Players not following the scheme?

[X-Era]

Now it's on BB.com:

http://www.buffalobills.com/news/article-1/Defense-striving-for-cohesion-at-seasons-end/540967d3-119d-4a22-ba1b-3cdb4b786710?platform=hootsuite

"On Tuesday players admitted it wasn’t the coaches. Their defensive unit is fragmented with some players unable to let go of the successful scheme they ran a season ago.


"I don’t think it has anything to do with effort. I think guys are trying, it’s just guys have got to buy into the system, especially on the defensive side,” said LB Preston Brown. “We don’t really know how good we could’ve been because everybody wasn’t doing what they were supposed to do on each play. We can’t say it was the scheme or everybody is not playing with effort. Mentally everybody wasn’t there.”

I really want to know who they are talking about.

My money is on Mario. But it seems like it may be others as well. The "dropping into coverage" comments from Mario (others?) seem to point towards "insurgency".

Not Brown- I don't think it's Brown although he has been out of position plenty
Dareus?- Maybe.
Hughes?- Maybe as well. His tantrums may be because hes unhappy being misused.
Graham?- Another possibility. Especially if he's openly saying they don't know where to be.

This ticks me off. Play the damn scheme whether you like it or not. The Bills should absolutely get rid of players that don't want to play their positions.

On the other hand, Rex didn't bench players who were refusing to follow the scheme? He has no control over his players? can't get them even to follow the plays?

[The King]

Re: Players not following the scheme?

Some players just don't fit the scheme. I like Preston Brown but he's clearly lost out there. Dareus is dropping into coverage Manny Lawson is playing every position. You can't ask guys to break 15 years of habit in one season.

[coastal]

Re: Players not following the scheme?

Mario is a team killer.

[Victor7]

Re: Players not following the scheme?

Brown also said that they were getting the plays in late all the time and that the other teams were aware of this and ran substitutions in a hurry to catch the team off guard.

We are so bush league man. Amateurs playing vs professionals. Its embarrassing.

[Mace]

Re: Players not following the scheme?

There's sort of a difference between being unable to let go and being unable to embrace the scheme. I said "unable" for a reason.

Dareus and Kyle complained too, and did you ever know Kyle to complain about anything ?

It was boneheaded having them drop into coverage. Anyone can see the issue. They can't cover. I've seen them try. Mario is a diff story, he kind of rolled over, but same general idea.

So I don't know about anyone else but I can see why they'd be aggravated getting set up to fail by the legend-in-his-own-mind.

I can't dance. I did IT pretty well, now I do maintenance pretty well. I'd be pretty aggravated if my boss had me dancing instead. Would make me look like an idiot and I wouldn't be doing what I'm good at.

[jimmifli]

Re: Players not following the scheme?

It's one thing to say to the Dline: "Stay disciplined on first and second down, and you can do whatever the **** you want to get to the QB on third and 8."

It's another to say: "stay disciplined on first and second down, and you can play man coverage with Tyler Efiert. Not to worry, you only have to cover him until the deep safety gets to the QB on the delayed blitz. They'll never suspect it."

[Ingtar33]

Re: Players not following the scheme?

any scheme that asks our best probowl passrushing defensive linemen to drop back into coverage more then once a blue moon on a zone blitz deserves to be lampooned and the coaching staff driven out of town on a rail.

That Bengals game was all i needed to see, to know that Ryan is a terrible fit for this team. When the Bengals were driving for 2 consecutive 80+ yard TD drives to blow the game open in the 2nd half, neither M. Williams nor J Hughes rushed Dalton on the same down for 2 straight 10 play drives, in fact there was one steak where M Williams was covering running backs for 10-15 straight plays without a single rush on the QB.

I was so livid by the time the Bengals scored the 2nd TD i was ready to punch Ryan in his fat face and ask him what the heck he was doing. That was so infuriating it made me momentarily long for Dick Jauron; while he was a dud of a head coach even he would have managed to keep both Hughes and Williams rushing the passer all game long.

[stuckincincy]

Re: Players not following the scheme?

any scheme that asks our best probowl passrushing defensive linemen to drop back into coverage more then once a blue moon on a zone blitz deserves to be lampooned and the coaching staff driven out of town on a rail.

That Bengals game was all i needed to see, to know that Ryan is a terrible fit for this team. When the Bengals were driving for 2 consecutive 80+ yard TD drives to blow the game open in the 2nd half, neither M. Williams nor J Hughes rushed Dalton on the same down for 2 straight 10 play drives, in fact there was one steak where M Williams was covering running backs for 10-15 straight plays without a single rush on the QB.

I was so livid by the time the Bengals scored the 2nd TD i was ready to punch Ryan in his fat face and ask him what the heck he was doing. That was so infuriating it made me momentarily long for Dick Jauron; while he was a dud of a head coach even he would have managed to keep both Hughes and Williams rushing the passer all game long.

It was an odd game.

CIN was hitting on all cylinders -their OL was at the top of their game; their qb and receivers and rbs were hot.

CIN murdered them in the special team game...the ave. drive start for CIN was their 41 yard line, BUF's was their own 15.

I'm no fan of Ryan, but I think he had to pull out desperate measures. Didn't work...

[IlluminatusUIUC]

Re: Players not following the scheme?

any scheme that asks our best probowl passrushing defensive linemen to drop back into coverage more then once a blue moon on a zone blitz deserves to be lampooned and the coaching staff driven out of town on a rail.

