Jump to content

How would you describe the Bills defense last year?


BillsFan130

Recommended Posts

I was on the Mcd thread where he was saying they aren't as far along as people think. Which is true and it got me thinking.

 

The Bills went 9-7 with an objectively awful offence, and a.... Then I went blank thinking about their defence.

 

Some games they were opportunistic. Some games they were shut down. Some games they were mediocre. And some games they were just plain awful.

 

So how would you overall rank their defense last year?

 

I was thinking an above average defense that was very opportunistic and lucky at times.

 

(I didn't look at any stats as I was just going off my memory for those 17 games)

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, JohnBonhamRocks said:

I think the following would be accurate:

 

inconsistent,

 

opportunistic, and

 

back-heavy (secondary way better than front 7) 

 

(given the poor state of our offense, "tired" might be applicable, too)

right there it is... clean up the consistency issues and add some horsepower to the front 7 and it can be a top unit.......... but the 2 words that immediately come to mind are "opportunistic" and "inconsistent"

Edited by Stank_Nasty
  • Like (+1) 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Stank_Nasty said:

right there it is... clean up the consistency issues and add some horsepower to the front 7 and it can be a top unit.......... the one word that comes to me immediately when thinking about the d last year is "inconsistent"

 

I fall in the crowd who wants us to package #21 and #22 to move up, BUT I really really hope a couple nice front 7 prospects are there at #53 and #56.

 

Green the DT/DE from USC and Nnadi the DT from Florida State come to mind. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, JohnBonhamRocks said:

 

I fall in the crowd who wants us to package #21 and #22 to move up, BUT I really really hope a couple nice front 7 prospects are there at #53 and #56.

 

Green the DT/DE from USC and Nnadi the DT from Florida State come to mind. 

oh ya. i'm 100% for moving up to get the qb.... in my ideal world we could make one high profile signing on the interior Dline and hopefully a contributor/depth to the LB's and go into the draft with that area looking much better than it does now. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, billsfan11 said:

Especially after that Oakland game. Just fell apart mid season

 

Not entirely true. Milano was removed as a starter with Humber's return which coincided with the 3 game stretch of Jets/Saints/Chargers. After that they reinserted Milano and their run defense went from tire back to average after that. Front 7 has holes I expect them to fill big time but they atleast in my eyes rebounded back to good enough against the run D to not be a liability.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Statistically a bad defense.......physically overwhelmed at times.......but very well coached.....particularly in the secondary.......and lucky/opportunistic.

 

Offense was poorly coached........and hastily slapped together much too late in the process......but great at protecting the football and pretty good at long drives and converting third downs to shorten games.

 

Special teams as very good........especially WRT  field goal kicking.......the 2016 Bills win 10 games with Hauschka kicking like he did in 2017 instead of Carpenter who was awful in 2016.

 

Combine the three with a Jauron Ball mentality and it was enough for 9 wins.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, corta765 said:

 

Not entirely true. Milano was removed as a starter with Humber's return which coincided with the 3 game stretch of Jets/Saints/Chargers. After that they reinserted Milano and their run defense went from tire back to average after that. Front 7 has holes I expect them to fill big time but they atleast in my eyes rebounded back to good enough against the run D to not be a liability.

Ya fair enough. I remember them being outstanding against KC. Bad against NE. Average against the Colts. Mediocre against the Dolphins. Average against NE. And Pretty good the last game. 

 

So I guess you can say they for sure got better after those 3 awful games. But I also think they got better because their secondary was lock down and they could commit 7-8 guys to the box and put an emphasis on stopping the run.

Edited by billsfan11
Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, billsfan11 said:

I was on the Mcd thread where he was saying they aren't as far along as people think. Which is true and it got me thinking.

The Bills went 9-7 with an objectively awful offence, and a.... Then I went blank thinking about their defence.

Some games they were opportunistic. Some games they were shut down. Some games they were mediocre. And some games they were just plain awful.

So how would you overall rank their defense last year?

I was thinking an above average defense that was very opportunistic and lucky at times.

(I didn't look at any stats as I was just going off my memory for those 17 games)

 

My one word response is "overperforming"

 

With the exception of the games right after the Dareus trade, I felt the D was lacked talent at DL and LB but was generally well coached and had everyone "doing his job" and a reasonably competitive game plan.  There were times (the Jags playoff game) when we survived by deliberately becoming 1 dimensional - we sold out to shut down the run and dared Bortles to beat us with his arm.

