Anticipated changes in philosophy/scheme in 2025?

[BearNorth]

19 hours ago, Alphadawg7 said:

Dont let Henry run 80 yard TD's would be a nice start

He's 30 pounds bigger and faster than our linebackers. Not sure we've addressed that.

[BigAl2526]

Buffalo lacks a proven elite edge rusher, who can pile up double digit sack totals, unless Joey Bosa can stay healthy and recover the dominance of his early career.  To compensate, they have tweaked their coaching staff and attempted to upgrade their DBs to enable them to mix in more single high coverage and rush an extra player more frequently.  There are three to five new players on the Bills are hoping will have significant impacts on the defense: Hairston, TJ Sanders, Deone Walker, Landon Jackson are probably the most important.  Dorian Strong could be a fifth contributor.  If Buffalo hits on all of them, and Joey Bosa can stay healthy, this could be a pretty stout defense.  If not, well, then the offense should still be able to score points in bunches.

[Nihilarian]

I'm hoping they pickup that press-man start and drop into zone like the Eagles did to the Chiefs. Get that down to perfection and opponents might have a more difficult time throwing on them. That should help with both coverage and pressure. 

[JP51]

I am thinking that the aggressiveness of the attack will be directly proportionate to how much we can rely on our secondary... So do they stay healthy, does Bishop make great strides, is Max a major upgrade over Rasul, does Tre regain some level of form...  If the secondary is a hot mess, then I feel like that diminishes our aggression... and you rely on 4 and hope Epi has a great year, Bosa stays healthy and is an upgrade over Von last year and Rousseau clicks it to another level... After the suspensions are over how does Hoecht on Obi Wan impact this mix. Now if you get a secondary that is more in line with the Poyer/Hyde Tre days...  well I think he will take more chances. 

[MJS]

12 hours ago, Richard Noggin said:

A 305+ lb DT with length, strength, and explosion can absolutely help against the run. The Bills don't do much 2-gapping overall, so the DTs can interchange at least a little. DaQuan Jones isn't much bigger tbh. We get so incredibly pedantic and prescriptive at times as observers and fans, when there is room for nuance and guys who can do more than the "pundits" proclaim. 

I think we're getting off topic. I never claimed that Sanders was small or couldn't play the run. I stated that the Bills have targeted penetration and pass rush ability at the DT spot. Fans have been clamoring for a big, run stuffing nose tackle type player for awhile. The Bills have shown over and over that they don't care about that. They want a certain type of defenisve tackle and they continue to bring in guys of that type.

 

The scheme itself is designed to stop the pass, not the run. If they stop the run, great, but if they give up some rushing yards, they are fine with that if they are able to limit passing production, big passing plays, force long drives, and get some turnovers.

Edited Wednesday at 02:34 PM by MJS

[billsfan89]

Offensively I think they want to use screens and gadget plays more while taking shots downfield slightly more while retaining the "ball control" ground and pound offense. I would love to see the data on the screen game the Bills incorporated in 2024 as while it seemed to be there a bit more than in the past it was also still not that much of a staple of the offense. I think Brady will make that more prominent. 

 

Defensively I wonder if the system is gonna be stress tested early in the season. See how the new look secondary plays and how good the pass rush is and adjust accordingly. First 4-5 games of the season do they kind of do the more bland disciplined McD zone coverage rush 4 defense to see how good their D-line is and how good the secondary and LB's cover. Then if LB's and secondary are crushing it they can blitz more knowing there's solid coverage back there or will they adjust the philosophy if there's some growing pains there to have more in coverage consistently? 

What I would like to see from both sides of the ball is to see if they can "reserve" 10% of the playbook for the playoffs. It always seems like KC in particular almost has a small portion of their playbook they leave off film but practice behind closed doors for the playoffs. Like they save their best plays and concepts for big games in particular ones with the Bills. 

 

It would be one interesting to see if that's the case and two can the Bills do something similar?  

[FireChans]

32 minutes ago, MJS said:

I think we're getting off topic. I never claimed that Sanders was small or couldn't play the run. I stated that the Bills have targeted penetration and pass rush ability at the DT spot. Fans have been clamoring for a big, run stuffing nose tackle type player for awhile. The Bills have shown over and over that they don't care about that. They want a certain type of defenisve tackle and they continue to bring in guys of that type.

 

The scheme itself is designed to stop the pass, not the run. Of they stop the run, great, but if they give up some rushing yards, they are fine with that if they are able to limit passing production, big passing plays, force long drives, and get some turnovers.

Are we sure they just don't want another tub of goo after getting burned by Star?

[Dunkirk Donski]

11 hours ago, MasterStrategist said:

Speaking of 2nd halves, this Coach you b-word about happened to give up just 11 points and forced 2 punts to start the 3rd qtr--- this was just this year.

