Recapping Two Years' Worth Of Buffalo Bills Defensive Transition

Dareus, Williams, Byrd and Barnett are starters for most teams. Sheppard and Williams, and possibly Rogers and Carrington, are potential solid starters. That’s eight players or 11 starters that aren’t spare parts.

I still contend that Buffalo is an edge rusher or two away from being good on defense. If Buffalo signs Mario Williams, or even Cliff Avril, all of this talk about bad defense goes away.

I don’t have strong feelings about Wannstedt one way or another. Like when Gailey was hired, I like his resume up until he went to college to become a mediocre college head coach. Like Gailey, the fear is that their time away from the pro game has him a step behind, mitigating the successful aspects of his resume due to the time that has elapsed. I don’t know how well Wannstedt translates to today’s game and I doubt anyone does.

Edwards was a weak coordinator in a terrible spot that demanded a strong one. He failed miserably due to a terrible roster, a GM and coach who were not on the same page, and a lack of ideas of his own to counter these handicaps. I suspect even a great coordinator would have failed with this team and certainly, Edwards was not great himself.

Yes. This whole transition appears to be going off about as poorly as even the most negative Bills’ supporters could have feared. I don’t know how anyone could look at this thing and describe it otherwise. I blame Nix and Gailey completely for the turmoil. All and all, the defense should be good by next year and if it’s not, I’d like to see some pink slips above George Edwards on the totum poll.

is not play Spencer Johnson at DE/OLB, and he gets a better grade than Edwards.

Brian, are you growing tired of the current regime? Or are you simply utilizing journalism tools in baiting us all to participate in an organized set of topics?

this defense will be better. If he’s not, it will be another long season for Buffalos defenders.

The Stache is back where he belongs as a DC… Wanny will get this defense back in shape whether the Bills use a 4-3 or a 3-4. He is the right man for the job and I can’t wait to see the Bills play an aggressive attacking style of defense. We all know the Bills still need playmakers but Wanny will get the utmost out of every defensive player that makes the squad…

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Disappointment

Given the amount of time Nix had to clean house and get new scouters I would say this draft would be his best draft by far as talent … I would disregard his first years draft because he still had Modrak’s old scouting team which suck aHole

Stache should get same time Edwards was given to achieve. 3-4 or 4-3 thought it didn’t matter? Icky no, typical is more like like. Two steps back, half step forward, OBD’s mantra:)

Edwards was in a tough spot having his best player go down, and only modest help all around. Lots of young players with limited experience and playmaking ability. But he didn’t get the team to play well except in spots. It’s still the NFL. No Excuses.

Wannstedt will have these guys better prepared to play despite limited talent, simply by virtue of his experience. But that won’t be all of it. Youngers players got to play last year. They got to learn. The draft will bulk up the DEF once again, so there is some hope that the improved coaching and talent level will produce better results. Irrespective of the 3-4, 4-3 discussion.

For those who are inclined to say that CHIX had no vision for the team when they took over because they are switching from a 3-4 to a 4-3 defensive scheme after 2 years, let me remind you of how so many Bills fans, disgusted by Jauron’s lightweight Tampa 2 scheme, were clamoring for a return to the 3-4 defense as a panacea to cure all of the Bills’ defensive woes. Yes, Perry Fewell’s defense performed better once he took over as head coach, but how many Bills’ fans wanted him retained as Head Coach on that basis vs those who wanted a thorough house-cleaning at OBD?

Not only can hindsight be 20-20, but memories can also be very selective. And, one should be careful about what one wishes for because you just might get it.

And, while they might not have seen (or yet see) it that way, Ralph Wilson did, to a certain extent, give us Bills fans what so many wanted: a GM who had helped to build a playoff caliber 3-4 defense and one of the most explosive offenses in the NFL in San Diego, and, after being turned down by two of the biggest name head coaches on the market, one of the most creative offensive coaches available—one with a winning record as a NFL head coach. What he didn’t give them, unfortunately, was a new scouting department until this past year or the ability to hire the very best in assistant coaches.

I believe Buddy Nix when he said that he was committed to building a 3-4 defense in Buffalo. That was his strength. And, I think he set about to do that, knowing that he would have to replace a great many of the under-sized “Tampa 2” personnel on the roster.

No matter how you cut it, it was always going to take 2-3 years to replace those under-sized players with heavier ones who could play in a 3-4 defense. They knew and said that they couldn’t get it done all at once—which was why they hired George Edwards, who was supposed to be able to coach both the 3-4 and a 4-3 scheme. They grabbed the best players they could to fit the scheme, including a number who played in a 4-3 in college or might be better fits in a 4-3. Additionally, as Polian and Nix had successfully done in the past with the Bills and in San Diego, Nix brought in a number of small-school players as part of this transition.

Moats, Batten and Carrington all primarily played DE in what were 4-3 base schemes in college. While each was expected to take some time to transition to his projected place in a 3-4 scheme, they were all considered talented enough to play in either scheme, although Carrington was seen as being better able to fit as a 3-4 DE eventually and the other two were more risky picks (which was why they fell so far in the draft).

