NOW is Bobby Babich's seat hot?

[DrDawkinstein]

12 minutes ago, Einstein's Dog said:

And concerning stopping the traditional run game, since the first game all of B Hall, Achane, and Kamara all had sub-average games.

 

And no, improving the run defense is not nearly as important as getting the third down efficiency improved.

 

Oh I agree figuring out 3rd down is absolute #1 priority.

[Einstein]

2 hours ago, HappyDays said:

 

My least favorite Babich tendency is a blitz combined with soft coverage on the back end. 

This is a McD trait imo. 

He wants the benefit of the blitz with the safety of not giving up an easy TD if the corner gets burned. I dont agree with it, but thats why they do it. 

Spags will send a blitz and play press man at the corners. That means it takes longer for the WR's to break free, and that gives time for the blitz to get there. I LOVE THIS. The downside is - if you have a quick twitch receiver, and they can avoid that press, you have an easy long gain. Unfortunately we dont have that speed WR to beat the press.

[Low Positive]

1 minute ago, Einstein said:

This is a McD trait imo. 

He wants the benefit of the blitz with the safety of not giving up an easy TD if the corner gets burned. I dont agree with it, but thats why they do it. 

Spags will send a blitz and play press man at the corners. That means it takes longer for the WR's to break free, and that gives time for the blitz to get there. I LOVE THIS. The downside is - if you have a quick twitch receiver, and they can avoid that press, you have an easy long gain. Unfortunately we dont have that speed WR to beat the press.

It also requires that the QB stand in there and take a huge hit. Spags is betting that most will not and will instead throw the ball away or turtle. 

[Yobogoya!]

55 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

I'd be more in favor of making Brady Head Coach to keep the offensive consistency and production and bringing in Schwartz who has enough experience to run his side of the ball without needing much from a HC. In fact, Schwartz seems like the type who doesnt want to hear much from the HC as it is.

 

Seeing how he has that defense playing right now, this is a great combo, imo.

 

Oh I'd be all in on that option, I was just trying to keep my wish list within the realm of what seems plausible, haha. 

 

I've come to accept that unless Josh has a season ending injury and we have a total crash-and-burn ala the 2011 Colts, this is McDermott's team for the foreseeable future. And I mean, hey, my ultimate wish is we're hoisting a trophy in February and can taper all discussions of who to fire for at least one full off-season. 

 

I'd like to think Babich can grow into a guy we're proud to have on our team- I just hate that we've spent the last several seasons grooming young coordinators in the midst of Josh Allen's prime. 

[JP51]

15 minutes ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

Good points - we're not far apart.  

Every game, I text a friend of mine something to the effect of "Our D sucks!!!"  Then on Monday, I look at some numbers.  Our yards allowed is above average.  Points allowed is average.  Our record is 4-0.  

 

So "sucks" might be a strong descriptor.  But a team with SB aspirations ought to field a Top Five defense and we certainly aren't doing that.  And like you, I think Beane, McD, and Babich all share some blame.  

Certainly getting back the walking wounded and suspended will help.  But I don't know if that's enough to get us to the promised land.  

Yeah I am not sure we are apart at all... walking wounded hopefully help, will it be enough... let us pray... but if it doesnt help and we suffer the same fate this year we need get an objective defensive pro in here...  and hey, I dont even think you need a top 5... top 10... I just want 1 just win it all once... I fear the D in its present form struggles to do that.. 

[frostbitmic]

The seat of Babich won't get hot unless the seat of McDermott does ... With a 4-0 record McDermott is sitting on a snow bank.

[mbs]

5 hours ago, Mister Defense said:

 

The problem I see with what you say above, and why I basically wrote the OP, is that this is how they looked last year, undisciplined, out of place, missing tackles--and then, it is the same this year.  Where is the progression? There seems to be regression instead. Unacceptable, I think, for McDermottt and Beane.  We will see.

 

If there is not progress, and we see the same things over and over, game after game, pretty consistently, over last year, and then in the first 1/4 of this year it looks the same, with the same awful stats, overall, and same look and feel, it does not relate almost at all to a few missed players. It doesn't make sense, add up.

 

Instead, it appears to be how they are being prepared during the week, the game plan, and game call--the coach things.

 

<snip>

 

Yes, some different details and circumstances with the defense last year and this, but it looks like two very similar situations--a team unprepared, where players and the units are not playing close to their potential.

 

This week things will likely look different, as McD is PLANTING himself in the defensive meetings and practices, trusting Brady and Tabor.

 

There are problems with preparation of the players and problems with executing their plays. In the former, sure, I agree. In the latter, I also agree.

 

The latter, specifically, looks like a problem where they have no plan for tempo. Does it not look like the past two games caught the defense while they were still signalling and shifting? This is well beyond my football expertise but if a bit of tempo can catch the defense unprepared, then the coaching really needs to adapt to that and preferably in game.

 

If that is a big part of the problem, then that's a big coaching problem. Even if they fix it, the fact that they did not foresee it looks bad. Again, this is beyond me, but I'd like to hear from those of you who might be able to clear it up.

[nuklz2594]

2 hours ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

Not my job to say, and it's the weakest cop out response to coaching change discussions if that's where you are going.

 

Just like NO ONE here was mentioning Sean McDermott's name in January 2017.

 

Depends on what HCs get fired and who is available. But it definitely shouldnt be an internal hire.

Try decaf. Wasn't copping out. Was just an honest question. 

[billsfan89]

1 hour ago, folz said:

 

No question the team needs to work on the run defense, but I think the Baltimore game kind of skews the team stats at the moment (with both points and Henry's run total). They will balance out as we go.

