Rex Ryan defense is back

[Sierra Foothills]

3 hours ago, BuffaloBillyG said:

The thing with IGB, he seems like he could be a starter at CB at some point. I wonder if long term thinking they would move Hairston to NCB. I think he's shifty enough to hang with slot WRs, and his speed can help him cover a lot of ground in the middle of the field. 

 

I could see a scenario where our top 3 CBs all have a specialty and a role but there's never been a question in my mind that the 2 young CBs are gonna compete for playing time and the player the coaches trust the most will get the most snaps.

 

Probably Hairston will open with the firsts in actual team sessions but that won't last long if he's being outplayed by IGB.

 

This is what so many posters here just can't seem to grasp.

 

3 hours ago, Richard Noggin said:

IGB is definitely a potential "starter" caliber boundary CB in an aggressive, man-heavy scheme. That's the important point. He has things to work on, but his size and athleticism and super competitive mentality makes him a great fit for what the Bills want to do. The greatest risk is that he's like a McKelvin who is always in position but rarely gets his head around to play the ball. Except IGB is so much bigger and more physical. And we have coaches who can hopefully help him grow into his best self in this new scheme. Clearly, he was a priority target compared to the rest of the CBs on the board. 

 

It's pretty funny.

 

Every time I would state that getting your head around to play the ball is an important and necessary skill for a DB I was shouted down by those who swear that every defensive football coach in the world teaches defenders to not look for the ball but rather to read the receivers eyes and body to try to breakup the pass. I was told that this is the sole technique that all D coaches teach.

 

And then you read the scouting reports on IGB and after "grabbiness" apparently his second greatest area of improvement is getting his head around to locate the ball.

 

Gotta love it.

 

Edited May 1 by Sierra Foothills

[Buffalo716]

44 minutes ago, Sierra Foothills said:

 

I could see a scenario where our top 3 CBs all have a specialty and a role but there's never been a question in my mind that the 2 young CBs are gonna compete for playing time and the player the coaches trust the most will get the most snaps.

 

Probably Hairston will open with the firsts in actual team sessions but that won't last long if he's being outplayed by IGB.

 

This is what so many posters here just can't seem to grasp.

 

 

It's pretty funny.

 

Every time I would state that getting your head around to play the ball is an important and necessary skill for a DB I was shouted down by those who swear that every defensive football coach in the world teaches defenders to not look for the ball but rather to read the receivers eyes and body to try to breakup the pass. I was told that this is the sole technique that all D coaches teach.

 

And then you read the scouting reports on IGB and after "grabbiness" apparently his second greatest area of improvement is getting his head around to locate the ball.

 

Gotta love it.

 

It really depends what technique you're playing at the cornerback position 

 

And the type of route is ran 

 

Anything in breaking you should be able to locate.. anything over your front shoulder you should be able to locate 

 

When you're specifically trailing inside and they throw up a high ball on the boundary that's when you're supposed to play hands because trying to locate is really easy for average players to get pass interference nowadays 

 

Notice at that same time Max Hairston was able to locate and intercept a deep ball or two when he was in the right position because his skill allowed him to 

 

The game is very fast now there's more corners who can break it up versus corners who can actually make a play on that specific ball which is why that specific type of throw is coached that way 

 

If you're in off coverage and a deep ball is thrown you should have eyes on it the whole way... In individual outside coverage the technique and skill level determines the ability to play the ball

 

That's why ball skills is a coveted corner trait

Edited May 1 by Buffalo716

[BobbyC81]

7 hours ago, Stenbar said:

Attack early and often is exactly what they needed to do. Win the coin toss, take the damn ball and score. Put the pressure on them right off the bat. 

Especially when you’re on the road.  Quiet the crowd some.

[DJB]

Feet pics or it didn’t happen 

[GunnerBill]

I ***** hope it isn't. I have never been closer to jacking the Bills in than the Ryan era. I hated absolutely everything about it. Including his overrated ***** stain of a defensive scheme. 

[Sierra Foothills]

3 hours ago, Buffalo716 said:

When you're specifically trailing inside and they throw up a high ball on the boundary that's when you're supposed to play hands because trying to locate is really easy for average players to get pass interference nowadays 

 

Notice at that same time Max Hairston was able to locate and intercept a deep ball or two when he was in the right position because his skill allowed him to 

 

The game is very fast now there's more corners who can break it up versus corners who can actually make a play on that specific ball which is why that specific type of throw is coached that way 

 

If you're in off coverage and a deep ball is thrown you should have eyes on it the whole way... In individual outside coverage the technique and skill level determines the ability to play the ball

 

That's why ball skills is a coveted corner trait

 

Again disagree.

