Defensive Assessment Thus Far

[GunnerBill]

5 hours ago, IronMaidenBills said:

Ed Oliver and AJ Ep are huge liabilities on defense. Quite frankly a disappointment. Edmunds is good, but it’s clearly he is hurt. Milano is undervalued and was missed, he makes plays everywhere. We need a Bruce and LBs.

 

Nope. Edmunds is the biggest liability at the moment. He bites heavy on every play action fake he follows every designed misdirection and he creates huge holes in the zone scheme.

 

The Dline is not playing well but we all knew from the moment McDermott arrived here that MLB is critical in his defense. Once you create a hole by dragging that piece out of place the integrity of the zone collapses pretty quickly and there become spaces to attack. 

[Rock-A-Bye Beasley]

11 minutes ago, loedward22 said:

 

no... but they can be beat every time FASTER!

that’s just more clock to chew on. Yum

[bmur66]

I have decided to be positive so I really can't comment

[Niagara Dude]

6 hours ago, Do The Reich Thing said:

One word sums up this Bills defense right now. “Exposed”

Finally, tonight, we got a taste of what the rest of this season will be like if the offense doesn’t carry us in a game. For the first four weeks our offense was so good that it overshadowed how bad the defense has been. I’m on record as being a part of this group. Saying, “oh they’ll figure it out, it’s early in the season and all defenses have been ” or “oh they haven’t been that bad.”
 

From top to bottom this group has been awful all season. You can say we missed Tre and Milano in particular tonight, but they were bad with them when they have played. I’ll start first with defensive line:

 

There has been little to no penetration, contain and pass rush from the entire line. Far and away Quinton Jefferson has been the best defensive lineman. He’s the only guy that has performed well some of the time. Where is Jerry Hughes? What about Ed Oliver? Harrison Phillips? Mario Addison? Trent Murphy? AJ E? It is beyond frustrating to consistently see QBs have all day to throw. And even when they have all day to throw the ends can’t set the edge so the QB just breaks the pocket and makes a play. Run defense has been alright, but that will get you nowhere in today’s NFL if you can’t stop the pass. 
 

Linebackers next: Man what an overall disappointment it is to write about this group. Klein can’t cover, Edmunds has regressed to being as bad as Eddie Robinson, and Matt Milano is average, but some say he’s a star because he’s the best of a poor performing group. Dodson has showed some flashes in his limited time and Lewis played hard tonight but is clearly undersized. Nonetheless, no matter who it is, gaps aren’t being filled, they can’t cover and they’re just running into blockers when they try to blitz. 
 

Defensive Backs: All of these factors listed above lead to a bad secondary. Idc if you have Deion and Darrell Green out there. They would be bad with the front two levels performing this badly. Combine this with guys who also can’t cover you get what the secondary looks like right now. Taron Johnson... woof. Tre White has been bad when he’s played this year. Josh Norman and Levi Wallace are both meh. And our coveted safety duo has not performed up to par. 
 

Moving forward, where do we go on defense? Do we make a trade? Do we change the scheme? Do we keep riding the wave and hope it all evens out? Something else? The talent on most levels of the defense is there. This group has performed to a high level before, so it suggests the personnel is there. I don’t have the answers, but they need to fix it now. Tonight was a wake up call. 
 

TL;DR - The defense has been bad all year and the issues are no longer overshadowed by our offense. What do we do?

 

Beane has really done a brutal job in free agency and this is why defence is trash,  they have almost no play makers other than white and safeties.  LIke why are the Bills paying Klein an average LB 6 million or Addison 10 million or Murphy 10 million yet Jordan Phillips's cap number this year is 4 million.  Or how about Vernon Butler's cap number of close  to 8 million. 

 

Beanne spending has been terrible because he is puuting heavy dollars into medicore players on defensive side of the ball and it is now showing because we don't have any player makers other White.  This is not how you build a championship team 

[GunnerBill]

18 minutes ago, Niagara Dude said:

Beane has really done a brutal job in free agency and this is why defence is trash,  they have almost no play makers other than white and safeties.  LIke why are the Bills paying Klein an average LB 6 million or Addison 10 million or Murphy 10 million yet Jordan Phillips's cap number this year is 4 million.  Or how about Vernon Butler's cap number of close  to 8 million. 

