Bills’ Biggest Need May Be a Dominant Defensive Lineman
Two things happened that allowed the Los Angeles Rams to make up a 25-point deficit. One is that the Buffalo defense completely fell apart. The other is that Aaron Donald absolutely took the game over.
In the second half alone, Donald blew up a designed Allen run for a three-yard loss, sacked Allen for a 12-yard loss, then sacked Allen again while also ripping the ball right out of his hands for a huge fumble recovery that put the Rams in position to take the lead. Quite simply, Donald terrorized the Bills.
Donald’s play helped to change the complexion of the game. He was on a mission to single-handedly destroy Allen. The Buffalo offensive line absolutely failed in their efforts to contain Donald and collapsed altogether as a unit as Allen was under siege for most of the second half.
The thing is, a player of Donald’s caliber is unstoppable. There’s little the Bills could have done to scheme up a way to take him out of the game. There’s a reason why Buffalo offensive coordinator Brian Daboll said earlier in the week that the best way to stop Aaron Donald is to hope he misses the team bus.
While acknowledging that Donald may be the best defensive player in the game and a rare, future-Hall of Fame talent, his presence in this game really highlights the fact that the Bills don’t have a player like that themselves.
Sure, the Bills have a deep and talented collection of defensive linemen, but it’s clear they don’t have a true game changer that can simply blow up an opposing offense. Ed Oliver was drafted to eventually be that guy for the Bills, but he isn’t quite to that level yet. Mario Addison had another strong game for the Bills at defensive end, but he too is not the type of unstoppable pass rusher that can completely alter an offensive game plan.
If there’s one thing the Bills are missing on defense, it’s a complete terror on the defensive line, either at defensive tackle or coming off the edge at defensive end, that opposing offenses have to account for and gameplan against. Buffalo could have used a player like that to slow down the Rams’ second half comeback.
Los Angeles’ offensive line had too easy a time with Buffalo’s defensive front. The Rams ran all over the Bills (5.2 yards per carry) and gave Goff plenty of time to sit back and find open receivers. Goff threw for 321, averaging 10 yards an attempt. For as talented as the Bills are on defense, especially in the secondary and at linebacker, they could use a true difference maker on the defensive line to make things much more difficult for opposing quarterbacks and linemen.