Part 2- Another disaster by McDs defense in the playoffs

[MikePJ76]

10 hours ago, JP51 said:

Turnovers are a great equalizer let's hope we win the TO battle on sunday

This week is a very different battle.  
 

the chiefs like the bills do not give the ball up. 
 

I believe the chiefs have not committed a turnover in 8 straight games and the bills have had a record 12 games this year where they did not commit a turnover.

 

 

[colin]

the d is not great, nor did it have a great game vs baltimore by most measures.  what it did was turn up the variance on baltimore, but did so generally limiting big plays.  it's a high stress way to play, but perhaps the best way for us to face baltimore.  basically, we played to maximize negative plays for baltimore, but did so within a scheme that was built to greatly limit the very big gainers.  if hamlin found depth on the pass that got to the 2 yard line, that might have been another pick or at least an incomplete, so there was a little meat on the bone.  the way i looked at it, the way we were playing D, there was nearly no chance we could stop baltimore on 4 downs, but we could send them backwards or even take the ball away on one single play.  that ended up being the story on 3 turnovers (two were good forced ones, one was just a crazy effort play by bernard), and we stopped them on 2 2 point attempts, and that was just enough to win the game.

 

on the other side, we kind of played the opposite.  every single play was run with the intent of not making a mistake.  i thought it was too conservative at times for sure, but that ball was kept fort knox safe.  the play on 3rd down from the 2 where josh ran it out of shotgun, we have run that play like 50 times this season.  baltimore knew 100% what we were doing and it had very little chance of getting past them if they didn't make a mistake, but it also had a near zero fumble chance, so i get why they ran it.

 

im worried about our d still, worried about being too conservative on O, and worried about injuries on d, but our coaches have shown more adaptability than before so that's nice.

[JohnNord]

8 hours ago, SoTier said:

McDermott and Babich have taken a bunch of lemons and made some tasty lemonade.   I don't think that there's anyone who believes that the Bills have a particularly talented defense, but they are probably one of the best coached defenses in the NFL this year.  I don't care that the Ravens didn't punt on Sunday because 3 of their drives resulted in turn overs which yielded 10 of the Bills 27 points.   Moreover, the Bills defense has regularly forced take aways all season and have done it against the best teams they've played including the Chiefs (2) and Lions (1)  as well as the Ravens (3).  

 

 

Right - A lot of people who are critical about the defense are really overlooking the overall talent.  The defense is what it is - there probably aren’t any players among the Top 10 at their defensive position.  Still despite this, they’ve put together two good defensive performances against two of the NFL’s top coaches.  
 

Baltimore was a terrible matchup on paper - probably the worst in the AFC for Buffalo.  Yet they stood their ground, largely due to coaching and of course execution.

 

The defense is far from a shut down group.  They have flaws which are going to be exploited, you just hope they can steal a few possessions for the offense.  

[JohnNord]

10 hours ago, Toyo321 said:

We can all say what we want but this teams D is by no means elite.  Just go back and watch the replay of the last two passes & the touchdown throw Lamar had against us in the 4th qtr.   There was not a Bills Defensive Line player within 5 yards of him when he made these throws.  Our D is too volatile to be relied upon.  We did not force a single punt by them.  It was more Lamar and Andrews mistakes than us forcing them.   Our D excels on some plays and is nowhere to be found on plays like these last two passes & that touchdown pass.  Our D needs work in the offseason and in the draft.  It is only average for a reason this season and it is what it is for the rest of the year.  I never expected this team to get to the AFCCG this year with the talent we had, we did not sign any difference makers.  Our Safeties and CB's are frankly very replaceable.   I hate to say it but next year was the year many people thought that this team would be better because we will have money to sign  FA players again, and have another draft.

 

We are just along for the ride at this point.   This track that this "D's" roller-coaster is on, is all over the place, all you can do is hold on for as long as this ride lasts.

 

Not sure when it will end.  We have to get a little help and not shoot ourselves in the foot for two more games.