 

Beanne spending has been terrible because he is puuting heavy dollars into medicore players on defensive side of the ball and it is now showing because we don't have any player makers other White.  This is not how you build a championship team 

 

I know people will groan when I say this.... too many average former Panthers. Klein, Addison and Butler might know the scheme.... but they are adding very little to it at the moment.

[Luka]

Poor personnel moves in the offseason and poor drafting on the defensive side of the ball is finally catching up with us. Trent Murphy, Jerry Hughes,Tremaine Edmunds, Ed Oliver, Josh Norman, Levi Wallace, not guys that would be feature players anywhere else. Then you lose guys that were productive like Lorax, Shaq Lawson, Jordan Phillips and you don't even attempt to replace that production. Klein and Addison and Butler aren't it.

I was really hoping the defense was turning a corner after the Raiders game but I think we might've just caught the Raiders on an off day.

 

[LabattBlue]

Bottom line...if they can’t find a way to pressure the QB(with or without blitzes), they will continue to struggle. 
 

It was such an easy night for Tannehill, I’m not sure he even had to shower after the game. 

[clayboy54]

Just now, Back the Blue said:

Bottom line...if they can’t find a way to pressure the QB(with or without blitzes), they will continue to struggle. 
 

It was such an easy night for Tannehill, I’m not sure he even had to shower after the game. 

He had that smirk on his face all fricking night!

[Nihilarian]

10 hours ago, bills6969 said:

It really starts up front with the Dline.  In particular,  the pass rush is non-exisitent.  Not sure how this gets fixed other than try some other guys (Epenesa?) or blitz more.  The Dline is really concerning because they are fully healthy and are still playing like *****.

 

At LBs, something is up with Edmunds.  He looks like a shell of the player that we saw last year.  I’m guessing he’s battling an injury or just sat on his ass all offseason.

 

In secondary,  we clearly missed Tre tonight.  Hope he heals up quickly cuz he is def needed back there,  but I think the big issue is lack of pass rush is killing us. If QB is not getting pressured,  a decent QB will pick apart a secondary.  If we don’t fix Dline/pass rush the D will continue to stink.

 

This!  A huge concern going forward as this years defense is stinking it up.

 

Going from #3 overall to around 20th really is unreal. 

[Do The Reich Thing]

4 hours ago, Niagara Dude said:

Beane has really done a brutal job in free agency and this is why defence is trash,  they have almost no play makers other than white and safeties.  LIke why are the Bills paying Klein an average LB 6 million or Addison 10 million or Murphy 10 million yet Jordan Phillips's cap number this year is 4 million.  Or how about Vernon Butler's cap number of close  to 8 million. 

 

Beanne spending has been terrible because he is puuting heavy dollars into medicore players on defensive side of the ball and it is now showing because we don't have any player makers other White.  This is not how you build a championship team 

Damn... I even forgot about Vernon Butler. Terrible signing. 

[Not at the table Karlos]

10 hours ago, jahnyc said:

I think Milano is very good and is missed when not in there.  Addison and Butler do not seem to be adding anything.  I think injuries and the free agent additions (other than Jefferson) have hurt the defense.

Addison has been asked to drop into coverage a decent amount of time for some reason. Not sure if it’s a zone blitz or what but he doesn’t seem good at it. 

[JohnNord]

10 hours ago, Do The Reich Thing said:

One word sums up this Bills defense right now. “Exposed”

Finally, tonight, we got a taste of what the rest of this season will be like if the offense doesn’t carry us in a game. For the first four weeks our offense was so good that it overshadowed how bad the defense has been. I’m on record as being a part of this group. Saying, “oh they’ll figure it out, it’s early in the season and all defenses have been ” or “oh they haven’t been that bad.”
 

