Will Coaching, Talent Upgrades Fix the Bills' Third Down Issues? | Film Room - The Film Room - Bills Breakdowns and Analysis

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:30):
What's good. Folks. Welcome to another edition of the Cover
One Film Room, the show that gives you the hows
and the whys behind both the good and the bad
of the Buffalo Bills. I am one of your two hosts,
Anthony Prohaska, joined as always by Eric Turner and Eric.
It has been.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
It's been a minute.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
It's been a minute. A minute, it's been a minute
because we just really haven't found anything of value to discussing.
We didn't want to put We've talked about this before.
We don't even don't like putting out content for the
sake of putting out content. Uh. I love this comment
here from CT. That's just footballs and the celebration and
party hats and fingers, cross and bottles pop. I appreciate
you CT. Yeah, we didn't want to put out content
for the sake of putting out content. But training camp

(01:09):
is next week and so we're starting to get back
into the rhythm. Is you know, as there are pieces
for us to legitimately talk about and cover, and today's
topic is one that definitely deserves coverage, you know, whether
it's an in season piece or an off season piece,
something that we both found to be very important and
very telling and very interesting when it comes to the
metrics and the film as we marry those two things

(01:31):
as we do here on the show. But before we
get into that, how you doing, how you feeling, how's it.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
Going, good man, It's nice to get back into the
swing of things. Obviously, camp is right around the corner,
and so start to get back in that normal routine
for at least a film room anyways. Everyone else, like yourself,
has been grinding entirely through this lull in the off season.
But it's nice to get back into our process, our

(01:55):
routine and to talk football, especially when you talk down
in distance, when you talk high leverage situations like the
Bills third down defense and their struggles last year, and
not just the struggles with the film and the analytics.
We're gonna be going over tonight, but we're gonna be
talking about, you know, why some of the moves they
made in the off season, whether it's the free agency,

(02:17):
the draft or whatnot, why it makes so much more sense,
or even the coaching and scheme you know sort of
things too. I think it's gonna make a lot more
sense after we get through some of the analytics and
film on why the Bill struggled on third downs last year.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
And this is something we've we've talked about in spurts
and we mentioned it within It's like a small detail
within larger episodes. And it's also something that you know,
we spoke to Greg Rissol about, we spoke to Terrell
Bernard about, sometimes directly, but also sometimes kind of you know,
relating to third down by talking to each of them

(02:54):
and asking them both like, you know, what do you
think for early downs? Like what and both of them
kind of we didn't even really set either of them
up for that. They both kind of answered into independent
of one another and unprompted of like the importance of
winning early downs and making sure teams are staying in
you know, at best like third and medium but more
like third and longs and what they thought they needed

(03:15):
to do. And then we, you know, separate from them,
talked about how that connected with so much what we
did this offseason, what we wanted to see in free agency,
what we were looking for in draft prospects at the
corner position in terms of restricting airspace, and how all
of this kind of coincided with the larger philosophy and
how the defense was going to operate schematically and structurally,

(03:36):
but we kept dropping these third down pieces and tying
it into third down because, like we're gonna talk about
in this episode, Eric, like the numbers show it. The
film you know will obviously show it as well, and
you and I were talking about it before we went offline,
like the numbers are dramatic on third down from both
an overall third down perspective and especially a third and
long perspective, which I think would add up to most

(03:58):
fans recollection of how the season went. But it's it's stark,
and it kind of takes you back for a minute
with how you know, drastic things were from a numbers
and metrics perspective.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
And kudos to our insiders because when we're trying to
find topics for this week's Film Room, this topic of
third down struggles was brought up in our insiders discord.
So let's talk to some analytics, and of course you
have to keep in mind the context of pass rush
and coverage. We talk about complimentary football. You're gonna hear
that several times tonight. We're going to approach it from
the pass rush, the coverage stance, and then of course,

(04:29):
some of the scheming and coaching decisions that we saw
in these third down situations last year. So Anthony and
I are going to go through some advanced analytics that
we kind of researched and compiled for third down defense
for the Bills last year. So I'm gonna start with
the pass rush, Anthony, I'll rattle off a few and
then you can add some to that pass rush analytics.