I think you’re selling Christian Benford very short.  He’s about the be paid like a #1 CB and  deservingly so.  
 

Also the whole “not forcing a punt” narrative is a little misleading considering that they have 3 takeaways.  
 

Overall though, I’d agree on the talent.  It’s largely average across the board. 

[GerstAusGosheim]

8 hours ago, DabillsDaBillsDaBills said:

Obviously it wasn't a disaster, but it would have been without the turnovers. 

 

We forced 0 punts in the entire game. ZERO punts. 

 

Ravens were 7/10 on 3rd down. One of those stops turned into a 4th down that the Ravens converted and the other 2 were FGs.

 

We allowed 177 rushing yards on 29 attempts (excluding end of 1st half kneel down). 

 

The 3 forced turnovers make this a moderately bad defensive game. Without the turnovers this is a historically bad defensive game 

 

Stop the run and pray for mistakes. 

 

[JP51]

3 hours ago, JerseyBills said:

highest turnover differential in the league. 

1 penalty,  zero drops,  zero turnovers by Buf 

This is how you win SBs

Agreed 100% as well as players stepping up out of character.. looked like Ed O had one of his better games... gonna need that going forward... and from more than him... would love to see Amari Cooper with a big game for us as well... 

2 hours ago, eball said:

 

Two of the three Raven turnovers were forced by the defense.  The INT was due to a blitz and Bernard’s “peanut punch” on Andrews.  Lamar’s fumble was just him being careless with the ball.

 

I actually agree kind of but we did break thru and pressure him... Hamlin was right on him with Von and Jefferson coming... I have see LJ turn plays like that into solid gains... I think you gotta give the D at least partial credit on that one too... 

1 hour ago, Sweats said:

 

 

 

I can't really see many turnovers against KC.......they are much too disciplined for that.

I hope our D has a solid plan in place to just be able to grit it out and not have to rely on turnovers to win this one.

You and me both... turnovers seem to be feast and famine sometimes... I am just hoping for at least +1 no worse than even. 

[JP51]

1 hour ago, SageAgainstTheMachine said:

People are generally underrating just how difficult this Ravens team is to stop.  

agreed 100% my keys to the game were win the turn over battle and force FGs cause they are gonna move the ball and get theirs... Bills did a solid job of that especially holding them to a FG when they were on the 2. 

[BringBackFlutie]

24 minutes ago, JP51 said:

Agreed 100% as well as players stepping up out of character.. looked like Ed O had one of his better games... gonna need that going forward... and from more than him... would love to see Amari Cooper with a big game for us as well... 

I actually agree kind of but we did break thru and pressure him... Hamlin was right on him with Von and Jefferson coming... I have see LJ turn plays like that into solid gains... I think you gotta give the D at least partial credit on that one too... 

You and me both... turnovers seem to be feast and famine sometimes... I am just hoping for at least +1 no worse than even. 

 

I don't see the turnovers as luck, I think the entire plan on Sunday was to use our home field advantage and let them make mistakes with a slippery ball, frozen field, cold hands, etc. We basically said, "we can play in this, and the pressure will be on you to keep up and be uncomfortable doing it." We knew we wouldn't turn the ball over and that we could put up points, and we knew that the Ravens weren't going to be patient enough to stick with Henry. The positive turnover differential was inevitable for us.

[PaattMaann]

12 hours ago, JP51 said:

Turnovers are a great equalizer let's hope we win the TO battle on sunday

 

The defense was really solid even without the turnovers. Holding Henry to under 90 yards rushing and Jackson to under 40.

 

And yes turnovers are a great equalizer, and thats why we work so hard to cause them. Turnovers and negative plays, havoc, thats what this defense looks for. 

[SoonerBillsFan]

12 hours ago, RoscoeParrish said:

Mcdermott’s defense continues to be an integral reason we have won two playoff games and are playing in Arrowhead Sunday night. 
 