From top to bottom this group has been awful all season. You can say we missed Tre and Milano in particular tonight, but they were bad with them when they have played. I’ll start first with defensive line:

 

There has been little to no penetration, contain and pass rush from the entire line. Far and away Quinton Jefferson has been the best defensive lineman. He’s the only guy that has performed well some of the time. Where is Jerry Hughes? What about Ed Oliver? Harrison Phillips? Mario Addison? Trent Murphy? AJ E? It is beyond frustrating to consistently see QBs have all day to throw. And even when they have all day to throw the ends can’t set the edge so the QB just breaks the pocket and makes a play. Run defense has been alright, but that will get you nowhere in today’s NFL if you can’t stop the pass. 
 

Linebackers next: Man what an overall disappointment it is to write about this group. Klein can’t cover, Edmunds has regressed to being as bad as Eddie Robinson, and Matt Milano is average, but some say he’s a star because he’s the best of a poor performing group. Dodson has showed some flashes in his limited time and Lewis played hard tonight but is clearly undersized. Nonetheless, no matter who it is, gaps aren’t being filled, they can’t cover and they’re just running into blockers when they try to blitz. 
 

Defensive Backs: All of these factors listed above lead to a bad secondary. Idc if you have Deion and Darrell Green out there. They would be bad with the front two levels performing this badly. Combine this with guys who also can’t cover you get what the secondary looks like right now. Taron Johnson... woof. Tre White has been bad when he’s played this year. Josh Norman and Levi Wallace are both meh. And our coveted safety duo has not performed up to par. 
 

Moving forward, where do we go on defense? Do we make a trade? Do we change the scheme? Do we keep riding the wave and hope it all evens out? Something else? The talent on most levels of the defense is there. This group has performed to a high level before, so it suggests the personnel is there. I don’t have the answers, but they need to fix it now. Tonight was a wake up call. 
 

TL;DR - The defense has been bad all year and the issues are no longer overshadowed by our offense. What do we do?

 

I will boil everything down to a few things:

 

The defensive line not been good.  They did a terrible job with contain which was a strength last season.  They get pushes around in the middle and aren’t great at rushing the passer.  Still, I think this unit has the best chance to get better.

 

Linebackers are an issue.  I think you undersold Milano just a little bit.  He’s a solid player who is very good at coverage and decent against the run.  The defense has always missed h

when he’s been out.  Edmunds has been a liability and has not been very good.  It makes you wonder what the Bills saw in AJ Klein because he’s been just as bad. 
 

Cornerbacks also have been poor.  Tre wasn’t having the best year.  Levi Wallace is serviceable.  Norman is below average and Tauron Johnson has been the worst of the group.  
 

It’s going to be a major undertaking to fix things on defense 

 

[LabattBlue]

5 minutes ago, Not at the table Karlos said:

Addison has been asked to drop into coverage a decent amount of time for some reason. Not sure if it’s a zone blitz or what but he doesn’t seem good at it. 

If so, I don’t like it.  Stop trying to “fool” QB’s.  Let your DL rush the passer...this is what they are good at!

[All_Pro_Bills]

5 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Nope. Edmunds is the biggest liability at the moment. He bites heavy on every play action fake he follows every designed misdirection and he creates huge holes in the zone scheme.

 

The Dline is not playing well but we all knew from the moment McDermott arrived here that MLB is critical in his defense. Once you create a hole by dragging that piece out of place the integrity of the zone collapses pretty quickly and there become spaces to attack. 

Longer-term Edmunds seems better suited on the outside than as the MLB in this defense.  Your assessment is spot-on.  MLB is a big need.  On top of this outside of Milano our LB group is weak and wasn't addressed well in the off season.  Can we get Lorax out of retirement for another season here?

 

But the DL is no better.  They are consistently losing the one-on-one battles with the offensive line which allows them to step out and tie up the LB's.  And they are neither stopping the run or putting pressure on the QB.  Usually you get one or the other but getting neither?  We have no quality run stuffers or pass rushers.  That's a problem. 

