Bills Personnel needs 3-4 "D"

[juice]

With the departure of Big Pat Williams the Bills have major holes to fill in the middle to continue to dominate offenses in the AFC-E and to keep teams from running the ball "Up the Pipe". Sam and Pat caused teams to look for other methods of grinding the ball.. with 700 LBS of man to move, running the dive play up the middle was abandoned by most teams. It's not likely that Sape and Anderson will be nearly the compliment to Big Sam that Pat was.

With the inability of the LDE position to create pressure on the QB, and with Posey who was at one time thought to be a sack specialist not being the dominant force that he once was in the 3-4 Defense that he was with the Texans - is it time for the Bills to switch to the 3-4 defense as more of a "Base" defense?

With the DT position being a bit of a risk at best in the draft, would it benifit the Bills to try and get someone who can play in the 3-4 LBer position in pass defense therefore allowing Posey to once again become a force in the pass rush that he once was with Houston?

A LBer such as a Merriman from Maryland could bring youth to the LBer nucleus and allow the LDE position to continue the slow-steady progression that Denney and Kelsay have brought to that position over the past couple of seasons.

Many of the top Defensive units in the League(Pats) are using the 3-4 which gives the LBers more versitillity to be effective in the pass rush while allowing the Ends to play towards their strengths in run defense in the 4-3. The Bills Personnel might warrant the change.www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050415/1040557.asp (http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050415/1040557.asp)

[mysticsoto]

With the departure of Big Pat Williams the Bills have major holes to fill in the middle to continue to dominate offenses in the AFC-E and to keep teams from running the ball "Up the Pipe". Sam and Pat caused teams to look for other methods of grinding the ball.. with 700 LBS of man to move, running the dive play up the middle was abandoned by most teams. It's not likely that Sape and Anderson will be nearly the compliment to Big Sam that Pat was.

With the inability of the LDE position to create pressure on the QB, and with Posey who was at one time thought to be a sack specialist not being the dominant force that he once was in the 3-4 Defense that he was with the Texans - is it time for the Bills to switch to the 3-4 defense as more of a "Base" defense?

With the DT position being a bit of a risk at best in the draft, would it benifit the Bills to try and get someone who can play in the 3-4 LBer position in pass defense therefore allowing Posey to once again become a force in the pass rush that he once was with Houston?

A LBer such as a Merriman from Maryland could bring youth to the LBer nucleus and allow the LDE position to continue the slow-steady progression that Denney and Kelsay have brought to that position over the past couple of seasons.

Many of the top Defensive units in the League(Pats) are using the 3-4 which gives the LBers more versitillity to be effective in the pass rush while allowing the Ends to play towards their strengths in run defense in the 4-3. The Bills Personnel might warrant the change.www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050415/1040557.asp (http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050415/1040557.asp)
I don't have a problem with a 3-4 defense, but you just can't pop in on the players come camp time and say, oh by the way let's play this way instead. You have to prepare and ensure you have the correct personnel and plan thoroughly for such a switch. I think the Bills, having had the #2/#3 or whatever defense last year, will look to change very little. Currently we have only lost 1 player and shouldn't affect the overall D too much.

[BuffaloRanger]

A Def Coord is either a 3-4 guy or a 4-3 guy. Rarely if ever do they specialize in both. Coaching changes bring about scheme changes. Bills won't run a 3-4 until Gray gets a head coaching job.

#2 def the last 2 years. Gray is commited to the 4-3. He's not going to change to a 3-4 just because it might be a better fit to the personnel. Even if he should.

[mayotm]

With the departure of Big Pat Williams the Bills have major holes to fill in the middle to continue to dominate offenses in the AFC-E and to keep teams from running the ball "Up the Pipe". Sam and Pat caused teams to look for other methods of grinding the ball.. with 700 LBS of man to move, running the dive play up the middle was abandoned by most teams. It's not likely that Sape and Anderson will be nearly the compliment to Big Sam that Pat was.

With the inability of the LDE position to create pressure on the QB, and with Posey who was at one time thought to be a sack specialist not being the dominant force that he once was in the 3-4 Defense that he was with the Texans - is it time for the Bills to switch to the 3-4 defense as more of a "Base" defense?

With the DT position being a bit of a risk at best in the draft, would it benifit the Bills to try and get someone who can play in the 3-4 LBer position in pass defense therefore allowing Posey to once again become a force in the pass rush that he once was with Houston?

A LBer such as a Merriman from Maryland could bring youth to the LBer nucleus and allow the LDE position to continue the slow-steady progression that Denney and Kelsay have brought to that position over the past couple of seasons.

Many of the top Defensive units in the League(Pats) are using the 3-4 which gives the LBers more versitillity to be effective in the pass rush while allowing the Ends to play towards their strengths in run defense in the 4-3. The Bills Personnel might warrant the change.www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050415/1040557.asp (http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050415/1040557.asp)

I think it would be difficult to convince Jerry Gray that he needs to switch his defense after the way they have performed the past few seasons. I don't think losing Big Pat is going to be as big as some people think.

