PATSNUTme says it's OT, but: Bills again turned upside down by 3-4 defense

Bills again turned upside down by 3-4 defense
Starting offense manages just 50 net yards
By Mark Gaughan
NEWS SPORTS REPORTER
Updated: August 23, 2009, 10:29 PM

The specter of the big, bad New England Patriots looms over One Bills Drive today like a lake-effect storm cloud.

The Bills have 21 days to get ready for their season opener against the dreaded Patriots, and it looks like they will need every one of them in the wake of their 31-21 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Saturday night.

The Bills' offense, in particular, has a lot to worry about after getting dominated in its first exposure this summer to the 3-4 defensive scheme.

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nashvillepatsfan said:

Arent the Bills are a 3-4 D? If so, you'd think they get enough practice against it. lol.

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Box_O_Rocks said:

No, they're a 4-3 pressure D. They've been working against a 3-4 a lot in practice since all three rival AFCE teams use 3-4 at times, but apparently Green Bay had something new to teach them.

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mark1126 said:

The Bills staff has serious flaws in that they have an inability to communicate and install their offensive and defensive systems to the players. The coaching staff simply lacks the ability to teach and communicate effectively and transfer the required in-depth knowledge and understanding of their schemes. Schemes are meant to hide what you're doing to produced a desired result. The Bills schemes mostly do not produce the desired results.

From an installation perspective it's apparent their packages, whether for example defensive blitz, nickle, dime, run, etc. never become fully embedded to the point where cohesiveness and timing is established. This is true even though the coaching staff and overall systems have been in place for a few years now. As an example, break-downs in assignments occur every play. Defensively for example, the chemistry between players playing next to each other isn't where it needs to be and the integration between the D-line, linebackers and secondary is dysfunctional. Players aren't where they need to be when the need to be there as the timing of their execution lacks the quality required for success. This all results from a poor understanding of the tactics and techniques due to insufficient quality repetitions and teaching. Whether speaking offense or defense, this is evident.

The Bills are always on their heels, unable to dicate. The opponents mostly seem to know what the Bills are going to do next and the Bills are unable to disguise their intentions and hide their weaknesses. The Bills are always expolited in this manner.

In summary, since they are out-coached, the Bills have to try and win through physicality and athleticism but in the NFL their is so much parity in this regard, it alone can't be relied upon. The NFL is a chess match with playing calling now communicated electronically to the offense and defensive leaders via headset. This leaves the Bills at an extreme disadvantage as it pits coaching staff versus coaching staff rendering the Bills at a huge disadvantage. Unfortunately expectation need to be lowered, otherwise we Bills fans will suffer from disappointment

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Deus Irae said:

They don't have the triggerman for the job, and they haven't had one for a long time.

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PATSNUTme said:

All I've ever said is that I think that the Patriots will play more ( not exclusively) 4-3 this year. I said that 2 months ago based on the personnel I thought that would be on the team.

Some of the 3-4 purest are having a hard time letting go. Just like the Conner Barwinist are having a hard time letting go. And if you are both, you are having a really hard time letting go.

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Box_O_Rocks said:

Let's see, for the Cincy game the starters ran 3-4, a brief 4-3 heavy, and a 4-2 that was more of a 2-4 with OLBs knuckle down. The second team ran a 4-3 heavy, but they also ran the 4-2/2-4 package, and they ran a 3-3/1-6 for a few plays near the end.

"Will the Patriots be using much more 4-3 this year?" No; however, they may spend more time in the 4-2 Nickel package.

Oh, while we're mentioning draft binkies...through two preseason games Clay Matthews Jr. is showing no statistics. I do wish I was as good at the draft as you. :youtheman:

Pity Connor Barwin is only averaging 2.5 TT, 1 sack, and .5 PD. opcorn:

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Box_O_Rocks said:

Let's see, for the Cincy game the starters ran 3-4, a brief 4-3 heavy, and a 4-2 that was more of a 2-4 with OLBs knuckle down. The second team ran a 4-3 heavy, but they also ran the 4-2/2-4 package, and they ran a 3-3/1-6 for a few plays near the end.

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Box_O_Rocks said:

Oh, while we're mentioning draft binkies...through two preseason games Clay Matthews Jr. is showing no statistics. I do wish I was as good at the draft as you. :youtheman:

Pity Connor Barwin is only averaging 2.5 TT, 1 sack, and .5 PD. opcorn:

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jays52 said:

FWIW, I watched Houston on NFLN replays an homeboy was all over the field. Scraping, shedding, getting upfield, defending the run, dropping fluidly into coverage, shut down a TE, ect...

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pencilneckgeek said:

Two questions - one related to the OP:

What distinguishes a 4-3 heavy from a standard 4-3? Is this just a terminology to show we have Warren and Seymour on the ends, rather than Burgess and TBC or Green?

Is Green Bay 2-gapping or is this simply a case of Buffalo getting stomped by a good defense that is only superficially similar to the Pats? I thought Capers typically ran a 1-gap, penetrating 3-4, or does he mix it up?

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jays52 said:

Pencil me into both camps. I love me some 34 and I love me some Connor Barwin. It's not that they are moving from the 34 to the 43, they are mixing it up more. It's also not necessarily the switch between the 34 and 43 that matters, either. It's how they are playing it. They are mixing in significant 1-gap techniques and allowing their defensive linemen to get after it in the backfield. I have been dying for them to turn the dogs loose, and it looks like this year it may happen. The entire 43 basis is to get Wilfork into a position where he can be dominant. By aligning him as a 3-tech, you enable your best defender to be disruptive. Just because they have a Wilfork set doesn't mean that they are making a schematic transition.

FWIW, I watched Houston on NFLN replays an homeboy was all over the field. Scraping, shedding, getting upfield, defending the run, dropping fluidly into coverage, shut down a TE, ect...[/B

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Thank God for some Connor Barwin discussion again. Even though my acute Barwin withdrawal symptoms had abided, I've never fully detoxed. All that talk of scraping and shedding, not to mention shutting down the TE, makes me all weak-kneed and shaky. I love what we did with our draft, but I will foreover believe that Barwin would have been the long-term solution to OLB for us for the next decade, and would still have taken him over any of our picks.

I agree with our paranoid moderator about having the personnel to mix in more sets. I love the base 4-3, but I think we can be more disruptive using different formations, including a variety of 4-3 sets. Seymour and Warren, Wilfork and Brace, and Thomas and Burgess offer the potential to run an amazing variety of DL formations and schemes. Mayo anchoring the middle as WILB or MLB with Guyton playing either SILB or 4-3 WLB gives tremendous flexibility as well. Not many teams have the personnel or the coaching ability to throw as many looks at opponents as we do, and our improved secondary should allow us to let the dogs loose much more than last year.

lostjumper said:

lets make this even more off-topic!

I believe Matthews injured himself near the end of training camp. Sore Achilles or hamstring I think. The reason he's showing no stats is because...he's not playing. He had won the starting OLB spot before injury however, and really impressed in training camp. I don't think you can really compare the 2 yet... Thats like saying the pats are 1-1 in the preseason, they are only going to be a .500 team this year

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