Buffalo Bills defense shows fewer holes, but work remains

[shelby]

In his statement announcing the retention of coach Dick Jauron on Tuesday, owner Ralph Wilson referenced his dissatisfaction with the Bills' offense.But Wilson didn't have anything to say about a defense that, despite Buffalo's failure to make the playoffs, made significant strides in its statistical rankings in 2008.
Ultimately, the team as a whole must be judged by the end result — 7-9 and a ninth straight non-playoff season — and that prompted the always refreshingly honest Donte Whitner to say "You look at the talent we have in that locker room and no way should we be going home. We allowed some games to get away from us that we shouldn't have. To be a playoff team you have to execute and play at a consistently high level every week. We just didn't do that.''
No one can argue that point. At times the defense played very well, but at too many critical junctures in games the defense failed to get the job done.
"We were trying to be a top 10 defense," said cornerback Terrence McGee, who may have been the MVP of the unit. "Like Perry (Fewell) said, we have to eliminate the big plays. You have to make plays and not have those explosive plays against you if you want to be a top 10 defense.''
Still, there was hope in the end-of-year numbers that this team — which will continue to build on its current, some would say shaky, foundation now that Jauron and his staff will be returning — can keep improving, especially with the expected return of defensive end Aaron Schobel.
"We have a lot of confidence in the guys we have now, so we have to come to work and do our job and whatever happens, happens," said middle linebacker Paul Posluszny.
The Bills ranked 18th in points allowed in 2007 with 354 and that figure dipped slightly to 342, though it was good enough for a rise to 14th in the league.

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[ghz in pittsburgh]

Re: Buffalo Bills defense shows fewer holes, but work remains

I personally believe this is where talent improvement did overall.

My #1 has to be Stroud. Some may cry that he didn't meet our expectations, but even then, he's much better than anything we had at DT including Pat Williams' last couple of years. The fact that opposing team cannot simply run down the middle is a huge plus for this team.

Mitchell and Poz are also an improvement over what we had last year (with Crowell).

At the secondary, the bright spot is on nickel back where Youboty shined before he got hurt and McKelvin took over after that. I really believe our 3rd down improvement can be attributed mainly from this area.

Disappointment: pass rush. No question. We just can't pressure QBs.

Overall, the defensive players we have are young enough that I don't see big drops in performance save for question marks on Schobel. If we can make two more talent upgrade here - a pass rushing DE specialist and a side-line to side-line Weak side linebacker - we may really have something here in defense.

[Night Train]

Re: Buffalo Bills defense shows fewer holes, but work remains

I have zero confidence in the Cover 2 scheme.

When they need to make a key stop against a quality team, they cannot get off the field. All too often the opponent runs right through the front 7 and burns the D on the underneath slant.

We have talent but still need more, plus a switch to the 4-3 scheme which would tighten up the middle. The first priority is to find some DE's/OLB's who can actually rush the passer.

[RedEyE]

Re: Buffalo Bills defense shows fewer holes, but work remains

The Cover 2 is crap, plain and simple.

I don't know if Stroud would be up to a NT type of position, but I believe the Bills need to invest the 1st round pick in a top DE and switch the defensive scheme to a 3-4.

Schobel is dominate enough to retain his position and Kelsay would obviously start the season on the left side until the rookie proved himself worthy of starting.

Retain Crowell as he is a well rounded LB talent. Mitchell stays on the outside strong side, and Ellison might be suitable enough to stay WLB, but can swap with Crowell if necessary. Crowell and Poz on the inside could prove very beneficial against the run.

Again, I think that Stroud might be better suited for the B gap, but I think that Spencer Johnson is NT material and swapping off and on with Stroud could work well.

I don't think that the Bills will need to keep Greer as McKelvin, Youboty, and Corner have all emerged this season. Obviously Youboty did fantastic in nickle packages and will hopefully stay healthy enough to continue. Corner will be excellent depth.

The Bills will then need to find a safety either in the draft or in FA.

This leaves a few options open for the offense. The Bills (in my opinion) need to lay down the cash for either the best available Center in the draft, or in FA.

THE BILLS MUST RESIGN FRED JACKSON. He looked better then Lynch in some games this season but more importantly the 1-2 punch that Lynch and Jackson provide will be necessary late in the season.

Tight End: In order for Buffalo to be more dominate in the Red Zone, and more proficient with this offensive scheme, the Bills need a HUGE TE that can move the chains and provide an extra target in the end zone. I think there will be some decent FA options this off season and the Bills will have the money to compete. Release Royal!

[ghz in pittsburgh]

Re: Buffalo Bills defense shows fewer holes, but work remains

This is another extreme statement: cover 2 is crap. Several teams has won superbowl with that. I guess that's why Bill Clinton was so popular when he was president because we have so many people mindless follows what ever wind it blows for the day. in 2008, a lot of 3-4 teams are doing better so we want to change to 3-4. During our Superbowl many were crying for 4-3 because 4-3 teams were winning superbowls. Maybe we should change defense every year based on what is popular the year before.

Players and coaches make a scheme. You change a scheme, you generally change players, and you may want to find coaches who are expert in those area. It takes some work to do that.

