So, how is everyone feeling about this defense going into the playoffs?

[Simon]

1 hour ago, In Summary said:

What's the status of DaQuan Jones? Not seeing much in the stat lines for him.

 

I think he spent the majority of the season tiptoeing around so that he would be healthy when the playoffs rolled around (as did Oliver, imo).

fwiw, I thought he's looked much more active and effective over the last month.

This is likely to draw some laughs, but I expect a good postseason from him.

[GoBills808]

6 minutes ago, Simon said:

 

I think he spent the majority of the season tiptoeing around so that he would be healthy when the playoffs rolled around (as did Oliver, imo).

fwiw, I thought he's looked much more active and effective over the last month.

This is likely to draw some laughs, but I expect a good postseason from him.

im actually looking forward to it also

 

heck we've had great defenses that go to pieces in the playoffs before so why shouldn't we have a mediocre one that suddenly finds its form this season

 

i mean it's only fair

[mjt328]

The Bills defense has been a Top 5-10 unit, pretty much since Sean McDermott arrived in 2017.  And it's STILL been our downfall each of the last 4 postseasons, getting shredded by Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow... and even struggling against offenses run by aging Phillip Rivers, Mason Rudolph and Skyler Thompson.  Regardless of how good they've been in the regular season, that side of the ball always steps back in the playoffs.

 

This year, the run defense is much worse.  The pass defense is much worse.  We can't stop teams on 3rd Down, allowing them to hold the ball for ridiculous amounts of time almost every week (keeping our historic offense off the field).  But they are +23 overall in the turnover department, which is by far the best in the entire NFL.  So somehow, it's all worked out in the end.

 

Historically speaking, turnovers can be very fluky.  You really want a defense that is consistently stout and stingy at giving up the field, more than one that is always relying on the big plays to get stops.  I would probably be nervous even if the Bills had the #1 unit in the league, simply because they always fall apart once the real games start.  But this year, I have zero confidence at all going into the playoffs.  

 

Our only hope is that Josh Allen goes absolutely nuclear, and maintains it for 4 weeks in a row.  We will need at least 25 points to beat the Broncos, and 35 points if it's the Bengals in the Wild Card Round.  Probably need another 35+ points  to beat the Ravens and Chiefs, and maybe 40+ if the Super Bowl features the Lions.

 

[Simon]

1 minute ago, GoBills808 said:

im actually looking forward to it also

 

heck we've had great defenses that go to pieces in the playoffs before so why shouldn't we have a mediocre one that suddenly finds its form this season

 

i mean it's only fair

 

I can't remember the last time the defense "seemed" this healthy going into the playoffs.

Hamlin is the only real trouble spot, imo and McDermott has shown the ability to hide one pigeon, if not four.

I'd rather see them taking chances than playing on their heels; it's time to go all in and play to win instead of playing to not get beat.

[No_Matter_What]

3 hours ago, Simon said:

They aren't great by any means, but if healthy, they are good enough to compliment the Bills offense all the way through the SB.

I think the narrative has fed on itself and gotten out of control; the reality is that since Halloween they have really only had one single bad game and that was an out of conference West coast road trip against a HOF QB playing at the absolute peak of abilities.

If the Bills coaches have the stones to coach them more proactively in the postseason, I think they will be OK.

Agree with this.

 

I'll add that I am really only worried about defense against the Ravens. They seem to be really bad matchup for us. Against the Chiefs I think that we already proved that healthy unit can hold its own, and we seem to be as healthy as ever.

[AlCowlingsTaxiService]

3 hours ago, Kelly to Allen said:

In a playoff dress rehearsal 

 

Against a real QB in Rodgers 

 

With real skill talent in Adams, Wilson and Hall 

 

They were up 40-0

 

I can't wait for this historical playoff run. 

I can appreciate your positivity, bud dude, it was the JETS 😂

[Process]

I refuse to believe this defense is as bad as what we saw vs the Lions and Rams. It just doesn't make sense. 

 

I have confidence they'll perform better in the playoffs, now that they are fully healthy. 

[colin]

for some reason, I think they are gonna play way more rock-paper-scissors and do more stunts, run blitzes, different fronts, and blitzes that aren't no pressure CB blitzes or both LBs in the a gap leading to an easy throw to an outlet for 20 yards.

 

I just have this gut feeling that they will come out how they came out vs detroit, way more disguised, way more aggressive in spots, and most of all playing down field.  in the past frazier had too many adjustments and reads trying to defend every blade of grass, and once a good qb figured it out, it was long sustained drives, one after another.

 

I also think groot is playing for 9 figures (as mentioned above) oliver is playing for pride and legacy, and von to be the first player to win superbowls with 3 different teams (matt millen i think did, but i don't think he played on washington over us).  

