Fortunesmith Posted November 25, 2019 Share Posted November 25, 2019 https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-do-you-find-good-nfl-defenders-by-measuring-whats-not-there/ Quote The Bills defense has been outstanding, giving up 304.1 total yards and 197.8 passing yards per game through Week 11 — third best in the league in both categories. But we can see a clear disparity in how opposing offenses are attacking starting cornerbacks Tre’Davious White and Levi Wallace. White’s reputation and production seem to have discouraged offenses from throwing in his direction. So far this season, White has given up a 58.9 passer rating on 66 targets, compared with a 101.2 passer rating on 79 targets for Wallace. The beauty of the Bills’ defense is that their star cornerbacks don’t “shadow” or follow specific opposing WRs wherever they line up. Instead, they mainly stay on one side of the field, no matter who lines up there. Through Week 8, White had lined up on the left side of the field for 97 percent of his snaps, and Wallace lined up on the right side of the field for 96 percent of his snaps. Our chart reflects that, as well as which cornerback scares off opposing QBs and where on the field that is. Opposing offenses target the left side of the field significantly more against Buffalo (to challenge Wallace, the weaker corner) than when they play against other defenses. This approach to analyzing defense assumes that teams react rationally to defensive weaknesses they see on tape. That assumption may not always hold true, but taking note of changing tendencies is still one of the best ways to look for those hidden absences of activity that are key to identifying good individual defense. We still don’t know if these splits have any predictive power. But this is the next logical step in understanding passing: analyzing the horizontal level. At a minimum, these new visualizations provide an interesting new insight into how offenses change in order to attack defenses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BmarvB Posted November 25, 2019 Share Posted November 25, 2019 The logical plan is to go after Wallace early and often until he eventually makes them pay for it. Leave the rest of the secondary alone or be prepared to get burned for it. Then go after the LB's (except Milano) hard with crossing patterns in front of them. D-line is subject to over pursuit on some running plays, and just being manhandled out of position on others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Turk Posted November 25, 2019 Share Posted November 25, 2019 3 minutes ago, BmarvB said: The logical plan is to go after Wallace early and often until he eventually makes them pay for it. Leave the rest of the secondary alone or be prepared to get burned for it. Then go after the LB's (except Milano) hard with crossing patterns in front of them. D-line is subject to over pursuit on some running plays, and just being manhandled out of position on others. The Bills should counter by giving him some help on some plays forcing throws into double coverage 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlimShady'sSpaceForce Posted November 25, 2019 Share Posted November 25, 2019 LOL Like I (we) need analytics to know teams all attack the ROOKIES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Turk Posted November 25, 2019 Share Posted November 25, 2019 Just now, SlimShady'sGhost said: LOL Like I (we) need analytics to know teams all attack the ROOKIES Wallace isn't a rookie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffalo_Stampede Posted November 25, 2019 Share Posted November 25, 2019 (edited) Bills defense is kind of similar to the Legion of Boom in Seattle when they had Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas roaming the backfield in cover 3 coverage. Tre White and Sherman very similar. Edited November 25, 2019 by Buffalo_Stampede Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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