Our defense will be better than last year's

[Mr. Miyagi]

I don't care if we lost Clements and Fletcher. Mark my words our defense this year will be better than last year's.

1) We all know Clements is overrated. He gambled too much and costed us some games. Without him we're better off.

2) Fletcher was good for us but lost his speed a lot last year. Our young guys will step in and replace him just fine.

3) Another offseason for TKO to heal. He should be close to 100% when the season begins. That is, if he's still with us.

4) All the rookies have had a whole season under their belt - Whitner, Simpson, Williams, Ellison, even Youboty has more experience than he did last year. They'll continue to develop but they had to have improved from last season.

5) Second continuous season in the same scheme. Less confusion and memorization and more instintive and reactive.

6) Whoever we draft will add talent to our D.

I damn near guarantee our D will be better than last year's. Of course continuous improvement is always a good thing, but by no means the sky is falling because we didn't get Lance Briggs or Cato June.

[Devin]

Re: Our defense will be better than last year's

Homer!!!

j/k to be honest I kind of agree, while I will wait till the draft to see how that shakes out since Marv is smarter then all of us.....by the looks of it combined........i trust his judgement.

[Meathead]

Re: Our defense will be better than last year's

the biggest thing will be a second year in the system. that will make a big difference

[OpIv37]

Re: Our defense will be better than last year's

I don't care if we lost Clements and Fletcher. Mark my words our defense this year will be better than last year's.

1) We all know Clements is overrated. He gambled too much and costed us some games. Without him we're better off.

2) Fletcher was good for us but lost his speed a lot last year. Our young guys will step in and replace him just fine.

3) Another offseason for TKO to heal. He should be close to 100% when the season begins. That is, if he's still with us.

4) All the rookies have had a whole season under their belt - Whitner, Simpson, Williams, Ellison, even Youboty has more experience than he did last year. They'll continue to develop but they had to have improved from last season.

5) Second continuous season in the same scheme. Less confusion and memorization and more instintive and reactive.

6) Whoever we draft will add talent to our D.

I damn near guarantee our D will be better than last year's. Of course continuous improvement is always a good thing, but by no means the sky is falling because we didn't get Lance Briggs or Cato June.

1) I agree that Clements is way overrated. But Youboty has no game experience and K Thomas has ZERO career interceptions. Overrated or not, he's still better than anyone else we have (or may be able to get before the season starts) by far. In time, Youboty MAY be better, but he certainly won't be this year.

2) We're short on LB's, Ellison was mediocre last year... like Clements, I think Fletch can be replaced but at the moment we don't have anyone capable of doing it.

3) TKO could go either way- I hope they don't trade him.

4) The rookies should improve but it's asking too much for 1 year of experience alone to help the 27th ranked run D become good enough.

5) People read too much into this. Football players are football players- they know the game and they know what they're supposed to do.

6) We drafted talent last year and our D still sucked- rookies take time to develop. Plus, all of our opponents get to draft too, so they'll be adding talent as well.

The sky isn't falling because we didn't get Briggs or June. The sky is falling because a) we lost two starters and found no replacements other than the guys who weren't good enough to take their jobs last year and b) our D sucked last year and we added NO ONE, nothing, nada, zilch. You can't do the same thing over and over again and expect different results each time. Right now, our D is worse than it was last year and that's a scary prospect.

[Mr. Miyagi]

Re: Our defense will be better than last year's

Right now, our D is worse than it was last year and that's a scary prospect.

I don't care about RIGHT NOW because RIGHT NOW we're not playing any games. RIGHT NOW we haven't drafted new talent, nor gone through training camp to jell, nor come together to play through the entire season. By the end of the season, our D will be ranked higher than last year because I think what we lost in two players is less than what we've gained in experience in players and system and what the draft will bring. By no means I'm saying we're top 10 D this year, but we'll be better than last year's.

Let's put 10,000 zbs on it if you like.

[JPFBillsFan]

Re: Our defense will be better than last year's

I agree 99%
my only sticking point is if Spikes is veiwed as a cancer than he has to go..

[OpIv37]

Re: Our defense will be better than last year's

I don't care about RIGHT NOW because RIGHT NOW we're not playing any games. RIGHT NOW we haven't drafted new talent, nor gone through training camp to jell, nor come together to play through the entire season. By the end of the season, our D will be ranked higher than last year because I think what we lost in two players is less than what we've gained in experience in players and system and what the draft will bring. By no means I'm saying we're top 10 D this year, but we'll be better than last year's.

