Are the Bills originating a new trend with such a deep D-line rotation?

[maryland-bills-fan]

We all understand that Buffalo drafted Epenesa, Rousseau, Basham and brought in Obama to back up Addison and Hughes.  That is 6 DE's who would or could start on many NFL teams.  They also kept Zimmer, who is sub-300 pounds and has speed.

 

There was a graphic during the TV broadcast that showed that everybody got at least 20 snaps out of  ~ 60 snaps..  It looks like Buffalo is doing two "new" things to attack the recent trend of mobile QB. 

• [1]  kicking DE's inside to DT on passing downs, in order to penetrate (rather than gap fill), and to get guys with more speed to run down the QB AND
• [2] heavily rotating these guys so there is always a fresh player, with good legs to attack & contain the QB.
• [3] we can send in a fresh guy at DE 3 times in a row and have each one of them bull-rush.  It gotta wear out the OL by having them spend a lot of energy and strength on every play-  see what happens in the 4th quarter. 
• This allows the DE to push the OL-man directly back into the QB. It allows the DE to see if and where the QB escapes to get away from pressure AND to slip the block to chase the QB. 

 

It worked this game and we also have the Ravens as another running QB heavy opponent.

 

 

 

 

https://www.buffalorumblings.com/2021/8/17/22624719/how-many-buffalo-bills-defensive-ends-played-defensive-tackle-snaps-friday-night

https://buffalowdown.com/2021/01/17/buffalo-bills-breaking-down-the-snap-counts-against-the-ravens/

Edited October 11, 2021 by maryland-bills-fan

[TBBills]

Keep the D-Line fresh for the WHOLE game

[hemma]

Probably also tough on the Oline to constantly make changes in their technique based on the current DL guy across form them.

Tough to get in a groove.

[Buffalo_Stampede]

Easier said than done. Havin that many that can play is not going to happen on many teams.

[BearNorth]

My real concern with this is how do you stop Derrick Henry or the Browns duo of RB's that are pounders.  Not as worried about Ekeler as we have pursuit speed.

[nucci]

I think all teams would like to do this but it's hard to get that many quality players at one time...Oliver, Rousseau, Boogie, Epenesa, Addison, Hughes, Star...we're kinda loaded

[SoCal Deek]

They’re choosing to spread the time between the players but it won’t be long now before playing time becomes more slanted towards the younger guys. Hughes isn’t get much done in there.

[Buffalo_Stampede]

4 minutes ago, BearNorth said:

My real concern with this is how do you stop Derrick Henry or the Browns duo of RB's that are pounders.  Not as worried about Ekeler as we have pursuit speed.

Score!

[Not at the table Karlos]

19 minutes ago, BearNorth said:

My real concern with this is how do you stop Derrick Henry or the Browns duo of RB's that are pounders.  Not as worried about Ekeler as we have pursuit speed.

Same way we have every time we played him under McDermott. He hasn't done much of anything against us in the past. 

[BearNorth]

2 minutes ago, Not at the table Karlos said:

Same way we have every time we played him under McDermott. He hasn't done much of anything against us in the past. 

He had two TD's in that beat down they gave us last season. Right now he's on a pace to match last year's 2,000 yard season, and he has an extra game.

[SMAKCruiser]

4 minutes ago, BearNorth said:

He had two TD's in that beat down they gave us last season. Right now he's on a pace to match last year's 2,000 yard season, and he has an extra game.

He had 57 yards on 19 attempts

[corta765]

I would say the Giants teams that beat NE kinda were the trend setters with this and a four man front that eats the offensive line which allows heavier coverage. Prior to that in 2007 offenses were not as dynamic to that extent, Peyton and Brady change that over the last 15 years and other teams picked up on it.

[JMF2006]

34 minutes ago, nucci said:

I think all teams would like to do this but it's hard to get that many quality players at one time...Oliver, Rousseau, Boogie, Epenesa, Addison, Hughes, Star...we're kinda loaded

 

Yes and some day you will have to pay them all.

 

I trust Beane to draft and trade to keep it going  

[auburnbillsbacker]

Most teams don't have the depth to rotate in so many players.  Even our depth will likely take a hit during the off-season.

[Captain_Quint]

8 minutes ago, SMAKCruiser said:

He had 57 yards on 19 attempts

Yeah we handled him last year, hope the D can replicate that.

[Bob in STL]

41 minutes ago, BearNorth said:

My real concern with this is how do you stop Derrick Henry or the Browns duo of RB's that are pounders.  Not as worried about Ekeler as we have pursuit speed.

Gap control is important against the pounders.  A guy like Star is really helpful.  Did you see the replays of him eating 2 blockers at the point if attack. .  

[Not at the table Karlos]

1 hour ago, BearNorth said:

He had two TD's in that beat down they gave us last season. Right now he's on a pace to match last year's 2,000 yard season, and he has an extra game.

What does him having an extra game have to do with us? Hes had poor yardage and ypc against us. 

[skibum]

It helps to have a bunch of guys that are all really good. I don't know that every team could get away with this strategy - some reserve NFL linemen are liability-level players. Would the Bills be able to run this successfully with the likes of John McCargo and Aaron Maybin on the roster?

 

I do think it speaks to the value of building a DL of versatile players rather than specialists. 

[Chandler#81]

1 hour ago, JMF2006 said:

 

Yes and some day you will have to pay them all.

 

I trust Beane to draft and trade to keep it going  

This.

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

I'm not sure its a trend - there's still a ton of game changing players at the positions along the dline that make a lot of money.  All that money makes it hard to have solid depth behind them.