We are now the worst defense in the league

[Budkin]

I've accepted now that this team is not making the playoffs, but hopefully that triggers the major changes that are needed in the offseason.

[BillsFan130]

22 minutes ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

McDermott is coaching the defense scared right now. It’s going to be a bend and sometimes break defense the rest of the season.

Offense better get going or we’re looking at a top 10 pick. 
 

I’ve always said you are what you’re record is but they deserve to be 4-5 right now with the hard part of the schedule coming up.

 

I think he’s done a bad job, but you think scared?

 

If anything I thought he was irresponsible blitzing burrow so many times yesterday 

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

2 minutes ago, PBF81 said:

 

Right, but Jones was massively overrated.  I mean it's no accident, in fact it's rather routine for McD coached teams here, for us to come out of the gates swinging, several players really stand out early in the season, before fading away.  

 

This notion that Jones, a JAG in essence throughout his 9-year career, all of a sudden in the early part of his back-9, "came on."  It was a short spurt for him, much like Rousseau last season had one.   Meanwhile, Oliver's continued his old now you see me, now you don't role.  

 

Our secondary is better now than it was for most of last season.  

 

Of our starting F7, we have 5 players of 7 that were designed starters.  If losing Jones and Milano cause that kind of downfall in the rankings, then McD should be fired right now.  

 

 

 

2 week span they lose 3 starters for the year.  Take out Reader, Pratt, and Taylor-Britt from Cincy yesterday - it's going to take some time for a team to adjust to the new group of guys.  

1 minute ago, BillsFan130 said:

I think he’s done a bad job, but you think scared?

 

If anything I thought he was irresponsible blitzing burrow so many times yesterday 

 

I agree, they weren't getting home and they were picking them up.  At the same time... 4 man rush wasn't doing enough either.  At some point the coaching doesn't matter when the guys on the field aren't getting it done, and there aren't even guys on the bench you can put in.  

[BananaB]

Problem is they have neglected the O for years after to build that D. Numerous high draft and a lot of money in FA spent on Dline. It should not drop off that much but with so many aging players and the young one’s developing at such a slow rate it was bound to catch up to us at some point. 

Edited November 6, 2023 by BananaB

[dorquemada]

3 minutes ago, BillsFan130 said:

I think he’s done a bad job, but you think scared?

 

If anything I thought he was irresponsible blitzing burrow so many times yesterday 

 

The Blitzing was pitiful. I've never seen anything so tentative and ineffective in my life.  Like guys had no idea what they were supposed to be doing, waiting to blitz long enough so they were assured to not get to Burrow, but also too committed to the blitz to help in coverage. I've seen more disciplined D play at spring football tryouts in college.  I'm not sure if that's scared, or just that our D is bad.  They're poorly coached if nothing else.

[MasterStrategist]

22 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

This isn't a hot take. It's supported by analytics:

 

I understand the injuries. But we have a defensive head coach and we are literally the worst defense in the league since the Jaguars game.

 

And I get why fans are focusing on the offense, but none of that matters to our Super Bowl aspirations if the defense doesn't get back to at least the top half of the league.

Don't disagree. 

 

But how bad is our talent in the back 7?  

 

LBs: Bernard - overachieving some, has some limitations physically, good value on a rookie deal. Dodson- he is replacement level, not sure he's a top backup on many other teams

 

CB: another overachiever in Benford, athletically limited.  Dane same boat.  Rasul has some talent, as does Elam; but that's looking to future (likely without Tre).  Still lacking a true #1.  Taron is a high performing nickle.

 

S: slow, at this point Poyer/Hyde bring vet experience, but don't excel at any one thing now.  No longer are they consistent in coverage or blitzing, just not impactful is the point.

 

This is on Beane/McD, and Tre injuries killed a good portion of capspace.  Beane decided, or Coach influenced, the decisions to keep the secondary mainly intact.  Knowing full well we struggled last game of year/lacked speed.  I think they put too much faith into Hyde/Poyer being able to regain their 2021 form...which hasn't been the case, and again Tre is just bad luck/nobodies fault.  

