[positional grouping] Bills Linebackers

[Taro T]

30 minutes ago, Uncle Joe said:

Maybe going forward, but Elam has been dealing with an ankle injury lately.

Wrong thread to be discussing it, but expect Elam is recovered from the ankle.  The Lions treated him like he was White when he was out there.

 

And, just eyeballing it, it seemed they thought the weak points were Benford, Jackson, and T Johnson in that order.

 

Get Elam & White out there, then put Jackson in when White rests up.  Unless there is something they do significantly different in the deployment of the outside CBs, don't see a reason to play Jackson over Elam.  (He seems to have made the adjustment from primarily man to zone well over the past 3 months.)

[Alaska Darin]

26 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Wrong thread to be discussing it, but expect Elam is recovered from the ankle.  The Lions treated him like he was White when he was out there.

 

And, just eyeballing it, it seemed they thought the weak points were Benford, Jackson, and T Johnson in that order.

 

Get Elam & White out there, then put Jackson in when White rests up.  Unless there is something they do significantly different in the deployment of the outside CBs, don't see a reason to play Jackson over Elam.  (He seems to have made the adjustment from primarily man to zone well over the past 3 months.)

I'm in the "play Benford" camp because he has a higher ceiling than Jackson and you're probably not helping his development by keeping him off the field.

[Taro T]

7 minutes ago, Alaska Darin said:

I'm in the "play Benford" camp because he has a higher ceiling than Jackson and you're probably not helping his development by keeping him off the field.

 

Am good w/ going w/ Benford over Jackson except maybe for the Bungles game.  But would play Elam before either.

[Ann]

Am I mistaken? Did I hear McDermott say (around the 12:30 mark) that AJ Klein called the defense yesterday??? If so, holy shit.  That is amazing. 

[Beer__League__Hockey]

1 hour ago, Ann said:

Am I mistaken? Did I hear McDermott say (around the 12:30 mark) that AJ Klein called the defense yesterday??? If so, holy shit.  That is amazing. 

Yes, he stepped right into Edmunds role.  Pretty good for only being here for 2 weeks.  Was way more decisive on run plays, and I didn't see the holes in the secondary that others were attributing to Edumnds absence.  I did see Dane Jackson pooping his pants for 3 hours, and it had nothing to do with who the MLB was.

[Fansince88]

1 hour ago, Beer__League__Hockey said:

Yes, he stepped right into Edmunds role.  Pretty good for only being here for 2 weeks.  Was way more decisive on run plays, and I didn't see the holes in the secondary that others were attributing to Edumnds absence.  I did see Dane Jackson pooping his pants for 3 hours, and it had nothing to do with who the MLB was.

So does this make it so Edmunds moves outside like many here say he needs to.

[3rdnlng]

2 hours ago, Beer__League__Hockey said:

Yes, he stepped right into Edmunds role.  Pretty good for only being here for 2 weeks.  Was way more decisive on run plays, and I didn't see the holes in the secondary that others were attributing to Edumnds absence.  I did see Dane Jackson pooping his pants for 3 hours, and it had nothing to do with who the MLB was.

After Klein's first couple of starts last year he played really well and if I remember correctly improved our run defense. I forget all the specifics but he seemed to have made some big plays and was DPOW once. 

[Alaska Darin]

13 hours ago, 3rdnlng said:

After Klein's first couple of starts last year he played really well and if I remember correctly improved our run defense. I forget all the specifics but he seemed to have made some big plays and was DPOW once. 

Klein's weakness is coverage.  He struggles with any man assignment, RB or TE.  He's a very good player against the run and stacks/sheds much better than Onalim.

[Crap Throwing Clavin]

18 hours ago, Ann said:

Am I mistaken? Did I hear McDermott say (around the 12:30 mark) that AJ Klein called the defense yesterday??? If so, holy shit.  That is amazing. 

 

He was here for a few seasons before.  The defense probably hasn't changed so much that he couldn't pick up where he left off.

[Crap Throwing Clavin]

1 hour ago, Alaska Darin said:

Klein's weakness is coverage.  He struggles with any man assignment, RB or TE.  He's a very good player against the run and stacks/sheds much better than Onalim.

 

Yeah, because when playing a base nickel defense, my biggest worry would be "Can my MLB cover?"

[Alaska Darin]

21 minutes ago, Crap Throwing Clavin said:

 

Yeah, because when playing a base nickel defense, my biggest worry would be "Can my MLB cover?"

It's also simple enough to keep him out of those situations.  BB did it for years with his less than mobile MLBs.

[Core Four]

18 hours ago, Beer__League__Hockey said:

Yes, he stepped right into Edmunds role.  Pretty good for only being here for 2 weeks.  Was way more decisive on run plays, and I didn't see the holes in the secondary that others were attributing to Edumnds absence.  I did see Dane Jackson pooping his pants for 3 hours, and it had nothing to do with who the MLB was.

