At the end of last season, the Buffalo Bills had a defense that many NFL teams feared. They had held opponents to the second-lowest points per game while securing 17 interceptions, generating 40 sacks, and forcing 11 fumbles. Buffalo’s defensive prowess helped propel the Bills to the No. 1 seed during the regular season.
Many fans and experts predicted Buffalo to continue to have an elite defense this year. However, injuries to many of their defensive stars have prevented their continued success.
Injuries across the defense, from defensive lineman to the secondary, have been rife with four players heading to the injured reserve list. Tre’Davious White in Week 4 was the start, quickly followed by Da’Quan Jones and 2022 All-Pro Matt Milano in Week 5 during their international game in London. A couple weeks later, Kaiir Elam joined his teammates on IR.
And while many defenders have stepped up into these roles, the performances have been noticeably different. Especially in the most difficult part of the game for defenders – near the end.
Now, the Bills defense is still creating takeaways (11 interceptions in 12 games, on pace with last year) and getting to opposing quarterbacks and forcing fumbles more. In fact, they already beat last year’s sack total and forced more fumbles before they reached their bye week, with five more games remaining.
But the Bills have comfortably won a handful games this season, including against the Raiders, Commanders, Dolphins, and Jets. And in those games, the Buffalo defense have generated turnovers in the air and on the ground while getting to the opposing quarterbacks several times.
It’s the games a team loses that usually show the defensive issues.
Currently, Buffalo is 6-6, and in their six games they have lost, their defensive has given up a lot of points.
Especially compared to last year’s Bills.. And especially at the end of games.
The 2023 Bills, in the fourth quarter and overtime, have given up more points that the 2022 Bills did in the entire season, according to independent Buffalo journalist Jerry Sullivan. And no matter how many turnovers a defense generates throughout the game, if they cannot stop offenses from scoring at the end of games then they will have trouble winning. Especially when they have been in 7 one-score games this season, winning only 2 of those games against below average teams (4-7 Tampa Bay Buccaneers and 4-8 New York Giants).
The hope will be that Bills head coach Sean McDermott, who took over defensive coordinator duties during the offseason, will be able to use the upcoming bye week to address this issue:
The Bills have allowed 78 points in the fourth quarter and overtime of their six losses. They gave up 80 in the fourth quarter and OT in the entire 2022 season.
— Jerry Sullivan (@ByJerrySullivan) November 27, 2023
[lawrence-related id=127748,120409,127759]