You don't ask someone who manufactures Apple computers to change to Windows computers back and forth over night.

Here is something you can bank on. 3-4 requires a different kind of personnel: DEs being a little bigger instead of faster; OLBs being a little those tweeners. When there are few people running 3-4, it's easier to get the best of those type of players. When many are running 3-4, you may not get Joey Porters of the world so easily. By that time, I guess your are so frustrated that you want to change to a 4-3.

[RedEyE]

Re: Buffalo Bills defense shows fewer holes, but work remains

This is another extreme statement: cover 2 is crap. Several teams has won superbowl with that. I guess that's why Bill Clinton was so popular when he was president because we have so many people mindless follows what ever wind it blows for the day. in 2008, a lot of 3-4 teams are doing better so we want to change to 3-4. During our Superbowl many were crying for 4-3 because 4-3 teams were winning superbowls. Maybe we should change defense every year based on what is popular the year before.

Players and coaches make a scheme. You change a scheme, you generally change players, and you may want to find coaches who are expert in those area. It takes some work to do that.

You don't ask someone who manufactures Apple computers to change to Windows computers back and forth over night.

Here is something you can bank on. 3-4 requires a different kind of personnel: DEs being a little bigger instead of faster; OLBs being a little those tweeners. When there are few people running 3-4, it's easier to get the best of those type of players. When many are running 3-4, you may not get Joey Porters of the world so easily. By that time, I guess your are so frustrated that you want to change to a 4-3.

It's not about following suit across the league, it's about using your talent to the best of its abilities and adapting from what hasn't worked. The Bills have the personnel as you've described, minus a few players that need to be picked up this off season regardless. Schobel has trimmed down drastically and can easly beef back (if even necessary), and the Bills LBs are highly adaptable.

This is about focusing on necessity - nothing more.

[ParanoidAndroid]

Re: Buffalo Bills defense shows fewer holes, but work remains

There are other threads about switching to the 3-4 alignment. We would need a new coordinator and several players to pull it off. Can it be done? Yes. But is it necessary? No.
Schobel would have to play OLB in that scheme. We would end up having no depth and two overpaid DE's with no position. Kelsay and Denney are too small to play DE in a 3-4 but too big and slow to play OLB.

The defense Buffalo runs is not the problem. They just need to upgrade a couple of positions that we have discussed: DE and OLB.

[madness]

Re: Buffalo Bills defense shows fewer holes, but work remains

Ultimately, the team as a whole must be judged by the end result — 7-9 and a ninth straight non-playoff season — and that prompted the always refreshingly honest Donte Whitner to say "You look at the talent we have in that locker room and no way should we be going home. We allowed some games to get away from us that we shouldn't have. To be a playoff team you have to execute and play at a consistently high level every week. We just didn't do that.''
No one can argue that point. At times the defense played very well, but at too many critical junctures in games the defense failed to get the job done.

Our depth was definitely exposed this year and more times than not by our backups, young but raw talent and injured players breaking down when it mattered most. Ko Simpson seems to keep regressing but I feel playing him would have been a better alternative then playing a FS with a bum shoulder half the season. My neighbor and consistently talk "shop" about his 49ers and the Bills and even he was quick to point out that it seemed we loss a lot of players due to re-aggravating injuries. This is obviously a key reflection on the training staff and also poor decisions by the coaching staff to keep injured players on the field.

Playing Trent Edwards with an already injuried groin in the 49ers game was another prime example of a poor decision by the staff.

[HHURRICANE]

Re: Buffalo Bills defense shows fewer holes, but work remains

I think our entire D blows. Stroud was the only player that looked like a keeper.

When this D needed stops they couldn't get them. Hell, they made Cleveland look great.

The D isn't a "few players away".

The offense didn't come off the field as quickly so the D didn't have to suck as much. They are better because our offense improved.

It was the first time in 4 years that we weren't giving up time of possesion.

[ParanoidAndroid]

Re: Buffalo Bills defense shows fewer holes, but work remains

This defense did a good job of keeping teams out of the endzone. With a pass rush, they will get off the field on 3rd down more often and force more turnovers.
I'm on the side of a couple more players making the difference, especially a marquis pass rusher. Let's hope they find one.

[Typ0]

Re: Buffalo Bills defense shows fewer holes, but work remains

excellent analysis. A decent pass rush and a LB that can fill gaps when need be is a requirement and the defense will look a lot better with it.

I personally believe this is where talent improvement did overall.

My #1 has to be Stroud. Some may cry that he didn't meet our expectations, but even then, he's much better than anything we had at DT including Pat Williams' last couple of years. The fact that opposing team cannot simply run down the middle is a huge plus for this team.

Mitchell and Poz are also an improvement over what we had last year (with Crowell).

At the secondary, the bright spot is on nickel back where Youboty shined before he got hurt and McKelvin took over after that. I really believe our 3rd down improvement can be attributed mainly from this area.

Disappointment: pass rush. No question. We just can't pressure QBs.

Overall, the defensive players we have are young enough that I don't see big drops in performance save for question marks on Schobel. If we can make two more talent upgrade here - a pass rushing DE specialist and a side-line to side-line Weak side linebacker - we may really have something here in defense.