Does being number 1 in rushing matter if every team that plays us averages even MORE rushing yds?

[Puckman5]

6 hours ago, Kelly to Allen said:

Overall rushing volume is extremely misleading. Rushing dvoa or how your run defense plays in high leverage moments is more relevant. A good example is vs KC right before the half this year. That was a key run stop in a high leverage moment.

 

At the end of the day if you're Scoring very fast with a QB passing the football like Allen, you're creating more possessions for yourself.  

 

If the other team is running the football, it may take a very long time in theory for them to score. Creating less possessions for our opponents.

 

We lost the rushing battle 

We lost the turnover battle 

We lost the time of possession battle 

 

Yet we won by 12....

 

If we get just one more 3rd down stop & Hardman doesn't fumble, we probably win by 20+....

 

Volume rushing stats, turnovers and time of possession are boomer talking points that are largely for teams without a real qb & counterintuitive 

 

Obviously our run defense needs to improve, obviously you don't want to turn the ball over tho...

 

But this is why everyone was so mad after the dolphins game with 12-15 plays, the constant check downs and tunnel screens. It's counterintuitive but you're playing into your opponent's hands. And you make every single mistake or turnover 10x worse playing that way. I remember Kelly vs the Bengals in 91 had 3 1st half ints. He still threw 5 tds and they won like 35-10 or something 

 

You play football with a level of aggression and urgency to win, and win quickly/ decisively.

 

You don't play football with the mindset of worrying about your defense or worrying about turnovers. Marv levy had to force himself to get comfortable with this mindset. So does McDermott. 

 

 

Not saying they should never run the football or never have games where they use ball control offense. Both are important...I'm saying the game vs Tampa Bay should be their foundational identity

This x 1000.  They still needed Josh to be old Josh to make "complimentary football" work that day.  Part of me wonders if McDermott yelled at Brady after the game for allowing Josh to play that way in the second half.  I was almost convinced that scoring touchdowns too quickly creates too many issues for the defense you're trying to compliment.  Until we won.  

[Pete]

2007 Colts won the Super Bowl with the worst rush defense in the NFL.  So there is hope 

[SunDSolar]

4 hours ago, PepeSilvia said:

Until you run into a team that can control the clock or be explosive in the run game like: Indy, New England, Jacksonville, Baltimore (who if we’re being transparent should have won both the playoff game last and the opener this year. Lucky for the Bills that Harbaugh has brain farts and decides to take the ball out of Henry’s hands and puts it in Lamar’s, who then proceeds to turn the ball over at the worst times). 

 

Henry had the big turnover in the season opener 

[H2o]

1 hour ago, Big Turk said:

 

Maye had some good plays but they scored 23 points and 3 were a last second FG, let's not go overboard.

They still basically did whatever they wanted on offense. We held the ball for almost 35 minutes to their 25. He was still 22/30 for 273 in that time. We could not slow him down really. It's not going overboard to state the truth of what took place in that game. 

[vincec]

1 hour ago, Big Turk said:

 

Maye had some good plays but they scored 23 points and 3 were a last second FG, let's not go overboard.

 

Teams average 322 yards a game against us, 12th in the NFL.  Stop trying to make them some historically bad defense and come live in reality

 

Again, total yards are deceptive. The Bills offense tends to hog the ball to protect the defense. Complimentary football. The Bills defense gives up 5.6 yards per play. That’s currently 22nd out of 31 teams. Also, they haven’t won a game when they scored fewer than 28 points. That’s below average no matter how you try to spin it.

[Big Turk]

34 minutes ago, vincec said:

Again, total yards are deceptive. The Bills offense tends to hog the ball to protect the defense. Complimentary football. The Bills defense gives up 5.6 yards per play. That’s currently 22nd out of 31 teams. Also, they haven’t won a game when they scored fewer than 28 points. That’s below average no matter how you try to spin it.

 

So because they are an excellent offensive team that averages 29.2 points per game that somehow means they couldn't win scoring less?

 

So if the offense sucked against the Panthers or Jets you don't think they could have won those games?

 

I mean you are working OT to come up with meaningless things.

[bmur66]

Gotta run and stop the run is what I heard.

[Dan Darragh]

11 hours ago, Big Turk said:

The flip side is the Bills have been very good against the pass meaning they have a significant advantage in terms of total yards in a given game usually.

That's because everyone runs the ball against us all the time.

[Yobogoya!]

3 hours ago, Pete said:

2007 Colts won the Super Bowl with the worst rush defense in the NFL.  So there is hope 

Yeah so all you need is two all pro wide receivers and two all pro edge rushers. 😅 

[Big Turk]

43 minutes ago, Dan Darragh said:

That's because everyone runs the ball against us all the time.

 

And usually loses.

[Mat68]

Makes Buffalos offense harder to defend.  Im hopeful with Thompson healthy and Williams play that sures up the early down rush D.  Inside they are doing their jobs very well.  Johnson, Milano and Benard have not.  

[DaggersEOD]

13 hours ago, BuffaloBillyG said:

Yes.

 

Difference is our run game controls the clock and game tempo. Used to wear down defenses. 

 

Their run game pops off constant long runs. Give the ball back to our offense. 

So we negate their advantage by being exceptionally terrible at countering their advantage…

 

Hey man I’m in!