(04:51):
Third down last year, the Bills were ranked twenty fourth
in pressure percentage at thirty nine point eight percent on
third down, seventeenth in sack percentage at ten point three percent,
thirty first in sacks per pressure. That's the big one
we talked about in the offseason, and you know, the
draft and free agency, why they went out and got
a guy like Bosa, changing their ability to create pressure

(05:12):
because they can do pressure, especially quick pressure, which I
know you'll talk about, but their ability to convert those
pressures into sacks, they weren't all that good at it
last year thirty first out of thirty two teams in
sacks per pressure at nine percent. So overall, I think
it's fair to say most Bills fans would say what
the Bill's pass rush, especially in high level situations really

(05:33):
didn't get it done.

Speaker 1 (05:36):
Yeah, and you know, again it's something that like, like
I alluded to, you know, these numbers, these numbers for
me were significantly worse than I kind of thought. But
I think for a lot of fans, they'll remember the
third and long struggles with the third down struggles in general,
so maybe it's not so stark. And you know, you mentioned,

(05:56):
you know, the quick pressure metrics overall, these aren't just
you know, this isn't the quick pressure piece and that
tying into everything you just rattled off. From a stat's perspective,
it wasn't even something that just was unique to the
third down piece as well. Overall, the Bills defense eleven
and you know, so quick pressures for those who don't know,
that's a pressure that's generated in under two point five seconds.

(06:19):
But the Bills were eleventh in quick pressures in twenty
twenty four, they were ninth in quick pressure rate, and
they had the seventh fastest average time to pressure. So
you hear all those and you're like, wow, that's pretty good.
That boats well, twenty fourth in sacks per game and
twenty ninth in pressures converted to sacks and that was
across the board. But and that ties in with the

(06:40):
numbers you mentioned that continued into the third down piece,
and we continued to see that and then overall from
a third down piece that helped contribute to being thirtieth
in conversion rate allowed on third down, twenty ninth in
EPA per play allowed, and then thirty first in EPA
per pass on third down. Yeah. Again, not even like okay,

(07:01):
twenty second, twenty fourth or middle the bottom of the barrel.
You're with the no disrespect. You're with like the Panthers
defense in a lot of these metrics. And that's not
a spy you want to be in.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
No, And so I think we've always we've realized that
the Bills are a quick pressure team. They up their
up the field aggressive. You know, it's funny when you
say the Bill's defense under McDermott has been an attack oriented,
up the field, penetrating type defense. A lot of people
just say, no, mcdermot's defenses are soft, but no, they

(07:32):
they play up the field. They like to get up
the field, and I think that is reflected in that
quick pressure rate. The problem is quick pressure means nothing
if the ball is out. Quick pressure means nothing if
the defense, if the offense and the quarterback recognize what
coverage you're rotating into. And I think that's where last
year's team really kind of suffered. We're, you know, under

(07:56):
Babbage last year, where some of these rotations, especially in
those high leveragesuations on third down, it was too easy
of a picture from pre to post nap for the quarterbacks.
So the so yeah, quick pressure was registered, but that
ball was also out because the defense was a little
too easy to see pre to post snap. So let's

(08:16):
look at coverage numbers to kind of paint that picture. Overall,
thirty first in passing defensive success percentage at fifty seven
point one percent, thirty second in completion percentage at sixty
six point nine percent. I'm gonna explain that one in
a second. Thirtieth in passing touchdowns with fourteen, and this
is again third downs thirty second and first down surrendered

(08:37):
on third and seven plus, that's a we're gonna talk
about third and seven plus. It's a whole separate third
down category that the Bills were awful at.

