ColdBlueNorth

Need Special Teams to step up for field position with the way our D plays

Fitz has got to get those passes down - you would think he was a rookie in his first game.

The Defense of the Bills 2 stops then give up huge chunks of yardage - 2 stops huge gain, 2 stops huge gain, 2 stops huge gain..., 2 stops huge gain.... TD. Still looking like the "coaching" staff is hoping to get off the field on 3rd down instead of coaching how to get off the field on 3rd down.

You make a good point JPS, and it is true that a good defense allows an offense to try some different tactics to get on the board. When the other team is carving you up it forces the offense to throw more and become that much more predictable; not a good combination when you see the talent and depth of our line - not knocking guys we were recently praising, but they are used to holding their blocks for a certain amount of time and teams are forcing them to hold a second longer. A good defense would also keep us in games when the offense is simply struggling to move the ball. Good teams have the defense to keep them in games till their offense can put together drives. Chan said early on in the year that some folks would try to put them up on a pedestal and neither he nor buddy thought they were there yet. We are a draft and a few free-agents away from being able to dictate games and this team still has to find a way to cut down on injuries better than it has thus far.

Although I do not have the highest of opinions on Edward's ability to come up with good defensive game plans, I have to admit that he is in a bad situation every time he puts our corners (particularly McKelvin) in one on one coverage to allow for the extra pass rusher.

I have to agree that our defense is not very good. Troup has been a non-factor, the loss of Kyle Williams, Kelsay, and the time lost getting Aaron Williams coached up to play corner hasn't helped either. On offense we know the injury bug that has hit our tackles and I was concerned about our depth early on at that position. The loss of Easley I do not think helped very much either. He had the size and speed to be difficult to jam at the line. We are a d-tackle, pass rusher, and lock down corner away from having a decent defense, but I have to wonder is the Wannestadt/Edwards combo that bad, or are we just that limited on talent on the defensive side. This unit really struggles against mobile QBs and couldn't keep Romo in the pocket and his rollouts nullified any pressure they tried to bring up the middle. The only good thing to come out of these games is that Carrington gets some valuable experience for rotation purposes, and we now have a better appreciation for what Kelsay brings to our front 4.

McKelvin gets scored on more than Scarlett Johannson; there is a reason offensive coordinators throw his way when he is one on one. Edwards still needs to go though.

I have to disagree, we get "consistently" jobbed on those challenge calls. Wilson's hand was under the ball the whole time - Hochuli is a biased tool. Not only did the video evidence support the INT, there was definately not enough evidence to overturn the ruling on the field.

Agreed Bill. The INT in the end zone that Sanchez had I believe was the result of Spencer Johnson being a split second away from sacking him. He is definately a QB where pressure will affect his throwing. He threw some wobblers out there that shocked me they were not intercepted. We have seen an improved run defense. Dominant? Not so much, but definately better than last year. We need better defensive backs. Lock down corners allow you to bring blitz pressure on the QB from the safety and LB positions without worrying so much about being burned. If we could actually stop a throw or two our defense could force a punt and be able to rest up a bit before having to take the field - that would lead to a better pass rush, etc... Right now, McGee is about the only DB we have that can handle man coverage. Our stable of corners over the Jauron era were all better suited for his cover-2 zone scheme; though I was probably one of the few that thought Yobouty had the makings of a good man coverage corner, I loved his closing speed when he came up on run support too - water under the bridge at this stage. Hopefully Aaron Williams pans out - if he does, then we are one step closer to fielding a defense that can really impose their will on another team. We may be all right at LT, Bell worries me with his inability to stay healthy, but Hairston looked downright beasty out there before his ankle got rolled from behind. Early picks used on another solid DB or dominant DL player would not be bad choices in next year's draft.

I don't know if I totally buy into a sizable talent gap other than at DB where the Jets have arguably the best lock-down corners in the league and I believe that Plaxico and Holmes make a good 1-2 punch at WR. We are a few pieces away, and we have a good foundation of young talent that has yet to come into their own - may be too much to ask that they get there this year. I think they need to throw Aaron Williams into the deep end of the pool, he needs to be on a fast track for the Bills brass to see what they have at DB. I like McGee, but he was getting pushed around a lot. McKelvin is a liability, and Florence is an average talent who works hard. The gap between teams and winning and losing is often relatively small - the biggest reason the Jets sucked at the beginning of the year is that Mangold was out. The Jets without Mangold could not control the line of scrimmage and run the ball which is their bread and butter ground and pound game, and had to lean on Sanchez's arm and decision making - fail. They were not able to move the chains consistently nor maintain the time of possession that they use to smother opposing offenses. You are absolutely right that the Jets defense and offense has been built up to challenge New England's short passing spread offense and keep the ball out of Brady's hands. Belichik recognized this and drafted tight ends that would give the Jets matchup problems down the seam and across the middle. That being said, Brady may not see the field with the way NE's defense has been giving up yards. The Jets will be more than happy just to eat up clock and pound out 3-4 yards a pop. With the Jets designed to stop that attack they are ideally suited to shut down the offense that Gailey has implemented. Gailey will need to get his RBs out on the edges more to counter the Jets run blitzes, roll Fitz out and get Chandler and Nelson more involved in the passing game. They also have to challenge the offensive line to hold their blocks long enough for some deep posts and crossing routes to develop - the Jets were all over the short stuff. At the end of the day, Gailey was right - there is only so much you can do with formations and matchups. There comes a point in time where you have to say we are going to be more physical than you at the point of attack and be able to grind out short yardage when needed. The Bills O-Line (which has been a pleasant success story this year) lost that battle yesterday.

