Was Christian Benford really that bad today?

[Simon]

I've seen dozens of comments about how awful he was.

Yes, he gave up more completions than we're accustomed to, maybe 5 or 6 as opposed to his typical 2 or 3.

But there are some other factors that I think folks are ignoring:

 

> The Texans clearly wanted to ride Nico Collins in the passing game and at the end of the day he had a grand total of 75 yards.

> From an amateur perspective seeing this defense for the first time, I got the sense that Leonhard was putting as much, if not more, on his shoulders positionally than he was anybody else on the defense.

> On the later key possessions of a tight matchup, Benford had a whole bunch of closeouts on Collins that led to incompletions.

> In the second half that decided the game, Nico Collins only had 3 catches for 30 yards.

 

Benford may have given up more than he typically does in a game but when crunch time came around, he held down a difficult fort with minimal support and fought their #1WR to a handful of peanuts.

[QLBillsFan]

First half dreadful.. 2nd half solid. 12 is pretty darn good. Mixed bag but great adjustments 

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

He got beat pretty good on a 20-yarder that stroud beautifully dropped in. Other than that, it seemed like he was giving up tough contested like 10-yard catches.
 

I actually thought the one DPI on him

was totally bogus too.
 

overall, I thought he was solid, but outplayed some.

 

(that said, stingley and Lassiter were abused far worse all day!!) 

[BillMafia716ix]

I feel QB’s don’t fear Benford. They challenge him pretty often. He had his struggles last season too 

[PrimeTime101]

id say it was a mixed bag and it can be cleaned up.

[Buffalo716]

1 hour ago, Simon said:

I've seen dozens of comments about how awful he was.

Yes, he gave up more completions than we're accustomed to, maybe 5 or 6 as opposed to his typical 2 or 3.

But there are some other factors that I think folks are ignoring:

 

> The Texans clearly wanted to ride Nico Collins in the passing game and at the end of the day he had a grand total of 75 yards.

> From an amateur perspective seeing this defense for the first time, I got the sense that Leonhard was putting as much, if not more, on his shoulders positionally than he was anybody else on the defense.

> On the later key possessions of a tight matchup, Benford had a whole bunch of closeouts on Collins that led to incompletions.

> In the second half that decided the game, Nico Collins only had 3 catches for 30 yards.

 

Benford may have given up more than he typically does in a game but when crunch time came around, he held down a difficult fort with minimal support and fought their #1WR to a handful of peanuts.

 

So after sometime letting it simmer 

 

He spotlighted nico a good amount.. and he is a very good receiver 

 

He started a little slow but he handled it well enough and Nico is a dog.. he adjusted well 

 

He wasnt horrible, Nico is good and made some plays and Benford kept battling too with some tough asks

 

Edited September 14 by Buffalo716

[Mark Vader]

Benford wasn't terrible. Tough 1st half. Solid 2nd half.

 

You're going to have games when you don't look like an all-pro. It happens. Move on to the next game.

[Scott7975]

You know how it goes. 
 

he gave up some big plays so he is automatically garbage. 
 

you either play perfect ball around here or it’s not good enough. 
 

is it fair to say he had some bad plays. Yeah. It’s also fair to say he played against one of the best receivers and sometimes that guy won. 

[GunnerBill]

He had a couple of rough plays first half but the Stroud pass to Collins right on the sidleline inside the 5 was just a perfect throw and route. Not sure prime Darrelle Revis is stopping that.

 

Tough assignment against an excellent receiver. As others have said he rebounded a bit second half. Nothing to panic about.

[MJS]

2 hours ago, BillMafia716ix said:

I feel QB’s don’t fear Benford. They challenge him pretty often. He had his struggles last season too 

In the beginning, but he adjusted and figured it out and was playing elite down the stretch. I think we can expect the same in this new defense. He'll figure it out.

6 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

He had a couple of rough plays first half but the Stroud pass to Collins right on the sidleline inside the 5 was just a perfect throw and route. Not sure prime Darrelle Revis is stopping that.

 

Tough assignment against an excellent receiver. As others have said he rebounded a bit second half. Nothing to panic about.

Collins is legit. If he had a better QB (Stroud turtles up from any amount of adversity), he would be seen as one of the top 3 best receivers in the league.

Edited September 14 by MJS

[julian]

He was bad, I expect he’ll bounce back Thursday

[Matt_In_NH]

Second half was way better.   First half was pretty bad I thought.  

[machine gun kelly]

21 minutes ago, Matt_In_NH said:

Second half was way better.   First half was pretty bad I thought.  

