What’s the weakness? Talent? Coaching?
A COLUMN by Chuck Pollock, Senior Sports Columnist
The other day on One Bills Live, hosts Chris Brown and Steve Tasker had a lively and needed discussion about what’s wrong with Buffalo’s defense.
Talent?
Coaching?
Both?
The reality is this, since former NFL safety Jim Leonhard was hired by new head coach Joe Brady to rehabilitate the Bills’ ‘D’ it has merely gotten worse.
Only the fact the offense is averaging an NFL-best 33 points per game is Buffalo 5-1.
For the record, the Bills defense is surrendering 28.5 ppg, fourth-worst in the league and the 15 touchdown passes it has relinquished are second-most in the NFL. Oh yeah, its 154 first downs (95 passing) given up are the most.
Methinks part of the problem is coaching.
This week, Leonhard admitted, “I would say, from a coverage standpoint, we need to be clean around communication,” he said. “There’s too many times where we look confused when I don’t think there’s enough options for us to be that confused. So, we’ll clean that up. That’s the biggest thing in the bye week.”
Leonhard added, It’s gonna be a huge couple days in the office for us just re-evaluating everything. If 75% of the problem’s me, then we’ll fix that. But what’s the rest of it that we can clean up for these guys? How can I make the communication easier and cleaner, and let these guys play with more confidence in the big situations?
He added, “These third downs, the two minutes, the situations where we’re in position to close out a game – we gotta embrace that, and we gotta dominate those situations.
“The ultimate job that we have is keeping points off the board, and we’re not doing that right now, and that’s a big problem,” Leonhard admitted. “How do I help the coverage play with more confidence, play faster, play more aggressive, allow them to get vision on the quarterback and break?
“How do we get our hands on the football more from the coverage aspect? That’s the number one thing.”
But if communication is the ultimate issue, that’s on the coaches.
YET THERE’S also the question of talent.
The Bills’ defense is not nearly as good as their fans think.
Their front four is stout, but not nearly as good as it will be when tackle Ed Oliver returns.
However, with the exception of outside backer/edge rusher Greg Rousseau, who’s having a career-year, the linebackers are an under-sized pedestrian crew.
And the secondary is both under-manned and only marginally-talented.
The starting corners are Christian Benford and Maxwell Hairston with rookie Davison Igbinosun in reserve. The nickel corner is Dee Alford.
At safety are Cole Bishop and C.J. Gardner-Johnson with veteran Damar Hamlin the backup.
Last week in Las Vegas, Gardner-Johnson got himself ejected from the game and suspended for the next one for spitting on a Raiders player. By all rights, Gardner-Johnson should have been kicked off the team, but the Bills can’t confidently live with Hamlin, who has limited coverage skills, as a starter.
And this all comes back on general manager Brandon Beane, who signed Gardner-Johnson to his seventh team in eight seasons knowing full-well his reputation for disruption.
Now the Bills are one injury to a starter in the secondary from disaster.
And that doesn’t change the way the current starters are playing.
“We’re doing a good job against the run, and Josh (Allen) is doing a great job of putting 30 points on the board,” Leonhard maintained. “It gets to a point where they’re playing catch up, and they have to step on the gas a little bit in order to either keep up or maintain some type of rhythm in the offense. That’s where we have to smell blood. We have to get better at winning the big drive.”
Because Buffalo’s offense isn’t going to average 33 points all season.
Chuck Pollock, a Wellsville Sun and Olean Star senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@wnynet.net.)
