Tag: Ed Oliver

3 keys to a Bills victory vs. the Chiefs in the AFC championship

3 keys to a Bills victory vs. the Chiefs in the AFC championship

The Buffalo Bills will play the Kansas City Chiefs on the road at Arrowhead Stadium in the AFC championship game this Sunday.

These teams clash while on hot streaks. The Bills have won 12 of their last 13 meaningful games while the Chiefs have won 20 of their last 21 meaningful games. Their lone loss over that time was to the Bills.

The Bills beat them 30-21 in Week 11 this year. Quarterback Josh Allen accounted for 317 total yards and a pair of touchdowns while the team converted on 9 of 15 third-down plays in the victory.

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Patrick Mahomes threw a pair of interceptions in the loss, but the Chiefs have won the last three playoff games over the Bills and it will be tougher to force them into mistakes this time around. Kansas City are favored by 1.5 points at home.

To slay the dragon and advance to the Super Bowl, the Bills will need to execute their game plan.

Here are three keys to a Bills win vs. the Chiefs:

Execution in pass coverage

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Mahomes is good enough in the pocket that he can beat you even when everyone is covered. He’s great at buying an extra second or two and finding someone uncovered down the field, and in the playoffs, tight end Travis Kelce has often been that person.

The two have incredible rapport and always find open grass when things break down. It will take multiple defenders every pass play to shut them down.

The Bills defense will need to communicate purposefully and rapidly, especially in the middle of the field, where Kelce likes to roam. If there’s one man out of place, he’ll make you pay like he has in the past.

The good news for Buffalo is the middle of their defense is much healthier this postseason compared to last. During the 2023 playoffs, they were down both linebackers Matt Milano and Terrel Bernard, this year they are both expected to be out there occupying the middle.

Keep feeding James Cook

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Handing the ball to James Cook might have been included in about ten weekly “keys to victory” this year. And it continues to prove effective under offensive coordinator Joe Brady.

The Bills went up against two of the best run defenses in their first two playoff matchups and were able to control the game on the ground. The Bills handed both the Denver Broncos (wild card) and Baltimore Ravens (divisional) the most rushing yards they’ve allowed this season.

The Bills have averaged 178.5 yards on the ground this postseason. This figure would have been good for third-most in the league during the regular season.

The Chiefs ranked ninth in defense rushing DVOA this year and eighth in rushing yards allowed per game. They’ve been a decent group, but haven’t stuffed the run like Baltimore or Denver.

Igniting Cook and the rushing game will open things up for the Bills’ passing game, especially in the middle of the field where the Chiefs have allowed the most yards to tight ends in the NFL this year (1,191).

Win matchups on the defensive line

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Getting to Mahomes and taking him down for a sack is easier said than done. But, getting consistent pressure could force errant passes or throwaways, which can make a big difference in the playoffs.

While there has been a lot of talk about the Chiefs rotating pieces on the offensive line this year and that they’ve struggled at times, Mahomes has a way of masking their offensive line’s deficiencies. They rank 16th in the NFL in sacks allowed this year (41), and if they had someone who couldn’t manipulate the pocket or make off-script plays, they’d be much higher on the list.

The Bills had 224 total pressures in the regular season, good for eighth in the NFL. They’ll need to mix things up at times by showing different fronts and blitzes, but the Bills also have some guys who can win their one-on-one matchup.

Von Miller, Greg Rousseau, Ed Oliver, AJ Epenesa, and others will need to capitalize on chances to get after Mahomes Sunday.

If they can force the Chiefs into unfavorable down-and-distances and make Mahomes uncomfortable in the pocket during those plays, it would go a long way toward their chances at making the Super Bowl.

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Bills’ AJ Epenesa post-Jets win: ‘It just shows that this is what we can do’

Bills’ AJ Epenesa post-Jets win: ‘It just shows that this is what we can do’

The Bills won the second of their two regular-season matchups 40-14 Sunday, bringing the Jets a game closer to landing in their offseason.