 

That's all to say, next offseason should be focused on 2 new safeties, and developing Elam/determine early enough if we need to invest more at CB.  Likely Tre, Dane, Poyer, Hyde all gone...time to retool.

[HOUSE]

FIRE THE DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR 

[Hebert19]

34 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

This isn't a hot take. It's supported by analytics:

 

I understand the injuries. But we have a defensive head coach and we are literally the worst defense in the league since the Jaguars game.

 

And I get why fans are focusing on the offense, but none of that matters to our Super Bowl aspirations if the defense doesn't get back to at least the top half of the league.

It's not shocking.  You lose a couple all pros and a potential pro bowler (literally your 3 best) and its gonna hurt. 

[HappyDays]

30 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

This team really misses Milano.

 

Sure it does, but WLB is the least important position on the defense. I can't attribute all of the ineptitude to injuries. I think a lot of it is just McDermott's play calling to be honest. We gave up two quick TD drives to start the game. Most drives featured a 3rd down conversion that came off of a terrible play call. And then from there we mostly let the Bengals move the ball down the field. We would stop them at the 40-50 or so, but that meant we lost the field position battle for pretty much the entire game. When you're chasing a team and losing field position for an entire game, that is not a recipe for success.

[Buffalo_Stampede]

14 minutes ago, BillsFan130 said:

I think he’s done a bad job, but you think scared?

 

If anything I thought he was irresponsible blitzing burrow so many times yesterday 

He doesn’t think they can win their matchups without the blitz.

[DabillsDaBillsDaBills]

8 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

This is the modern day NFL. You have to expect shoot outs and your D to hold on where they can. After the first 2 drives, the D shut them down pretty well. But our O could not respond.

 

The Defense is helping the Offense.

 

The Offense is hurting the Defense.

 

How many teams won this week while allowing back to back 5+ minute TD drives to start a game? Zero

 

How many teams won this week while allowing back to back TDs (no TOP component) to start a game? Zero

 

Heck change it to the entire season.

 

There's not a single team that has won a game after allowing back to back 5+minute TD drives to start a game.

 

There's only 3 examples of teams allowing back to back TDs to start a game (no TOP component) and winning. Bills over Dolphins in week 4, Eagles over Commanders week 4, and Commanders over Broncos in week 2. 

 

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

19 minutes ago, Budkin said:

I've accepted now that this team is not making the playoffs, but hopefully that triggers the major changes that are needed in the offseason.

Don't hold your breath about major changes. 

13 minutes ago, Hebert19 said:

It's not shocking.  You lose a couple all pros and a potential pro bowler (literally your 3 best) and its gonna hurt. 

Yeah we should completely fall apart and be worst in league. NOT!!!

[HappyDays]

41 minutes ago, SoCal Deek said:

The problem is that McDs defense is a situational disaster. Yes, they stopped Cincy most of the second half….but when they needed to get the ball back for the offense in the end, they failed miserably. I’m 100% ready to move on from McD. I’ve seen next to no growth in him as a situational coach. 

 

Yeah I can't believe that last 3rd down play against Cincy. McDermott takes Rousseau off the field in favor of Leonard and Miller. Guess what Cincy does? Runs right at Miller. It's just a clueless substitution in that situation.

 

End of the Jaguars game. He takes Elam off the field in favor of Ingram. What happens next? Etienne runs right over Ingram and scores a backbreaking 35 yard TD.

 

End of the Pats game. McDermott blitzes on 1st down. Have we figured out the pattern yet? Shocking no one, a screen pass goes for 40 yards.

 

So miss me with the injury excuse. Injuries aren't causing these clueless end of game play calls from our defensive head coach.

[DCofNC]

Step one to fixing the Defense is SIT VON MILLER.  He’s a liability.  Every time he’s on the field it takes AJE, Groot or Floyd off the field and right now, he’s not better than any of them at anything.   I don’t know if he will regain form, but the defense is worse with him on the field and it’s not close. 
 

Real question, WTF happened to Taron Johnson, it’s like he forgot what inside leverage is.  
 

