18 week schedule now. Add in postseason games and it seems likely Milano comes back. 
 

I’m hoping he can play the final three regular season games. With his first game back being Dec 22 home against the Pats.

[JohnNord]

1 hour ago, Simon said:

 

Oliver had dropped into a shallow zone by design and Daquan was riding pine by then.

DaQuan was on the field and was blocked past Tua. Oliver never dropped.  He couldn’t get off his block - though he might have been held

 

 

Edited Monday at 03:00 AM by JohnNord

[Simon]

4 minutes ago, JohnNord said:

DaQuan was on the field and ran past Tua. Oliver never dropped.  He couldn’t get off his block - though he might have been held

 

 

 

My bad; I was thinking of the play where Tua slipped the pocket and flipped a TD to Waddle.

[MJS]

50 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

You just described how most of our opponents in the playoffs are going to be built. So it's not enough to say "we got caught by one bad matchup." Our coaches need to figure out how to stop this style of offense from picking up chunk play after chunk play, or it will be another early playoff exit. That or our offense needs to start putting up 30+ against every good opponent and just win a bunch of shootouts.

 

I have said one possible solution is playing more man. All those plays where leaking RBs and TEs get wide open in the flats would be defended better if someone was specifically responsible for those players. Watch the Chiefs - they play a lot of man and they're willing to blitz in unpredictable ways.

No other team has that much speed, though. Or as versatile of a run scheme. And besides, they basically played a perfect game against our defense, didn't get to 30 points, and lost the game.

 

I think the game would have been different with Benford. Plus, Milano is coming back later in the year. He is a real difference maker.

[Don Otreply]

35 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

I honestly like the game plan because it's what we usually do against Miami, and it usually works well. It didnt today, for whatever reason, and McD/Babich didnt have answers for Miami's adjustments. That's my bigger concern.

It’s a valid concern, it’s very rare that the Bills D coaches have a plan B as a fall back, this goes back at least to the Leslie Frazier era, and it leaves the team vulnerable to better teams coaches that know how to exploit this weakness, 

 

GO BILLS!!!

[mannc]

1 hour ago, MJS said:

It is a week to week league. The Dolphins offense is DESIGNED to attack our weaknesses (short passes, strong run game, insane speed, lots of screens, etc.) 

Then why is McDaniel 1-7 against us?