 

The very sentence "get your head around to locate the ball" means that you are in a trail position on a vertical or diagonal route.

 

Any other technique or leverage and the defender doesn't have to get his head around... he's either facing the LOS reading the QB or he's running  horizontally and can pickup the flight of the ball with peripheral vision.

 

[hondo in seattle]

7 hours ago, Kirby Jackson said:

Reading that back I was not clear. The strategy, was to establish the run and limit possessions. The Bills played slow and that wasn’t accidental. They led the league in time of possession last year. In my opinion, that’s not a good thing with the way that they’re built. They don’t want the game to slow down with each team having a low number of possessions.
 

Each NFL game typically has somewhere between 10 & 14 possessions. The Bills tried to keep that number on the lower end of the range when they should have done the opposite. Instead of worrying about your defense being out there once or twice more, you should have wanted Josh Allen out there once or twice more.

 

Hopefully that clears it up…

 

It does clear it up.  You make good points and you're probably right.  

 

But I do remember McD once saying he doesn't micromanage his coordinators which may or may not have been true.  In either case, I'd love to know exactly what guidance he gave Brady.  In other words, I'd love to know how much I can blame Brady for the offense's shortcomings last season and how much I should blame McD. 

 

In particular, the downfield passing game, at times, looked awful.  On the one hand, we had a weak WR room, but on the other we had Josh Freakin' Allen.  It seems we should have produced better and it also seems this is more of a Brady thing than a McD thing.  And I wonder if this is one of the reasons Brady hired Carmichael - because Carmichael learned from Sean Payton how to scheme wideouts open.  

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

42 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

I ***** hope it isn't. I have never been closer to jacking the Bills in than the Ryan era. I hated absolutely everything about it. Including his overrated ***** stain of a defensive scheme. 

And here I thought you were going to say "Including his overrated ***** stain of a brother."

[Kirby Jackson]

31 minutes ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

It does clear it up.  You make good points and you're probably right.  

 

But I do remember McD once saying he doesn't micromanage his coordinators which may or may not have been true.  In either case, I'd love to know exactly what guidance he gave Brady.  In other words, I'd love to know how much I can blame Brady for the offense's shortcomings last season and how much I should blame McD. 

 

In particular, the downfield passing game, at times, looked awful.  On the one hand, we had a weak WR room, but on the other we had Josh Freakin' Allen.  It seems we should have produced better and it also seems this is more of a Brady thing than a McD thing.  And I wonder if this is one of the reasons Brady hired Carmichael - because Carmichael learned from Sean Payton how to scheme wideouts open.  

I think “pace of play” and overall approach is McDermott. “We want to be a run first team, and control the clock.” I think that the design of plays and execution of them is Brady. I feel pretty strongly that the bubble screens were Brady. The talent, or lack thereof, is Beane.

 

There were issues with all of those. I’ll stick to the overall approach though because that was the initial point. The Bills averaged 2.7 points per drive and allowed 2.09 points per drive. The more possessions that each team has the wider the gap between them becomes. So while the concern was, “we don’t want to give them the ball back” they should have been saying, “we need more possessions.” Every time, each team has a possession is a .6 point bonus for the Bills. 
 

The way the Warriors changed the NBA is so appropriate here. They did 2 things really. They shot a zillion 3’s knowing that if I shoot 39% from 3 and 54% from 2, over time you’re much better with the 3’s. Each NBA team averages roughly 100 possessions a game. If you use those numbers the team shooting the 3’s are at 117 and the team playing inside is at 108. Obviously these are just averages and it can move from game to game but over time, it’ll level out. 
 

Because of that math, their goal was to play quickly. The faster they went, the more possessions per game there became. The more possessions that each game had, the wider the gap would be of points they scored vs. points they gave up. If I were in charge of the Bills the 2015 (or around then) Warriors would be the team that I modeled my philosophy after. 

Edited May 1 by Kirby Jackson

[hondo in seattle]

1 minute ago, Kirby Jackson said:

I think “pace of play” and overall approach is McDermott. “We want to be a run first team, and control the clock.” I think that the design of plays and execution of them is Brady. I feel pretty strongly that the bubble screens were Brady. The talent, or lack thereof, is Beane.

 

There were issues with all of those. I’ll stick to the overall approach though because that was the initial point. The Bills averaged 2.7 points per drive and allowed 2.09 points per drive. The more possessions that each team has the wider the gap between them becomes. So while the concern was, “we don’t want to give them the ball back” they should have been saying, “we need more possessions.” If every time, each team has a possession is a .6 point bonus for the Bills. 
 