Safety is everything I was afraid it would be, two old men trying to keep up with athletic freaks that are at least 5 years younger than them and a guy who just flat out sucks.   Oh and some special teamers. 
 

McClappy has his work cut out for him with zero quality at LB (while Bernard is out), a bunch of sub par athletes at corner, geezers or whiffs waiting to happen at S and no pass rush or run stuffing abilities to speak of.  

[Royale with Cheese]

38 minutes ago, PBF81 said:

Our injuries are not that bad.  

 

Honestly, Milano and Jones.  White hasn't been around for the vast majority of either of the last two seasons.  

Jones simply started strong, he did nothing even approaching his play in the first few games this season against some of the worst offenses in the league, throughout the rest of his nearly decade-long career.  It wouldn't have lasted.  

 

Our starting line-up is largely the players that they themselves have drafted, and apart from Milano and Jones is what it would have been anyway.  We knew coming into the season that White hadn't played well in the few games he was in last season, so no difference there.  

 

Von Miller, yeah, a 34-year old player that got injured.  Not a problem unless you give him a 6-year $120M contract at the age of 33, with nearly half of it guaranteed.  

 

We have key injuries, but one player shouldn't explain a drop from 1st/2nd to DFL.  

 

If it does, LOL, well, then time for a new "defensively oriented" head coach.  

 

While we're at it, let's get an offensively oriented one since we haven't been able to count on our marvelous 1st or 2nd ranked Ds in the playoffs anyway.  

 

 

 

Yes the injuries are that bad. 

 

Jones since being in Buffalo has elevated his game.  Lorenzo Alexander's performance elevated when he came to Buffalo.  

It doesn't matter that he wasn't excellent in his years prior, he was with Buffalo.

 

Milano is 1 or 2 as the best off the ball linebacker in the NFL.

DaQuan was playing the best ball if his career.

Tre White may not be an All Pro anymore but he's still our best corner.

 

Those are high level players at every level.  

 

Now with the signings of Joseph and Douglas, the defense should start getting it right.

 

Last night wasn't bad.  It's a success if you can hold Burrow to 24 points.  We should not lose for giving up 24 points with the offensive talent we have.

[chongli]

Somewhere out there Leslie Frazier is smiling.

Edited November 6, 2023 by chongli

[FilthyBeast]

I've said for some time, when your defensive philosophy is not only 'bend but don't break' but building a team with smallish tweaner type players this is end result.

 

Yes injuries suck, but again when you have a 'prototype' you keep drafting this you'll never have a unit with 11 guys fully healthy from start to finish. And even teams that build real, modern NFL defenses are going to have injuries happen here and there.

[dpberr]

Offenses know how to beat this defense.  The majority of the fans on this board know how to beat it, and we're not professional NFL coaches.  How many times did you hear the Bengals call out the blitzing safety last night?

 

If you think ol' Process spends the week adding new wrinkles to the defense, you're an eternal optimist.

 

[BillsFan130]

9 minutes ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

He doesn’t think they can win their matchups without the blitz.

Fair, I guess we have different definitions of scared.

 

I associate scared as playing a bend but don’t break, rush 3-4, soft coverages etc. (like Leslie Frazier)

[Charles Romes]

Just now, DCofNC said:

Step one to fixing the Defense is SIT VON MILLER.  He’s a liability.  Every time he’s on the field it takes AJE, Groot or Floyd off the field and right now, he’s not better than any of them at anything.   I don’t know if he will regain form, but the defense is worse with him on the field and it’s not close. 
 

Real question, WTF happened to Taron Johnson, it’s like he forgot what inside leverage is.  
 

Safety is everything I was afraid it would be, two old men trying to keep up with athletic freaks that are at least 5 years younger than them and a guy who just flat out sucks.   Oh and some special teamers. 
 

McClappy has his work cut out for him with zero quality at LB (while Bernard is out), a bunch of sub par athletes at corner, geezers or whiffs waiting to happen at S and no pass rush or run stuffing abilities to speak of.  

 

Mixon averaged 2.6 yards a rush and Burrow had 13 incompletions. The only way to force an incompletion by Burrow when he’s playing at this level is to have been in his face.