We have now won the wild card and divisional round without Josh needing to be Superman. Something many have said was impossible given McDs limitations. 
 

His soft Nickel refusing to adjust choking defensive facts from the Ravens game:
 

-The Bills blitzed Jackson on 15 of 31 dropbacks (48.4%), their 5th-highest blitz rate in a game under Sean McDermott and highest in a game since Week 15, 2021.

 

-The Bills defense played man coverage on 46.7% of pass plays in the first half, the unit's highest rate since Week 12, 2022.

 

-Bills played 3 LBs 33.3% of the plays last night. We saw several plays with Dorian as the Sam linebacker ON the line of scrimmage.

 

-Derrick Henry 84 yards rushing. Lamar Jackson 39 yards rushing. 

Well McDermott has 1-2 games to show he is truly the man.

 

I hope he can

[JP51]

11 minutes ago, BringBackFlutie said:

 

I don't see the turnovers as luck, I think the entire plan on Sunday was to use our home field advantage and let them make mistakes with a slippery ball, frozen field, cold hands, etc. We basically said, "we can play in this, and the pressure will be on you to keep up and be uncomfortable doing it." We knew we wouldn't turn the ball over and that we could put up points, and we knew that the Ravens weren't going to be patient enough to stick with Henry. The positive turnover differential was inevitable for us.

Oh I dont see them as luck either... I might even go as far as saying we actually had a more conservative game plan on offense because of EXACTLY what you are saying... like I dont know that for a fact... but if we did it seemed to work out. 

[T master]

11 hours ago, Toyo321 said:

We can all say what we want but this teams D is by no means elite.  Just go back and watch the replay of the last two passes & the touchdown throw Lamar had against us in the 4th qtr.   There was not a Bills Defensive Line player within 5 yards of him when he made these throws.  Our D is too volatile to be relied upon.  We did not force a single punt by them.  It was more Lamar and Andrews mistakes than us forcing them.   Our D excels on some plays and is nowhere to be found on plays like these last two passes & that touchdown pass.  Our D needs work in the offseason and in the draft.  It is only average for a reason this season and it is what it is for the rest of the year.  I never expected this team to get to the AFCCG this year with the talent we had, we did not sign any difference makers.  Our Safeties and CB's are frankly very replaceable.   I hate to say it but next year was the year many people thought that this team would be better because we will have money to sign  FA players again, and have another draft.

 

We are just along for the ride at this point.   This track that this "D's" roller-coaster is on, is all over the place, all you can do is hold on for as long as this ride lasts.

 

Not sure when it will end.  We have to get a little help and not shoot ourselves in the foot for two more games.

 

I agree that this D has been the soft spot for the Bills this season but 1 thing that a lot of Bills fans don't take into consideration is when it comes to all of the coaches on this team including the HC every one of them are very new to their positions and i feel learning a lot while on the job but as we've seen and heard haters will be haters for any mistake while learning to be better .

 

When the Bills first played the Ravens that was Babich 4th game as the DC of the Bills and by the end of the game he was with out 4 starters and with all of his ammo back and what he had learned through out the season he has proved him self to be better now than in the beginning of the season so that gives me hope .

 

I know Beane see's this team and knows what it needs to take the next step and i totally believe that in the coming draft we will all see that he knows what this team needs and the players he gets weather it be in the draft or free agency will help the team be better on the defensive side than they are now .

 

This last game the Bills also had a little bit of something that they are always on the wrong side of and that is luck ! The Bills are always the team that has the drop, or has a player out of place, or what ever it is but they always seem to draw the short straw and in this game they were the recipients of a little bit of that luck .

 

Every one doubted this team this season which is a place i would rather have them at the Bills always seem to be better as the underdog and once again this entire season and even now the doubters are still saying they don't have a chance to go all the way .

