Ayjent

So complex it doesn't really work when one thing goes wrong - like the game mouse trap. Those guys you mention didn't get it done in their prime, although the D was better in their prime, but that isn't exactly a gold standard. They are a finesse defense that hasn't evolved with teams becoming more physical over the past several seasons. It would be interesting to see if you gave McD the Texans D and what it would look like after coaching them for a few months. I suspect that it wouldn't be as good as they attempted to keep everything in front of them and utilized vanilla pressure more often than not.

When the fans are making excuses for every year that the D had injuries as the reason they didn’t win, there is the truth that the D scheme might be more to blame than the missing personnel. Let’s just buy the premise that injuries have sunk their chances at a Super Bowl several years. Okay so why is the Defense so reliant on the health of its starters because injuries happen in the NFL? it’s not like these starters are all world at any position. Coaching is so important because injuries are reality, but the Bills coaching during the McD era doesn’t really coach to its players strengths. It coaches a scheme and it limits the scheme based on how the player fits the scheme and doesn’t do anything unique to morph into a different style. The book is out on McD’s style of D, run at them and when passing exploit the zone schemes daring them to get home with pressure. They will eventually give up a big run because they are predictably unable to maintain gap integrity all game especially with light LBs and nickel CBs playing those gaps. Then you compress them and exploit the zone they will certainly play. Teams have used that formula and the Bills don’t have any answers even against porous, injured OLs and backup QBs. I know in years past the Bills have put together runs, but I don’t see it this year. Things are unraveling in too many areas and there just isn’t enough talent and good, adaptive coaching to right the ship.

It’s both coaching and talent. The team has incessantly invested in Defense over the McD Beane era and it has never been a D that can dominate a meaningful game or stretch of games in the clutch part of any season. It has been on the back of their QB that they’ve won. So when a team invests so heavily in some aspect of its team and the results don’t change much there is a severe flaw in the organization and that’s not even getting into the offensive regression, which is more concerning, because we know the talent they have at QB1 and RB1. McD talks about growing and learning all the time but they have not learned that the D they play is never going to be dominant. They haven’t learned that small, undersized LBs are how you stop quick teams but also how you get pummeled by physical ones. This has been an issue since the Bills hired McD - see Titans under Vrabel. The complexity in the backend doesn’t allow the players to be aggressive and the results of people who know the system well enough to start doesn’t lead to some amazing result. So for what use is the complexity? To give up 3rd and longs on the regular? This team has never gotten after the QB on the regular no matter what they invest in it and certainly not with hand picked, home grown guys. It’s pretty clear that this is going to come in better and worse variations as we’ve seen over the years but at its core it’s still the same flaws. I don’t have faith in the Pegulas to hire another regime but the limitations of this one are very clear. I’ve been hesitant to be too critical but this is the worst version of the Bills we’ve seen in quite a while, and the team unraveled against a physical opponent in a way that signals bigger issues. Also, the absolute stubbornness to not give the tackles help last game was dumbfounding. But look - we can point the finger at Brady and he deserves some blame but the D is an absolute disaster given the investments. Injuries you say? Sure but injuries happen to all teams - this is about the D they run and how it sucks no matter what talent they amass. Just bc there was a 2 game run with Hoecht where it looked good doesn’t mean that would have been the result with him all year and if one guy makes that much of a difference why wasn’t he the most coveted FA in football? I refuse to think that was the key to this Defense being good.

Teams have 8-9 games left - there are so many examples of teams that start off hot early or midway and then turn into pumpkins, we witnessed it a few times during the drought years with the Bills where it looked like they may be finally turning it around. The second half of the season is just a different notch in competition where teams start separating. The Bills Chiefs game was played at a much higher level than most other games this year anywhere in the NFL. Probably the highest, but I haven't sat down and watched every game. Chiefs fans may disagree, but don't think for a minute that they weren't bringing their A game. The Colts look like the most formidable of the bunch because they have amassed talent in skill positions and just needed someone more competent that AR-15