 

This is after Benford went down, and we're already down Rapp and Taron banged up.  On top of a DL that has shed Phillips, Von, Jefferson, Smoot, Rasul - and Elam traded for a bag of footballs.  This was an average talented defense, at best.  2 boundary CBs who played entire 2nd half, won't be playing much this year.

 

I'd say our defense did what it needed in 2nd half- Benford going down was too much to overcome.  Our offense came out flat, and just didnt make the plays we needed down the stretch.

 

There's a reason our offseason was dedicated to finding more talent on defense- people love to hate on McD, when have we had legitimate talented defense?  Seems to me, he has covered up a lot of flaws - that tend to get exposed against better QBs.  Talent is the ultimate differentiator, I'd say Philly can attest to that 

 

Mods beware.  

[Buffalo Boy]

McD manages to get his third and long failure rate down a percentage point🤷‍♂️

[MasterStrategist]

12 hours ago, Richard Noggin said:

 

So you'd argue it's more a dearth of defensive talent, especially up front, that has doomed the Bills in the playoffs? (Minus 13 seconds, because obviously no one can reasonably defend the situational and special teams/defensive coaching at the end of that one.) So, more Beane than McD and his staff? 

 

I wonder, though, if it can't be both? Sure, the 2023 playoffs were a nightmare of defensive injuries, BUT...the coaches just CANNOT leave a retired AJ Klein manned up on Travis effing Kelce. That's criminal. They needed a better plan than that. I don't care how limited the practice snaps were gonna be in Klein's leadup. You just don't let that happen. 

Both can be true, but its my viewpoint that McD has done more with less.

 

Aj Klein on Kelce was mismatches that Andy Reid, and any other top notch coach could scheme against a depleted LB crew.

 

I've yet to see us have a "super star" on defense, Tre and Von (pre injury even he wasn't a blue chip player anymore).  We've had a LOT of very good players, but injuries and lack of a blue chip talent on DL have held us back when it matters most.  JMO

[NoName]

When Henry was with the Titans, we saw more 4-3 than nickel for that particular game.  I hope they go back to that against Ravens and any other team that could gash them in the run.  I just don't want teams with dominating running games with bigger backs only worried about the nickel.  

[appoo]

I think the Bills will be better on defense, and likely be a bit more aggressive in their coverage schemes - they seemed to be pretty intentional about adding speed and explosiveness.

 

Because of that I think the Bills will be intentional about being more explosive and pass oriented on offense. For all the points they scored, the Bills were one of the higher run teams in the league, and inspite of all those explosive plays, often ended up gridning first downs to get down field. I think McDermott looked at his defensive personell last season and asked the offense to do more to protect that defense. I don't think that's gonna be neccesary this season

[Cash]

On 6/3/2025 at 12:24 PM, TFBillsfan said:

It’s a slow time of the year for the NFL, so I thought I throw out the following topic.
 

With the start of our home opener against the Ravens less than 100 days away, what offensive or defensive philosophy or scheme changes are you hoping to see from the Bills for the upcoming season?

 

Offense: More effectiveness when running 2 TEs.  I'd also like to see more of a multifaceted gameplan, at least for the playoffs.  What I mean is that we have Plan A, then we anticipate how the defense will adjust to stop Plan A, and Plan B is there to take advantage of that defensive adjustment.  

 

Defense: More multiplicity.  In McD's early years, we had a lot more of guys moving around the formation and offenses not knowing what looks we were going to run.  Lorenzo Alexander was particularly key in that regard.  But the last few years, there's been less disguising and especially less-effective disguising.  I don't know the stats, but it feels like ages since one of our zone blitzes or delayed blitzes resulted in a free rusher.  Personnel-wise, we need guys to be better at defeating blocks.  But scheme-wise, we need to be better at confusing the offense.  This is extra important against good QBs who can get the ball out quickly and accurately.

[Never NEVER Give-up]

Anticipated changes in philosophy/scheme in 2025?

Not a throw-away topic at all.  I feel this is what stops us in the playoffs every year.  The Bills are a great team and they beat everyone during the Regular Season, but they falter in the playoffs, in my opinion, due to a lack of offensive and defensive creativity.  No new wrinkles in the playoffs while our opponents throw stuff at the Bills they've never seen before.  Babich and Brady need to get more creative. Belichick used to mix-it-up all the time, confounding opponents.  Ready for Brady's aerial assault?  Only to see the Pats run it down your throat.  The Bills need a little of this!  Some trick plays too.  Not insane ones like the fiasco in Baltimore last year, just a WR pass back to Josh, a half-back option, etc . . . On Defense, some creative blitzes - like the one KC dialed up last year to hurry the late-game pass from Josh to Kincaid - they'd never seen that before.

 

[TFBillsfan]

1 hour ago, Never NEVER Give-up said:

Anticipated changes in philosophy/scheme in 2025?