The way the Warriors changed the NBA is so appropriate here. They did 2 things really. They shot a zillion 3’s knowing that if I shoot 39% from 3 and 54% from 2, over time you’re much better with the 3’s. Each NBA team averages roughly 100 possessions a game. If you use those numbers the team shooting the 3’s are at 117 and the team playing inside is at 108. Obviously these are just averages and it can move from game to game but over time, it’ll level out. 
 

Because of that math, their goal was to play quickly. The faster they went, the more possessions per game there became. The more possessions that each game had, the wider the gap would be of points they scored vs. points they gave up. If I were in charge of the Bills the 2015 (or around then) Warriors would be the team that I modeled my philosophy after. 

 

This is a solid point.  While I was disappointed when McD was fired, I'm not closed-minded about criticism, and the logic you use here is strong.  

 

Back in the 90s, we had multiple HOFers.  During Beane's reign, we've had one.  Sometimes, watching the Bills play these past couple years, I'd think "Unleash the Kraken!"  Let Josh do Josh things.  With our defensive talent fading, it seemed like the logical thing to do.  Your stats back that up.  

[KHAN]

Sean used his offense to protect his defense. That is a huge waste of Josh Allen IMO.

[Kirby Jackson]

14 minutes ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

This is a solid point.  While I was disappointed when McD was fired, I'm not closed-minded about criticism, and the logic you use here is strong.  

 

Back in the 90s, we had multiple HOFers.  During Beane's reign, we've had one.  Sometimes, watching the Bills play these past couple years, I'd think "Unleash the Kraken!"  Let Josh do Josh things.  With our defensive talent fading, it seemed like the logical thing to do.  Your stats back that up.  

The most encouraging thing that wa said in Brady’s introductory press conference was, “we aren’t going to worry about who we are playing, they’re going to have to worry about playing us.” Maybe it’s lip service but that felt like the philosophical shift discussed above. Basically, “our advantage is Josh Allen and the more chances he gets to score the better it is for us.”
 

It’s easier said than done and who knows if it plays out but I believe that needs to be the approach. The Rams kind of do it. The early 90’s Bills certainly did. I believe that your plan and strategy needs to evolve based on the way you’re built. The Bills advantage is that the have Josh Allen and a very good offense. That’s what makes them different. 

[Bray Wyatt]

1 hour ago, GunnerBill said:

I ***** hope it isn't. I have never been closer to jacking the Bills in than the Ryan era. I hated absolutely everything about it. Including his overrated ***** stain of a defensive scheme. 

 

Ummm is this a British slang thing? haha

[TheyCallMeAndy]

10 hours ago, strive_for_five_guy said:

I know some have complained about our first three picks being more depth pieces, but for years there have been complaints that the Bills have picked for need only to end up with picks like Elam.  If the staff views these guys as BPA, isn’t that the better strategy for drafting?

Not to mention, Chubb, Hoetch, Benford, and possibly Hairston have shown to be quite injury prone.

 

Do you want the talent level of Parker or having a rookie DT or Solomon playing edge?

 

Do you want a guy with DGB skill level or Dane Jackson? 

[Captain Hindsight]

9 hours ago, BigDingus said:

I'm hopeful but also nervous.

 

If we had fired McDermott after the 4th Chiefs playoff loss, I would've been all on board with changing everything.

 

But after last season, things became more muddied. He was more willing to send pressure, play man, not always be in nickel, etc. and got a lot more out of players than I thought he would. Tre White went from being a huge liability to being really darn good for us after he settled in. 

 

Even Cole Bishop, who was starting to look like another bust, finally saw some life... something I think was in large part due to resigning & playing Poyer. 

 

Injuries derailed some of the young guys, key players like Ed & acquisitions, but come playoff time, they did step up. The Jags were one of the hottest teams in the league, and we went to their place & won. 

 

We then had to go play the 1 seed on the road (in Mile High of all places), and the D actually performed very well given the circumstances. 4 turnovers by the offense, putting the D in a tough position, and still they managed to keep things within reach. Then in OT, they do the one thing that I never thought they'd do - force a punt!

 

It was everything we could ask for - ball in the offense's hands, next score wins, and.... the offense blew it. This was the 3rd straight year the offense got the ball back with a chance to win the game & failed, but at least in the other 2 games the D wasn't much help through most of it. 

 

So to fire McDermott the year after he seemed to be doing more with less, actually making good adjustments & doing it with very little impact from draft picks or free agents makes him look more like a scapegoat than anything else. He definitely did enough in the past to warrant making a change, but his 2025 defense didn't seem like the thing holding this team back from making the SB.

 

I only hope Leonhard's D is more like last year's Denver D than Rex Ryan's D. If so, then maybe our D will actually be a unit that can win games for us rather than simply not lose them.

