What’s it gonna take to improve /prioritize our run defense?

[mannc]

13 minutes ago, SoonerBillsFan said:

We will see.

Great response😀

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

1 hour ago, D. L. Hot-Flamethrower said:

I bet when we most need it we will be able to scheme up against a certain opponent. Right now it's a choice and the run isn't kiiling us.

This is the vibe I get especially because we seem very good at stopping short yardage runs in obvious running situations 

[Solomon Grundy]

12 minutes ago, SoMAn said:

Ted Washington, Kyle Williams, Sam Adams, or reasonable facsimiles. Wide body run-stuffing athletic DT. 

Pat Williams 

[buffaloboyinATL]

[mannc]

12 minutes ago, SoMAn said:

Ted Washington, Kyle Williams, Sam Adams, or reasonable facsimiles. Wide body run-stuffing athletic DT. 

The Bills have made a conscious decision NOT to draft these kind of DTs, opting for Ed Oliver over, say, Dexter Lawrence and Jeffrey Simmons…I’m guessing they would also have passed on T’Vondre Sweat, that huge DT from Texas, if he had been available at 60 last year…

[Jauronimo]

21 minutes ago, SoonerBillsFan said:

We will see.

And if we don't?

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

50 minutes ago, GASabresIUFan said:

In the regular season and that's the issue.  How do we take the next step if good teams can run the ball down our throats in the playoffs and limit our possessions.  

I gotta be honest I would love the chiefs trying to pound the run all game in the playoffs…that’s likely gonna lead to a lot of 3rd and medium passing situations and with those OTs they have I don’t trust them to pick a lot of those up. 

 

outside of the ravens nobody is particularly great at running the football on the afc playoff side 

Edited December 3 by Generic_Bills_Fan

[f0neguy]

Next draft or two Beane should prioritize 1T in the draft.  The veterans he has brought in have been okay early in the season but they get worn down.  We need a couple of huge young players that can physically hold up to the abuse.

[appoo]

I do not think McDermott cares if teams run the ball well outside the red zone. He believes that eventually their nickel base will get a stop outside the red on first down and they can be in their bag with the pass defending schemes.

 

They are fairly effective at stopping the run inside the 20 so we have evidence this is all a choice.  
 

Even though I don’t love the feel of it, but considering how few points the Bills give up I don’t really have a leg to stand on in saying something should be changed 

Edited December 3 by appoo

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

3 minutes ago, Solomon Grundy said:

Pat Williams 

 

I think the challenge is... size doesn't mean good.  The reason Reader and lawrence are so good at their size isn't because they weigh 340+ lbs, its play strength, leverage, hand usage, and deceptive quickness.  

[Charles Romes]

The current run D scheme regularly gets gashed for 10-25 years runs, but also regularly produces stops of -2 or more yards, ending many drives. 

[mannc]

4 minutes ago, f0neguy said:

Next draft or two Beane should prioritize 1T in the draft.  The veterans he has brought in have been okay early in the season but they get worn down.  We need a couple of huge young players that can physically hold up to the abuse.

I can almost guarantee our first pick in 2025 will be a DL…

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

7 minutes ago, mannc said:

The Bills have made a conscious decision NOT to draft these kind of DTs, opting for Ed Oliver over, say, Dexter Lawrence and Jeffrey Simmons…I’m guessing they would also have passed on T’Vondre Sweat, that huge DT from Texas, if he had been available at 60 last year…

 

Simmons wasn't particularly big. Oliver at 6'3 290 vs. simmons coming out at 6'4 304 - i'm not sure i factor that into my draft decision that much.  Donald was 6'1 280.. you can be an effective player at a smaller size.   

[GunnerBill]

34 minutes ago, SoonerBillsFan said:

Oliver IMHO is worthless esp for what we are paying him.  He was problem #1 against the Ravens.  We need bigger DT's that can also push the pocket.

 

 

Oliver has had his worst season since his 2nd year this year, that is true. But he was not #1 problem vs the Ravens. That was the 2nd level - linebackers and nickel. The Ravens designed their entire gameplan to attack that part of the defense and never came off it.

[mannc]

Just now, Bleeding Bills Blue said:

 

Simmons wasn't particularly big. Oliver at 6'3 290 vs. simmons coming out at 6'4 304 - i'm not sure i factor that into my draft decision that much.  Donald was 6'1 280.. you can be an effective player at a smaller size.   

I’m not sure about that.  Simmons appears to be MUCH bigger than lil’ Ed. Maybe he just bulked up…

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

1 minute ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Oliver has had his worst season since his 2nd year this year, that is true. But he was not #1 problem vs the Ravens. That was the 2nd level - linebackers and nickel. The Ravens designed their entire gameplan to attack that part of the defense and never came off it.

 

Yeah... Williams who struggled in that one with the passing game.  Spector who played tentative all game.  And probably cam lewis worst game of the year.  Rapp getting injured in the first half was the cherry on top.  

[ganesh]

1 hour ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

I’ve gotta see the lions game before I can judge how bad it is.  To me that’s a game where you want to load up against the run and trust benford to take st brown out of the game without a ton of help 

 

ravens ran all over us but they have ran all over pretty much everybody and we were missing a ton of guys.  You’ve gotta worry about Lamar getting to the edge too so that makes stopping the run up the middle tougher.  Goff is a little different than that 🤣

we also had so many starters missing from the defense in that game and yet we were one fumble away from being down by just three points

[Savage]

1 hour ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

A little off topic, but the comments that Andy Reid made after the bills game makes me think he is going to basically run the ball 40 times against us if we play them again.

I would do the same, and go for it on every fourth and short.

 

the Bills just can’t stop it.

 

[Buffalo Junction]

1 hour ago, GASabresIUFan said:

As they said on the Sunday night broadcast, the Bills D is designed to force teams to run the ball between the 20s.  This bend and don't break philosophy is great in the regular season and works against 25+ NFL teams.  Where it consistently fails is against teams that have elite running games.  Henry and Barkley are often, but not always, this team's kryptonite.  

 

The question for the Bills is how to adjust the defense to limit those teams in the playoffs.  I'm not sure McD has ever found an adequate answer.

Unfortunately the actual answer is get a top 1-tech DT that has a good pass rushing skillset. Those guys are difficult to come by. 

[No_Matter_What]

To me the whole premise of this thread is just wrong.

 

In regular season, this is close to a non-issue. Yes sometimes it seems that we can't stop the run but who cares? We are not losing games because of it. How many games in the past 5-6 years did we lose because teams run on us? Maybe 2019 Eagles game, 2020 Chiefs game, 2021 Patriots, Titans and Colts games, 2024 Ravens game?

 

That is one game a year, and even then it is also combined with offense playing bad - like Ravens this year or infamous Patriots windy game.

 

It is the way this defense is designed and it almost always works. It didn't work vs Ravens this year since we were without Johnson, Milano and Bernard.

 

As for PO, if refuse to rewatch those games, but I really don't remember any game which we lost because of our run defense. 2023 we lost because we couldn't get to Mahomes, 2022 whole team was off, 2021 don't even get me started, 2020 Hill and Kelce combined for 290 yards receiving.

 

Our run defense is far from perfect but it won't stop us from winning SB.

 

I'd say let's win SB this year with healthy Bernard and Milano and then draft some monster 1T in round 1 or 2 so we can repeat.

Edited December 3 by No_Matter_What