How the Jets defend the bunch formation was featured on some NFL program this week that I happened to catch. They were showing how the Jets fooled Rivers into throwing into coverage. It is pretty creative stuff - if there are 3 receivers in a bunch formation on the right side of the offensive formation they have 3 defenders in close. Instead of going man to man they double one guy at the line so he can't even release, another DB picks up the outside guy, but that appears to leave one guy with a clean release inside; however, they slide a safety, db, or lb to the right just before the snap and he actually drops back and picks up the guy who is releasing inside. With Fitz having to make quick decisions, it is wrinkles like that one they threw at him that made him start to hold the ball a bit longer and scan the field more. Gailey is going to have to go into Megamind-mode for our next matchup against the Jests, I am getting a bit tired of their chest thumping.

Other than that first drive our defense actually did pretty well against their running game they only had 126 yards on nearly 40 carries. What we did not do well was stop the slants that kept short yardage plays moving, and we did not have an answer for Buress running that post mid-field where he just used his size to shield McGee from the ball. Compared to the way they ran all over us last year this was a vast improvement and if our Offense had shown up today, I don't know if the defense cracks so bad in the 3rd. I agree with you though, that we are a few defensive players away from being a dominant defensive team. DB and DE are our current needs although I think Carrington turned in a good performance today and has more upside to show. Has Troup been on the field? Have not heard his name called all year.

The Bills faced a strong team after their bye week while missing their starting left tackle and for all intents and purposes their starting left guard because Levitre had to move over. The defense after allowing the Jets to eat up the field got a turnover and I felt that they really tightened up on the run - this game was nothing like the run all over us jokes the Jets have had over recent years. The Jets were able to convert on 3rd downs though often by slinging a quick slant to gain just enough to run a few more plays. The old Bills gave up 567 rushing yards in our two tilts with the Jets in 2010, today 126 yards on almost 40 carries. The defense was not getting run over. What is still suspect is our ability to cover TE's and to play man on the outside. I felt that the Jets played more physical than our offensive line this week, and that was the biggest difference in the game. We were unable to move them off the ball and Jackson had no where to run. I did feel that some of Chan's play calling was suspect; he should have been more patient with the run and I think Spiller showed that he had enough speed to turn the corner and would have made a good change of pace back for this game. 4th and inches needs to be a QB sneak, or a direct snap to Fred or Corey McIntyre something other than that slow developing train wreck we saw. I would have also liked to see a fake there with a rollout to hit Chandler. The Jets sold out on stopping Jackson, why serve up what they are looking for? Fitz missed on some throws, and failed to see a wide open Nelson on a post when he went for a low percentage throw at the sideline - he seemed to be impatient with what the Jets were willing to give up. On the throws he made we had some uncharacteristic drops. I am not as upset with the INT as some folks were, I have seen the Jets do some interesting things with coverage. One of the things they like to do is to have the guy who looks like he is covering someone appear to mess up and the Jets appear to double-up on one receiver, but they sneak a LB , extra DB, or Safety out to the flat to take away the short post out of the bunch formation. Since the guy who is actually covering the receiver comes from the opposite side of where the QB is making his read he thinks his receiver is breaking clean. They were waiting for that formaiton, they game planned for it and Fitz threw into it. They did similar things to Phillip Rivers when the Chargers used a bunch formation. The second INT was a tipped pass so... The fix was in: yes, I don't like to think that officiating can change the outcome of a game, but in tight games a pass interference call down near the goal line does just that. The same can be said for the non-call on Plaxico's pushing off where he shoved McGee into the endzone before he made his catch. That was as blatant as it gets. Ed Hochuli has never been kind to the Bills. McKelvin still baffles me, can someone please coach him to stay on his feet on go routes and not fall into the receiver while flailing about like a landed trout. He literally begs for flags whether the ball is catchable or not, or whether he actually makes real contact or not. He has no sense for where the ball is when it is in the air.... I don't know what else to say, but whenever teams see him manning the outside they start licking their chops because they know they don't really have to throw a catchable ball for him to fall into their receivers. Heck I would coach my receivers to slow up and let him run into them while throwing his arms up and not looking for the ball. Instant hankie and completion every time. On the touchdown throw right after that he did not even appear to know that the ball was thrown to his man till the catch was made. He is not very good. Hopefully our boys get healthy and they now have some decent tape on exactly what the Jets did today. Chan will not make it as easy for them in the rematch.

