Forcing Turnovers is the missing ingredient in this Defense

[Special K]

14 minutes ago, Freddie's Dead said:

They did force a turnover on the Falcons first play from scrimmage, but there was that unsightly Offside penalty on Groot...

 

Also, Shaq Thompson dropped a sure pick-six towards the end of the game.....those two plays go the other way and maybe the Bills win, and there would be a lot less hand-wringing going on around here......

 

[Boatdrinks]

1 hour ago, The Firebaugh Kid said:

That’s how they survived last year. Not a sustainable approach. 

Punching at footballs is a fine approach to a turnover seeking defense ( along with sound tackling of course). What isn’t sustainable with turnovers is the fair amount of luck involved recovering them. The ball takes funny bounces, and even when doing the correct thing -(ie falling on the ball vs trying to pick it up) it still goes the other way sometimes. This has happened many times already this year. INTs have been dropped. The opportunities have been there, and they usually are. The luck just dries up at times. 

[zow2]

We knew last year was one of those great seasons when the D took the ball away and the O did not give the ball away.  It’s a market correction.  You see it all the time in the NFL with various things.  Last year KC was like 11-0 in one score games.  This year they are 0-3.

 

Bottom line, if the Bills can eliminate their own turnovers and penalties they can still win plenty without forcing opponents turnovers. 

[GoBills808]

7 minutes ago, Boatdrinks said:

Punching at footballs is a fine approach to a turnover seeking defense ( along with sound tackling of course). What isn’t sustainable with turnovers is the fair amount of luck involved recovering them. The ball takes funny bounces, and even when doing the correct thing -(ie falling on the ball vs trying to pick it up) it still goes the other way sometimes. This has happened many times already this year. INTs have been dropped. The opportunities have been there, and they usually are. The luck just dries up at times. 

100% 

 

Forcing fumbles is a skill

Recovering them is luck

[colin]

What's the longest a Mcd d has gone without forcing 1+ turnovers in consecutive games?  I'm actually fairly confident that we will get this back on track

[ganesh]

8 hours ago, Donuts and Doritos said:

Tackling 

Tight coverage

Tackling

Pursuit angles

& Tackling.

 

And a bit of luck....

If the fumble by Robinson was not negated, we probably score and take a lead there and the game could have been different...

 

Of course the same could be said...if Bishop makes the tackle, Robinson does not score the 81 yard TD. 

[Brianmoorman4jesus]

Making stops is. Relying on turnovers is not sustainable. Just go play actual defense. It’s but a difficult concept. Almost every other team can handle it 

[nuklz2594]

derrick Henry fumble was a rarity by him. we are getting bulldozed, gashed on the ground. 225lb lbs doesn't work.

[boater]

The defense last year sucked as much as this year's D.

 

A crucial difference however: last years D won the turnover battle, so last year looked better over all.

[EssexBill]

14 hours ago, Sojourner said:

For the personnel be it lack of quality drafting or injuries, I might be in the minority who think they’ve not been horrible the last few games. 
 

Turning the ball over on offense is the contingent thing over the last 2 games and not the defense failing to get theirs imo. 
 

People can bag on the defense for the Falcons game but they played drastically better the second half of that game than they did the first. 

100% agree, they forced I think 4 punts against Atlanta which should be enough when you have our offense, but the offense has been letting the team down the last couple of games much more than the D.

 

The patriots also punted 4 times, which again should be enough. I still have flashbacks to getting no stops at the rams last season, so I’m happy with 4, the offense needs to do its job better (Joe Brady not helping in that sense by refusing to give Cook the touches he should get)

Edited 3 hours ago by EssexBill

[ChronicAndKnuckles]

Hard to get interceptions when teams are running it down their throats every week. Here’s my 2 steps to fixing this problem. 
 

1) Score fast and early

2) Rush the passer

[SoCal Deek]

Are turnovers somewhat random? Yes they are. Does losing the turnover battle make a HUGE difference in each game’s outcome. Yes, it most definitely does! 
 

Both statements are true. And with this team’s obvious roster challenges, you can be certain that the second statement is crucial to their ultimate W/L record. 

[Chaos]

The failure to force other teams to punt is the bigger problem. 

[transient]

Hard to get a turnover when your CB’s aren’t within 5 yds of the receivers and no one touches the RBs on their way to the EZ. Not every QB just throws them to you like Tua. 

[Nephilim17]

I hate to be an English teacher here, but the OP is using the wrong article in the thread title.

Edited 1 hour ago by Nephilim17

[T master]

18 hours ago, Special K said:

 

The Bills Defense has only forced 5 turnovers in 6 games.....tied for 26th place in the league.

 

If this D was forcing turnovers, it would look like Natalie Portman......when it doesn't force turnovers, it looks like Natalie the toothless cat lady in the park.

 

I know turnovers can be a matter of luck in some cases, but I hope the Bills D put a premium on figuring out ways to force more turnovers during the bye week.....this D will probably not be able to stop teams consistently without them.

 

Thoughts??

Well that and the fact that they are missing tackles doesn't help the cause at all either there is definitely enough for the players to fix by their individual play the coaches can only do so much in harping on them about the fundamentals the changes on the field has to be from the players !!

[Gugny]

You know what’s missing from this defense?

 

NFL-caliber players and coaches. 

[GaryPinC]

11 minutes ago, T master said:

Well that and the fact that they are missing tackles doesn't help the cause at all either there is definitely enough for the players to fix by their individual play the coaches can only do so much in harping on them about the fundamentals the changes on the field has to be from the players !!

Yeah, it's a lot harder to force turnovers when you aren't in good position to make a play to begin with.  Our D-line has been getting trucked at times with OL getting easily to the second level.

[notpolian]

I'll go with size, pash rush, and the ability to shed blocks.  But if you can't do that, turnovers are always good.

[LABILLBACKER]

17 hours ago, JerseyBills said:

last cpl years we forced alot of turnovers,  we had a cpl near ints this year but I always said turnovers are not a sustainable part of a defense,  it will fluctuate year to year

You cannot rely on turnovers to consistently get off the field.  When you have a defensive structure that often gives up long 3rd downs, you have to look in the mirror and ask yourself is this working?