I defended McDermott for years. I couldn’t look past him allowing a 25 yard completion on 3rd 11 to Bo Freaking Nix

 

He had the LBs cover to the sticks and then the safeties were back 20 yards. Nix threw it 13 yards down the field for the easiest 1st down possible. 
 

As soon he snapped the ball, I could tell where he was going to complete the pass. He learned nothing from 13 seconds. And worse yet, he did it against a second year guy who half the league was trying to figure out if he was good or not last year 

 

Just inexcusable at year 9

[HoofHearted]

13 hours ago, PoundingDog said:

As Eric Wood is speculating in his latest podcast.

 

As a former player and Center calling out protections against Rex's defense, I found Eric provided some unique perspective in terms of what Leonhard will deploy the secondary players - and yes Eric played against Leonhard too.

 

1. His alma mater HC Jeff Brohm told Eric that TJ Parker looked to be an NFL 1st round pick. Note Louisville played Clemson both 2024 and 2025.
2. When Marino argued he didn't like Bills' 2nd round pick IGB because he won't see the field much, Eric mentioned how he faced Rex's Jets where on passing downs, it is all match up based where you may see 4 safeties or 4 corners. So he thinks that IGB, if he is capable, will play a lot. Eric mentioned that as soon as you stop them on 1st down run, then in comes nickel package with matchup based personnel ... I'm wondering a) can we stop 1st down run for no gain and b) we do need our OLB who can stop runs because otherwise, we may give too much size outside the 3 interior D line guys (and Oliver is under sized too) when we run nickel. 
3. I also noticed Eric skipped talking about the Tackle and Guard we picked as he normally gives some view on O-Line people. But maybe as he mentioned, the more he removed from college football, the less he knows about players.  

 

 

 

 

From a schematic structure standpoint it won't be. From a moving pieces around to take advantage of individual match-ups I most certainly believe it will be. That's why I posted that article a while back about how JL can use, and take advantage of, Ed Oliver in that nose position out of that base Tite front in passing situations. This is what has me most excited about JL coming in.

[The Cincinnati Kid]

I didn’t like McDermott from day 1 of his first Training Camp. He took the team to the 70 yard field with no room for spectators. WTF, man? Insecure much?

 

He is a product of Josh Allen. And ending the drought? It was inevitable. Bad teams make the playoffs all the time. 

[hondo in seattle]

1 hour ago, Kirby Jackson said:

The most encouraging thing that wa said in Brady’s introductory press conference was, “we aren’t going to worry about who we are playing, they’re going to have to worry about playing us.” Maybe it’s lip service but that felt like the philosophical shift discussed above. Basically, “our advantage is Josh Allen and the more chances he gets to score the better it is for us.”
 

It’s easier said than done and who knows if it plays out but I believe that needs to be the approach. The Rams kind of do it. The early 90’s Bills certainly did. I believe that your plan and strategy needs to evolve based on the way you’re built. The Bills advantage is that the have Josh Allen and a very good offense. That’s what makes them different. 

 

Agreed.

I noticed that quote when Brady said it and couldn't help but think he was probably saying that wasn't how things were done before.  Given that he was the OC, I thought that was odd, but I don't know what McD was telling him.  

 

And I agree with the comparison.  The 90s Bills, who were prolific at moving the ball and scoring, didn't seem to let defenses dictate what they did.  

 

My outlook on 2026 is a tangled bunch of hopes and fears.  

 

 

[Green Lightning]

12 hours ago, Kirby Jackson said:

My take on the run defense is to attack on offense. Score early and often. Last year the Bills had a negative point differential in the 1st half. That’s impossible and a HORRIBLE strategy. The Bills plan was to keep it close, make adjustments, and get them in the 2nd half. What does that mean? Teams can run the ball well into the 2nd half. 
 

The solve for the run defense is the lead. Play from ahead. Make teams become one dimensional. If they get down 2 scores in the first half and have to “keep up” with Josh Allen, So there is no run defense. Someone posted it a while back but the 2007 Patriots saw the fewest rush attempts against in the league. Their elite offense put pressure on opposing offenses. They became one dimensional. That’s the answer for the Bills. Score fast and score often. 

Sounds nice and it works in the regular season. When you face other great teams, not so much, and they run on you. I'd like to be more like hockey, build for the playoffs. 

[colin]

3 minutes ago, The Cincinnati Kid said:

I didn’t like McDermott from day 1 of his first Training Camp. He took the team to the 70 yard field with no room for spectators. WTF, man? Insecure much?

 

He is a product of Josh Allen. And ending the drought? It was inevitable. Bad teams make the playoffs all the time. 

 

if marvin lewis had allen he might have messed around and won a superbowl.  he would have at least made it to the bowl or the the afc chip a few times.