Meh, wasn't a factor.

All and all run defense was pretty stout, goal line needs some work - no one keyed on fullback and he walked in easy. Need to learn how to win the grind it out games and be patient, expected more TE and Nelson action on posts and passes down the seam. Jets were all over the short stuff and generally a bit more physical. Still not impressed with Sanchez, some of those ducks he threw just amazed me that no one picked them off, but our coverage is and has been suspect. This is also a team that we needed to challenge in the middle with their LBs crowding the line. I did notice another that team goes after McKelvin and he does his patented fall into the receiver while flailing his arms about and drew that 40+ yard pass interference call that took us out of a close game. Have less of an issue with McGee mis-timing his pass breakup attempt in the end zone - other than the ball had not even been thrown yet:) None of our corners are very well coached in my opinion... really struggle getting their heads turned towards the ball. If I were an opposing coach I would throw deep just about every play and let the hankies fly on this group. We need Aaron Williams to develop and they could use another solid DB in next years draft if we plan to play a lot of man.

Agree. I especially expect Nelson to have a bigger role, his size and speed create mismatches in the slot, and I would expect the Bills to do a lot of bunch formations to keep the Jets from being able to jam off the line. Fred needs to have a great game. I would like to see us do some power runs behind Wood, Levitre, and Hairston. If the Bills can prove they can move the ball against a Jet's D-line that is expecting run, that would set the tone for a long day for their defense. We should know - that has been their blue print the last couple seasons against us. This is a huge test for our run defense; the Jets come in expecting to run the ball down our throats. I am hoping that Mr. Green and Mr. LaDanian get an early up close and personal association with Mr Dareus. The Jets have not had to deal with a Bills team that has a legit bull rushing force in the middle of the line.

I like our match-ups in the middle of the field with Chandler and Nelson using their size and speed mismatches against nickle DBs and linebackers. Since McGee has come back it hasn't been as much of a feeding frenzy - Florence needs to play well and not have the kind of game he had against the G-men.

They really feel that they can continue to run all over the Bills as they have done in years past. I hope the Bills "D" takes that to heart. The big difference this year is that we have Dareus, and hopefully a healthy Troup manning the middle, guys that can seal the edge with a much better linebacking and safety core than the Bills have had in years past. They need to really close down their running game and stuff it early. They do that and the offense gets a couple scores on the board early, then this game could go very well for us. They really have to focus on making the Jets one dimensional and force Sanchez to win with his arm.

I knew this thread was missing something Too funny.

I totally agree. I would like to see them work with him on actually passing the ball, or reverse to Spiller lined up as a WR. The wild cat works better if they have to respect that you may actually throw the ball.

Not trying to drag us down, but I still am not sold on our defense I put us between 6-10. There is really so little that separates good teams and I truely believe that. As for the defense, I have to see them string together a few dominating defensive outings before I totally buy in to our ability to pull out the close games. The potential may be there, but I would like to see the consistency. Consistency, where we need to hold onto a slim lead at the end of the game against better teams and they are able to stop that team from moving down the field. Offensively I feel like we have been in every game this year, though our offense struggled mightily against the Bengals.

There is no denying your point, but one thing that Chan stressed was that he and his staff felt that the defense was getting good pressure and that many of the QBs we have faced were throwing into coverage because they were trying to avoid the sack and our interception totals (with the exception of the Giants game where we did not generate enough pressure or stop the run) were leading the league. I could see an inexperienced QB warned about our ball-hawking secondary probably was a bit tentative making any tight throws and took the sacks instead. With McGee back and playing at a high level we have better downfield coverage as well so Beck took a few coverage sacks. Shanny Jr. should shorten up those routes though, that o-line cannot protect that long and most in the league cannot hold blocks past 3 ticks.

Yep. He has good lateral movement and can play the edge, but since he is so fast off the ball and so strong and has such a good push he really causes a lot of problems for every QB that wants to take a 3-step drop and step into a throw. And he is no slouch diagnosing midline runs, delays/draws, and middle screens and getting off the block to make the stop. Solid early pick for the Bills - finally. Did everyone listen to Chan's presser when asked about Dareus playing in the middle. He said that he would have to look because they move him all around - with him drawing the double teams it makes our stunts that much more effective for the others on the line. If he lines up over either center gap he forces them to commit a guard to help the center or he beats them. The kid is a force where ever they play him and I am not putting down the rest of the D-Line, I am sure they know unusual talent when they see it. What really suprises me is his sideline pursuit; Chasing down QB's, how can a guy that big move so damn fast?

Was tempted to pull your leg and ask "What do you mien?" The Luddite side of me feels that journalism has taken a dive as processors have taken over for real editors (not that I am going to smash my laptop anytime soon).

Yeah, the running style reminds me of him as well as how folks would always comment on how he would fall forward when tackled. Maybe I am just being hopeful, but I remember how Allen left the Raiders after a great career and still had gas in the tank to be effective for KC for several years. Hopefully Fred has that same future and is paid to spend it with the Bills.