Landon Jackson a lot of people loved and others hated when we drafted, and I've not watched as much college in the past few years so I had no first hand watching him play outside of one or two games where I wasn't focused in on his play. But I have watched the Bills pick players that have made me scratch my head in the past and Elam was probably the one I was most confused about - a guy that looked out of position or lost his man in college frequently and couldn't tackle to save his life. I wanted to believe the coaching was bad at Florida on defense (which it was) and they knew what they were doing in drafting someone that they thought had the physical skills to mold into a solid star CB. But there was no way that you saw what he had on tape and said this guy is a lock to be a star or good starter. Riq Woolen was a better prospect if you wanted pure potential and was at least an aggressive tackler with size and speed. My point in all of this is that the scouting and drafting process is far from an exact science and sometimes their due diligence isn't as thorough as people think it is. I think game tape is way more important than combine results, although you can't ignore either. And sometimes I think the game tape gets lost in all of the other noise about character, work outs, combine, etc. and teams convince themselves that a particular player will be the right fit for what they do, especially if there is buzz about other teams having interest in that player. The Bills have done some great things building this team and you can't argue with the results compared to what preceded them. But...they can be better and it seems that their scouting department isn't great in some aspects when it comes to evaluating talent at the top of the draft. And no team is that good at it tbh. You do sit here and think about what the Bills have traded (Justin Jefferson draft pick, Patrick Mahomes draft pick) and I get the safer play for what they were doing and I'd rather have Josh anyhow, but the point is that is who they had the opportunity for and traded picks away or spent more money and draft capital for a player with a shorter, more expensive window to help your team. Justin Jefferson was an undeniable talent and I liked his game more than Chase's at LSU, although Chase was awesome. I get the Bills thought Diggs was the immediate help Josh needed to gain confidence. But here we are years later still wondering if the Bills will ever get talent at that level for Josh again at WR when in hindsight they had that opportunity and went for the shorter term, surer thing with Diggs. Hindsight is 20/20 I get it, but there has been a weird mix of when they go for the take our shot now vs. long term build.

What he showed many of these young DL guys was bring the energy and intensity. I think if Solomon wants to emulate anyone it would be Hoecht. They seemed to plug Solomon into that role.

I’ll say what has been increasingly obvious. Milano and Bernard are not playing well in coverage, nor really any aspect of their games. Both look like they have little confidence and are almost invisible when it comes tos to positive plays on D and too visible when a play is made by the other team. It suckes because prime Milano was so good. I think he is a warrior to come back from those injuries and fight through the ones he has had but he isn’t the heat seeking middle he used to be. There is no explosive read and react. Bernard just hasn’t been good with any consistency and I thought it was telling when the D looked much improved without him against Carolina’s formidable running game.

The speed to stick with Worthy was a huge asset today because he wasn’t a factor at all and the Chiefs were definitely impacted by that in the passing game.

I think that is a factor. Only the players know for sure but it could be that Rapp just wasn’t playing well and everything else was magnified because of it.

The way to beat the Cover 2 has always been seam routes and corner routes that go in the sideline pocket between the safety and corner. A good running game always compromises it by compressing the box which should make the TEs the best targets if the right route combos are called to exploit it. It helps to have speed to get the safeties deeper, but it isn't necessary to exploit it. The Bills have all the tools except the speed to get the safeties deeper. I'd like to see them call more passes from the Heavy TE sets, especially Play Action quick hitters on the seams where defenses are selling out on the run. We've seen them do it only a handful of times this year, but it should be more of their bread and butter and it would have Defenses guessing. There are also other concepts from this formation where they could have Hawes block and release opposite the flow of the play action as teams see him as a key to where a run is headed and would think they got past a key blocker. The Chiefs do a good job of that type of design. It's all right there for them to utilize. They have strengths that they can build off of, but for some reason get too cute and don't.

They need to put Coleman in the slot more and see if that helps. Problem is that they don't have a whole lot on the outside even with Palmer healthy. They've put together an odd mix of talent at WR that has a lot of different attributes, but they don't seem to utilize those different talents in a complimentary way to get the most out of them. Yes its not the most talented bunch, but I feel like they should be better than they are if the coordination of the passing game was a little more deliberate. It seems like they are all willing and able blockers which is not a bad thing, but not really the thing you want to say they do best. I think Coleman has skill and has had 100+ yd games, it is a consistency thing and being put in a position to succeed. .

Everyone loves Fitzmagic

I think Stefanski is the perfect fit for Buffalo at OC if Brady leaves.

Maybe - that's the thing. KC's D may give the Bills something different than what they are expecting and it wouldn't be the first time. I think they are going to dare the Bills to pass and try to confuse and exploit some of the issues in pass protection this year, but I don't think that they will be consistently stacking the box because the Bills have shown that it isn't all that effective against them and allows them to engage the blocks a lot easier than where there is a less compressed box. You can bet that they will be attacking any horizontal aspect of the Bills passing game and will try to prevent the WR screen game with Shakir. I see them playing wide daring Josh to throw the intermediate routes and hemming him in on the right side. It will be a game where Coleman, Samuel, Moore, Knox, or Hawes has to step up in the receiving game.

