A.J. Epenesa was the best Bill on the field in Miami

[Inigo Montoya]

If you ever needed an example of how stats can be deceiving, here are Epenesa's stats for the Miami game;

 

1 Tackle and 2 QB hits.

 

If you were to look at that stat line you would think Epenesa had a pretty pedestrian game.  Those stats don't tell the story though.  Epenesa was killing the Phins all day.  He knocked out Tua on a clean hit.  He was routinely getting into the back field today and disrupting the Dolphins passing game.   On one of Rousseau's sacks Epenesa drove Brissett right into Rousseau's arms.  A.J. is getting off the snap so much faster than he did last season and getting around the corner on speed rushes and into the pocket.  

 

If A.J. continues to play like this he could end up with 10 sacks this year.   Epenesa, Oliver, Zimmer, and Rousseau could end up being really scary.

 

Edited September 20, 2021 by Inigo Montoya

[buffaloboyinATL]

And Basham will be ready at some point too!

[Simon]

 

18 minutes ago, Inigo Montoya said:

A.J. is getting off the snap so much faster than he did last season and getting around the corner on speed rushes and into the pocket.  

 

His handwork is really improving also

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

17 minutes ago, Inigo Montoya said:

If you ever needed an example of how stats can be deceiving, here are Epenesa's stats for the Miami game;

 

1 Tackle and 2 QB hits.

 

If you were to look at that stat line you would think Epenesa had a pretty pedestrian game.  Those stats don't tell the story though.  Epenesa was killing the Phins all day.  He knocked out Tua on a clean hit.  He was routinely getting into the back field today and disrupting the Dolphins passing game.   On one of Rousseau's sacks Epenesa drove Brissett right into Rousseau's arms.  A.J. is getting off the snap so much faster than he did last season and getting around the corner on speed rushes and into the pocket.  

 

If A.J. continues to play like this he could end up with 10 sacks this year.   Epenesa, Oliver, Zimmer, and Rousseau could end up being really scary.

 

Agreed. Bills could have easily had 3 more sacks, but Brissett got tripped up for like 1-yard gains. 
 

my favorite play was when AJ almost decapitated Brissett. Brissett wiggled free and I think someone else cleaned it up.
 

[NickelCity]

He was dynamite. Really just great to see. Offense has the regular season (hopefully) to get to an elite level, and with some luck watch out. 

 

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

One other thing— AJ had some great bull rushes too where he caused the pocket to collapse. 

[Mat68]

Epenesa and Rouseau are the key to a Championship defense.  They look better than Hughes and Addison.  

[1ManRaid]

It is going to be a LONG decade for AFC QBs.

[bigbuffs]

100% agree. Best he’s played yet in his young career. Milano was a force today also and Taron Johnson was impressive as wel to me.

[Augie]

First we had no NFL quality WR’s. Fixed. Then we had no pass rush. Fixed (and cheaper!). Having a pass rush in this league changes everything. Look at Tampa vs KC in the Super Bowl.

 

 

Next year will be OLine for us. The flip side of having a pass rush will be fixed. 

 

 

.

Edited September 20, 2021 by Augie

[NickelCity]

1 minute ago, Augie said:

Next year will be OLine for us. 

 

But man...do I want it now.

[JoPoy88]

No love for Oliver ?

[Cruiserplayer]

1 minute ago, NickelCity said:

 

But man...do I want it now.

Better would be nice but still light years ahead of 2019 o line.

[mykidsdad]

Zimmer

[Big Blitz]

I'll tell you this our front 7 looks much better then KC's right now.   

[biggerdaddynj]

48 minutes ago, JoPoy88 said:

No love for Oliver ?

Fans gotta wait for Oliver to get more and more snaps/experience playing full seasons with a true 1 technique DT by his side taking on blue collar, lunch pail work to see if Oliver is the guy we drafted to be that disruptive 3 technique DT we saw at Houston.  
 