[Carlton Bailey]

The Bills defense is actually a 46 defense. It isn't necessarily a 4-3. There are a lot of complex blitzing schemes and what not that go into it making it a 46. Our defensive scheme is comparable to Philly's.

[Stewie]

We don't have many 3-4 DT's on the roster. Maybe fat Sam? Who else?

[The_Philster]

both our starting DEs seem a little undersized to play in a 3-4

[jamze132]

With the departure of Big Pat Williams the Bills have major holes to fill in the middle to continue to dominate offenses in the AFC-E and to keep teams from running the ball "Up the Pipe". Sam and Pat caused teams to look for other methods of grinding the ball.. with 700 LBS of man to move, running the dive play up the middle was abandoned by most teams. It's not likely that Sape and Anderson will be nearly the compliment to Big Sam that Pat was.

With the inability of the LDE position to create pressure on the QB, and with Posey who was at one time thought to be a sack specialist not being the dominant force that he once was in the 3-4 Defense that he was with the Texans - is it time for the Bills to switch to the 3-4 defense as more of a "Base" defense?

With the DT position being a bit of a risk at best in the draft, would it benifit the Bills to try and get someone who can play in the 3-4 LBer position in pass defense therefore allowing Posey to once again become a force in the pass rush that he once was with Houston?

A LBer such as a Merriman from Maryland could bring youth to the LBer nucleus and allow the LDE position to continue the slow-steady progression that Denney and Kelsay have brought to that position over the past couple of seasons.

Many of the top Defensive units in the League(Pats) are using the 3-4 which gives the LBers more versitillity to be effective in the pass rush while allowing the Ends to play towards their strengths in run defense in the 4-3. The Bills Personnel might warrant the change.www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050415/1040557.asp (http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050415/1040557.asp)

Just a bad idea, right now.

[Jeff1220]

I think it would be difficult to convince Jerry Gray that he needs to switch his defense after the way they have performed the past few seasons. I don't think losing Big Pat is going to be as big as some people think.

:goodpost: Agreed.

[juice]

I think it would be difficult to convince Jerry Gray that he needs to switch his defense after the way they have performed the past few seasons. I don't think losing Big Pat is going to be as big as some people think.I think this may be Gray's last year as a DC and it's never too early to plan for the future - I believe that the loss of Big Pat will be huge to this defense.

LB: Posey was a force in Houston when playing towards his strengths in the 3-4.. It's time to inject this LB unit with some youth - Fletch is getting a little long in the tooth

DT: If Sam Adams was given a vote I think he would rather be a more disruptive force in the middle.. It was just Sept. or Oct. when Big Sam had to be pulled out of the game and he didn't totally agree with the way he was being used.

DE: It's not like the Denney-Kelsay experiment has been a huge success.. maybe it's time to bring in some athletisism opposite Shoebel or go in a different direction all together.

DC: Gray's time as the Bills DC is limited.. I'll say odds are 50/50 that he is a head coach in the League after this season.. maybe he takes Nate with him and pays him the $$$ that TD wont come off of at season's end.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

I'm sorry, but, with a defense that has been at least a Top 5 defense (regardless of how you look at it) the last couple of years and that is likely to be at least a Top 10 defense this year--even though the opposing offenses will be stronger this season over last, you just don't start to make changes in your base scheme and philosophy because it is becoming a trend around the league or some of your fans are not satisfied with some of your personnel. If what you are doing works, you stick with it--and, so far, the Bills defensive scheme--as a team defense--has been working.

I don't know how many times it needs to be said, but this is not Fantasy Football that we are talking about: it is NFL Football, which is a TEAM game, not a game of individual talents or statistics (even though the NFL markets its players like they are as important, as individuals, as they are in the NBA). As a defensive TEAM there really isn't that much more that you can ask or expect from the Bills' defense (fewer points allowed is the only category they can do that much better in). Changing from their current scheme to a 3-4 will not make them better than they are in the short run because the personnel needed to run a based 3-4 is different from what is required in their present scheme.

FYI: If you think that the Bills DEs are undersized in their current scheme, 3-4 DEs have to be bigger than 4-3 DEs to be effective. Since none of our present DEs is going to be able to get that much bigger, that would mean replacing our top 3 DEs and acquiring additional LBs that we presently do not have on our roster. How long do you think it will take the team to do that and return to the level of effectiveness of the present defense? Two, three, four years? Are you willing to wait that long before the Bills have a playoff-caliber defense again? Because, that's what the Bills have right now: a playoff-caliber defense. The Bills defense only needs to be paired with an above-average offense to become a very dangerous team in the playoffs. And, no HC in his right mind would mess with that until he absolutely has to. Will that time come down the road? Maybe. But, now is definitely not that time!!!