Not a throw-away topic at all.  I feel this is what stops us in the playoffs every year.  The Bills are a great team and they beat everyone during the Regular Season, but they falter in the playoffs, in my opinion, due to a lack of offensive and defensive creativity.  No new wrinkles in the playoffs while our opponents throw stuff at the Bills they've never seen before.  Babich and Brady need to get more creative. Belichick used to mix-it-up all the time, confounding opponents.  Ready for Brady's aerial assault?  Only to see the Pats run it down your throat.  The Bills need a little of this!  Some trick plays too.  Not insane ones like the fiasco in Baltimore last year, just a WR pass back to Josh, a half-back option, etc . . . On Defense, some creative blitzes - like the one KC dialed up last year to hurry the late-game pass from Josh to Kincaid - they'd never seen that before.

 

Well said. IMO, Andy Reid is constantly adding new wrinkles throughout the season. I feel like the NFL is far too conservative, but I’d like to to see the Bills incorporate the use of more laterals when applicable to keep the defense on their toes. Imagine trying to stop Josh in the open field and right as you are getting ready to tackle him he pitches it. Incorporate a little rugby lateral  

[hondo in seattle]

20 hours ago, MasterStrategist said:

Speaking of 2nd halves, this Coach you b-word about happened to give up just 11 points and forced 2 punts to start the 3rd qtr--- this was just this year.

 

This is after Benford went down, and we're already down Rapp and Taron banged up.  On top of a DL that has shed Phillips, Von, Jefferson, Smoot, Rasul - and Elam traded for a bag of footballs.  This was an average talented defense, at best.  2 boundary CBs who played entire 2nd half, won't be playing much this year.

 

I'd say our defense did what it needed in 2nd half- Benford going down was too much to overcome.  Our offense came out flat, and just didnt make the plays we needed down the stretch.

 

There's a reason our offseason was dedicated to finding more talent on defense- people love to hate on McD, when have we had legitimate talented defense?  Seems to me, he has covered up a lot of flaws - that tend to get exposed against better QBs.  Talent is the ultimate differentiator, I'd say Philly can attest to that 

 

Agreed wholeheartedly.  

 

Our beginning-of-the-year roster always has notable holes.  Injuries then make the roster worse.  Still, McD generally gets good production out of our battered defensive players.  Until the playoffs, when good coaching can't compensate when faced with equally good coaching and better rosters.  

[Don Otreply]

On 6/3/2025 at 12:55 PM, Jauronimo said:

I believe we will see changes made to our approach on defense such that we embarrass middling QBs and rookies but have zero answers for competent offenses.  That excites me. 

Hey, isn’t that what we always do…,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

😁👍

[CSBill]

On 6/3/2025 at 12:28 PM, Starr Almighty said:

I think they will target Cooper alot less than last season.  It will almost feel like he's not out there

 

Was he ever targeted?

 

[CSBill]

On 6/3/2025 at 3:46 PM, DabillsDaBillsDaBills said:

 

Undoubtedly we force a lot of turnovers. We've been top 10 in forced turnovers every year of McD's tenure and top 5 every season since 2020. 

 

Our Def excels at exploiting mistakes typically made by bad QBs, or if we're already up big the other team feels the need to force the issue. If we're in a close game and/or playing a good QB the turnovers really dry up. 

 

When's the last time McD's defense dominated a good offense? Has that ever happened? Why can't our DEF put together a playoff game against KC like PHI did this year, TB in 2020, or CIN in 2021 (2nd half)? 

 

Going off on a tangent I wanted to bring up Dan Campbell. In the DET HOU game last year Goff threw 3 INTs by halftime and DET was trailing 23-7. Campbell had a quick little interview at the start of the 3rd Q and told the reporter "The defense needs to go out there and force some turnovers"

 

His DEF went out in the 2nd half and forced 2 turnovers, 4 punts, and a missed FG. DET won the game 26-23 despite Goff's 5 turnovers. 

 

Compare and contrast that to McD in the 2023 Jets season opener. 

 

 

 

 

Okay, I reread this twice. And I have just one question:

 

WHAT ?????

[Richard Noggin]

11 hours ago, MasterStrategist said:

Both can be true, but its my viewpoint that McD has done more with less.

 

Aj Klein on Kelce was mismatches that Andy Reid, and any other top notch coach could scheme against a depleted LB crew.

 

I've yet to see us have a "super star" on defense, Tre and Von (pre injury even he wasn't a blue chip player anymore).  We've had a LOT of very good players, but injuries and lack of a blue chip talent on DL have held us back when it matters most.  JMO

 

Von before injury was pretty awesome, and possibly gaining momentum. Probably not exactly a super star, though. 

 

Peak Milano has been absolutely elite at times, in the top 3 at his position. Super star though? No. But starting with when McDermott had a little 1:1 sideline "mound visit" with him in the New England MNF wind game, Milano has had multiple stretches of All-Pro play. 

 

Ed Oliver against Detroit in 2024 was bonkers. So...there was that.