Mike in Syracuse Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 Four games into the season and I'm starting to get a little concerned about our LB'ers. We've been giving up a ton of yards and we seem to be struggling making impact plays from the LB position. With Dareus and WIlliams taking up 4 blockers there should be guys free to make plays and it's not happening. Merriman is nowhere close to what we saw in pre-season. He's currently somewhere around 60% effective. Barnett is playing his ass off. Did Morrison even play today? Moats? Batten is a gamer but he's still very raw. Kelsay is Kelsay, always around, playing ok but never making that OMG play. I'm thinking this may be our first position of need for next year. We need more impact from that squad. Anyone else concerned? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John from Riverside Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 I am wondering how long it will be before we start to see Shep..... As a whole the way we play 3-4 is confusing to me.....because I still remember Wade Phillips 3-4 which was attack attack attack This seems to be a passive 3-4 which I dont get Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Cocktosten Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 I am wondering how long it will be before we start to see Shep..... As a whole the way we play 3-4 is confusing to me.....because I still remember Wade Phillips 3-4 which was attack attack attack This seems to be a passive 3-4 which I dont get Because the bills are not playing a 34 most of the time. Most of the time, the Bills base set has been a 43 o/u. They just don't have the personnel to play it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shouldaplayedflutie99 Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 Defense sucks. Period....if we don't stop making horrible qbs look like brees there is no shot at the Playoffs...out defense is so predictable, mostly man, no blitzing, NO PRESSURE...it's insane how much comfort every qb has had in the pocket...oh yea, we can't stop screens either!.......I like our guys, I think plays/schemes/coaching suck...pass rush is my only complaint as far as skill goes with our d personnel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Formerly Allan in MD Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 Batten should be playing more. He's always firing and tackling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John from Riverside Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 I am almost ready to say we should see if Batten has more to offer I wonder if Chan as the nads to sit Merriman...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PastaJoe Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 All valid comments. I was wondering all game what happened to our LBs. No outside contain, no consistent tackling, and no blitzing. You would think that the game plan would have been to blitz more against a rookie QB and keep him rattled. Or at least adjust during the game after the front 4 was giving him too much time. But that's on the coaches. But it wouldn't surprise me if the 1st pick next year is another DB, based on how the current crop has been performing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Cocktosten Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 You would think that the game plan would have been to blitz more against a rookie QB and keep him rattled. Makes a ton of sense. I love Chan but he's got to get in Edward's ear or release the Stache! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hapless Bills Fan Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 Four games into the season and I'm starting to get a little concerned about our LB'ers. We've been giving up a ton of yards and we seem to be struggling making impact plays from the LB position. With Dareus and WIlliams taking up 4 blockers there should be guys free to make plays and it's not happening. Merriman is nowhere close to what we saw in pre-season. He's currently somewhere around 60% effective. Barnett is playing his ass off. Did Morrison even play today? Moats? Batten is a gamer but he's still very raw. Kelsay is Kelsay, always around, playing ok but never making that OMG play. I'm thinking this may be our first position of need for next year. We need more impact from that squad. Anyone else concerned? Good analysis. I agree, cause for concern. You don't mention Davis, who has been seeing a lot of time. I put him like Kelsay. He is competent - always seems to be in the right place, but for a ML, he lacks speed in pursuit and he never seems to make that impact play. Barnett is amazing, but I agree - the next piece we need is help at LB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D521646 Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 It's bend don't break, but we've been broken the last few games, but as fans we looked the other way coz we were winning. The defense is missing a pass rush, and I'm sorry but Cincy should not have beaten us today, and I don't care what rank their defense was. This game makes me mad! Tim- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John from Riverside Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 I think it would be interesting to see what Chan is thinking right now....I bet he is plenty pissed that he had a lead and couldn't hold it against a rookie QB....... I truly wonder just how much control Edwards has on the defense....because of Wanstadt isnt in control right now he soon will be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