 

And the secondary?  Left hung out there all night they didn't fare well but still the coverage was poor. 

 

My takeaway was they played like it was the first week of preseason.   

 

To win with this defense, unless there is a miracle improvement, we need the offensive to put up 30+ points and play a mistake free game along with special teams holding their own.  And that isn't going to happen every week.

     

Edited October 14, 2020 by All_Pro_Bills

[Do The Reich Thing]

1 hour ago, JohnNord said:

I will boil everything down to a few things:

 

The defensive line not been good.  They did a terrible job with contain which was a strength last season.  They get pushes around in the middle and aren’t great at rushing the passer.  Still, I think this unit has the best chance to get better.

 

Linebackers are an issue.  I think you undersold Milano just a little bit.  He’s a solid player who is very good at coverage and decent against the run.  The defense has always missed h

when he’s been out.  Edmunds has been a liability and has not been very good.  It makes you wonder what the Bills saw in AJ Klein because he’s been just as bad. 
 

Cornerbacks also have been poor.  Tre wasn’t having the best year.  Levi Wallace is serviceable.  Norman is below average and Tauron Johnson has been the worst of the group.  
 

It’s going to be a major undertaking to fix things on defense 

 

Milano is decent to solid like you said, and maybe I did undersell him a bit. I don’t think he’s worth a massive contract though with how injured he always is. 

[ngbills]

The Bills have given up 23 or more points in4 straight weeks. 

 

Last year they gave up 23+ only 3 times all year.

The bad 2018 team did it 7 times, but never 4 straight weeks.

In the teams entire history there are not many stretches of giving up 23 points 4 straight weeks. 

 

[billsherd]

I think NFL all of sudden deciding to cut down on holding calls is really hurting our D. I don't know if NFL gave out a memo before the season started and if they did McD should have adjusted to it. Lot of teams are struggling on defense this year, but teams with smaller DL are even struggling more.  Teams with speed edge rushers or bigger DL are playing better this year. We are also benefiting on offense with less holding calls as Allen has more time to find a WR open.  

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

Show me another NFL defense where You can remove their best player and starting corner, other starting corner, best coverage linebacker, make the middle linebacker play one armed and still play the at same level with replacements.

 

Now add Tennessee Scoring drive starting positions:

BUF 16 Andre Roberts assist then huge runback 

BUF30 awful punt coverage, 3rd and 20 convert

TEN10 questionable Norman DPI on 3rd and 4 

BUF12 stupid josh int then 68 yard return

TEN25 got them to third down 3 times!

BUF18 AR fumble, D got them to 4th down 
 

that is 4 gifted scoring drives. You wouldn’t know it, but bills defense forced titans into 3 punts. Bills only punted twice.  
 

two huge INT returns and horrid special teams made it an easy Tennessee win. 

 

Edited October 14, 2020 by Over 29 years of fanhood

[billsherd]

14 minutes ago, Over 29 years of fanhood said:

Show me another NFL defense where You can remove their best player and starting corner, other starting corner, best coverage linebacker, make the middle linebacker play one armed and still play the at same level with replacements.

 

Now add Tennessee Scoring drive starting positions:

BUF 16 

BUF30

TEN10

BUF12

TEN25

BUF18
 

that is 4 gifted scoring drives. You wouldn’t know it, but bills defense forced titans into 3 punts. Bills only punted twice.  
 

two huge INT returns and horrid special teams made it an easy Tennessee win. 

 

Do you happen to have Bills starting positions?

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

3 minutes ago, billsherd said:

Do you happen to have Bills starting positions?

BUF 30 looks like their best. 10, 9, 24, 25.... nothing even close 

[Pokebball]

Josh Allen and Corey Bojorquez had the same number of tackles as Jones, Klein, Williams, Marlowe, Matakevich, Johnson, Epenesa, Philips and Oliver.  Think about that a bit.

