HappyDays

DVOA has them as the worst defense in the league and that accounts for opponent (admittedly the opponent adjustment is only at 40% strength right now). They let an awful Eagles offense put up 30 points and 461 total yards. Yeah it's fair to say they are the worst defense in the league right now. If the Bills offense has a repeat of last year it will be a huge disappointment.

They're a good team without a QB... which means they're a bad team.

I hope Milano can play. With him on the field the defense is elite. Then again we had a couple backups playing against the Texans and still shut them out. Our defense's success this year is more about coaching than talent IMO.

I think Mac Jones might legitimately be terrible. He does not have an NFL arm. Way too easy to defend that kind of QB.

We're still doing this 5 years later? McDermott took over a couple months before the 2017 draft. He did not have his own GM on staff yet. He had no QB scouting to go off of. So he traded down and set himself up for a QB the following year. There was zero chance of us drafting a 1st round QB in 2017.

I think we are going all in on the trenches in the draft next year. We have holes or aging veterans at every spot on both lines except for OT.

McDermott's scheme has found success at CB2 from EJ Gaines (6th rounder), Levi Wallace (UDFA), and Dane Jackson (7th rounder). Even Jackson who didn't look very good in training camp or preseason this year played well enough when forced into the lineup against Miami and stopped a 4th down conversion that may have been a TD if he had been out of position. McDermott has a sixth sense for that spot. As long as the player is coachable and knows his role in the defense he'll do fine. There was some player that joined the Patriots for a couple years (I can't remember who) who said the Patriots coaches were telling him things about the opponent other coaches had never told him before. The level of detail given to him put him in position to be more successful than he had ever been. I think McDermott and Frazier are that good with the details, and that is why lower tier guys can still fill less important roles on the defense. For that reason they will never invest heavily in CB2 because they don't need someone that does more than what Levi Wallace can do. It is a position that fans will be clamoring for every single year and every year they will be disappointed that other positions are drafted on day 1 and day 2. Obviously Beane will always draft BPA so if a CB is BPA in rounds 1-3 we will take him and find a role. But it will never be a specific target in the draft until White is getting past his prime.

They will do plug and play at CB2 as long as McDermott is here. CBs drafted early are usually athletic man-to-man corners. McDermott doesn't need that at CB2. He just wants someone with football smarts that does his job on every play. I think we may be able to just keep Wallace on a relatively cheap deal for as long as we want. He doesn't have a skill set that many defenses covet, he just happens to be a good fit for the Bills.

Yep as long as the Bills are losing or no more than 14 points ahead they should treat every series past the 50 yard line as 4 down territory. Feel free to run on 3rd and 9 with the understanding that you're going for it on 4th down. If and only if we build a 3 score lead should we be kicking field goals or punting past the 50.

They do when they play almost 100% of defensive snaps.

Did the text from your friend read "Johnson extended"?

Wow that is a hometown discount. I am sure he could have gotten more on the open market next offseason.

Great news. You have to pay your players that make game changing plays.

Since it's a 10 year old e-mail I don't know that it warrants discipline (although it's not like 2011 was exactly the Jim Crow era). But he's going to have a hard time facing some of his players after they read that comment.

He has fallen off this year. Probably still the best player in their secondary but only by default. I just saw Frank Clark is back for this game so he makes up some of what they lose with Chris Jones but we can handle him if he's all we have to worry about.

Chris Jones is the only blue chip player they have on defense. If he is out that makes up for Milano's injury. There is no reason we can't move the ball at will against them. Just have to execute.

After the Bills win the Super Bowl I'm submitting this to Freezing Cold Takes.

Bills have an elite run defense, Chiefs have possibly the worst run defense in the league. If heavy rain forces both teams to be run-first I like our odds.

I have a feeling McKenzie will be a big part of the game plan. We've barely used him at all this year, it feels like they've been waiting to spring him at the right time. Chiefs LBs are slow. If we want the Chiefs to abandon their deep zone game plan we need to find ways to create yards starting near the LOS. Moss and Singletary catching passes out of the backfield, jet sweeps, Allen runs and scrambles. Force the Chiefs to creep up and the passing windows will open. All that being said the Chiefs are actually just a really bad defense and I kind of hope Daboll doesn't think nearly as hard about it as I just did. We scored 35 and 40 points on better defenses. It's been said many times but Jalen Hurts carved them up. Allen and Daboll need to come into this game remembering that their opponent is not Patrick Mahomes, it's a low rated defense with very little top end talent.

Oliver has weirdly become a really good run defender, but just an okay pass defender. That is not the player we thought we drafted. Our defense has quietly become an elite run stopping unit after being repeatedly gashed last year. Star is a big reason why, but Oliver holding the middle and Rousseau setting the edge have also contributed. Pass rush has been just okay this year IMO but the back 7 has had elite coverage. Star has arguably been our best pass rusher - a 31 year old 1-tech after taking a year off. Just as everyone predicted.

I am mildly concerned about this as well. Games like this are when Daboll tries to pull out all the stops and it gets the offense out of rhythm. I think this is the week we finally see McKenzie jet sweeps again and I bet we target Spencer Brown on a pass in the end zone. I'm okay with some variation. I just hope we don't try playing an entirely different style of offense.

They traded two 1st round picks for a non-elite QB. Big mistake. If your QB can't play at a top 5 level you aren't a Super Bowl contender.

The difference is Pete Carroll openly admitted they game planned the defense as if we were going to run the ball. Passing against that defense obviously worked. Whereas KC gave exactly zero respect to our run game, they dropped into deep zones and practically begged us to run the ball. In those situations you have to be able to run the ball to some level of success. If the defense is exclusively clogging up passing windows and you still can't run the ball, you leave very little margin for error in the passing offense. If you hit some big run plays the defense will start to creep up a bit and then you can hit the passing windows that open as a result. We don't have to be able to run in every situation to be a successful offense, but the threat of the run against a defense that is only playing the pass is vital.

Bills 34 Chiefs 30

I agree. The Jets in week 18 make me very nervous. Trubisky is a decent QB, but how will Kumerow stack up as a #1 WR? Could be a nail biter.