 

But how bad has the Bills defense been of late?

 

We held our last 3 opponents to an average of 16.6 points. League scoring average is 22.

 

We held our last 3 opponents to 298, 276, and 154 yards of total offense. The league average for yards per game is 339.8.

 

We created 4 turnovers in the last 3 games (we also created 4 more fumbles, but which the fumbling team recovered).

 

We had 7 sacks over the last 3 games.

 

In the last 3 games, we held our opponents to an average of 7.66 points in the 2nd half of those games. 

 

Lots of new players, two new coaches, Oliver and Milano coming back, Hoect, Ogunjobi, and Hairston still in the wings. This defense has not been bad the last few weeks and will only get better as we move forward. But again, still need to work on that run defense (hopefully Oliver, Hoect, and Ogunjobi can help in the category, eventually).

 

The opposite side of that coin is that none of the offense were all that good. The Jets have one of the worst offenses in the league certainly bottom 10, Miami's offense is mid-level (likely bottom 10 with Hill out but at the time the Bills played them they were a decent but not great offense) at best, and the Saints are another bottom 10 offense. 

 

Granted if you aren't going to "beat up" or at least play solidly against the bottom feeders who are you going to play well against? Also 5 key players could possibly be back at some point this season so its not like there aren't reinforcements coming. I also think if this team needs a piece of defense they will go out and acquire one maybe not a dynamic game breaker but a quality starter similar to how they acquired Douglas in 2023 (who say what you will about how he played in 2024 was fairly good in 2023).

 

I think the truth about the defense is that by the time all is said and done it probably somewhat better than last years defense but we don't know if it is better by a big enough margin? Last year the defense was ranked 17th which tracks with how it performed (beat up on bad teams, OK against OK teams, and bad against good teams). This year if they ranked 15th that's not gonna cut it, but if they can be a 11-12th ranked caliber defense that could make a difference.

[GunnerBill]

1 hour ago, LABILLBACKER said:

Top 3 defenses don't give up 2 huge plays in 10 seconds. I'd rather have a defense that can stop teams on 3rd down then have to rely on a desperation late game turnover to "save the day". Of course we're going to have a top 10 defense when we play Mia, NYJ, NE 6 times a year. I better shut up. I've already said too much. I might be accused of crusading.

 

Frazier's D was a top 3 D. You are arguing with facts to say otherwise. If you want to say they were not clutch in the post season be my guest. But they were a top defense. 

[GoBills808]

1 minute ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Frazier's D was a top 3 D. You are arguing with facts to say otherwise. If you want to say they were not clutch in the post season be my guest. But they were a top defense. 

you can't be a top defense and fall apart in the postseason

[DrDawkinstein]

13 minutes ago, nuklz2594 said:

Try decaf. Wasn't copping out. Was just an honest question. 

 

Ha, all good man. Just too used to folks thinking that's some major trump card to keeping coaches, if we cant name a guaranteed better replacement.

 

They're out there. That's what the pros and consulting firms get paid the big bucks for.

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

1 hour ago, Einstein said:

This is a McD trait imo. 

He wants the benefit of the blitz with the safety of not giving up an easy TD if the corner gets burned. I dont agree with it, but thats why they do it. 

Spags will send a blitz and play press man at the corners. That means it takes longer for the WR's to break free, and that gives time for the blitz to get there. I LOVE THIS. The downside is - if you have a quick twitch receiver, and they can avoid that press, you have an easy long gain. Unfortunately we dont have that speed WR to beat the press.

 

Or you can counter that with a 1x1 beater like AJ brown - and hopefully Keon Coleman as I think he was brought in specifically to counter this.  You'd also have palmer as a solid quick release type of man beater.  

[GunnerBill]

26 minutes ago, GoBills808 said:

you can't be a top defense and fall apart in the postseason

 

I disagree. I think you can. The defense wasn't clutch in the big moments. Indisputable. But it doesn't invalidate everything else. 

[GoBills808]

2 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

I disagree. I think you can. The defense wasn't clutch in the big moments. Indisputable. But it doesn't invalidate everything else. 

It doesn't invalidate everything else but it does inform it

 

Persistent postseason collapses are indicative of systemic deficiencies great defenses don't suffer from

[Fleezoid]

1 hour ago, Success said:

Remember when we had Schwarz?

 

THAT was a defense.

 

 

 

[BearNorth]

1 hour ago, Einstein said:

Unfortunately we dont have that speed WR to beat the press.

Thought that was the whole reason for signing Samuel [4.31 40 time].  He's been inactive three weeks and basically a return guy vs. Saints.

[Einstein]

32 minutes ago, Bleeding Bills Blue said:

 

Or you can counter that with a 1x1 beater like AJ brown - and hopefully Keon Coleman as I think he was brought in specifically to counter this.  You'd also have palmer as a solid quick release type of man beater.  

 

AJ Brown can beat it because he is big like Coleman, BUT he is also fast. Brown ran the 40 in the 4.4’s … Coleman ran in the 4.6’s.

[Rubes]

I'm not thrilled with the defense either, but I do think that if we were even just a little bit better at 3rd down defense and red zone defense we'd be a lot happier with it.

 

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

20 minutes ago, Einstein said:

 

AJ Brown can beat it because he is big like Coleman, BUT he is also fast. Brown ran the 40 in the 4.4’s … Coleman ran in the 4.6’s.

 

Usually its not about burning down the sideline but ball placement on the back shoulder.