Of all of the players that Nix drafted on defense, only Troup can be said to be primarily a 3-4 player. However, Troup did play some 4-3 in college. Because of his weight and lack of conditioning, though, Troup was substituted for on many passing downs when his college team did play four defensive linemen. Now, that doesn’t mean that he can’t play in certain 4-3 packages—it just means that his use will be limited to those packages. And, with Dareus (who also played some DE in pass-rushing situations at Alabama) and Kyle Williams as the starting DTs, Troup can help give the Bills a solid DT rotation without having to play in situations that he is not suited for.

As far as switching to a 4-3 after only 2 years is concerned, it must be remembered that the Bills were late in switching to a “Tampa 2” defense and suffered because opposing offensive coaches had figured out how to defeat it. And, they were late in switching to a 3-4 defense. While not exactly ahead of the curve in switching to a 4-3 scheme now, for once they are not way behind the curve. Whether because of the presence of Wannstedt or not, CHIX have recognized that their preferred 3-4 scheme could be exploited by the better offensive coaches in the NFL at this point and that the rest of the league would soon catch up to that. So, they have made a move to try to avoid that.

Will it work? Time will tell. But, give them credit for seeing the coming trend and being willing to abandon their preferred course of action in an effort not to have their team left behind. It’s a big gamble that they are taking. If they are right in making this move now, it will help the Bills move forward. If they are wrong, in two years they will be gone.

It is important to remember that the Bills are just entering Year Three of what was always going to be at least a four year transition. The Bills still don’t have enough “difference makers” on their roster to challenge for a title. But, they have more than they did when CHIX arrived.

People can argue that Fitzpatrick isn’t the franchise-type QB needed to compete with the very best teams (and I would agree), but the offense is markedly better despite injuries that killed the Bills’ offense, starting with the losses of Easley and Donald Jones, which left the Bills unable to stretch defenses and put greater pressure on Fitz, the RBs and offensive line—which suffered their own key injuries. And the defense is markedly bigger, even if it still lacks a couple of “game-changers”.

More than a few people here have complained about Nix’s signing of Shawne Merriman and some have pointed to it as a sign that he doesn’t know what he’s doing. I would argue that it was a calculated risk. The Bills lack game-changing play-makers. Very few game-changers make it to the open market and when they do, they cost a fortune to sign and can virtually pick their landing place-usually with a winner or somewhere very attractive. It was going to be virtually impossible for Nix to attract a top-flight play-maker to Buffalo at the beginning of this rebuilding process.

So, while it had been a few years since he had played much and he was an injury-risk, Nix took a gamble on getting a true play-maker when he had a chance to get Merriman. Whether he ever gets back to his old form or not, Merriman, in the little time that he has played for the Bills, has showed what a “game-changer” is supposed to look like and what the Bills lack. Moreover, he was instrumental in recruiting both Barnett and Morrison to the Bills last offseason. If Merriman only gives the Bills one good season, he will still be worth the gamble that Nix took on him—if only because his presence will help give the Bills a credibility on defense that they have lacked—and were likely to lack—during this transition (especially since Schobel decided to leave), whether deserved or not.

Finally, it should be remembered that passing on Orakpo for Maybin and drafting Whitner instead of Ngata were not things that Buddy Nix did or should be held accountable for.

Moreover, I would like to point out that Aaron Maybin ended up leading the Jets in sacks as a pass-rushing OLB after being cut by the Bills. The fact that a guy who thoroughly earned his reputation as a “bust” in Buffalo could suddenly turn his career around upon arriving in New York/New Jersey says one or both of two things: 1.) Aaron Maybin, despite everything he may have said to the contrary, NEVER wanted to play for the Bills and was always looking to play somewhere else that he thought was more attractive (I actually think he wanted to play in Baltimore with Ray Lewis, but they didn’t want him); and/or, 2.) the Jets have better position coaches than the Bills who were able to teach Maybin (almost overnight) how to better get to the passer. While I think that it might be a combination of both things, after watching Maybin with the Jets, I definitely believe that Maybin, like OJ’s old friend Al Cowlings, “played his way out of” Buffalo and never was fully committed to playing for the Bills. It’s not the first time it has happened, nor is it likely to be the last—but it is something that is very hard for a scout or GM to be able to pick up on in meeting with a prospect before the draft (when players and agents are almost always going to say what they know a GM will want to hear).

Is not getting enough love this offseason.
He is a great player, a great asset.

Shopping list: by drafts end we should have two new starting quality receivers ( Stevie would be one) one new left tackle ( bell would be one) Two new defensive ends both easily good enough to send Kelsay to the bench. And a solid prospect to compete at SOLB. Add Scott, Chandler and sprinkle with some late round gems and we are ready to go in 2012.
Simple enough, clear enough…..

Let’s check back the first Monday post draft and go over the listQ