The Buffalo defense returned to form following a three-game stretch in which they allowed 1,357 yards, 86 first downs, and 107 points.

“I thought coach (Bobby) Babich and the defensive staff did a great job during the week,” Bills HC Sean McDermott said to the media. “Players played extremely fast, physical. And then when you play physical and you play fast, the ball tends to come out and to find you.”

The Bills held Aaron Rodgers to 112 passing yards. They caused two interceptions by corner Christian Benford and defensive tackle Jordan Phillips, as well as a safety by defensive end Greg Rousseau.

“That was awesome,” Bills QB Josh Allen said about the defensive effort. “Playing on short fields, it makes the game a lot easier, I’ll tell you that. Our defense, man, they played lights out today. They had juice, they had energy.”

Defensive tackle Ed Oliver added three tackles, three for a loss, and a sack, and forced a Rodgers fumble that linebacker Matt Milano recovered. Defensive end A.J. Epenesa added four tackles, two for a loss, and a sack that led to a safety. And outside linebacker Von Miller had a sack, two tackles, and a tackle for a loss.

“Yeah, it was dope just for us to go out there and reap the benefits of our hard work, the work that we put in week after week,” said Rousseau who blew up a play for a turnover-on-downs and tipped a pass for the Jordan Phillips interception on another. “To have one of these games, it was great.”

The Bills built a 40-0 lead, shutting out the Jets for the first 53 minutes of the game until the 6:59 mark of the 4th quarter when former Bills QB-turned Jets backup Tyrod Taylor scored twice in relief of Aaron Rodgers.

“I wouldn’t say need … and I don’t want to say reassurance, either,” explained Epenesa about the type of game the defense had. “But it just shows that this is what we can do and this is the standard that needs to be upheld.”

For the Bills to have a chance at winning in the three rounds of the playoffs to make it to and compete in the Super Bowl, their defense will need to keep this type of performance going as just that type of standard game-to-game.

“Sometimes you just need that win to kind of refresh your mind on who you really are,” Oliver said. “Everybody had fun [and] everybody got a piece of the action.”

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Bills star has one word to describe recent losses to Jaguars

Bills star has one word to describe recent losses to Jaguars

Buffalo defensive tackle Ed Oliver has one weird to describe the Bills’ two recent losses to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Weird.

Meeting with reporters Thursday before the Week 3, Monday Night Football matchup between the clubs, Oliver recounted Buffalo’s 9-6 loss at Jacksonville in 2021 and the Bills’ 25-20 defeat against the Jaguars in London last year, describing both contests as uncanny.

Oliver, amid his fifth season starting for Buffalo following a 9.5 sack 2023 campaign, used the term “weird” 15 times to describe the results of both games, for valid reasoning.

The first was Urban Meyer’s second and final win as the Jaguars’ head coach, a defensive slugfest in which only field goals were scored and the teams combined for four turnovers, three by Buffalo and one by Jacksonville.

The second was far more appealing to fans of high-octane offense as the Jaguars and Bills combined for 862 yards, with Jacksonville generating 29 first downs including 10-of-18 third-down conversions.

Below is Oliver’s full quote as provided by Jonathan Acosta of WGRZ Buffalo.

“The London game was a weird game. Started very weird. It was just a very weird game. I addressed the team, well I addressed my D-line about that, just about how weird these games can be. I remember the game we played in Jacksonville. It was a sunny day, I mean, a great day. I remember it vividly. But it was just a weird aura. And then playing in London, it was just a weird — I can’t even explain it, it was just a weird game. I ain’t never beat these guys. It’s just weird man. I’m just letting the guys know, like, it’s a weird, I don’t know what it is, man. And I speak life into it so this game won’t be weird. But the past two times been weird, we just started slow. It was just very weird games. Y’all can go back and watch it. I think the first time we played them, what, the score was like, 9-6 or something like that? Something crazy. 9-6. Come on. Like, we’re playing an NFL game and it’s 9-6. Like, I think, I remember [Jaguars edge rusher] Josh [Hines]-Allen catching the pick on [Bills quarterback] Josh Allen. I remember that, like, it’s just a weird game. Like how [does] a defensive lineman catch a pick? It’s just a weird game. I remember that vividly. It was just weird, man.”

