Bills D now ranked 3rd...forced the most fumbles in the NFL by a LOT...

[billspro]

2 minutes ago, ganesh said:

That is not true.  The TOP was pretty much even (and in fact the Bills offense had the ball for a longer time in the 1st half).

 

Well give credit to the D. The offense was horrible at possessing the ball yesterday. Almost all of their dives were under 3 minutes and 30 yards.

 

They did give up 4 or 5 bad runs on first down, but they responded well after it happened. 

1 minute ago, buffalostu2 said:

We have a really strong defense and I think that goes without question.   But to say we are the #3 defense is not accurate IMO.  Games are decided by points, not yards.  Therefore I believe we are the # 13 ranked scoring defense and I think that is more realistic.   Are we playing better than that yes, because #13 is obviously skewed because of the two early season beatings.  

 

 

You can’t just look at one stat though.  They have had to deal with a lot of short fields and probably a record setting three and outs from the offense. Sal posted some good stats today and this D is pretty much too 5 in every category. 

[COTC]

D has been looking great. 

 

However impressive, their turn over differential is unsustainable. 

 

We need our O to put point s on the board, before the D get discouraged and starts mailing it in. 

 

We need a coach to take control of the offense, they need a leader. 

Edited October 15, 2018 by COTC

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

8 hours ago, Best Player Available said:

How can this be possible? A troll just said they choked.

 

Great effort. Hats off to Meatball sacks on 2 consecutive plays.

One bad series isn’t choking 

 

PSA.   Don’t feed the trolls 

[GunnerBill]

8 hours ago, whatdrought said:

Meanwhile, the bills offense is ranked 29th in time of possession, which makes the defensive success all the more impressive.

 

Absolutely. 

[dave mcbride]

5 hours ago, buffalostu2 said:

We have a really strong defense and I think that goes without question.   But to say we are the #3 defense is not accurate IMO.  Games are decided by points, not yards.  Therefore I believe we are the # 13 ranked scoring defense and I think that is more realistic.   Are we playing better than that yes, because #13 is obviously skewed because of the two early season beatings.  

 

The Bills D was not responsible for 10 points scored yesterday - the pick 6 and the Moore fumble, which was basically an automatic 3 points (the Texans scored 7). That stuff matters w/regard to points allowed, which can be a deceiving state.

[C.Biscuit97]

No team wastes good defenses like the Buffalo Bills.  It’s kinda of our tradition. 

[Real McClappy]

Amazing being ranked this high with the Baltimore week1 SNAFU.

 

If the O would help the D just a bit this year we could finish #1 overall with the way we are playing right now. This is one of the better Bills D I have seen in quite along time actually.

5 hours ago, COTC said:

D has been looking great. 

 

However impressive, their turn over differential is unsustainable. 

 

We need our O to put point s on the board, before the D get discouraged and starts mailing it in. 

 

We need a coach to take control of the offense, they need a leader. 

We said the same last year? For the record the Bills D got us to the playoffs last year with a bottom dwelling O.

 

Why is it unsustainable?

Edited October 15, 2018 by Real McCoy

[bobobonators]

Its an epic circle jerk w/Buffalo:  

 

With Gailey, the offense was decent, the defense was putrid. Marrone the offense was subpar, the defense was amazing. Rex the offense was good, the defense was a disaster. MCD the defense is great, the offense is epically bad.

 

one day...

[Buffalo Ballin]

Our defense is good now. Our offense is the worst though. Blasted. Wasted effort.

[Real McClappy]

8 hours ago, LeGOATski said:

They can never be on the same level, for some reason.

 

Next year the offense will find their groove and the defense will start sucking due to unforeseen circumstances.

So true.

 

I actually expected this type of team to a T out of REXY, then he does the bipolar opposite.

Edited October 15, 2018 by Real McCoy

[Big Turk]

5 hours ago, billspro said:

 

You are probably right. I didn’t look it up, I can’t remember a worse passing offense. Even the Losman era had more competent passing than this.

Losman at least completed bombs to Lee Evan for TDs every game it seemed

[NoHuddleKelly12]

8 hours ago, Kevin1778 said:

 

They are terrible on 3rd down and when the game is on the line. That is not a great defense.

 

Troll? They are TERRIBLE on 3rd down. That means they don't produce when they need to. Just like in the last 4 minutes yesterday. All I am saying is they are OVERRATED.

Wow, really? I'd say they came up from the Baltimore basement quite nicely, and I would also note that being on the field for the majority of each game can't be easy either, yet they remain opportunistic and hungry for the ball. The fact is they can't play all 60 minutes by themselves, and time of possession will eventually wear down even the best D's out there. For the most part they played lights out yesterday. You can't blame that side of the ball at this point any longer.  