 

Taiwan Jones	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
A.J. Klein	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
Daryl Williams	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
Dean Marlowe	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
Tyler Matakevich	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
Josh Allen	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
Darryl Johnson	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
Corey Bojorquez	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
AJ Epenesa	1	1	0	1	0	0	0
Harrison Phillips	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ed Oliver	1	0	0	0	0	0	0

 

[BUFFALOTONE]

26 minutes ago, Over 29 years of fanhood said:

Show me another NFL defense where You can remove their best player and starting corner, other starting corner, best coverage linebacker, make the middle linebacker play one armed and still play the at same level with replacements.

 

Now add Tennessee Scoring drive starting positions:

BUF 16 Andre Roberts assist then huge runback 

BUF30 awful punt coverage, 3rd and 20 convert

TEN10 questionable Norman DPI on 3rd and 4 

BUF12 stupid josh int then 68 yard return

TEN25 got them to third down 3 times!

BUF18 AR fumble, D got them to 4th down 
 

that is 4 gifted scoring drives. You wouldn’t know it, but bills defense forced titans into 3 punts. Bills only punted twice.  
 

two huge INT returns and horrid special teams made it an easy Tennessee win. 

 

NE man...

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

16 hours ago, Azucho98 said:

 

Wish upon a Star that someone will figure this mess out...?  The D-line has been really bad. BTW, nobody NOBODY could be as bad as Eddie Robinson.

Isn't it ironic that last season people were complaining that Star didn't make many splash plays or tackles for that matter. Some people would try to tell them last year that he occupied blockers and did it unselfishly. Now people are saying we really miss Star.

[GunnerBill]

37 minutes ago, Over 29 years of fanhood said:

Show me another NFL defense where You can remove their best player and starting corner, other starting corner, best coverage linebacker, make the middle linebacker play one armed and still play the at same level with replacements.

 

Now add Tennessee Scoring drive starting positions:

BUF 16 Andre Roberts assist then huge runback 

BUF30 awful punt coverage, 3rd and 20 convert

TEN10 questionable Norman DPI on 3rd and 4 

BUF12 stupid josh int then 68 yard return

TEN25 got them to third down 3 times!

BUF18 AR fumble, D got them to 4th down 
 

that is 4 gifted scoring drives. You wouldn’t know it, but bills defense forced titans into 3 punts. Bills only punted twice.  
 

two huge INT returns and horrid special teams made it an easy Tennessee win. 

 

 

Agree with this. The Bills D was not good but it got no help from the offense and special teams last night. Total team loss. On every player and every coach.

[dpberr]

Injuries aside:

 

For me, the devil is in the playcallling.  Either the defense runs a script too long or Edmunds isn't making the best play call he could.  There's something going on there.  The script last night was built to stop Henry, and while they did that, it let the Titans passing game run wild.   I don't think Edmunds should be in charge of managing the calls for the defense on the field.  I think he's too young, and since he got that responsibility, he plays with hesitation.  He plays so much better without that hesitation.  

 

The pass rush is predictable. You see precious few shifts, stunts, spy blitz or sending anyone but the line.  I don't know why the Bills treated Tannehill like Aaron Rodgers (who can sniff a blitz before you think it) last night.  

 

 

 

 

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

50 minutes ago, D. L. Hot-Flamethrower said:

Isn't it ironic that last season people were complaining that Star didn't make many splash plays or tackles for that matter. Some people would try to tell them last year that he occupied blockers and did it unselfishly. Now people are saying we really miss Star.

Lorax specifically named him as a guy doing a great job up front. It was all I needed to hear 

[Jrb1979]

Many are overlooking the fact they played a lot of bad teams with bad QBs last season. They have been playing better QBs and better offenses so far and it shows. 

[ngbills]

2 hours ago, Over 29 years of fanhood said:

Show me another NFL defense where You can remove their best player and starting corner, other starting corner, best coverage linebacker, make the middle linebacker play one armed and still play the at same level with replacements.