....lybob Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 The Bills defense corrected the size deficit but now they have a LB speed deficit, so not much gang tackling and our single tacklers didn't get the job done. Also when Dalton was flushed from the pocket he looked like Michael Vick with a jet pack and I can't believe that a ginger is that fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BringBackFergy Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 I am wondering how long it will be before we start to see Shep..... As a whole the way we play 3-4 is confusing to me.....because I still remember Wade Phillips 3-4 which was attack attack attack This seems to be a passive 3-4 which I dont get I'm thinking Danny Batten may be slightly ahead of Shep on the coaches charts for a "quick fix".....the kid plays tough and seems to have a good sense for where the play is leading - he anticipates well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maddenboy Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 No shocking revelation here. But we dont have very good, playmaking linebackers. Our draft needs to be Pass-rushing OLB, OT, LB. Not necessarily in that order, but if this team wants to be serious, and not just an "any given Sunday" level team, the LB unit needs to be fixed. I'm curious to know (and too lazy to check) which good LBs will be free-agents this year. Since the Bills can now be considered (damn-near) a contender, we might be more attractive to free agents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerball Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 Our draft needs to be Pass-rushing OLB, OT, LB. Not necessarily in that order, but if this team wants to be serious, and not just an "any given Sunday" level team, the LB unit needs to be fixed. CB will be a high priority unless Williams is able to come back and show some serious skills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cage Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 Four games into the season and I'm starting to get a little concerned about our LB'ers. We've been giving up a ton of yards and we seem to be struggling making impact plays from the LB position. With Dareus and WIlliams taking up 4 blockers there should be guys free to make plays and it's not happening. Merriman is nowhere close to what we saw in pre-season. He's currently somewhere around 60% effective. Barnett is playing his ass off. Did Morrison even play today? Moats? Batten is a gamer but he's still very raw. Kelsay is Kelsay, always around, playing ok but never making that OMG play. I'm thinking this may be our first position of need for next year. We need more impact from that squad. Anyone else concerned? We should never have cut Aaron Maybin,... he's on the highlight film sacking and forcing a fumble on Flacco last night. Unbelievable,... he's now officially outplaying Shawn Merriman on the year, WTF??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Doug Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 I am almost ready to say we should see if Batten has more to offer I wonder if Chan as the nads to sit Merriman...... I hope he does, and it's going to take a large set for them to acknowledge they were wrong about Merriman. It's time to end this experiment and go with the younger players on D. We are not going deep into the playoffs this year, so we should be developing our youngsters for next year, when expectations will be sky high. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike in Syracuse Posted October 3, 2011 Author Share Posted October 3, 2011 Good analysis. I agree, cause for concern. You don't mention Davis, who has been seeing a lot of time. I put him like Kelsay. He is competent - always seems to be in the right place, but for a ML, he lacks speed in pursuit and he never seems to make that impact play. Barnett is amazing, but I agree - the next piece we need is help at LB. You know, that's an oversight on my part but more of a condemnation of Davis. We've got a MLB that I haven't seen make a play in 4 games. Something I failed to mention in my initial post. With Dareus and Williams taking up 4 blockers, LB's should be free to make plays and they're not. This sends a clear message to opposing coaches that we don't have impact LB's. If we had just one LB that coaches had to gameplan for it would make a huge difference. Someone needs to step up. I agree with the comments about our "hybrid" defense. We seem to be obsessed with showing different fronts rather than playing a single front really well. I've long been a fan of getting your best players on the field at the same time. I'm not sure what defensive alignment does that but it's pretty clear that what were doing right now isn't working. It almost appears that our defense is playing passive and letting the play come to them. I'd like to see the coaches take a more aggressive approach. Is Wade working? The guy was a crappy head coach but a defensive monster. Hell he put together a defense that made John Holocek look all-world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HARCO186 Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 I am wondering how long it will be before we start to see Shep..... As a whole the way we play 3-4 is confusing to me.....because I still remember Wade Phillips 3-4 which was attack attack attack This seems to be a passive 3-4 which I dont get I agree I just don't understand why on earth would we not have blitzed this young qb and been all over him? Our 3-4 is extremely soft. I have been sticking up for Merriman and others and the defense this whole time. What I watched is just showing that our defense is extremely soft. How could we let such a young qb get so many plays on us and why couldn't put any pressure on him? What are we missing on defense? My take on this and I feel it's the LB's because we now have a strong front so we can't point fingers at them anymore. I would easily say it's our LB's who are not performing or putting the heat on like they should be as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EasternOHBillsFan Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 We should never have cut Aaron Maybin,... he's on the highlight film sacking and forcing a fumble on Flacco last night. Unbelievable,... he's now officially outplaying Shawn Merriman on the year, WTF??? I just saw that- pissed me off as it was 27-17 at that point in the game. That's all we need is for him to start playing well and make plays, especially against us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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