HaldimandBills

This brings joy. My biggest issue with our defense is watching top tier QB's laugh at our Tampa 2 defense as they march up and down the field on us. I dont mind giving up the odd big play against superior offenses when they'll inevitably score anyways after a 12 play drive. I'd rather risk some creativity and force turnovers and stops. It's been gut wrenching watching DeShaun Watson, Philip Rivers, Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, and to some extent Skylar Thompson marching up and down on this soft zone defense. There has to be something said for a defense who let's QB's take easy throws and get in a throwing groove. Make them work for their receptions.

Do pray tell who has a worse supporting cast than Allen out of Mahomes, Burrow, Hurts, Herbert, Dak, Tua, heck we can keep going. Allen has had to do far too much and its starting to catch up. How people cannot see this is beyond me? Brady had a far superior run game and offensive line, when compared to Josh Allen. Not to mention the Patriots defense knew how to stop opposing offenses in the playoffs. Meanwhile our defense folds like a cheap tent in the playoffs as we watch the Bengals and Chiefs inferior defenses find another 3 gears in the playoffs. It's nauseating how much this freaking team relies on Allen. I've see the Bengals, Patriots, and Chiefs win multiple playoff games when Burrow, Brady, and Mahomes are not on their A game. Bills have won playoff win you can credit the defense for. The Ravens game. That's it.

Josh Allen goes to bed dreaming about Brady's oline during those Patriot Superbowl years. Josh Allen goes to bed dreaming about having those Patriot run games that weren't blown up 5 yards in the backfield and a successful run is gaining 1 yard. Our starting RB last year is a back up this year on a bottom three offensive roster... Josh Allen goes to sleep dreaming of having a 3rd receiver better than Isiah Mckenzie. A guy who couldn't even make the Colts roster. Another bottom 3 roster for offensive talent. Josh Allen goes to sleep dreaming of having better redzone threats than no separation off the line Gabe Davis, no recievers who can block to help the run game, Isiah Mckenzie as your third target being 5 foot 7 with no ability to beat a zone defense. Dawson Knox being forced to help Spencer Brown because Brown is consistently beat by undrafted rookies. Let's blame Josh Allen though. Tell me you can't analyze football, without telling me you can't analyze football.

Miami might have closed the gap although their oline is worse than ours and their entire offseason seemed to be Ramsey and Fangio. One is gone. Will see what steps the offense takes in year two. I still say the Media was always hype large market teams and New York and Miami are two large markets. I personally think people are sleeping on the Patriots. That defense is the best in the division and will have competent coaching this season on the offensive side of the ball. Mac Jones just had to throw for 250 yards again and limit turnovers and that team is winning 10 games. One of New York or Miami is flaming out.

My argument is our coaching strength is on the defensive side of the ball and we spend a lot more on that side than the Chiefs and Bengals. Our defense should be performing much better than it is come playoff time.

The issue I have with this is the Bengals playoff win over the Chiefs was due to their defense fighting and keeping the game close while the offense struggled. Our defense doesn't even give our offense a chance to get in sync. Same with the Chiefs Superbowl victory over the Niners. The Chiefs defense fought tooth and nail to keep the Chiefs in it as their offense was out of sorts before exploding in the 4th quarter. The Bills defense has flat out just bombed out of the gate too many times. Now the offense is pressing and losing advantages that come with playing in a tight game. 2020 Texans loss was because the Bills sat back in soft zone and let Watson get in a groove and light them up. 2021 Colts and Chiefs had a field day with the defense. Allen played like a man on fire and single handedly beat the Colts. Chiefs were just too strong that season. - Ravens was a defensive win. The only defensive win we have seen during the Allen era. Thats unacceptable given our defensive coaching and cap space spent on the defensive side of the ball. 2022. Allen came to play and the defense predictably torched a rookie Mac Jones and floundered vs. Mahomes. How does it not frustrate Bills fans seeing the Jaguars and Bengals slow down Mahomes with inferior talent? 2023. Bills were just off. Don't need to get into the entire roster being out of sorts.

Here good Sirs is what happens when your knowledge comes froming playing Madden and watch NBA analysts discussing football. Bengals made it to the Superbowl on the back of their defense. Not offense. Burrow threw for 1 td in each game vs. the Raiders, Titans, and Chiefs that run. It was their defense that beat the Chiefs not their offense. Patriots best offensive team ever lost in the Superbowl and they beat the Seahawks on a defensive play in the Superbowl. Beat the Rams due to their defense. Rams beat the Bengals due to their defense. Bucs destroyed the Chiefs with their defense. Steelers and Ravens won their Superbowls on the back of their defense. Colts only Superbowl is when the dline actually consistently came home on the pass rush. Saints defense tortured Manning in their Superbowl win. Broncos won because of their defense not Manning who could only throw the ball 10 yards. So basically the Chiefs are the only outlier and even they see a massive uptick in their defensive capability in the playoffs vs. their regular season performance.

Well I mean it's a chat board and I gave a surface level analysis. Sorry I couldn't add more to the McDermott sucks chat form. I dont think the premise is poor at all. The Bills defense for four seasons in a row have sat back and allowed the QB to pick them apart in the playoffs. They allowed DeShawn Watson to get in a groove and pick them apart. Philip Rivers moved the ball far too easy on the defense in 2021. Mahomes is Mahomes and the Bills seem better at stopping him in the regular season and are torn apart in the playoffs. Miami's 3rd string qb had a good game against the defense. (granted turns over by the Bills offense didn't help) Burrow lite the Bills up. So in four years the Bills only shut down Mac Jones and Lamar Jackson. I dont understand how anyone can honestly analyze this team and not wonder how our top 5 defensive Unit becomes a pumpkin in the playoffs? I'm not worried about the offense. I am worried about defense that can't get off the field and always seem to give up 3rd and longs.

