Is it time for the Wide-9?

[Mike]

Overall our talent on defense is slightly better than last year but the on field performance has been average.

Is it time to go back to the Wide-9?

Our personal is better suited for out 4-3 with DEs playing wide, rushing 4 & covering oppose to playing this 3-4 blitz scheme which rarely gets to QB on time.

[Mr. Pink]

Not the scheme Rex runs, sorry. It won't be returning.

[Mike]

Not the scheme Rex runs, sorry. It won't be returning.

At some point in his coaching career Rexxy might have to do his best Bill Belicheck impression and actually run a scheme that takes advantage of his personel.

- - - Updated - - -

Right now he is forcing a round peg into a square hole. As a result, his defensive 'genius' is put into question.

[stuckincincy]

Overall our talent on defense is slightly better than last year but the on field performance has been average.

Is it time to go back to the Wide-9?

Our personal is better suited for out 4-3 with DEs playing wide, rushing 4 & covering oppose to playing this 3-4 blitz scheme which rarely gets to QB on time.

All teams crowd the line time to time, but I don't think it is a consistent scheme with any club.

I wouldn't want to do it with BUF...the linebackers Bradham and Preston are doing well and learning. I wouldn't want to disrupt their learning curves because of a game against a talented club that has also been rolling lucky sevens.

[Mike]

All teams crowd the line time to time, but I don't think it is a consistent scheme with any club.

I wouldn't want to do it with BUF...the linebackers Bradham and Preston are doing well and learning. I wouldn't want to disrupt their learning curves because of a game against a talented club that has also been rolling lucky sevens.

see that's the thing... Sometimes it's about scheme other times it's about just outplaying the other team.

> When You Have a Talent advantage, then you just have to beat up the other team 'physically' and make them beat you. A lot of what Seattle ran during their super bowl run & against Payton Manning's Offense was this: they just beat them up! There was no scheme or gimmickry or exotic blitzes packages. They just lined up Mano-a-Mano and beat them.

> When the other Team has a big talent advantage then you have to figure out ways to out scheme them. Your relying on trickery, mental games, match ups, game play, etc. When the Pats beat the Rams in the SB, it was great scheme by the defense to slow down that Rams offense.


Right now the a Bills have an advantage in the Secondary & Dline and the LBs are pretty good too. They need to play a defense that makes you beat them not out scheme them! Right now they are playing a scheme heavy defense & getting out schemed.

Let the super star play. Let them do gear they do. There is no reason why Kyle Williams should be dropping back in coverage while Mario Williams & Hughes hold QB contain and the only pressure is coming from a CB blitz.

[stuckincincy]

see that's the thing... Sometimes it's about scheme other times it's about just outplaying the other team.

> When You Have a Talent advantage, then you just have to beat up the other team 'physically' and make them beat you. A lot of what Seattle ran during their super bowl run & against Payton Manning's Offense was this: they just beat them up! There was no scheme or gimmickry or exotic blitzes packages. They just lined up Mano-a-Mano and beat them.

> When the other Team has a big talent advantage then you have to figure out ways to out scheme them. Your relying on trickery, mental games, match ups, game play, etc. When the Pats beat the Rams in the SB, it was great scheme by the defense to slow down that Rams offense.


Right now the a Bills have an advantage in the Secondary & Dline and the LBs are pretty good too. They need to play a defense that makes you beat them not out scheme them! Right now they are playing a scheme heavy defense & getting out schemed.

Let the super star play. Let them do gear they do. There is no reason why Kyle Williams should be dropping back in coverage while Mario Williams & Hughes hold QB contain and the only pressure is coming from a CB blitz.

Well, the thing is...do they really have that much talent on defense? CIN didn't light up the secondary, nor burn the D for a lot of yards on the run. The total yards for both clubs was close - 355 for CIN, 368 for BUF. Both clubs had 112 yards rushing.

But in the 2nd half, CIN garnered 17 unanswered points, and had a fairly substantial time of possession in the 2nd half. I agree with you - CIN had the talent advantage, and BUF did not figure out ways to mitigate that on offense.

[Mike]

Well, the thing is...do they really have that much talent on defense? CIN didn't light up the secondary, nor burn the D for a lot of yards on the run. The total yards for both clubs was close - 355 for CIN, 368 for BUF. Both clubs had 112 yards rushing.

But in the 2nd half, CIN garnered 17 unanswered points, and had a fairly substantial time of possession in the 2nd half. I agree with you - CIN had the talent advantage, and BUF did not figure out ways to mitigate that on offense.

Lets explore...

D-Line: Most experts rated this line as top 5 (at worst) in NFL with most of them picking the Bills D Line as tops in NFL. All 4 players, Kyle & Mario Wlliams, Derius, Hughes were in NFL's top 100 players list last year & have multiple pro bowls between them.

Secondary: Both Gilmore & Darby are rated as Top 5 DBs in NFL playing at shut down level (that's with little pressure)

LB: solid unit

[Mike]

There is no Good reason why this much talent is wasted.

Except it begins to make sense when Kyle Williams is being asked to drop into coverage... It would be like the Pats playing a scheme that requires Brady to scramble for 1st downs & become a running QB.

Then some fans would just blame the non-running QB for not being able to run.

[ICRockets]

I really don't understand this obsession with singling out how they use Kyle Williams. Jim Schwartz dropped him into coverage Week 1 last season and he came up with what was ultimately a game-saving INT.

There are valid complains about our defense. None of them are so facile as to be summed up by harping on what we have one guy do some of the time.

[Buddo]

I really don't understand this obsession with singling out how they use Kyle Williams. Jim Schwartz dropped him into coverage Week 1 last season and he came up with what was ultimately a game-saving INT.

There are valid complains about our defense. None of them are so facile as to be summed up by harping on what we have one guy do some of the time.

The problem isn't just reserved to Kyle though. The only guy who perhaps isn't dropping back at some point, is Dareus.

The theory behind Ryan's 'exotica' is to get someone free, to get to the QB,or to confuse them by showing different 'looks' to what we ultimately run. Trouble is, it isn't working well enough, and I have the feeling that a lot of that is due to how long Ryan has been doing it. There's a lot of tape on Ryan's defenses now, and the better QBs have seen it all before.

I'd say it's become complicated for complicated's sake. It seems to me that once a QB identifies who is going to drop, it's a free shot every time. It doesn't happen always, but why put a LB into coverage against a good WR, just to try and blitz a smaller safety or nickel CB. The risk/reward simply isn't there atm.

Schwartz's success was pretty much based off of good coverages, and letting the front 4 do their thing, with a blitz or two thrown in for good measure. The coverages let our guys go mano a mano, and gave them more time to get to the QB, as they were having to go through their reads, due to good coverage. And it worked.

By the later part of last season, our D was arguably the best in the NFL, yet we just throw it all away, because our new HC doesn't want to use it. This sort of muddied thinking is why teams like the Bills, end up in the constant hamster wheel of changing the roster make up, to suit the coaches, when if the coaches actually kept what was working and built on it, rather than doing stuff 'their own way', you get the sort of progression that is theoretically possible. Rather than the pig's ear we have now.

In business, you don't bin something that's making you a good profit, for something that gives you a loss, and this is what we are currently doing.