Ideas at Safety?

[Warriorspikes51]

What are your thoughts on Safety going into Week 2?

 

Should we keep Bishop on the field and let him grow thru it?   

 

Damar?
 

Hancock? 

 

Poyer?    

Sign Peppers / Simmons?  

[Success]

I was kind of hoping someone would start this discussion.

 

Overall, I don't think our D is as bad as it looked last night.  But the safety position was glaring.  I'm not sure if we can just stand pat there.

 

I kind of hope they're considering Peppers right now. 

 

 

[TFBillsfan]

I might be in the minority but I thought Rapp played worse than Bishop. I’m willing to grow with Bishop, but would like to see Hancock get some action. Hamlin is meh and Poyer is even slower. 

[NoSaint]

2 minutes ago, Warriorspikes51 said:

What are your thoughts on Safety going into Week 2?

 

Should we keep Bishop on the field and let him grow thru it?   

 

Damar?
 

Hancock? 

 

Poyer?    

Sign Peppers / Simmons?  

lamar-Henry-flowers is a very tough match for our unit. I expect Rapp-bishop will look better most days going forward.

[MasterStrategist]

Just now, TFBillsfan said:

I might be in the minority but I thought Rapp played worse than Bishop. I’m willing to grow with Bishop, but would like to see Hancock get some action. Hamlin is meh and Poyer is even slower. 

This is 100% where Im at.

 

We brought in a more athletic safety in Bishop, let him groe/see if he turns into something.  

 

But man, Rapp looked like he lost a step and he was already a slower player.

 

It's also just week 1 vs the most dynamic offense in AFC.  But it didnt look good at all with our pursuit angles/ability to tackle.

[Warriorspikes51]

4 minutes ago, TFBillsfan said:

I might be in the minority but I thought Rapp played worse than Bishop. I’m willing to grow with Bishop, but would like to see Hancock get some action. Hamlin is meh and Poyer is even slower. 

 

I agree, but Rapp won't be benched IMO 

[DrDawkinstein]

Rough night, but as others said, against one of (if not THE) best Offense we'll face all year.

 

Let's see if things balance out after the next few games against the likes of the Jets, Dolphins, Saints, Patriots, Panthers... oh my god what a schedule...

[Brandon]

Let Bishop play through it for awhile and see if he improves.  The Ravens are probably their worst matchup and I don't think it's indicative of what to expect in an average week.  

[finn]

2 minutes ago, MasterStrategist said:

This is 100% where Im at.

 

We brought in a more athletic safety in Bishop, let him groe/see if he turns into something.  

 

But man, Rapp looked like he lost a step and he was already a slower player.

 

It's also just week 1 vs the most dynamic offense in AFC.  But it didnt look good at all with our pursuit angles/ability to tackle.

Yes, Rapp looked as slow as Hamlin looked last year, like he was running in mud. Bishop has the speed, just not anything else. That lame tackle attempt against Henry, who didn't stiff-arm him as much as lazily wave in his direction, was embarrassing. Will he grow into the job? I want to optimistic, since he's young and athletic, but he had a private tutor all last year as well as the offseason to learn, and he still did worse than Dorian Strong performed as a rookie sixth-round pick. Still early, but he's got to turn it around soon.

[thenorthremembers]

You allow the growing pains and hope Bishop develops into a good safety.  Then you draft Jalon Kilgore in the 1st round in April to compete with Rapp next offseason.   

[HOUSE]

Jabril Peeeeppers 

[boyst]

3 minutes ago, HOUSE said:

Jabril Peeeeppers 

Him over Poyer for the practice squad 

[oldmanfan]

I’m curious where folks saw glaring issues.  In run support there isn’t much any safety in the league can do if asked to tackle either Henry or Jackson one on one.  They could have closed better in coverage but it looked to me like we played more man than usual.  And I don’t think I heard Andrew’s name all night, although I’m not sure if the safeties had responsibility for him.

 

i will freely admit there are many here with more advanced knowledge of defense than me, but sometimes I think as a fan group we reflexively jump on the safeties when the other team has a good day on offense.  Maybe we were spoiled by Hyde and Poyer.

[JP51]

13 minutes ago, Brandon said:

Let Bishop play through it for awhile and see if he improves.  The Ravens are probably their worst matchup and I don't think it's indicative of what to expect in an average week.  

I think this is probably what needs to happen as much as it hurts... he is either gonna figure it out or he isnt... if we had better options then fine, but right now he is kinda it unless they have notions of bringing Poyer in thinking he still has gas in the tank...  for me, I am gonna let Bishop try to figure it out... 

[oldmanfan]

13 minutes ago, finn said:

Yes, Rapp looked as slow as Hamlin looked last year, like he was running in mud. Bishop has the speed, just not anything else. That lame tackle attempt against Henry, who didn't stiff-arm him as much as lazily wave in his direction, was embarrassing. Will he grow into the job? I want to optimistic, since he's young and athletic, but he had a private tutor all last year as well as the offseason to learn, and he still did worse than Dorian Strong performed as a rookie sixth-round pick. Still early, but he's got to turn it around soon.

Is there a safety in the league that tackles Henry there?

[Ethan in Cleveland]

Give Bishop amd Rapp another month. Ravens are really good. If Bishop sucks against the next three opponents then its time to bench him. Rapp we are probably stuck with.

 

Long-term I would take a serious look at moving Bernard to safety. He is regressing as a linebacker. 

 

For the short term, the answer sadly is not on the roster. If Bishop and Rapp continue to play this poorly then they will need to make a trade. 

[Process]

Bills' next four games are a joke. Give Bishop+Rapp a month to gel and get more experience playing together. And then see where we are at. 

 

The alternatives are not great. 

[billsfan89]

I'm personally going to stay the course on safety for a few more weeks. Week 1 is always funky in the new off-season with very little team activities and 3 pre-season games (also even reduced training camp). Now you have a funky week 1 against one of the best offenses in the league super motivated. The results weren't good even on Rapp. But I think Cole needs to get a feel for the game and I'm willing to give him a few more weeks. Spencer Brown was completely awful in 2022 (after a decent but up and down rookie season) and started out 2023 looking rough. But he picked it up and by the end of the year was a top 10 RT in the league. 

 

Guys sometimes need a little room to grow. Put some tape out there and fix their mistakes. Now if this is week 6 and the safety play still looks rough then they gotta go make a move likely internal and external via trade. But give Cole a few more weeks see where he is at. Rapp I think will be fine longer term probably more so shaking the rust off.

[Bruffalo]

Maybe I'm in the minority here but I think the idea of solo tackling Derrick Henry with a full head of steam is almost impossible for just about any safety. To me the main problem there was the D-Line getting manhandled and letting huge holes open up for Henry.

 

In the passing game, the secondary were playing the run so hard that the middle of the field underneath the safeties was almost always open. I don't know if that's an indictment on the safety play.

 

I don't really know what I'm trying to say here other than don't let what you already thought was bad about the defense before the game dictate your analysis of what actually happened.

[Brianmoorman4jesus]

Make the Odd man out corner a S. That’s the idea. I don’t want to hear about skill set transfer. Think back…all the best S we have had are older or failed CBs. Whichever CB isn’t going to start, move him now