Pass defense still a big issue in Buffalo

Fewell showed aggression with his blitz calling; now he needs to let his secondary play aggressively as well, particularly off the snap

As I was reading this article I kept thinking PRESS COVERAGE. Then you said it at the end. Hopefully it’s a wrinkle that they were saving for NO. It’s not likely but it could have been designed that way against TB to not do press.

I think if we blitz and go with press coverage we put our players in a position to succeed. Think about it – if we don’t blitz and just sit back he’s going to tear this defense apart. might as well pull out all the stops and play aggressively – if they don’t they are just giong to get beat because that O is just too darn good

many people opined that the ‘Nola game would be a likely win? This game could turn into Tecmo Super Bowl before the day’s end.

I am definitely hoping for some press coverage – something I have always noticed about McKelvin is he seems to always be too far off the receiver and it gives the QB that extra second he needs to throw the ball. But if the receiver was thrown off for a second then it is easily a sack or at least an incompletion – perhaps even an INT.

This game scares me…this NO offense scares me a ton. Too bad this game wasn’t in December at the Ralph. Its not so I must move on. I agree with all who posted above me that press coverage is a must against the Saints offense. Jam those WR’s at the line, buy the D-line a couple extra seconds to disrupt the pocket and get to Brees. Winning the turnover battle will be crucial as well. Philly gave the Saints O a short field too many times from what I gathered from Eagles blog site.

No doubt about it, the Bills pass D has been poor. Yards alloweda, touchdowns allowed and even the number of passes thrown are all an indication of the defense’s inability to consistently stop the opposition. Remember, Byron Leftwich and the Bucs, minus their best receiver, just threw for almost 300 yards and 3 TD’s. I know it took 50 attempts, but the end production was still too much.

3 sacks in over 100 drop backs (and attempts) is awful. That number does need to improve, just as pressure needs to be more consistent. We’re on our way to another 24 sack season, which is just unacceptable.

The last point you made is dead on. What good is blitzing if you are going to play the CB’s off and let the WR’s run free for quick passes? With blitzing, you’re trying to force QB’s into mistakes, and hopefully sacks or turnovers. Well it’s tough to get those turnovers if receivers are allowed to run freely. A crappy, inaccurate QB like Leftwich won’t take advantage of it as much as a guy like Brees will. I just don’t understand why you’d play your CB’s off, and not press WR’s at all. It’s not like we are playing undrafted rookies out there; this is a pretty experienced and smart secondary. They know how to play, they should be allowed to play more physical, aggressive football.

Another thing to watch out for is the RB’s. So far this season, we’ve allowed RB’s to catch 18 passes for 125 yards and a touchdown. That’s not terrible, but allowing so many receptions by RB’s will be a problem this week. We can’t let Reggie Bush catch so many passes because he’s bound to make a big play out of one of them, and Pierre Thomas is no slouch either.

Nice article Brian.

I would furthermore add the fact, that the Bills D has been pretty good, if not excellent against the run. And when teams realize that they can’t run on us, they have to pass.

To summarize that up, we have been playing against offenses, that had to play from behind and couldn’t run on us.

I am not sure why everyone is so concerned about our pass defense. I understand we have given up a lot of yardage over the last two games but most of that was due to the fact that we were playing witht he lead as Brian points out, which means we are doing a great job stopping the run (but thats a whole nother topic). Yes TB passed for 300 yds. but 100 of that came on two plays that were executed almost perfectly by the wr and QB. So if you take those two away you are looking at a 200 yd day by TB, I know you can’t do that but it definetly puts things in a different perspective. Plus they put an emphasis on getting in th e QB’s face all day by blitzing especially in the 4th qtr. They didn’t get the sacks but they forced a lot of bad, quick throws including the int. by Whitner.

As for the NE game it was a totally different situation. NE got the ball back with 5 mins left in their own territory down two scores after our offense just drove down the field for a TD. The defensive philosophy should have been exactly what they did which was make the offense take as much time off the clock and don’t give up the big play. It took Tom Brady and the hurry up over 3 mins. and 2 time outs to score. If you don’t think so as Tony Sparano (head coach of the Dolphins) if he still wants to blitz a hall of fame QB at the end of the game????

As for NO The beat a bad Detriot team and the score of the Philly game was 17 -13 at half. If Philly doesn’t self destruct on the opening KO of the second half and then fumble again inside there 20 on the next possesion it is a much closer game. Also remember that Philly had Kolb at QB who threw for almost 400 yds against them!!! They should be taken seriously because they are dangerous but they are far from unbeatable or unstopable. Defensively they have given up 49 points in two games to a rookie and 3rd string QB. If can continue to limit mistakes offensively I think we will be just fine.

Bring it on go Bills!!

frustrating part of the Bills pass defense is the philosophy. The reason Buffalo was excellent against TE’s last season is because Bryan Scotted was all over them like a duck on a junebug. And he’s been covering well this season, as well, in man. In fact, Buffalo’s giving up the most plays (short and long) in their zones. Ironically, the Bills defensive personnel is more suited to play in the Jim Bates style D that the Bucs run.

Buffalo won’t be able to blitz (or dog, for that matter) the Saints very much, unless they want to look like the Dolphins did last night. Drew Brees is one of those QB’s (Manning, Brady) that you can’t confuse into mistakes. You have to pressure him into mistakes, and you gotta do it with 4 guys. So, if Buffalo’s Dline shows up for at least half the plays, Buffalo will have a chance. Otherwise, it’s a shootout that the more experienced Brees would more than likely win.

And one aside about Trent Edwards: he needs to get that deep post down. It’s a vital throw at any level of football and I can think of 3 INTS off the top of my head he’s made on that throw. And I can’t really think of many times he’s connected on it. It’s a fun throw Trent! And you gotta play the whole field!

The only way we win is:
1) Put up a game like Miami did and hog the timeclock, except, score TDs and don’t kick a FG at the end of the game when it counts.
2) Find a way to pressure, pressure, pressure. Its always how we beat Marwhino.
3) When the receivers are open…THROW IT!! Captain checkdown dumped it low many times on Sunday when receivers were open deep. I was there.
4) Turnovers. See #2.
5) Better special teams play.
We can do this. And then we’ll be 2-1.
And all will be good in Billsland.

Using the dime as a base defense with Drayton and Youboty playing the slots They are the biggest corners we have..

Mike Bell is probably out, and Pierre Thomas is coming off an injury.

Lets force them to beat us with the run.

If they want to run 4 wide receiver sets, I think we match up well in the dime.

If they want to run 3 WRs and shockey at te, I think we also match up well if we go man to man and put youboty on shockey.

We have to force them to beat us with the run, we have enough quality DBs to do that.