 

Right after the Dareus trade we struggled with blown assignments and shoddy tackling for about 3 games then got back on track

Edited by Hapless Bills Fan
  • Like (+1) 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, corta765 said:

 

Not entirely true. Milano was removed as a starter with Humber's return which coincided with the 3 game stretch of Jets/Saints/Chargers. After that they reinserted Milano and their run defense went from tire back to average after that. Front 7 has holes I expect them to fill big time but they atleast in my eyes rebounded back to good enough against the run D to not be a liability.

I wouldn't go that far.... they still gave up 190, 160, and 190 in 3 of the next 6 games after the mid season collapse. that's pretty awful. the other games were fairly solid. 55, 93, and 100.... but those first numbers I showed are really really bad.

 

just an inconsistent d. hands down. no matter who was playing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Disadvantaged.  Their average position of drive start was 27th in the league. Bad field position is a killer for a defense and we consistently started in worse positions than nearly any other team.

 

Decent, with reasonable consistency. Except for those absolutely horrible three games in a row, they were pretty decent the whole year.

 

Ball-hawking. 5th in INTs per drive.

 

Promising. Need more horses up front, but for the first year of a new regime, not bad at all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, billsfan11 said:

I was on the Mcd thread where he was saying they aren't as far along as people think. Which is true and it got me thinking.

 

The Bills went 9-7 with an objectively awful offence, and a.... Then I went blank thinking about their defence.

 

Some games they were opportunistic. Some games they were shut down. Some games they were mediocre. And some games they were just plain awful.

 

So how would you overall rank their defense last year?

 

I was thinking an above average defense that was very opportunistic and lucky at times.

 

(I didn't look at any stats as I was just going off my memory for those 17 games)

 

 

 

The secondary was the glue that held us together, Tre Whites play was excellent for a rookie, Hyde was every bit of the player I liked him. for since he was drafted. The DL and LB core all need to be retooled. If Meatball isn't brought back I can see 3 new DL either FA or draft/FA combo. we need a new ILB and OLB... I believe Preston Brown is gone, saying he'd play for NE was just beyond stupid imo even if you felt that way and Lorenzo Alexander isn't good enough. Matt Milano was a great pickup, he was very productive when out on the field and he made plays. 

  • Like (+1) 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, billsfan11 said:

I was on the Mcd thread where he was saying they aren't as far along as people think. Which is true and it got me thinking.

 

The Bills went 9-7 with an objectively awful offence, and a.... Then I went blank thinking about their defence.

 

Some games they were opportunistic. Some games they were shut down. Some games they were mediocre. And some games they were just plain awful.

 

So how would you overall rank their defense last year?

 

I was thinking an above average defense that was very opportunistic and lucky at times.

 

(I didn't look at any stats as I was just going off my memory for those 17 games)

 

 

 

They were tough and scrappy. They didn't anticipate the affect that losing Marcy  would have but after 3  horrible games  they made the proper adjustments to get back to being good. 

 

 

  • Like (+1) 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The fact that Frazier was interviewed for a HC job says it all. Our front 7 is TERRIBLE right now. Hughes is better than many Bills fans seem to think, but he can't do it alone. Lorenzo was very average and Milano was below average, but still has some upside IMO. With Kyle well past his prime and likely to call it quits and Shaq a HUGE bust, we have nothing at all on the D front to get excited about. Hughes could return to double digit sacks if we had at least 2 more very good DL, but we don't. Our DT position is TOTALLY bereft of talent. We don't even have a decent backup DT on the roster right now. We have a ton of work to do before this D is great, but Frazier gives me hope.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They started out very strong holding opponents to under 16 ppg.   

Maybe it was just a schedule glitch.

 

Then about the time they traded MD they lost something and they went into a 3 or 4 game slump. 

 

After that (beyond the Putrids) The S became to lock the opponents down again.  

 

So in summary much improved with work to do.   

Edited by ShadyBillsFan
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, JohnBonhamRocks said:

I think the following would be accurate:

 

inconsistent,

 

opportunistic, and

 

back-heavy (secondary way better than front 7) 

 

(given the poor state of our offense, "tired" might be applicable, too)

 

 

...I'd throw in bi-polar.......never knew which one would show up.......the brick wall or Wikileaks.........ironically it was the same phenomenon with Pettine so Leslie is not alone.....

  • Like (+1) 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd describe the Bills' defense as the reason we made the playoffs.

 

They weren't great, but they were good enough to get us to the playoffs and good enough to win at least one playoff game (if the offense would have shown up).

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For the most part other than that 3 game brutal stretch very disciplined. They forced the other team to beat you and wouldn't give up chunk plays. There were very few freebies against us...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...