Let's put 10,000 zbs on it if you like.

I'll put the 10k on it but we have to define what constitutes better- are we talking points, rush yards, overall yards or defensive ranking? If you go defensive ranking or overall yards, or rush D ranking I'll take it.

[Mr. Miyagi]

Re: Our defense will be better than last year's

Oh and don't forget 7) we get McCargo back.

[Mr. Miyagi]

Re: Our defense will be better than last year's

I'll put the 10k on it but we have to define what constitutes better- are we talking points, rush yards, overall yards or defensive ranking? If you go defensive ranking or overall yards, or rush D ranking I'll take it.

Total D or rush D, doesn't matter.

[TigerJ]

Re: Our defense will be better than last year's

The way I look at is, the things you listed are "ifs." It's possible everyone of them will happen as advertized. It's also possible Youboty will stink, they young guys won't be an adequate replacement for Fletcher, TKO will never be the player he once was, last year's rookies will all have sophomore slumps, the defensive system will break down and everyone we draft turns out to be a bust. The reality is probably somewhere in the middle, though we all hope reality ends up being closer to your rosy outlook than my Murphy's Law scenario.

The job of the Bills between now and the start of the season is to assess which are the biggest risks on your list and do what they can reasonably do to minimize or reverse them. Some of them we'll not be able to do anything about and we'll just have to hope for the best, but hopefully that won't be true for all of them.

[Mr. Miyagi]

Re: Our defense will be better than last year's

I'm just trying to take the positive stand and balance out some of the sky-is-falling negative nancies out there on the board.

[Jeff1220]

Re: Our defense will be better than last year's

I agree that they'll improve on D, but that's not much of a stretch - it's not hard to be better than 27th.
I think other variables will help the D though. The number 1 thing that will help this D will be an improved offense. Keep the D off the field and keep them defending a lead, and I think that helps from a planning and mental perspective.

[patmoran2006]

Re: Our defense will be better than last year's

I don't care if we lost Clements and Fletcher. Mark my words our defense this year will be better than last year's.

1) We all know Clements is overrated. He gambled too much and costed us some games. Without him we're better off.

2) Fletcher was good for us but lost his speed a lot last year. Our young guys will step in and replace him just fine.

3) Another offseason for TKO to heal. He should be close to 100% when the season begins. That is, if he's still with us.

4) All the rookies have had a whole season under their belt - Whitner, Simpson, Williams, Ellison, even Youboty has more experience than he did last year. They'll continue to develop but they had to have improved from last season.

5) Second continuous season in the same scheme. Less confusion and memorization and more instintive and reactive.

6) Whoever we draft will add talent to our D.

I damn near guarantee our D will be better than last year's. Of course continuous improvement is always a good thing, but by no means the sky is falling because we didn't get Lance Briggs or Cato June.

1- Even if Clements is "overated' he is still miles better than Kiwaukee Thomas or Ashton Youboty. That's not even comparison, come on now.

2- What young guys are you referring to, to replace Fletcher? If you count Crowell as Fletcher's replacement, that leaves Ellison (See #3 about Spikes). That leaves depth containing Coy Wire and Mario Haggans.. that's real sad.

3- Spike will not be with Buffalo come draft day, I am willing to bet on it. I wish I was wrong though, what a stupid economics trade this will be.


4- AGreed. Rookies have a season under belt. I expect a hell of a lot more now from Whitner being the 8th overall pick--time to justify it and show your not just another decent safety, as well as Simpson, Kyle Williams and especially McCargo.

5- AGreed. Same scheme being more familar helps for sure.

6- Yes. Draft early and add talent on defense. The downside is it will come at the expense of having a mediocre offense. Teams know Lee Evans now, they will double the hell out of him, we have no legit #2 not to mention anybody scary at RB.

[justasportsfan]

Re: Our defense will be better than last year's

I agree . We'll be better.

[Mr. Miyagi]

Re: Our defense will be better than last year's

I agree that they'll improve on D, but that's not much of a stretch - it's not hard to be better than 27th.
I think other variables will help the D though. The number 1 thing that will help this D will be an improved offense. Keep the D off the field and keep them defending a lead, and I think that helps from a planning and mental perspective.

Actually our RUN D was ranked 28th. Our TOTAL D was 18th.