Star, sitting out last year (not begrudging him his personal choice) definitely had an impact setting back Oliver’s development at the 3 technique at a pivotal time in a young player’s development.  And, hopefully next offseason, Beane gets us a good 1 technique DT to take over for Star, my dream a Ted Washington type, to develop with Oliver (I wanted the 360lb kid from UF, Slaton this year).   I hope with a true 1 technique DT, Oliver can play the 3 technique most snaps and develop into the player many of us were stoked to draft.  

Edited September 20, 2021 by biggerdaddynj

[Reader]

For fwiw here is something PFF came up with.

 

Player    Pass-rush snaps    Sacks    Total pressures    Pass-rush win %
Ed Oliver    28                          0                 2                          23.3%
Justin Zimmer    28                  1                 3                          21.4%
Greg Rousseau    27                2                 6                          35.7%
A.J. Epenesa    27                    0                 8                          21.4%
Jerry Hughes     26                  0                 3                          28.6%
Vernon Butler    25                   0                 2                          18.5%
Star Lotulelei    24                    0                 2                          23.1%
Mario Addison    24                  0                 4                          15.4%

 

Suggests that Rousseau played EVEN BETTER than he looked

[Ethan in Cleveland]

53 minutes ago, Augie said:

First we had no NFL quality WR’s. Fixed. Then we had no pass rush. Fixed (and cheaper!). Having a pass rush in this league changes everything. Look at Tampa vs KC in the Super Bowl.

 

 

Next year will be OLine for us. The flip side of having a pass rush will be fixed. 

 

 

.

Good take.  They should have drafted a center in the 3rd round not a swing tackle.  Ford may yet still develop but with every game it looks less likely.  I see C/G and safety depth as priorities after drafting Edmunds replacement in round 1

[Da webster guy]

Epenesa is just getting started too, not nearly at his prime yet.

He always had elite closing speed to the ball, but needed the getoff, hand control, leverage stuff that separates the good edge guys from the rest.   He really seems like he has it all now. 

Pitt game he was winning a lot too.

[billsfanmiamioh]

He had a great game. Was great to see that 

[Rc2catch]

I was so focused on Rousseau every play I didn’t see Epenesa until he was almost murdering quarterbacks. Good thing Washington gets 10 days to rest up. I might be a little worried if my name is Taylor Heinicke

[947]

I don't know if anybody can get 10 sacks with all the DL rotation we  do. It seems to me that AJE & Rousseau are clearly outplaying Hughes & Addison through 2 games, but they'll still never see more than 55% of the snaps. I really wish McD would ride the better players.

[Nelius]

Rousseau's gonna get 10 sacks. On that note I'm going to see if there's a place where I can bet on that.

I think he was the best Bill but it's 1A 1B, take your pick. 

[MJS]

I think Milano was the best. He was all over the place. Taron Johnson was also really good. But yes, Epenesa was great.

 

It's really good to see major contribution outside of the guys that usually have to do it, like Tre White and Jerry Hughes.

[John from Riverside]

3 hours ago, Mat68 said:

Epenesa and Rouseau are the key to a Championship defense.  They look better than Hughes and Addison.  

At some point basham is going to join this group and I think you’re going to see the veteran guys get less snaps

 

It was hot down on the field today being able to rotate quality guys in and out was also a big key to this game

 

[GunnerBill]

I thought Milano was the best player on the field but it was between those two. AJE was awesome. Looks so much quicker off the edge. 

[Marvlevydraftdaygenius]

6 hours ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

Agreed. Bills could have easily had 3 more sacks, but Brissett got tripped up for like 1-yard gains. 
 

my favorite play was when AJ almost decapitated Brissett. Brissett wiggled free and I think someone else cleaned it up.
 

Don't forget the last play for the dolphins Rousseau went right around the tackle and missed his third sack.

[Solomon Grundy]

4 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

I thought Milano was the best player on the field but it was between those two. AJE was awesome. Looks so much quicker off the edge. 

Taron Johnson 

[TPS]

8 hours ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

Agreed. Bills could have easily had 3 more sacks, but Brissett got tripped up for like 1-yard gains. 
 

my favorite play was when AJ almost decapitated Brissett. Brissett wiggled free and I think someone else cleaned it up.
 

I think that was the sack credited to Zimmer. 

