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Pro Football Focus named the Buffalo Bills’ defense at the top of the 32 teams in the NFL of their latest rankings of the best and worst defenses in the league heading into Week 4 of the 2021 season.
And they may have affirmed something many have suspected. That the Bills are currently back to a high level of performance on the defensive side of the ball.
This level of performance is more comparable to their first couple seasons under Sean McDermott than in the 2020 season when the team saw an uncharacteristic drop in production.
This latest PFF poll looks favorably on Buffalo as a team on the rise, with high grades against play (2), the run (3), and (4).
Here is what PFF had to say about the Bills defensive play:
Only the Carolina Panthers have allowed a lower expected points added (EPA) per play figure than the Buffalo Bills this season, continuing the team’s recent history of outstanding defensive results. Second-year defensive lineman A.J. Epenesa looks like a different player compared to his rookie season and is already more than halfway toward surpassing his pressure total from 2020. Epenesa doesn’t have a sack yet, but he’s racked up 11 total pressures and been even better in the run game.
The Bills’ defense is allowing just 4.3 yards per play, the third-best mark in the league. Missed tackles were the team’s Achilles’ heel a season ago, but they rank almost exactly average through three games, with 25 misses combined.
The team was active this offseason in adding depth to their DE group drafting an immediate impact player in first-rounder Greg Rousseau who has quickly exceeded expectations. Adding a big pressure player from the edge rush opposite of fellow big DE AJ Epenesa has led to the two pressuring pockets and opposing QB’s.
Field general Tremaine Edmunds leads a group that includes players looking to take the next step, such as Ed Oliver, as well as veterans like the returning Star Lotulelei who sat out last year’s COVID-impacted season. They are joined by new faces looking to make an impact as well, like second-round 2021 draft pick DE Boogie Basham.
With a replenished defensive group, the 2020 campaign appears to be in the rearview for a team with Super Bowl aspirations in a 2021 season well underway.
They will have a chance to continue to develop as they host the Houston Texans in NFL Week 4, before facing the next big test of the year with a trip to Kansas City for an AFC Championship game rematch against the Chiefs in Week 5.
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