Speaker 1 (08:44):
We're gonna get to that.

Speaker 2 (08:45):
They're gonna get to that later and add that context.
But again some of these coverage metrics, especially completion percentage.
Again you talked about quick PRESSU rate, Okay, cool, but
the ball's out. If the ball's out and it's being
completed on third downs sixty seven percent of the time,
what's happening post snap From that picture and that coverage,
it's usually not good, especially when we get to the

(09:05):
third and seven plus you know situations. When we show
you the film, because I have a bunch of those clips,
you're gonna see why it was so easy on third
down to complete passes and to get first downs.

Speaker 1 (09:17):
And you know, we again this tied into the type
of skill set or traits that we're looking for in
a corner two coming out of the draft, and how
that tied in with certain coverages that we were wanting
them to lean into more or more press or more
man restricting airspace, and also ties into when we broke
down tape of Ed Oliver and his season, we talked

(09:38):
about there's a lot of times where he's winning up
front and he's winning in like one and a half
to two seconds, and the ball is out and it
doesn't matter, and it's on third downs, and it's on
sometimes early downs. But you see a lot of it
on third and so much of it is is interconnected,
you know, And we've talked so much about the marriage
of coverage and rush and the complimentary football piece of it,

(10:02):
and it's intertwined in to everything individual performances along with
being with the team as a whole. And you have
some other some other metrics for the Bills on third
and long, it's just terrible. Thirty second in EPA per play,
thirty second in EPA per pass, thirty second in success

(10:24):
rate thirty first, and EPA per rush. There's some more.
I'm not gonna rattle them all off.

Speaker 2 (10:30):
Yeah, there's a lot of battles, but.

Speaker 1 (10:31):
Just the four right there, from a pass and rush perspective,
they are just And again EPA takes into account down
in distance and context. So if it's you know, third
and fifteen and you give up a nine yard run,
they're not penalizing you for that. But if it's third
nine you give up an eleven yard run, you're gonna
get penalized for that. So it's just wild whether you're
looking at it in that specific bucket like you mentioned,

(10:53):
which is a separate category, or overall from the overall
third down metrics, from a rush perspective, from coverage perspective,
both of them having more works than you would like,
especially for a Bills defense that were used to seeing
the very sound in a lot of those ways years
over year, and on top of that, highlighting the disconnect

(11:13):
both of them not functioning great independently, but then also
what it means when you try to connect them together
and how they're each kind of contributing to one another
not being you know, successful.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
It's it's crazy, man, Like, some of those numbers are
just nuts. And the craziest thing about that is the
Bills were getting these teams into those third and longs. Man,
third and seven plus the Bills were fifth in that category.
The average third down the opposing offenses faced was third
and seven point five to nine. That was the fifth highest.
So they were getting them into those third and long situations.

(11:46):
But then, as we're going to show you in some
of the numbers, and more importantly the film, the opposing
offense was still converting in frustrating fans. I feel like
third and seven and long is like one of the
more frustrating moments in the game when a team is
able to convert those into first down. So I just
felt like their coverages pre to post snap, the changing

(12:08):
that picture was very predictable. The rush wasn't winning in
those third long situations. You know, the Bills don't blitz
a bunch, so their four man rush was not getting home.
And the one thing that I'm going to talk about
later too in the film is cover three. The Bills
struggled in cover three this year. And if we're talking
just specifically on third down, the Bills went to cover
three thirty four point five percent of the time. That

(12:30):
was the tenth highest on third down and long. So
if you're consistently dropping into cover three, however you disguise
it pre snap, and you're consistently dropping into cover three
single high zone coverage after the snap, opposing offenses are
going to have an answer built into their game plan
for those situations because they are. Again, the Bill's defense

(12:53):
was putting opposing offenses into third and longs quite often.
So you're gonna have more of those type of plays
in your your playbook strategy. And so the you know
you're talking in single high coverages, well, of course there's
cover one too. Well. The Bills didn't play a lot
of Cover one in these situations. In these situations in
third and seven plus, they only played cover one fourteen