Is the Bills D better w/o Bernard and Milano out there? It felt like it.

Just because names aren't out there doesn't mean that they aren't the subject of discussion amongst teams. I don't see the Bills making much of a move that matters in any event. I'd love the BTJ thing to be true because that would be the best asset at WR out there and meet the needs the Bills have, but I'm guessing that is more noise than anything. I think there are plenty of teams that would move pieces for the right price, but that price is usually too high for any sane GM to pay.

Did you drink some of the Jags stadium pool water?

Well then let's keep him inactive.

A 2nd is a high price, but probably gets it done easily. A 3rd and you have to throw in a decent player with the likelihood that the Bills will be in the later part of round 3? I don't like the idea of trading many pieces but Samuel or Moore would make sense on the offensive side. I think there is a chemistry issue with Lawrence. Maybe its not the right move, but the talent is there and the price is right. It will take time getting on the same page with Josh if a trade is made, but I can definitely see this working out for the Bills. Hopefully this is in the works, but I won't hold my breath.

It's both a talent and scheme issue IMO. What I'm seeing is more of a scheme issue than talent issue, and what I mean by that is not that we couldn't use some upgrades in that department, but that the scheme isn't putting the players in position to utilize what talent they have. E.g., Elijah Moore can't catch a WR screen so don't keep on putting him in that position. I believe he has 2-3 drops on those already this year. Steve Smith has repeatedly said that Coleman should be a slot guy and I agree with that assessment. The problem - they have slot guys all over the place (Shakir, Moore, Samuel). And If they use him outside they'd be better off utilizing what he appears have improved greatly on comeback routes, but they need some one to draw coverage deep and Coleman isn't that guy. The problem I see is that they have play designs that if sniffed out are not giving many other options and I think that is Brady's philosophy - we have a primary and everyone else is running routes to clear it rather than being more multiple and guys aren't expecting to win their routes, they are expecting to move the defense for their teammate. I don't think that is all the time, but I think there are enough plays that is the case to seem like the passing game is not working as well as it should be. Finally, utilize the backs in the passing game. In all fairness I saw Josh miss Ty Johnson wide open but it didn't look like it was his primary read. We have good pass catching backs, that's a real missing piece of the offense and something that they utilized way better last year.

No those plays are run a little more behind the line, these Bills plays are right on the line with no margin for error on down and distance where teams are absolutely looking to get push to prevent the short yardage conversion. A jet sweep or even the short pass from the jet motion is not what I'm taking issue with. I'm taking issue with the particular design of the play the Bills are using that is extremely tight to the LOS where there are too many things to go wrong - they ran it with Shakir on the Left side and against the Falcons on the right - both had the same issue - the blocking had to be superb and it wasn't and there was a lot to navigate that stymied the whole benefit of a guy moving faster than everyone else near the LOS Maybe the play would have some success if it were in a scenario where there may be more read and react calls from the D, but I just think there are too many feet and bodies to get in the way in any scenario.

Those handoffs to the motion guy are the dumbest plays they have in the playbook for short yardage or any down and distance. You are expecting your entire side of your line to get a push, hope that the end bites inside and that all LBs and Secondary are all confused or blocked because you've got to turn that lateral momentum upfield. Any contact from the opposing team or own team is going to move the lateral movement backwards or trip up the ball carrier with no chance of getting positive yardage - it should never be called again and thrown out of the playbook. Its the type of play that makes you want your OC fired bc IT IS THAT STUPID.

Yes they would be idiots to fire him...but is the Harbaugh dynamic with Jackson and this group something that will get to a breaking point to change things up? I know Harbaugh should be safe but i cant help thinking this is something that could be more of parting than firing at end of season - Jackson aint going anywhere so...if ownership wants change Harbaugh might be the guy looking for new scenery.

I think they are a talented team capable of playing great, but the truth is that they don’t do well when the pressure is turned up in a tough game or in the postseason. They play great bullies when they are up but when they get smacked in the mouth, they tend to wilt rather than up their level of play. It’s not an absolute, but it is their tendency to drop tough games.

Nike - Just Stop It (with these dumbass unis)