 

Now add Tennessee Scoring drive starting positions:

BUF 16 Andre Roberts assist then huge runback 

BUF30 awful punt coverage, 3rd and 20 convert

TEN10 questionable Norman DPI on 3rd and 4 

BUF12 stupid josh int then 68 yard return

TEN25 got them to third down 3 times!

BUF18 AR fumble, D got them to 4th down 
 

that is 4 gifted scoring drives. You wouldn’t know it, but bills defense forced titans into 3 punts. Bills only punted twice.  
 

two huge INT returns and horrid special teams made it an easy Tennessee win. 

 

Yes, the O did not help. But you have to be honest that this D has been struggling all season. They have gone through stretches in every game that they cannot stop a thing. They just went 6 quarters in which the other team never punted and the Raiders only punted once. So two full games with 1 punt... Look at the drives logs for games since 2nd half of MIA. We are not stopping anyone. 

[SCBills]

34 minutes ago, Jrb1979 said:

Many are overlooking the fact they played a lot of bad teams with bad QBs last season. They have been playing better QBs and better offenses so far and it shows. 

Which is extremely worrisome in terms of them playing at a respectable level this year.  
 

Gone are any illusions I have of them being a Top 5 unit, but they are legitimately one of the 5 worst defenses in the NFL through 5 weeks if we acknowledge how bad the Jets offense is. 
 

Between the easy schedule our defense faced last year and the low key rule changes that put defenses at a bigger disadvantage, I don’t see where “the fix” comes from.  
 

Tightening the rotation is a good start.  Getting healthy is needed.  However, whatever we’re doing on 3rd down needs to change... the defense tires themselves out, while giving up long drives and points... it’s the worst case scenario for a defense. 

[Call_Of_Ktulu]

My fear is that if Epenesa cannot beat out Trent Murphy is he going to be even a solid player? Epenesa seems to have a nice burst and his ability to win with his arm length and hands is a big advantage considering O-Lines are holding like crazy. I would like to see Epenesa get a lot more playing time.

 

 

[Nuncha]

5 hours ago, D. L. Hot-Flamethrower said:

Isn't it ironic that last season people were complaining that Star didn't make many splash plays or tackles for that matter. Some people would try to tell them last year that he occupied blockers and did it unselfishly. Now people are saying we really miss Star.

Reminds me of that song "don't know what you got till its gone".  LOL

[Milanos Milano]

3 hours ago, Call_Of_Ktulu said:

My fear is that if Epenesa cannot beat out Trent Murphy is he going to be even a solid player? Epenesa seems to have a nice burst and his ability to win with his arm length and hands is a big advantage considering O-Lines are holding like crazy. I would like to see Epenesa get a lot more playing time.

 

 

The fact that Epenesa hasn’t beaten out Murphy is a testament to how disappointing he is. Murphy is terrible. 

[Jrb1979]

6 hours ago, Over 29 years of fanhood said:

Show me another NFL defense where You can remove their best player and starting corner, other starting corner, best coverage linebacker, make the middle linebacker play one armed and still play the at same level with replacements.

 

Now add Tennessee Scoring drive starting positions:

BUF 16 Andre Roberts assist then huge runback 

BUF30 awful punt coverage, 3rd and 20 convert

TEN10 questionable Norman DPI on 3rd and 4 

BUF12 stupid josh int then 68 yard return

TEN25 got them to third down 3 times!

BUF18 AR fumble, D got them to 4th down 
 

that is 4 gifted scoring drives. You wouldn’t know it, but bills defense forced titans into 3 punts. Bills only punted twice.  
 

two huge INT returns and horrid special teams made it an easy Tennessee win. 

 

Show me another defense that looks good playing mediocre offenses one season and good offenses the next. I think many have overlooked how easy the schedule and the teams offense they played last season. 

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

9 hours ago, Jrb1979 said:

Show me another defense that looks good playing mediocre offenses one season and good offenses the next. I think many have overlooked how easy the schedule and the teams offense they played last season. 