 

i've been down on our d, fumbles (both ways) are a fluke stat that we are killing it in, and we are terrible on 3rd down.  but for some reason i just think the d is waking up and mcd giving burn to bishop and williams tells me it's a little different this time and they might have some new tricks to show.

[Simon]

3 minutes ago, No_Matter_What said:

I'll add that I am really only worried about defense against the Ravens. They seem to be really bad matchup for us.

 

Their ground game could be an issue if we're playing from behind all day.

I don't put too much stock in the earlier matchup though; they spent all game specifically attacking Dorian Williams, Cam Lewis and Baylon Spector (and Hamlin at times). This will be a very different looking defense if we run into them again.

[colin]

1 minute ago, Process said:

I refuse to believe this defense is as bad as what we saw vs the Lions and Rams. It just doesn't make sense. 

 

I have confidence they'll perform better in the playoffs, now that they are fully healthy. 

 

 

honestly, they weren't bad vs the lions, they just totally fell apart when the back up back ups went in and the refs decided not to call anything.

 

that's a concern of mine, our d gets mashed by physical teams that cheat all the time, we gotta be tougher.

[AlCowlingsTaxiService]

This defense?  Makes me want to drink 🍺

[No_Matter_What]

6 minutes ago, Simon said:

 

Their ground game could be an issue if we're playing from behind all day.

I don't put too much stock in the earlier matchup though; they spent all game specifically attacking Dorian Williams, Cam Lewis and Baylon Spector (and Hamlin at times). This will be a very different looking defense if we run into them again.

Yeah the other thing is that before this season we used to handle them pretty well as far as I remember. Granted, they didn't have Henry before, but still.

 

So there is a hope that it will look different this time with healthy back 7 and DL peaking at the right time (hopefully).

[Simon]

15 minutes ago, Process said:

I refuse to believe this defense is as bad as what we saw vs the Lions

 

They were not bad vs the Lions. This is part of this narrative that has taken on a life of its own but it's not accurate.

 

That game was 35-14 near the end of the 3rd qrtr and the Bills were holding down the best offense in the NFL.

Up to that point Detroit was averaging about 5 1/2 plays per possession and the Bills were smothering them.

 

Then they lucked into a 3rd/17 tipped ball conversion that became a fluky 70yrd TD and after that the Bills called off the dogs and started trading yards for clock with a big lead in the 4thqrtr.

The Bills defense absolutely got the better of the NFL's highest scoring offense during the competitive portion of that game and anybody who says differently wasn't paying attention. 

 

That let down game on the West coast in LA the week after they clinched the division on a Sunday night was the only bad game this defense has played since October.

[WideNine]

3 hours ago, Rubes said:

Now that all of the meaningful regular season games are done, having seen how this defense has performed the last few weeks against the Rams, Lions, Patriots, and the Jets, how are you all feeling about their impact on our playoff chances?

It seems to me that this defense is exactly what we’ve come to know: bend and hope they don’t break. Gives up yards and first downs in chunks, forces offenses into long drives, and hopes the other team screws up and either kicks field goals or turns the ball over. Seems to work okay against below average offenses (New England**** or the Jets), not quite so much against very good offenses (Lions, Rams, Ravens). Sometimes does well against certain teams or schemes (eg, Miami, SF), other times not so much.

 

They say offenses win in the regular season, defenses win in the playoffs. I feel like this defense is going to struggle in the playoffs, where most teams have strong offenses. Seems to me like it’s all going to come down to whether Josh can play out of his mind and carry them on his own.

 

I’d just hate to see another great season by Josh wasted by a porous defense (and crappy special teams, too).

 

 

There seems to be a camp that thinks the losses are over-magnified.

 

Even in our wins our defense often concedes too much yardage, allows too many conversions and chunk plays on down and long distances.

 

We have a middle of the pack defense for the most part stat-wise.  Less than middle on giving up 3rd down conversions, but we do have an opportunistic defense.

 

We have benefited from excellent turnover percentage where we lead the league at +23, but that is where folks are often gobsmacked when we get into the playoffs and find we are facing teams that don't turn over the ball and the gift does not keep on giving.

 

The teams that do turn the ball over frequently rarely make the post season (look at the ones with the negative turnover ratios), so we cannot count on INTs and fumbles falling into our laps and being the answer to stopping long drives and potential scores.

 

Defense has historically been our post season Achilles heel followed closely by coaching gaffes and misses FGs.

 

We are not very good against the run unless we commit more defenders to the box, Babich is really going to need to be a savant at knowing when to do that and when and where we can leave our DBs on an island, how we use single-high looks.

