The Defensive Line Armchair Coach Recaps Pats/Bills

by Hardscores on Sep 18, 2009 1:24 PM EDT

(I originally e-mailed this in for part of the "Armchair Coach" recaps, but was advised to post it as a FanPost. Thus the lateness.)

The Defensive line had a questionable game Monday night. Time for bad news/good news! And believe me, there is more bad than good.

Bad news: Trent Edwards may have forgotten there was a defensive line to contend with for about 3 and a half quarters, other than the big guys his o-line was block. There was little to no pressure on him all game, except when the Bills ran a screen pass - in those situations, the d-line was caught flat footed and were unable to break up any screens or get in Trent's face to force a bad throw.

Good news: Given a second wind by the Pats' 2 quick touchdowns, Banta-Cain and Burgess started rushing the outside with vigor while up with the defensive line. The final drive for the Bills went like this: 19 yard gain to T.O., Burgess Sack, incomplete pass caused by a QB hit, Banta-Cain sack, and finally the crazy "THE BAND IS OUT ON THE FIELD" play.

Bad news: The Bills were able to rack up a 4.7 yard rush average on 19 runs - with the Bills' #1 guy suspended. Add two big QB rushes from Trent Edwards for 25 yards. The RBs were getting to the second level - and with Mayo not there to anchor the middle of the field for most of the game, that meant big gains.

Bad news: Penalties! Wilfork was penalized for hitting Edwards low - I'd say it was a hit to the thigh pads, not necessarily at the knees as the rule indicates. However, Wilfork has been the poster-boy of this hit since he rolled onto JP Losman's knee a few years ago. Adalius Thomas has the most heart-wrenching call of the game, as it looked like it was going to finish off the Pats at the time. With Edwards churning for yards
while in his grasp, Thomas, swung him backwards to the ground - after whistles blew. There were a few encroachments called as well, due to the Bills' no-huddle confusing the line.

Good news: Well... they won, at least!

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The d-line

From what I saw, they didn’t get a lot of penetration, but they also seemed to do just enough to force the Bills O-line to always adjust and cover them. There was enough pressure on Edwards that Owens and Evans were effectively taken out of the game – albeit by coverage and acceptable-but-not-good pass rushing – and the Bills had to resort to a lot of screens. Those screens, however, didn’t tend to turn into big-yardage play, because the guards and tackles were busy enough covering the Pats D-line they couldn’t run outside and get into the linebackers and secondary. It wasn’t pretty by the Pats d-line, but they also didn’t give up any 80 yard TD screen passes. So there’s room to improve, and not any need to renovate.

by Comedic.Sans on Sep 19, 2009 1:30 AM EDT reply actions

Those screens, however, didn’t tend to turn into big-yardage play

I disagree with that. We have a 10+ yard TD that could have gone for 110 if the end zone wasn’t there. Our guard was ten yards down the field making the block on the goal line. There was another Fred Jackson took for 20 yards or so. I think the screens worked mighty well. Yeah, no 80 yarders but still significant chunks.

Playing Realistic Optimist at Buffalo Rumblings since 2008. Ignoring the grumblings on Rumblings.

by MattRichWarren on Sep 19, 2009 2:13 PM EDT up reply actions

Oh, I know they were a killer

and the two screens for TDs were painful to watch. My thought on that, however, was that the Pats had shifted into their red-zone defensive scheme and were busy double-covering TO and Evans at the time, and for some reason that meant less push by the d-line. That, and it was at the end of long drives, respectively, so the d-line was tired.

by Comedic.Sans on Sep 19, 2009 6:42 PM EDT up reply actions