 

I don't think the defense has changed much, if at all, since last season.  So bringing back Klein was an easy decision - plug and play.  It would be good if Frazier/McD don't force Klein to cover anyone because that is not his strength; keep him near the los.

[Core Four]

1 hour ago, Alaska Darin said:

It's also simple enough to keep him out of those situations.  BB did it for years with his less than mobile MLBs.

 

BB is also flexible and adapted to opponents and game situations.  McD and Frazier are very stubborn, they want to win their way.  Keeping Klein out of coverage is very doable, but they have to want to do that.

[Alaska Darin]

The difficulty of being the nickle CB in Frazier's scheme, exemplified in a single play:

 

 

[Beer__League__Hockey]

19 hours ago, Alaska Darin said:

The difficulty of being the nickle CB in Frazier's scheme, exemplified in a single play:

 

 

 

Crazy.  Great player, I'd even call him brave at times against the run for his frame/size.  Decent against the pass, but that is where you'll see his decline first.  His expiration date is ticking - I wonder what Beane has planned for maybe 2 years out?

[Alaska Darin]

2 hours ago, Beer__League__Hockey said:

 

Crazy.  Great player, I'd even call him brave at times against the run for his frame/size.  Decent against the pass, but that is where you'll see his decline first.  His expiration date is ticking - I wonder what Beane has planned for maybe 2 years out?

Beane will take a CB in every draft, regardless.  Where the CB is taken will depend on how the draft falls and need but there will always be at least one CB picked.

[Ann]

Textbook 

 

 

 

[Ann]

He's gonna sign a big contract in the off season. Will it be with Buffalo?


 

Inside the Bills: A remarkable advanced stat shows Tremaine Edmunds' growth this season

 

Missed tackles have been an issue for the Buffalo Bills’ defense in 2022.

According to advanced statistics tracked by Sportradar and shared with website Pro Football Reference, the Bills have missed 76 tackles this season, sixth most in the NFL.

 

While accepting that there is some subjectivity in defining exactly what a missed tackle is, here’s one number that really stands out among the guilty parties on the Bills’ defense: Middle linebacker Tremaine Edmunds – who has been credited with 95 tackles on the season – has been responsible for just one of those missed tackles.

 

Among the 45 players with as many or more tackles than Edmunds in the NFL, just two of them – Seattle’s Cody Barton (123 tackles) and the Los Angeles Rams’ Bobby Wagner (126 tackles) – also have just one missed tackle this season. They are the only two players with a better missed tackle percentage than Edmunds’ 1.0%, with both of them at 0.8%.

 

</snip>

 

It’s worth pointing out, again, that missed tackles can be subjective. For example, the analytics website Pro Football Focus has charged the Bills with 152 missed tackles, which is a much larger total than what SportRadar has determined. According to PFF, Edmunds has missed seven tackles. Still, his 6.9% missed tackle rate, according to PFF, ranks a solid tied for 11th among linebackers who have played at least 524 defensive snaps.

 

</snip>

 

Taking the proper angle has been an issue, at times, for Edmunds, who has been somewhat of a polarizing player for Bills fans since being a first-round draft pick in 2018. His high draft position led to expectations that not all fans believe have been met.

 

Said an anonymous assistant coach for another AFC team this week to The Buffalo News: “Long and athletic. From an offensive standpoint, (Edmunds) has not been playing his best football. Since he’s been in the league, we’ve looked at him as a bit of a liability in coverage. He has gotten better, but I still like matching guys up with him underneath. (Matt) Milano has become the guy to avoid on that defense.”

 

That’s one opinion, but another can be formed by looking at the two-game stretch Edmunds missed against Cleveland and Detroit because of groin and heel injuries, which ended up being two of the four worst performances by the defense this season in terms of points allowed. Another one came in the game Edmunds got hurt in, against Minnesota in Week 10. Without him, the defense just didn’t look the same.

 

“The quicker you can recognize a play, the quicker you can react to the play. Then it's a question of, 'OK, do I have the speed? Do I have the right angle? Do I go underneath the block, do I go through the block, do I go over it? Those are all momentary decisions that linebackers have to make,” Baldinger said. “Some people are more instinctive about it that others, but I would say that he's a guy who doesn't get caught up in the soup as much as he used to. I think he's quicker to the ball, and you learn by doing. The angle that you take, especially when you're going up against a guy like Raheem Mostert, a guy who has elite speed, I mean if you take the bad angle, you're going to be leaving your feet and diving after guys. I don't see that happening with any regularity.”

</snip>
 

[Nanker]

If they let him walk, what FAs are there that would be a good fit?

[Spartacus]

49 minutes ago, Nanker said:

If they let him walk, what FAs are there that would be a good fit?

he's not going anywhere

the coaches view him as the linchpin to their scheme