Why are we so late to adjust defensively?

[Sweats]

I knew it was going to be a long 1st half when we were giving 10-12 yard cushions at the line and no QB pressure.

 

Burrow had all day to pick us apart, which he is famously known for, so it baffles me that our coaching staff believed this strategy would be their best course of action.

[harmonkillebrew]

1 hour ago, Ramza86 said:

Then we somehow let WRs get behind our defense up 2 scores at the end of the game and Burrow scores in 30 seconds to make it almost a FG game.

 

Think Bishop was injured and Hancock was in, perhaps led to some of those

[Yobogoya!]

I don't think we changed much as the game went on, we just had guys make great plays at the right times. But in general the soft starts into adjustments has been the story since McDermott got here, even under Frazier. 

 

For many years it was just a given that the other team would score on their opening drive, and then the defense would get better towards the end of the game (before sadly going into off coverage and allowing the other team to get the final score they need, but that's a diff story). We needed to make some game-changing plays to have a chance and we did- that's it in a nutshell. 

[Bruffalo]

I've said this before during our losses and I think it bears repeating even though they pulled out an all time classic win Sunday: 

 

I think the coaches have a real hubris issue when it comes to gameplanning. They often come out with a very similar playstyle no matter who the opponent is, as if to say "We're the Bills, we don't care how you play, we are going to out-execute you".  I think McDermott truly believes at the beginning of every game that they'll get home with 4 and that the soft zone will protect them from getting scored on with a high variance big play. This season it hasn't worked at all, which is why we see such drastic difference in the 1st and 2nd halves. They get punched in the mouth and McD realizes the vanilla play isn't gonna cut it, so they adjust and show more exotic stuff that they didn't think they would need until the playoffs. 

 

Don't get me twisted though, Brady has the same issue, he just has Allen (and Cook to a lesser degree) who can make something out of nothing at a rate unheard of in the NFL. 

[Jrb1979]

20 minutes ago, Bruffalo said:

I've said this before during our losses and I think it bears repeating even though they pulled out an all time classic win Sunday: 

 

I think the coaches have a real hubris issue when it comes to gameplanning. They often come out with a very similar playstyle no matter who the opponent is, as if to say "We're the Bills, we don't care how you play, we are going to out-execute you".  I think McDermott truly believes at the beginning of every game that they'll get home with 4 and that the soft zone will protect them from getting scored on with a high variance big play. This season it hasn't worked at all, which is why we see such drastic difference in the 1st and 2nd halves. They get punched in the mouth and McD realizes the vanilla play isn't gonna cut it, so they adjust and show more exotic stuff that they didn't think they would need until the playoffs. 

 

Don't get me twisted though, Brady has the same issue, he just has Allen (and Cook to a lesser degree) who can make something out of nothing at a rate unheard of in the NFL. 

For the defense it heavily relies on turnovers. Yesterday was one of the few times this season they got timely ones. 

[BADOLBILZ]

 

Because they aren't very talented on defense.

[NewEra]

2 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

Because they aren't very talented on defense.

Especially without 3 of their 4 biggest investments in the DL in Bosa, Ed and Hoecht.  

[I'm Spartacus]

1 hour ago, T master said:

Why do so many here ALWAYS find and push the bad over the WIN ??? Just be happy they won for god sake . You know they have classes for that right ? 

I think everyone is happy about the win. But Buffalo fans are very knowledgable about football. We see shortcomings in the coaching schemes that put these narrow wins in jeopardy. If we fans can see problems (first half defense), that could possibly be avoided why can't McDermott? The definition of insanity if doing the same things over and over expecting different results.

[JohnBonhamRocks]

I think generally (and especially in a tough-footing snow game), our defensive coaching staff tends to send the D out there in a vanilla basic soft scheme to start, and then over the course of the game tweaks and fine tunes things, slowly tightening the clamp, so to speak.

 

But I hear you… why not tighten the clamp from the get?!

[Low Positive]

The game went exactly as a lot of other Bengals games went this season. Usually, Ja'Marr Chase makes plays. If you take him away, then Tee Higgins makes plays. IF you cover everything, they still have Gesicki and Iosivas. There is no way to stop all of it when they are rolling, and even if you do everything right, they still make plays. Higgins first TD was an incredible throw and an even more incredible catch that was well defended. Sending all-out blitzes also carries risk because it puts your DBs on islands. That's how that Gesicki TD happened. My point is that the Bengals, when fully healthy, are always going to make plays and score points. But what their offense gives them, their defense takes away. The key to this game was getting a few stops (they punted twice) and scoring when we had the ball. For the most part, the Bills did all that and would have won comfortably if Ty Johnson hadn't tripped and Cook could hold on to the ball.