We will see on Monday if the Jaguars (0-2) can keep a “weird” thing going against the Bills (2-0).

ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky: Bills defensive line is ‘starting to show itself’

ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky: ‘(Bills’) defensive line is starting to show itself’

After a slow start in the first half of Week 1, the Buffalo Bills’ pass rush has been dominant to start the season, and it has national media personalities buzzing about their potential this year.

ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky joined the Bills’ radio program “One Bills Live” this week and complimented the Bills’ D-line, more specifically the pass rush.

“It’s two weeks into the season, but I do think the [Bills’] defensive line is starting to show itself when it gets to Ed [Oliver], [AJ] Epenesa, Greg [Rousseau], and Von [Miller] in some of those obvious pass situations,” Orlovsky said.

There were concerns about the pass rush going into the season after losing Leonard Floyd to the San Francisco 49ers, but Rousseau has taken his game to another level in year three and Miller looks like his old self. Parlay that with a steady force in Oliver in the middle, and this puts their pass rush among the best in the league to start the season.

“I think the way that Buffalo is handling Von is really smart… I think Greg is really starting to show himself… Ed obviously had another big game,” Orlovsky said.

According to Pro Football Focus, the Bills have the fourth-best pass-rush grade in the NFL, trailing only the Detroit Lions, Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns. The run defense has looked middle-of-the-pack thus far, but it has done enough to put the opposing offenses in second-and-long and third-and-long situations. That is when the pass rush is getting there in a blink, some ending in sacks but most affecting the throw from the quarterback.

Through two weeks, the Bills are tied for tenth in sacks (6), and tied for fourth in interceptions (3).

The Bills’ pass rush will try to disrupt the Jacksonville Jaguars’ offense on “Monday Night Football,” much like the Browns did in Week 2 when they posted ten hurries and four sacks on 17 total pressures.

“You do not want either of those tackles single blocking Rousseau and or Von right now,” warned Orlovsky regarding the Jaguars’ offensive tackles.

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Bills’ defense steps up vs. Dolphins: ‘They had our back’

#Bills’ defense steps up vs. Dolphins: ‘They had our back’

The Buffalo Bills bested their division rival Miami Dolphins 31-10 in South Florida during a short-week meeting to kickoff NFL Week 2 and Thursday Night Football.

With the win, quarterback Josh Allen improved to 7-0 on TNF and 12-2 against Miami in his career thus far.

And while Cook and the offense understandably received praise for their performance after the victory, much of that recognition was also directed towards the Bills defense.

“You know, you look at the stat sheet, I don’t, I don’t know what our numbers were, but I know we were really low in time with possession, and we were probably really low in total yards, but still managed to put up 31 points, and that, that means your defense is doing something, right? So they had our back tonight, and we’re going to need them going forward,” Allen said during his postgame media session. “And I’m just very proud of how guys stepped up into their to their roles, and they played together. You know, when you play together like that, you’re typically going to have good results.”

As Allen, Cook, and receiver Khalil Shakir were getting it done offensively, the same could be said about defensive tackle Ed Oliver and veteran outside linebacker Von Miller who each had sacks up front, as well as defensive backs Christian Benford (1) and J’Marcus Ingram (2) in the secondary, who both added interceptions.

“All 11 guys play together,” Oliver said. “If everybody do their job, it make it easy on everybody. Nobody has a hard down.”

Though Buffalo’s offense racked up three touchdowns in the first half by way of Allen and RB1 James Cook, who ran for two and added a third receiving, the rest of the team’s points came on Ingram’s second interception of the day, a pick six in the third quarter.

The defense shined on the day, limiting Miami receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle to seven catches and 65 total yards, and Miami to only 1-for-4 in the red zone and 47% conversion on third down opportunities.