I know this narrative is popular but not entirely accurate:

 

Dallas was 1, Ravens 2, then they play the 12,13th, 14th and 15th twice in total offense. If you go by points for Dallas drops a few pegs but the breakdown is similar. Only one team got more than 24 on them All year. 

 

they were good last year. 

[SoCal Deek]

It’s not hard to figure out. Tuesday night the Bills were without their two starting cornerbacks, one and a half starting linebackers (Edmunds has to be injured) and last year’s starting nose tackle. That’s all three levels of the defense! It’s literally HALF of last year’s starting roster. 

[oldmanfan]

I suspect Beane is looking to add some more DBs

[BarleyNY]

On 10/14/2020 at 6:48 AM, GunnerBill said:

 

I know people will groan when I say this.... too many average former Panthers. Klein, Addison and Butler might know the scheme.... but they are adding very little to it at the moment.

Too many way overpaid average former Panthers.  And you can add Star to that list. 

[BarleyNY]

20 hours ago, ngbills said:

The Bills have given up 23 or more points in4 straight weeks. 

 

Last year they gave up 23+ only 3 times all year.

The bad 2018 team did it 7 times, but never 4 straight weeks.

In the teams entire history there are not many stretches of giving up 23 points 4 straight weeks. 

 

What’s so concerning to me is that this is the third season of this defense.  They should be tight and humming along.  Getting beat happens, the other team is getting paid too and we all know that defense is pretty much illegal in the NFL today anyway.  But missing assignments and other mental errors - I’m looking particularly hard at our LBs here - is a real problem.  
 

The other thing that might be at play here is our offense’s production.  Teams didn’t have to open up their offenses against us the last couple seasons.  They expected a lower scoring game and could be more conservative.  I’ve seen this happen with other teams too.  Always beware of a great looking defense if your offense is poor.  So I think that part of our problem this season is that our defense wasn’t quite as good as we thought it was.  But I don’t think they’re as bad as they looked against the Titans either.

 

There’s definitely work to be done and we are going to have to do it with less money soon.  I think we’d all be shocked if Allen either didn’t have his 5th year option picked up or got an extension this offseason.  That means one more season of an inexpensive QB and then $30M or so less cap space to work with.  Beane has his work cut out for him. 

[ngbills]

2 hours ago, BarleyNY said:

What’s so concerning to me is that this is the third season of this defense.  They should be tight and humming along.  Getting beat happens, the other team is getting paid too and we all know that defense is pretty much illegal in the NFL today anyway.  But missing assignments and other mental errors - I’m looking particularly hard at our LBs here - is a real problem.  
 

The other thing that might be at play here is our offense’s production.  Teams didn’t have to open up their offenses against us the last couple seasons.  They expected a lower scoring game and could be more conservative.  I’ve seen this happen with other teams too.  Always beware of a great looking defense if your offense is poor.  So I think that part of our problem this season is that our defense wasn’t quite as good as we thought it was.  But I don’t think they’re as bad as they looked against the Titans either.

 

There’s definitely work to be done and we are going to have to do it with less money soon.  I think we’d all be shocked if Allen either didn’t have his 5th year option picked up or got an extension this offseason.  That means one more season of an inexpensive QB and then $30M or so less cap space to work with.  Beane has his work cut out for him. 

All good points here. You watch the tape and its not just a matter of teams getting lucky or making great plays. It is missed tackles, wide open receivers, QB's running without a defender in sight, no pressure, losing the battle at the LOS and on. 

 

Long term it is concerning. To maintain this offense there will be some big bucks going out to both Allen and Diggs. While the Defense you have White locked up. But then you have upcoming decisions on guys like Milano, not to mention Edmunds and Oliver right behind that. Otherwise you have a lot of aging players in Hughes, Hyde, Poyer, and more. So you have to buy into the defense being successful as a system that can plug and play guys. Just not seeing that right now.

Edited October 15, 2020 by ngbills

[BBills88]

How to fix the Defense 

  1. Guys with nasty attitudes when tackling 

  2. Big nasty Space eaters in the Middle

  3. Get man corners opposite of Tre White