Ideas at Safety?

[Ethan in Cleveland]

1 minute ago, Brianmoorman4jesus said:

Poyer started as a corner

hyde

 byrd

troy Vincent 

I’m not saying all the best S were CBs but it seems like transition that can be made pretty easily.

Dont forget HOF players like Ronnie Lott, Arneas Williams, and Rod Woodson. 

It can be done 

Always thought after the injury that White could move to Safety. Others argue he can't tackle to save his life so not a good fit at safety. This is probably true. 

[TheyCallMeAndy]

1 minute ago, KOKBILLS said:

 

Bernard looked really, really bad last night...

I know on one specific huge Henry run I saw it looked to me like he abandoned his gap, turned his back to it allowing him to get washed out an extra 5 yards... At times it looked to me like he was running around with little to no purpose... I'll wait to see... But my initial reaction was that he was terrible...

Baltimore has, and is, been the worst matchup for the Bills defense.

 

Their offense is huge (RB, FB, OL) and fast (QB, RB, WRs). Bills defense is undersized (LB, DT) but fast.
 

Bad combo, especially if you are a 425 base. 

[Dunkirk Donski]

8 minutes ago, corta765 said:

 

Whatever their food costs are which is pretty sizable although still probably less then a million

They'll leave less ***** on the field than the two theyd be replacing 

[BuffaloBillyG]

1 hour 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'm right there with you on Rapp. I think people overlook what a terrible starter he is because they focused on Hamlin and now Bishop. He was a liability for the most part last year too. 

[Blackbeard]

My perspective is don't do anything yet.  

 

First game of the season.  Things will be messy.  AND, it's against a tough rival. 

 

I'd wait a few more weeks before deciding anything.  This game isn't a good indicator of anything right now.

[Einstein]

1 hour 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 respect your opinion, but I have no idea how you arrived to it.

 

Cole Bishop looked like he didn’t belong on an NFL field. Not even as a practice squad player.

 

I never thought i’d prefer Hamlin over another player, but here I am.

[gonzo1105]

I think the quicker that Poyer and Hancock get up to speed the better it will be for this team in the long run. 
 

They’re not going to give up on Bishop this early but there is zero reason they can’t replace Rapp who was baddd last night. We need to be better but that Ravens offense is damn four and very hard to stop 

[26TrapDraw]

1 hour 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.  

Yes. I think Bishop is athletic enough. His toughness and what’s between his ears is what I’m most concerned with. He will grow into his role with experience. Let’s see how it goes.

[PoundingDog]

29 minutes ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

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

It's game 1 of the season. By game 8, the kind of disguise, tendencies with personal groupings would be figured out by defenses. Then into the playoffs with strong opponents having pieces to deal with them, they usually folds. Not quite similar but a familiar path of the Bills a few years ago. 

[TheyCallMeAndy]

11 minutes ago, gonzo1105 said:

I think the quicker that Poyer and Hancock get up to speed the better it will be for this team in the long run. 
 

They’re not going to give up on Bishop this early but there is zero reason they can’t replace Rapp who was baddd last night. We need to be better but that Ravens offense is damn four and very hard to stop 

There is nothing that happened last night that a 35 year old, athletically declined Poyer or a 195 pound rookie would have done with an untouched 260 pound future HOF RB running full steam at them. 
 

I'm very curious for the All-22 film to come out. I think the rookies (43, 98, 96) and LBers will grade out worse than the safeties. It starts upfront, eye test  says it was a rough day on the DL for everyone not named Ed Oliver. That sets the stage for LB failure as well. 

Edited September 8 by TheyCallMeAndy

[PaattMaann]

Bishop and Rapp

 

It is just now week 2. 

 

We played an awesome, unicorn offense. 

 

The defense is going to be fine overall. 

[PoundingDog]

I see Bishop as a Poyer type of guy with better athleticism. It may take some time for him to get to where Poyer was mentally.

 

What the Bills really missed is an instinctive guy like Hyde who was really good at defending passes. Rapp is not that guy, or he would never be let go from the Rams. Can Tre do that when he comes back? If Dorian Strong holds up at corner the next few games, and Hairston is coming back, we can use a guy with more instinctive mind, even though not at Hyde level, to be our "last guy on defense."

[SoonerBillsFan]

36 minutes ago, Blank Stare said:

This is a textbook example of how you stop Henry. Before he gets going. He gets a full head of steam and he’s rarely being brought down. Let alone by a single safety. 

Spot on, you just can't let him get going full speed. If so, its over

19 minutes ago, Blackbeard said:

My perspective is don't do anything yet.  

 

First game of the season.  Things will be messy.  AND, it's against a tough rival. 

 

I'd wait a few more weeks before deciding anything.  This game isn't a good indicator of anything right now.

After watching the Jets yesterday, they are going to be much tougher than fans think

[st pete gogolak]

In a vacuum, I don’t see any reason why Taron Johnson wouldn’t make an excellent free safety, allowing Bishop to play the box.  He’s faster than Rapp, has obvious coverage skills and I believe would adapt very well to the position.  
 

Of course, this should have been an off-season, not mid-season move. Plus, it would be dependent on Hancock moving into a starting role. He looked pretty good in the pre-season but I have no idea whether he’s ready to be a starting slot CB. Maybe you could play more 4-3 and keep Johnson on the field.

[finn]

25 minutes ago, oldmanfan said:

Look at the angle this guy has vs. the angle Bishop had.  You’ve given us a classic example of over the top criticism.

I hardly think it's over the top. You really think no safety in the league has a chance to tackle Henry from that angle? That's giving Henry an awful lot of credit, and takes Bishop off the hook for a truly lame attempt. Yes, it's a tough tackle, but his job is to tackle, not flail and end up on the ground. 

[Matt_In_NH]

Give it half a season.   The ravens pose a historically unique challenge.   Their epa number last year and last night were and are truly historic.  
 

don’t panic. 

[JerseyBills]

That Ravens offense was so good, I'd keep Bishop , if he struggles vs the Jets than idk but they're O looked good and will likely copy what Bal did with Fields and Hall

[somnus00]

1 hour 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.

I think timing was part of his issue last night, but Bishop's blitzing was horrible. That's something he can learn. He's still inexperienced and he's missed chunks of his first 2 training camps/preseasons.

[Tulsabillsfanz]

I hope Hancock is not on the inactive list again next week.  We need to get him on the field in a regular season game and see how he performs.  
 

I’m losing confidence in Rapp & Bishop.  The contrast between Baltimore’s safeties and our safeties was embarrassing.   It was like comparing Josh Allen & Nathan Peterman. 

[BullBuchanan]

I don't think Bishop's problems can be fixed. He's mentally slow AND physically weak. For all the talk about how athletic he is, he never seems to make athletic plays in spite of his other weaknesses.I'm sure he's made a tackle at some point, but I can't remember him ever having a big time hit or even a big time pass breakup. I think he's way to raw to be starting NFL games. He's honestly one of the worst looking safeties I've ever seen. I've seen Cam Lewis make far more plays, even during his practice squad years. I'm fairly convinced that with better safety play, the Raven's wouldn't have done anywhere near the damage on the ground that they did.

The whole defense was owned by the ravens o-line on this play, but watch the first play at .5x speed and see how clueless our safeties are, and then the unreal whiff by Bishop. I get it, Henry is tough to tackle, but you can at least try to slow him down. Rapp's inability to chnage direction and fill the gap on that play was probably worse, but I don't expect anything of him.
 

 

Edited September 8 by BullBuchanan