 

We have at times been a great tackling team and other times you wonder where all that discipline went. We need that to be more consistent.

 

Our best bet is for Babich and McD and the rest of the defensive staff to put in the overtime to have great opening drive schemes to get the early stops and our offense not having slow starts.

 

When we get the early lead our opponents may figure out what we are doing on defense, but I think we are difficult to beat in a boat race.

 

Of course our defensive staff and players can prove me wrong. I would gladly eat crow if they come out and stomp the teams we face down the stretch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BeastMaster]

My hope is that the combination of them being healthy, coupled with rest and the fact that they haven't had to go all out for the last few weeks will pay off with a fresher and more energetic defense

[Process]

1 minute ago, Simon said:

 

They were not bad vs the Lions. This is part of this narrative that has taken on a life of its own but it's not accurate.

 

That game was 35-14 very late in the 3rd qrtr and the Bills were holding down the best offense in the NFL.

Up to that point Detroit was averaging about 5 1/2 plays per possession and the Bills were smothering them.

 

Then they lucked into a 3rd/17 tipped ball conversion that became a fluky 70yrd TD and after that the Bills called off the dogs and started trading yards for clock.

The Bills defense absolutely got the better of the NFL's highest scoring offense during the competitive portion of that game and anybody who says differently wasn't paying attention. 

 

That let down game on the West coast in LA the week after they clinched the division on a Sunday night was the only bad game this defense has played since October.

Yea that's fair. I agree with you. Also, missing 3 starters in the secondary is a big deal. 

 

They were bad the first two drives vs both the Pats and Jets, but afterwards were dominant. 

 

Like I said, when healthy I expect to see a better defense in the playoffs. And with our offense, we don't need them to be dominant. 

[CoudyBills]

Not great

[Goin Breakdown]

We've had better defenses than this years defense and the coaching blundered it up. It's hard to feel confident in a lesser defense and the same coaching philosophy. 

[Simon]

3 minutes ago, Process said:

Also, missing 3 starters in the secondary is a big deal. 

 

 

It was actually 4 for a while when Taron went out for a big chunk of one game. 

That also made missing one of their two starting LB's a much bigger problem than it normally would have been, imo.

 

This unit isn't going to dominate people because that's not how it's built or called,  but I think they're way less of a problem than people have been assuming since the Rams game.

[Beck Water]

4 hours ago, Rubes said:

Now that all of the meaningful regular season games are done, having seen how this defense has performed the last few weeks against the Rams, Lions, Patriots, and the Jets, how are you all feeling about their impact on our playoff chances?

It seems to me that this defense is exactly what we’ve come to know: bend and hope they don’t break. Gives up yards and first downs in chunks, forces offenses into long drives, and hopes the other team screws up and either kicks field goals or turns the ball over. Seems to work okay against below average offenses (New England**** or the Jets), not quite so much against very good offenses (Lions, Rams, Ravens). Sometimes does well against certain teams or schemes (eg, Miami, SF), other times not so much.

 

They say offenses win in the regular season, defenses win in the playoffs. I feel like this defense is going to struggle in the playoffs, where most teams have strong offenses. Seems to me like it’s all going to come down to whether Josh can play out of his mind and carry them on his own.

 

I’d just hate to see another great season by Josh wasted by a porous defense (and crappy special teams, too).

 

 

I guess I could best sum up my feelings as "tenuous"

 

On the one hand, in several of the games where we've fared the worst, we were missing key players on defense

Ravens   Terrell Bernard, Taron Johnson, lost Rapp during the game

Texans   Taron Johnson, Rapp.  Bernard 1st game back and he didn't look good

Rams      all starters to begin the game, Ingram for Douglas in 4Q  Milano 2nd game back and he didn't look good

Lions      Douglas (Elam played), Rapp (Bishop and Jackson played)

Patriots  Milano/Williams (Spector played), Douglas (Elam played), Rapp and Hamlin (Bishop and Lewis played)

 

So, when you're down to your 2nd or even 3rd or 4th player at a position, it makes a difference

 

On the other hand, coming back to the Rams game - the word I would use to describe the Bills D at the start of that game is "disinterested".  They simply didn't seem to "bring the juice", like they still had their party hats on and didn't expect a lot of fight from a 7-6 team.  Well surprise surprise that team is now 10-6 and winning their division.

 

I think when we have our starters healthy and we come out ready to play intense and physical, we can stand with almost anyone

I think we don't have enough physically dominant players to win their matchups if we aren't highly motivated or enough backup depth if we are missing more than 1-2 guys.

I also think that if a physically dominant RB like Henry is healthy and comes ready to play, he is A Lot for us.

 

Edited January 1 by Beck Water