[foreboding]

8 hours ago, Inigo Montoya said:

If you ever needed an example of how stats can be deceiving, here are Epenesa's stats for the Miami game;

 

1 Tackle and 2 QB hits.

 

If you were to look at that stat line you would think Epenesa had a pretty pedestrian game.  Those stats don't tell the story though.  Epenesa was killing the Phins all day.  He knocked out Tua on a clean hit.  He was routinely getting into the back field today and disrupting the Dolphins passing game.   On one of Rousseau's sacks Epenesa drove Brissett right into Rousseau's arms.  A.J. is getting off the snap so much faster than he did last season and getting around the corner on speed rushes and into the pocket.  

 

If A.J. continues to play like this he could end up with 10 sacks this year.   Epenesa, Oliver, Zimmer, and Rousseau could end up being really scary.

 

Yep, he was a wrecking ball. Loved it. Also, Milano was everywhere. If he stays healthy, man, what a year.

[2020 Our Year For Sure]

Derm and Co. just need to teach him not to jump right before impact. He jumped right over Brissett! 

[TPS]

4 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

I thought Milano was the best player on the field but it was between those two. AJE was awesome. Looks so much quicker off the edge. 

AJ may be the new Hughes, leading the team in QB pressures but doesn't get the sacks.  Everyone else is going to benefit in the sack stats because of him.

 

As for looking quicker, he started to come on last year toward the end.  The play that made me take notice last year was very similar to his hit on Brissett, it was against the Pats on Stidham.  They called it roughing the passer penalty, but it looked legal. 

 

 

[GunnerBill]

25 minutes ago, Solomon Grundy said:

Taron Johnson 

 

Yep. Taron has been excellent too.

[CapeBreton]

Pretty crazy how different AJ Epenesa looks physically from when he was drafted. Amazing tape at Iowa but he was 275 lbs at the combine, had the highest body fat % of any defensive end, and ran his 40m in over 5 seconds. 
 

Now he looks shredded and is flying all over the field, amazing what the Bills strength and conditioning coaches have turned this guy into. 

[ProcessTruster]

8 hours ago, Big Blitz said:

I'll tell you this our front 7 looks much better then KC's right now.   

you mean front 6.   Bills play nickel on almost every down.

[1ManRaid]

9 hours ago, Augie said:

First we had no NFL quality WR’s. Fixed. Then we had no pass rush. Fixed (and cheaper!). Having a pass rush in this league changes everything. Look at Tampa vs KC in the Super Bowl.

 

 

Next year will be OLine for us. The flip side of having a pass rush will be fixed. 

 

 

.

 

Well they did already revamp the O-line back in 2019, and I think it was generally better than before.  I think they will just continue to tweak it, rather than another revamp.

[Jerome007]

6 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

I thought Milano was the best player on the field but it was between those two. AJE was awesome. Looks so much quicker off the edge. 

Milano was THE best player on the field. By a mile. Especially in the 1st half. Wow. Of course Epenesa  was a force too. Most of the OL were damn good too.

[BuffaloBill]

13 hours ago, Inigo Montoya said:

If you ever needed an example of how stats can be deceiving, here are Epenesa's stats for the Miami game;

 

1 Tackle and 2 QB hits.

 

If you were to look at that stat line you would think Epenesa had a pretty pedestrian game.  Those stats don't tell the story though.  Epenesa was killing the Phins all day.  He knocked out Tua on a clean hit.  He was routinely getting into the back field today and disrupting the Dolphins passing game.   On one of Rousseau's sacks Epenesa drove Brissett right into Rousseau's arms.  A.J. is getting off the snap so much faster than he did last season and getting around the corner on speed rushes and into the pocket.  

 

If A.J. continues to play like this he could end up with 10 sacks this year.   Epenesa, Oliver, Zimmer, and Rousseau could end up being really scary.

 

 

 

Simmer was a hidden gem yesterday also. The guy plays all out.

[FilthyBeast]

I really like what I see from this defense so far, if this play continues this season and the DL continues to wreak havoc this will be the best overall defense that McDermott/Frazier have fielded during their time here.