Ideas at Safety?

[RichRiderBills]

2 minutes ago, Ethan in Cleveland said:

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. 

 

 

This. See where you are at and bring in peppers or make a Beane Douglas type deal near deadline. 

 

Somebody will be a seller.....

[oldmanfan]

Just now, Bruffalo said:

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.

I completely agree.

[Cray51]

It’s Rapp and bishop for another 4 weeks.  Then, post week 6 when Hoecbt comes back, it’s a decision to either trade for a safety, or sign peppers. That’s if you do anything at all

[Dunkirk Donski]

3 minutes ago, billsfan89 said:

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.

Agree with this but im still signing Peppers for insurance  

[TFBillsfan]

15 minutes ago, thenorthremembers said:

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.   

If we’re drafting S in the 1st round they better be starting and not competing against Rapp!

[Since1981]

I’m not a Hamlin fanboy, and he’s definitely not the solution at S. That said, he takes solid angles. At playoff, he’d end up clutching Henry’s leg like a toddler hanging on for dear life. Not exactly ideal. Still—he rarely gets flat-out cooked. Simmered, maybe, but never fully cooked.

[billsfan89]

2 minutes ago, Process said:

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. 

 

Hamlin is the best internal option and I think if they gotta go with him it means Cole is playing really bad and someone whose just a lower end competent starter is going to be a huge improvement. At that point a trade will make the most sense. Rapp is much more proven, not only was he the Bills starter last year for 14 games but he started 4 games in 2023 for the Bills. He also was a starter for 48 games with the Rams his first 4 years to start his career. He seemed banged up in camp and guys who are banged up in camp and miss a lot of reps often times need a game to shake off the rust. 

 

Give Cole another month and see where he is at, not every team is the Ravens in week 1...

[thenorthremembers]

Just now, TFBillsfan said:

If we’re drafting S in the 1st round they better be starting and not competing against Rapp!

 

They better be, but its earned not given.   You dont just start players because of draft status.  

[oldmanfan]

1 minute ago, Brianmoorman4jesus said:

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 

Thinking back the best safeties in franchise history were Saimes, Tony Greene, Henry Jones, Leonard Smith, Hyde, Poyer, maybe guys like Jeff Nixon and Kelso a tier or two behind.  Other than Hyde were any converted CBs?

[GolfandBills]

Daquan Jones, both safeties not very good 

[finn]

10 minutes ago, oldmanfan said:

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

 

 

[billsfan89]

1 minute ago, Dunkirk Donski said:

Agree with this but im still signing Peppers for insurance  

 

Peppers isn't that good in my opinion for what the Bills need. He's an in the box safety where the Bills probably need someone with more range in coverage. If he was that much of a good safety the Pats wouldn't have let him go (if he was a bad scheme fit they would have found a trade partner that would have at least swapped late round picks to get him his cap number and salary was super tradeable) or he would have been signed once he cleared waivers. Not saying he's bad but the scheme fit and talent may not line up to him being that much of an insurance policy.

 

I think you go trade at or near the deadline if safety play continues to be an issue. 

[YattaOkasan]

Im interested to see the LB play on the all 22.  Henry got through holes untouched if the DL didnt make a play behind the LoS.  Makes me think Milano and Bernard were getting washed (maybe cause DL in front of them wasnt holding up).  Some bad angles taken by Safeties but Henry having a full head of steam makes me think the LBs werent doing enough.  

[TFBillsfan]

7 minutes ago, Process said:

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. 

I’m not expecting the upcoming game against the Jets to be a joke. On the road, division rival, Bills will need to play MUCH better defensively!

[K-9]

34 minutes ago, NoSaint said:

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

We will not see a bigger matchup nightmare than the Ravens. We need Bishop’s athleticism on the field as he continues on the learning curve. Facing Lamar last night was a good prep for seeing Fields next week. 

[ganesh]

39 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. 

makes sense.  

[TFBillsfan]

Just now, YattaOkasan said:

Im interested to see the LB play on the all 22.  Henry got through holes untouched if the DL didnt make a play behind the LoS.  Makes me think Milano and Bernard were getting washed (maybe cause DL in front of them wasnt holding up).  Some bad angles taken by Safeties but Henry having a full head of steam makes me think the LBs werent doing enough.  

Ravens were doing a fantastic job of blocking at the 2nd level which then exposed our Safeties.

[billsfan89]

Just now, YattaOkasan said:

Im interested to see the LB play on the all 22.  Henry got through holes untouched if the DL didnt make a play behind the LoS.  Makes me think Milano and Bernard were getting washed (maybe cause DL in front of them wasnt holding up).  Some bad angles taken by Safeties but Henry having a full head of steam makes me think the LBs werent doing enough.  

 

It's not all on the safeties, the defense as a whole was having issues, they just made the clutch plays when it mattered to give the Bills a chance to win, but this very easily could have been a much worse narrative for the defense (and it is already a bad narrative even with a win) as a whole because bad safety play alone doesn't get you to give up 40 points. 

[Dunkirk Donski]

3 minutes ago, billsfan89 said:

 

Peppers isn't that good in my opinion for what the Bills need. He's an in the box safety where the Bills probably need someone with more range in coverage. If he was that much of a good safety the Pats wouldn't have let him go (if he was a bad scheme fit they would have found a trade partner that would have at least swapped late round picks to get him his cap number and salary was super tradeable) or he would have been signed once he cleared waivers. Not saying he's bad but the scheme fit and talent may not line up to him being that much of an insurance policy.

 

I think you go trade at or near the deadline if safety play continues to be an issue. 

Agreed a trade would be much better, not much for options at this point and McD's defense isnt the easiest to digest 

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

The jets game is a much better indicator of how we are at stopping the run against a non superhuman team imo…I think we’ll have a better idea of where we’re at after next week

 

the ravens offense is disgustingly good and I think they’re gonna give the whole league problems this year.  You just gotta hold on for dear life in the red zone…between the 20s they are very tough to stop.  Even against kc last year in a game they only scored 20 points they had over 450 yards of offense and outgained the chiefs by 100