I agreed with many of the people’s assessment.  He made some mistakes, but he corrected himself in the second half, and my Jess is Leonard found a minute to talk to him about Collins’ tells.  This is the definition of good coaching.  Collins is one heck of a WR.

[Winnebago Man]

One of the challenges of switching to the new defensive scheme is that the corners, who previously played predominantly zone in McD's system, are manned up and put on islands more in Leonhard's system. 

 

I question whether Benford has the athleticism to be a #1 corner in a defense featuring more 5 and 6 man blitzes and man coverage.

 

In fairness to him, though, the secondary would have looked a lot better if those 5 and 6 man blitzes generated more pressures, QB hits, and sacks.

[Donuts and Doritos]

I think the bigger question isn't was he bad, but rather can he adjust to playing man corner as well as he played zone. Was only week 1, so need time to see how it goes. 

[Magox]

He had a rough first half but locked Collins down for the most part in the 2nd half.

 

I mentioned it in another thread, the biggest problem our defense had were blown coverages and that is to be expected in a new defense with new faces.   I believe there were 5-6 blown coverages that all led to chunk yardage and often times on third downs.   Eliminate those and we would have a decent defensive game.

[Captain_Quint]

6 hours ago, BillMafia716ix said:

I feel QB’s don’t fear Benford. They challenge him pretty often. He had his struggles last season too 

Yeah, before the half, they were picking on him. Throws to Nico when they were in man, but Benford also gave up a long completion to Hutchinson, and he was chasing his guy the whole game. 

 

But someone else brought up the fact that he started slow last year and came on strong at the end of the year. So maybe he just needs some game conditioning to get going. 

[GunnerBill]

13 minutes ago, Magox said:

He had a rough first half but locked Collins down for the most part in the 2nd half.

 

I mentioned it in another thread, the biggest problem our defense had were blown coverages and that is to be expected in a new defense with new faces.   I believe there were 5-6 blown coverages that all led to chunk yardage and often times on third downs.   Eliminate those and we would have a decent defensive game.

 

A couple of those we were light in coverage in any event because of blitzes - one I think was even a 6 man pressure. I already know I am going to moaning about blitzing all season. I can see it coming. ☹️

[Kirby Jackson]

7 hours ago, Simon said:

I've seen dozens of comments about how awful he was.

Yes, he gave up more completions than we're accustomed to, maybe 5 or 6 as opposed to his typical 2 or 3.

But there are some other factors that I think folks are ignoring:

 

> The Texans clearly wanted to ride Nico Collins in the passing game and at the end of the day he had a grand total of 75 yards.

> From an amateur perspective seeing this defense for the first time, I got the sense that Leonhard was putting as much, if not more, on his shoulders positionally than he was anybody else on the defense.

> On the later key possessions of a tight matchup, Benford had a whole bunch of closeouts on Collins that led to incompletions.

> In the second half that decided the game, Nico Collins only had 3 catches for 30 yards.

 

Benford may have given up more than he typically does in a game but when crunch time came around, he held down a difficult fort with minimal support and fought their #1WR to a handful of peanuts.

Fair question. I put him on my “bad” list in the game day thread and maybe that wasn’t fair. He had a rough start to the game but it was a tough assignment.
 

Some of the criticism comes from perception and expectations. I think Benford is really, really good. When he has tough spots, or even is just okay, it’s noticeable. The next guy I was going to nominate on the “bad” list was Keon but didn’t want to list too many guys. He was a ghost yesterday but I think he stinks so it doesn’t stand out.
 

We end up evaluating guys against themselves as opposed to against other players. We hold them to the standard that we think they belong at. Benford is a really good player so we expect high end play at all times. That’s probably not fair but he’s earned that. 

[T master]

3 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

He had a couple of rough plays first half but the Stroud pass to Collins right on the sidleline inside the 5 was just a perfect throw and route. Not sure prime Darrelle Revis is stopping that.

 

Tough assignment against an excellent receiver. As others have said he rebounded a bit second half. Nothing to panic about.

Even Revis had those players that got him from time to time like Stevie use to & with Collins being a legit #1 WR then given the fact that this is a totally new D & coordinator in their very first game together I'll take the out come in hopes that it just gets better .

 

If you factor in too that a lot of people much smarter than I when it comes to football say the D is at a disadvantage in training camp & such because they can't or aren't allowed to hit & get truly physical in those practices like they can in real games it may take a minute to get up to speed .

 

So with all that I'm good & hope it just gets better from here !! GO BILLS !!