[Big Turk]

5 hours ago, buffalostu2 said:

We have a really strong defense and I think that goes without question.   But to say we are the #3 defense is not accurate IMO.  Games are decided by points, not yards.  Therefore I believe we are the # 13 ranked scoring defense and I think that is more realistic.   Are we playing better than that yes, because #13 is obviously skewed because of the two early season beatings.  

 

 

Its not up to you how to decide to rank the defenses, the NFL decides that and they rank them by yards.

[NoHuddleKelly12]

5 minutes ago, matter2003 said:

Losman at least completed bombs to Lee Evan for TDs every game it seemed

"Seemed" being the operative word...

[NewEraBills]

I think we are really good but not the best.  I look at 

 

1)  Redzone

2)  3rd Down

3)  Points Allowed

4)  Turnover Differential

5)  Ability to get to the QB

6) Yards Per Game (Rush and Pass)

7)  Scoring

 

I think what you will find is the Bills are very damn good in every last one of these categories with the exception of scoring; and 3rd downs.  I also think going forward the biggest issue will be the CB spot opposite Tre White.  This is really what cost us yesterday and I think it's a spot that teams like to attack so I think we are susceptible to the big play when this spot has to play single coverage.  If we could solidify that spot, I think we'd have most offenses 24-hours on lockdown.

 

[ctk232]

10 hours ago, matter2003 said:

The Bills D has moved up to 3rd overall, averaging 311 yards per game against, only 5 more than the #2 team, Jacksonville who got spanked yesterday 40-7. They are also tied with Jacksonville for 2nd in allowing only 4.9 yards per play against. Bills lead the NFL by a WIDE margin in most forced fumbles with 19(the next closest team is Arizona with 12), also tied for the NFL with the Browns in recovering 7 of those.

 

 

However, the Bills are NOT good on 3rd down, allowing a 42% conversion rate, which ranks 21st in the NFL.  

Also 27th in opp red zone scoring % (TD only) while we're adding caveats.

 

Buttloads of turnovers will only take us so far, and we need to be careful with rankings and statistics. Shutting teams down on 3rd down, and preventing red zone conversions to me mark a top defense more so than any other stat. Forced turnovers are great, when you have an offense that can capitalize on them.

1 hour ago, NewEraBills said:

I think we are really good but not the best.  I look at 

 

1)  Redzone

2)  3rd Down

3)  Points Allowed

4)  Turnover Differential

5)  Ability to get to the QB

6) Yards Per Game (Rush and Pass)

7)  Scoring

 

I think what you will find is the Bills are very damn good in every last one of these categories with the exception of scoring; and 3rd downs.  I also think going forward the biggest issue will be the CB spot opposite Tre White.  This is really what cost us yesterday and I think it's a spot that teams like to attack so I think we are susceptible to the big play when this spot has to play single coverage.  If we could solidify that spot, I think we'd have most offenses 24-hours on lockdown.

 

Red zone would be another achilles heel to add for now...

Edited October 15, 2018 by ctk232

[LSHMEAB]

The defense is very good and clearly well coached at hunting the football and forcing turnovers.

 

They are not good in the redzone and that's been an issue since McDermott's arrival. I don't really have any answers for it, but it's kind of like the opposite of the Pats who give up a ton of yards, but come up big in the RZ. 

 

It's bizarre how bad our RZ defense has been in relation to it's overall production.

Edited October 15, 2018 by LSHMEAB

[ctk232]

14 minutes ago, LSHMEAB said:

The defense is very good and clearly well coached at hunting the football and forcing turnovers.

 

They are not good in the redzone and that's been an issue since McDermott's arrival. I don't really have any answers for it, but it's kind of like the opposite of the Pats who give up a ton of yards, but come up big in the RZ. 

 

It's bizarre how bad our RZ defense has been in relation to it's overall production.

Completely agree - though I think we showed progress in RZ defense yesterday, I'll take a team that is in the top 5 in both RZ and 3rd down defense over forced turnovers any day. While ballhawking is phenomenally beneficial in a game and is certainly more fun to watch, unless we can do it every game it's not exactly something that can be counted on while we can't stop teams on 3rd down or in the red zone.

Edited October 15, 2018 by ctk232

[Buffalo_Stampede]

They will will wear down over the season. Hopefully they get help. 

[LSHMEAB]

9 minutes ago, ctk232 said:

Completely agree - though I think we showed progress in RZ defense yesterday, I'll take a team that is in the top 5 in both RZ and 3rd down defense over forced turnovers any day. While ballhawking is phenomenally beneficial in a game and is certainly more fun to watch, unless we can do it every game it's not exactly something that can be counted on while we can't stop teams on 3rd down or in the red zone.

It's actually really strange because usually a team is forcing turnovers because they have a good pass rush and that SHOULD translate to 3rd down defense.

 

I just don't know what the deal is with the McDermott/Frazier defense where we damn near never force teams to kick field goals once they've reached a certain point on the field.