[muppy]

53 minutes ago, Sweats said:

I knew it was going to be a long 1st half when we were giving 10-12 yard cushions at the line and no QB pressure.

 

Burrow had all day to pick us apart, which he is famously known for, so it baffles me that our coaching staff believed this strategy would be their best course of action.

a comment from GDT which resonated with me was along the lines  of "how to tell your coaches don't trust their own defensive backfield without actually saying it"

 

respect the Bengals wideouts? Oh yes they did.   It showed and made us look weak.

 

I'd credit the poster but searched and couldn't find it

Edited 1 hour ago by muppy

[Warriorspikes51]

Sean enjoys giving the opponent a false sense of security

[Charles Romes]

1 hour ago, eee1776 said:

The answer is simple. When Bobby Batxxxxx is calling plays we suck, When you see McD with the clipboard things geta lot better. McD has been covering up for him all year, I don't understand why BB is not getting any criticism he deserves.

Is Babich still calling some plays?  I thought when he let up 330 in the first half against Penix that was the end of it. 

[Low Positive]

They held Ja'Marr Chase to 5 catches for 44 yards. Yes, Higgins had a big day. But any Chase catch is a TD waiting to happen. Keeping the ball out of his hands had to be a major part of the game plan, and they accomplished that. It's something that isn't getting talked about, but Benford did a masterful job, and he won't have a tougher assignment moving forward. 

[eee1776]

Watch the defense when McD has the clipboard  or D game sheet and when he doesn't. This will explain it all.

[SF Bills Fan]

I see it referenced above and yes, when McDermott started calling the D it was vasty improved. You could see when he took it over because he had the play sheet. That's when things changed. It happened in a few other games like Atlanta. If you recall the difference between first and second halves there. Why is Babich even still around? 

[Jalan81]

2 hours ago, Ramza86 said:

We didnt get a blitz in until the Bengals score 3 TDs back to back to back.

 

The blitz comes and it starts to work.

 

Then we keep blitzing and then Burrow sees it coming and starts to torch us again. We got lucky with drops. 

Then we somehow let WRs get behind our defense up 2 scores at the end of the game and Burrow scores in 30 seconds to make it almost a FG game.

Why are we never ahead of the curve and trying to confuse these good QBs?

I was going to say for all the good that we did. We had to put ourselves back in that position again with letting Burrows score within 30 seconds and four plays Trey White is not very good. I guess we don’t have anyone else, but anytime you take Harriston off the field for white, is a mistake. Add corner back and safety to the linebacker needs his team has to address in this next draft. 

[dakarider17]

Can only do so much to cover up for a non existent pass rush.  Bills have to get healthier on the defensive line if they want to succeed in the playoffs.

[eee1776]

29 minutes ago, SF Bills Fan said:

I see it referenced above and yes, when McDermott started calling the D it was vasty improved. You could see when he took it over because he had the play sheet. That's when things changed. It happened in a few other games like Atlanta. If you recall the difference between first and second halves there. Why is Babich even still around? 

 

He called the whole game in Pittsburg

[billykay]

1 hour ago, Rochesterfan said:

 

What are you going on about - they brought extra guys starting with the very first 3rd down - just 1 minute into the game.  They brought 5 guys including a LB.

 

Then they got burned by Higgins - so they played off to come up and tackle and gave up 2 third downs with guys breaking tackles in the first drive.

 

Then they brought extra guys a couple of times on drive 2 and Cincinnati threw a quick pass out to Chase and hit Gesicki - so again they backed off and Higgins went over the top.

They tried simulating pressure with 5 and 6 guys on the line and people dropping back.  Just like when Allen or Mahomes is on fire - when Burrow is hot there is little you can do and he was pinpointing passes in the first half with defenders all over the WRs and TEs.  His guys were winning everything.

 

They got more aggressive trying different blitz packages when the LBs did not get home and that was leaving Higgins and Gesicki open in the middle.  The CB blitzes helped, but also put Chase on Lewis which was a mismatch.  The difference in the second half was Higgins and the Cincinnati team dropping the ball and not making plays.

 

 

 

The Chiefs last night were trushing 7 in the 2nd half last night. It was very effective but not as effective as Houston russing 4.