That Bengals game was all i needed to see, to know that Ryan is a terrible fit for this team. When the Bengals were driving for 2 consecutive 80+ yard TD drives to blow the game open in the 2nd half, neither M. Williams nor J Hughes rushed Dalton on the same down for 2 straight 10 play drives, in fact there was one steak where M Williams was covering running backs for 10-15 straight plays without a single rush on the QB.

I was so livid by the time the Bengals scored the 2nd TD i was ready to punch Ryan in his fat face and ask him what the heck he was doing. That was so infuriating it made me momentarily long for Dick Jauron; while he was a dud of a head coach even he would have managed to keep both Hughes and Williams rushing the passer all game long.

I vividly remember Jerry Hughes going in single coverage on Gronkowski. It's a sickness with Rex.

[DraftBoy]

Re: Players not following the scheme?

This one of the situations where the players actually know better than the coach and it shows. What Rex is asking this group of players to do, should of never been asked. If he wanted to run his scheme from Day 1 with a full install then he needed to get with Whaley and figure out how they were going to do it. Instead they added very little to the defense and it shows.

We needed an in the box SS to help in run support for Ryan's scheme...we didn't get that.
We needed a 34 stand-up OLB to rush the passer...we didn't get that.
We needed to add a two gap NT to eat up blocks...we didn't get that.
We needed 2-3 more LB's for depth...we didn't get that.
We needed at least one more corner...we got that.

So out of the 6-7 players that I thought last offseason that we needed to add to implement Ryan's scheme we went and got one of them, but Rex was going to be Rex and talent be damned he was going with his scheme.

This is basically a completely lost season because there will be plenty of turnover defensively and now we'll have new guys learning the scheme, instead of a bunch of 2nd year guys coming into their own.

[DraftBoy]

Re: Players not following the scheme?

I vividly remember Jerry Hughes going in single coverage on Gronkowski. It's a sickness with Rex.

There was a point in that game, where I thought Jerry Hughes was going to come off the filed and physically assault somebody. You could see the frustration in him through the TV about why in the hell was he the guy covering Gronk.

[coastal]

Re: Players not following the scheme?

A cluster fugh this is

[Forward_Lateral]

Re: Players not following the scheme?

Either change the scheme, or change the players. One or the other has to happen. I can't see Rex changing his scheme, but stranger things have happened.

[Mahdi]

Re: Players not following the scheme?

This one of the situations where the players actually know better than the coach and it shows. What Rex is asking this group of players to do, should of never been asked. If he wanted to run his scheme from Day 1 with a full install then he needed to get with Whaley and figure out how they were going to do it. Instead they added very little to the defense and it shows.

We needed an in the box SS to help in run support for Ryan's scheme...we didn't get that.
We needed a 34 stand-up OLB to rush the passer...we didn't get that.
We needed to add a two gap NT to eat up blocks...we didn't get that.
We needed 2-3 more LB's for depth...we didn't get that.
We needed at least one more corner...we got that.

So out of the 6-7 players that I thought last offseason that we needed to add to implement Ryan's scheme we went and got one of them, but Rex was going to be Rex and talent be damned he was going with his scheme.

This is basically a completely lost season because there will be plenty of turnover defensively and now we'll have new guys learning the scheme, instead of a bunch of 2nd year guys coming into their own.

This I agree with 100%. And its the main reason I don't blame Rex entirely for this mess of a defense.

Whaley knew Rex and he knew for sure Rex would be running a 46 defense. So did Whaley ignore Rex when he told him he needed different players or did Rex believe that our PB DL would be a good fit in his scheme and didn't envision them being babies about it and refusing to conform?

The biggest head scratcher for me was not signing a 2 gap NT. Damon Harrison is a huge part of that Jet defense, Sione Pouha was the same before him and for some reason the Bills totally ignored that requirement.

Also, Mario Williams should have been used as a 5-tech DE not a OLB. But of course his ego wouldn't allow him to accept to be played there I'm guessing.

Mario should have been our Muhammad Wilkerson.

On the outside we should have used Manny Lawson. He would have been happy to do whatever the defensive call required whether rushing the passer, dropping into a fire-zone or zone blitz or covering a back on a wheel route.

The second most pressing need was a big SS that had some versatility. That is why I thought Karlos Williams was drafted to play SS. Because he fit the mold of a Rex Ryan 46 in the box safety.

Without those 2 players the defense is not workable.

[The King]

Re: Players not following the scheme?

This one of the situations where the players actually know better than the coach and it shows. What Rex is asking this group of players to do, should of never been asked. If he wanted to run his scheme from Day 1 with a full install then he needed to get with Whaley and figure out how they were going to do it. Instead they added very little to the defense and it shows.

We needed an in the box SS to help in run support for Ryan's scheme...we didn't get that.
We needed a 34 stand-up OLB to rush the passer...we didn't get that.
We needed to add a two gap NT to eat up blocks...we didn't get that.
We needed 2-3 more LB's for depth...we didn't get that.
We needed at least one more corner...we got that.

So out of the 6-7 players that I thought last offseason that we needed to add to implement Ryan's scheme we went and got one of them, but Rex was going to be Rex and talent be damned he was going with his scheme.

This is basically a completely lost season because there will be plenty of turnover defensively and now we'll have new guys learning the scheme, instead of a bunch of 2nd year guys coming into their own.

My concerns exactly. Add in the fact that we just paid two massive contracts to guys that don't fit the scheme. Also arguably our best two players on defense.