 

FEED ME !! Please keep that gong because that just gives these guys more fuel to get it done . Yes they are not elite but they are in no way short on heart and sometimes that with a little bit of luck can go a long way and even though they are going up against the Jordan of the NFL i know the Chiefs are not underestimating them in any way .

 

All that being said i agree with a lot of what you are saying but for some reason i feel the weapons are there and all's it takes when the clock hits 0 is to be ahead by 1 point and if this team is on their game they can beat any one as long as they are playing their game so with all this rambling i will end it with this .

 

GO BILLS !!! MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU ...

[Mat68]

I think Mcdermott is willing to play matchups on defense more than in years past.  Without the vets its allowed them to be more multiple in defense.  Curious how KC looks to attack.  I assume 2 Te and I think Buffalo will stay in Nickel.  He will force Reid to run.  Stop it on early downs and they will abandon it much faster than Baltimore.  Dime will be this week’s 4-3.  Zone blitz and disguise coverage will catch Mahomes off guard expecting a man heavy approach.   

[WNYFAN1]

12 hours ago, Toyo321 said:

We can all say what we want but this teams D is by no means elite.  Just go back and watch the replay of the last two passes & the touchdown throw Lamar had against us in the 4th qtr.   There was not a Bills Defensive Line player within 5 yards of him when he made these throws.  Our D is too volatile to be relied upon.  We did not force a single punt by them.  It was more Lamar and Andrews mistakes than us forcing them.   Our D excels on some plays and is nowhere to be found on plays like these last two passes & that touchdown pass.  Our D needs work in the offseason and in the draft.  It is only average for a reason this season and it is what it is for the rest of the year.  I never expected this team to get to the AFCCG this year with the talent we had, we did not sign any difference makers.  Our Safeties and CB's are frankly very replaceable.   I hate to say it but next year was the year many people thought that this team would be better because we will have money to sign  FA players again, and have another draft.

 

We are just along for the ride at this point.   This track that this "D's" roller-coaster is on, is all over the place, all you can do is hold on for as long as this ride lasts.

 

Not sure when it will end.  We have to get a little help and not shoot ourselves in the foot for two more games.

100%

[msw2112]

I said here in TBD before the game that no defense was going to fully stop the Ravens offense, just like no defense in the playoffs are going to fully stop the Bills, Lions, Eagles, or Rams offense.  As to Baltimore, Lamar Jackson is a MVP finalist having arguably his best season, putting up video game numbers.  Meanwhile, Derrick Henry had one of the best seasons in history for a running back, and is huge and fast.  The Ravens were not going to be shut down and they would score their fair share of points.  I said what the Bills needed to do was: a) hold a Ravens drive or two that could be a TD to a FG.  They did that.  b) Force a turnover or 2.  They did that.  c) Posses the ball on offense enough to limit the number of Ravens opportunities and score enough points to match the Ravens.  Basically, it's going to be a one-possession game, so score enough points so that the turnover, or FG instead of TD by the Ravens, would be the difference.  That's exactly what happened.  For what it's worth, even if the Ravens had converted the 2-point try, I believe the Bills would have gotten the kickoff out to the 30, and then, with 2 timeouts, would have moved the ball into FG range, while milking the clock down to a few seconds, and kicked the winning FG.  Andrews just made it a little easier.

 

Next week's game is going to be different.  KC is at home and has a knack for winning close games.  I'm not sure the Bills pull it out if it's a one-score game.  The Bills are going to need to open up the offense more against KC.  KC's offense is not as explosive as the Ravens, but they will make fewer mistakes and will make plays when the game is on the line.  Thus, the Bills are going have to jump out to a lead and keep the pressure on the Chiefs.  Going conservative in the 2nd half like they did against the Ravens is much less likely to work.  To add, if the Bills can get a lead and keep being aggressive, they can take the crowd out of the game.  One other thing that I think will be key is to set up screen passes on 3rd down.  Chris Jones and Karlaftis will get pressure and the Bills need to take full advantage of it by setting up screens to Ty Johnson, Samuel, and Shakir.