The effort was also underscored by coverage of who have held in consecutive contests to , and also by players who stepped up due to injuries.

Third year linebacker Baylon Spector took over for captain and defensive play caller Terrel Bernard, who who suffered a tear to a pectoral muscle on the ninth play of the Dolphins opening drive and is projected to be out for a month. Ingram is sharing playing time with Cam Lewis filling in for nickle Taron Johnson who was out with a forearm injury, and linebacker Dorian Williams was playing in place of starter Matt Milano, who is out with a bicep injury until at least December.

Spector got off to a bumpy start on misdirection in coverage that allowed a De’Von Achane touchdown catch, but he settled in to tie Williams and safety Damar Hamlin with a team-high 10 tackles.

“Baylon Spector knew the game plan, prepared like he was going to start, and the results are the results,” head coach Sean McDermott said. “The speed’s different,the processing of that is a little bit different, but really pleased with how Baylon handled it. And really he went in there and did his job. He kept the game simple, executed his assignments and you felt the kind of the repercussions of that. So it was good to watch, fun to see.”

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Bills’ Ed Oliver notches fourth-down sack vs. Dolphins (video)

Wow:

Buffalo Bills defensive tackle Ed Oliver showed the NFL why he’s one of the best.

On a fourth-down play against the Miami Dolphins in the pivotal moment of the first half of their Week 2 matchup… Oliver was having none of it.

Oliver absolutely blew up Miami offensive lineman Robert Hunt and sacked Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, turning the ball over on downs.

The Bills offense scored on the next play. Oliver is proving he could be the next Aaron Donald… but we’ll start pumping the brakes there.

Check out Oliver’s play below:

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Bills’ Ed Oliver calls out teammates at training camp (in a funny way)

Ed’s got jokes:

The Buffalo Bills are getting after it at 2024 training camp from St. John Fisher University. Things got real this week.

The fifth and sixth days of camp featured full pads. Hitting and all.

NFL teams only have so many practices that are allowed to be fully padded with real football going on. When those workouts approach, players often hype them up in the media are say they’re happy about it.

Not Ed Oliver.

The defensive tackle was reflecting on padded practices in a recent interview. In doing so, he hilariously called out some of his Bills teammates for saying how excited they are for them.

“I call them frontrunners–They act like they excited but they really not,” Oliver said.

Oliver’s quip can be found in the WKBW-TV clip below:

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WATCH: Bills’ Ed Oliver, Khalil Shakir highlighted for 2024 NFL season

WATCH: #Bills’ Ed Oliver, Khalil Shakir highlighted for 2024 NFL season:

With the 2024 NFL offseason in full swing, the Buffalo Bills duo of Khalil Shakir and Ed Oliver have been highlighted.

Dan Pizzuta from The 33rd Team joined the Bills’ radio show, One Bills Live, and previewed next season. Two names mentioned were the receiver and defensive tackle.

The full segment can be found below:

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Bills release hype video for the defense

#Bills release hype video for the defense:

The Buffalo Bills’ offseason has been highlighted by their departures in 2024. There are a lot of question marks on the roster.

But the defense still has some cornerstone pieces to celebrate such as the linebacker duo of Matt Milano and Terrel Bernard, trade-deadline acquisition Rasul Douglas in the secondary, and Ed Oliver leading the charge from the middle of the defensive line.

Why not celebrate the positives? The best way to do so is in the hype video shared by the Bills in the YouTube player above.

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Video of Bills’ Ed Oliver getting in offseason workout

Video of #Bills’ Ed Oliver getting in offseason workout:

Ed Oliver is looking motivated and quick this offseason.

The Buffalo Bills defensive tackle appeared in a video shared by an account on the social media app X, formerly known as Twitter. The page went under the name Coach Brandon Jordan, who is described as a “pass rush specialist.”

It appears numerous other NFL players are in his posts working out, included in that bunch is Oliver’s teammate Von Miller.

Those interested in seeing Oliver up close and personal can check out the clip below:

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