You might be right but why did the Bills all of the sudden stop with the short stuff as soon as Josh became injured? From what I have read Josh could still muscle the ball deep but his finesse and touch was lost on the short passes due to the injury. We did blitz in the playoffs but it was too little and too late. The point was that the Bills never blitzed during the regular season and weren't prepared to change their play style once the playoffs came around. They're saying blitz and do stunts and more man in the regular season. That way when you have to adjust in the playoffs your defense isn't shell shocked from running the same scheme the entire season.

Both have more talent on the defensive line but I wouldn't say they have had more talent than the Bills the past few years. Yes the Bills drafting has been mediocre but this doesn't excuse the fact the Bills have been a more talented defensive roster the past few years and also this year. Moving forward after this year I agree with your thoughts. We are going to find out whether it was Fraiser or McDermott who played the boring safe zone defense. I hope it was Fraiser and McDermott adds different punches to this defense.

I agree to a certain extent. I agree that winning two is much more practical. Hard to see three wins when one of either the Chiefs or Bengals most likely have the bye week. If by some miracle if one of the Jaguars, Ravens, Chargers, or even the Dolphins/Jets grab the # 1 spot I can see a world where the Bills win three in a row. Beating both the Chiefs and Bengals in a row seems like a tall task. Remember the team who beat the Bills the past two seasons has gone on to lose the following week. None of the Chiefs, Bengals, or Bills have managed to win over the other two in a single playoff run.

I think having Isiah Mckenzie as your third best receiver, Josh Allen with half a throwing arm, and atrocious guard and right tackle play says it all for the 2022 offense. Only hope is with Kincaid, better guards, a healthy off season for Spencer Brown, bigger more talented RB's and raising the floor of your surrounding receiver talent you have done enough to improve offensively so that the Bengals game doesn't happen again. I appreciate the fact Isiah Mckenzie couldn't make the 2023 Bills roster. It means its improved.

I am not 100% sure. Everything I have read says McDermott is more of a pressure defensive coordinator. He builds his defenses on rushing the QB and blitz packages. Alot of his work is done from the Front 7. Fraiser on the other hand works from the front back. Hes big on limiting big plays and disguising coverages. Bills likely didn't see an issue with Fraisers style of defense until it became apparent that you need studs in the secondary to make it work all the time. White recovering from a ACL tear, Hyde being out, Poyer playing on one leg, and a rotating secondary corner exposed Fraiser defense for what it was. I believe Fraiser was given a gentleman release by the Bills so that he can still pursue his dream of being a head coach again.

So I was listening to the Ringer NFL Podcast as they were discussing whether the Bills or Bengals are a bigger threat to the Chiefs in the AFC? Both hosts thought Bengals but believe the Bills are right there with some adjustments. They brought up some basic points we all know such as Beane hasn't really had any homerun draft picks outside Allen in the first few rounds since he arrived. There isn't much recieving depth behind Diggs and our oline and RB's leave a lot to be desired. Both hosts believe the upgrades made this offseason will be significant, and that Josh Allen is too good to fail. They both believe in Ken Dorsey as he had the second highest scoring offense in the league and that Dorsey shouldn't be crucified for have a horrible oline and Josh Allen tearing his UCL. His playcalling options were significantly reduced in the 2nd half of the season. The oline couldn't block and Allen couldn't consistently make the short throws with any accuracy. It's a miracle they still did as well as they did. They agreed that the Bills defense is too blame for the Bills inability to take the next step. For a coaching Unit full of defensive minds they were unimpressed with how mundane the Bills defense has been. Their reasoning was the Bills have more defensive talent than either the Chiefs or Bengals and that this has worked against them. The claim is the Chiefs and Bengals are constantly mixing it up scheme wise during the regular season putting their defense in awkward situations. This would seem counter intuitive but it pays off come playoff time. Whats the big deal in giving up an extra td to the Raiders, Browns, and Texans of the world when you know you'll blow them out regardless with your offense? The Bills on the other hand run one defense and they run it well. Their talent allows them to play this way and get away with it during the regular season. This defense embarrasses poor/average/and above avg. QB's but not elite ones. The Mahomes and Burrows of the world's are not intimidated by the Bills two deep zone and designed coverage scheme. They simply tear it apart. This defense is the Bills only pitch and once the batter figures it out the Bills don't have a curve ball to go to. They live and die with this defense. They think Beane got arrogant and that he thought Miller was the only solution the Bills needed to their defense. Their argument is the Bills need to work on being uncomfortable on defense during the regular season so that come playoff time they throw Mahomes and Burrow off balance. It isnt about being a top 5 regular season defense but a productive playoff defense. By doing this the Bills will have multiple looks they can use in the playoffs and will be much more capable at adjusting to playoff offensive schemes. In short the defenses only goal for the season should be providing three to four stops against Mahomes and Burrow in the playoffs and nothing else. This is what the Bills require to take the next step. Thoughts.

I agree our defensive coaching in the playoffs is bs. We play all season disguising coverages against inferior qbs and it bites us huge in the playoffs. Mahomes and Burrow are not intimidated by our sit back approach. They love the fact we can't rush the QB and put pressure on them into stupid mistakes. Instead we play zone and are slowly picked apart. Until the Bills can rush four and make life difficult on the opposing QB we are doomed.