Edited 11 hours ago by msw2112

[BullBuchanan]

13 hours ago, Toyo321 said:

We can all say what we want but this teams D is by no means elite.  Just go back and watch the replay of the last two passes & the touchdown throw Lamar had against us in the 4th qtr.   There was not a Bills Defensive Line player within 5 yards of him when he made these throws.  Our D is too volatile to be relied upon.  We did not force a single punt by them.  It was more Lamar and Andrews mistakes than us forcing them.   Our D excels on some plays and is nowhere to be found on plays like these last two passes & that touchdown pass.  Our D needs work in the offseason and in the draft.  It is only average for a reason this season and it is what it is for the rest of the year.  I never expected this team to get to the AFCCG this year with the talent we had, we did not sign any difference makers.  Our Safeties and CB's are frankly very replaceable.   I hate to say it but next year was the year many people thought that this team would be better because we will have money to sign  FA players again, and have another draft.

 

We are just along for the ride at this point.   This track that this "D's" roller-coaster is on, is all over the place, all you can do is hold on for as long as this ride lasts.

 

Not sure when it will end.  We have to get a little help and not shoot ourselves in the foot for two more games.

Not sure if you noticed, but on non-blitzing plays most of the D-line was trying to contain. It seems they rarely had more than 1 of the 4 push Lamar while the rest held their gaps so he couldn't run free. For what it's worth, it worked very well too.

[Ramza86]

This looks like satire....ill give the Bills credit against the Ravens because they have pretty much been unstoppable. They played their asses off. 

 

That said....thank god for the big plays from our players...because the Ravens were going to hang up another 38 on us. 

Idk if anyone has this stat on hand....but we cant be any good at 3rd and medium or longer and this isnt just against Baltimore...this is against any competent offense.

Dont even get me started on the opposition in a must score situation.....Ive never seen teams march down 80 yards on us so fast than I have this season. That has to change asap.

Edited 11 hours ago by Ramza86

[TheBrownBear]

1 minute ago, Ramza86 said:

This looks like satire....ill give the Bills credit against the Ravens because they have pretty much been unstoppable. They played their asses off. 

 

That said....thank god for the big plays from our players...because the Ravens were going to hang up another 38 on us. 

Idk if anyone has this stat on hand....but we cant be any good at 3rd and medium or longer and this isnt just against Baltimore...this is against any competent offense.

Dont even get me started on the opposition in a must score situation.....Ive never seen teams march down 80 yards on us so fast than I have this season. That has to change asap.

It is what it is at this point.  We just aren't a very good defense.  We will either need to continue to turn the ball over a ton or our offense will need to be elite.  There's no more cupcakes (like Denver) left to feast on.  

[skibum]

The D stood tall when they had to. They had a monster goal line stand and stopped two 2-point conversion attempts. That's 3 trips inside the 5 for Balto where they couldn't get in, despite having Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson on their roster.

 

They made Henry look average, They kept Lamar's legs largely in check, they forced three turnovers (which are are much better than punts, thank you very much), and they did this all without committing a single penalty. 

 

Yeah, there were times when the deep coverage was blown and/or Lamar had a luxurious pocket, but those are things that happen with the most mobile quarterback in NFL history running around back there. Extending the play ALWAYS favors the offense. This is perhaps the one thing, more than anything else, that has allowed both the Ravens and the Bills to rise above the rest of the NFL. 

 

Anyway, it was a total team victory with the O scoring enough to have won 9/10 of the playoff games played so far, and the D making huge plays. I think the D made more of an impact, though, and it's sweet because they were supposed to get flogged by the big, bad Ravens. 

[Rubes]

McDermott and Babich have definitely been making lemonade from lemons this year, and I give them big credit for helping us get this far.

 

But let's not delude ourselves: if we're in a tight game with KC and they need a score to win, we ain't stopping them. That's why McD went for it on 4th down last time, he knew we needed to score to give us a bigger cushion.