(13:14):
point three percent of the time. That was ranked twenty
eighth overall. So think about this. They're showing too high coverage.
They're showing too high safety structures pre snap, post snap.
They're dropping one of the you know, the safeties down
into a single high coverage. Okay, is it cover one
or is a cover three? More times than not it
was being it was a zone coverage, and that was
hurting them. And I think overall, not just third and

(13:35):
sevens and long, I think playing zone on third down
fifty nine point eight percent of the time the sixth
most on third downs really hurt the Bills, which again
is going to lead up to some of our takeaways
and reasoning why the Bills made the you know, adjustments
with the coaching but also with the personnel, especially when
you're talking first round cornerback.

Speaker 1 (13:54):
Yeah. Absolutely, and those coverages that were playing on third
downs you know so much, even not just on third down.
But we off So I'm again I hate to keep
talking about like, well we've talked about this before, but
that idea of the Bills getting attacked in the underneath
or the low intermediate, and you know, things being open
in the flats and the hooked to curls, and then
you're adding that up with mistackles and inconsistencies there and

(14:15):
it you know, these third down pieces tied into a
lot of what the Bills were defensively, and so some
more advanced metrics. Thirty for the Bills fast year. Again
there's only thirty two teams in the NFL. Thirty first
in punts per drive, first in takeaways per drive. I
love just the stark difference there to kind of really

(14:36):
highlight it's it's so many people talk about bend but
don't break. It's not bend but don't break. For the Bills,
it's either bend and for force of turnover, like that's
what they what they're going for. So thirty first and
punts per drive first, and takeaways per drive twenty sixth,
in three and outs per drive twenty third, in plays
per drive, twenty sixth in drive success rate, you know,

(14:56):
and again lower here is worse. Drive success rate is
drives that earn a new first down or a touchdown
and then another big one. Twenty fifth in time of
possession per drive. This was a defense that if they
weren't getting a takeaway, they were on the field a lot,
and even if they were getting a takeaway sometimes it
was at the end of like a six, seven, eight

(15:16):
play drive that kind of ate up some minutes. And
then that gets into the larger complimentary football aspect phrase
that we love to talk about with how that pairs
with the offense. Now the ball is getting kept away
from Josh Allen. So it's this the lack of success
on third down ties into so many other things and
its stacks and builds in a negative way and something

(15:38):
that again the Bills overcame it obviously a tremendous year
last year, so some people might say the guys are
picking on one thing. They were also looking at all
these other numbers. But it's a thing that could really
rear its ugly head when teams are going to go
back and know who you were last year, and if
you haven't fixed that going into this year, they'll eat
you alive for it.

Speaker 2 (15:56):
And Scotty in the chat says, just stop dropping the
deep zone coverage and every third and long problem solved,
And there is some truth to that. But when we're
talking zone coverage and we're talking single high coverages such
as Cover three. What really stuck out to me when
I was looking at the Bills defense, you know, overall,
not just third downs, like where were teams winning consistently

(16:17):
against them? Cover three is the number one coverage across
the NFL. So the numbers for everyone, ever, for everyone,
so overall they allowed thirteen offensive touchdowns when they were
in Cover three. That was twenty ninth in the league.
You know, they only had four touchdowns against them when
they played Cover three the year before. So some of

(16:37):
their Cover three numbers just strew me off. And so
I'm interested to see if we see a drop, you know,
instead of you know, thirty four point three percent of
you know, Cover three and these third, third and long
situations or you know, third down situations. Overall, I wonder
if they now shrink that airspace as we talked about

(16:58):
this offseason, convert that to more Cover one or even
the Cover three pattern match where the zone could turn
towards towards man. I would be interested to see, you know,
as the season progresses, if they start to do that more,
because they were getting and that's what was so interesting
about Bernard and Rousseau saying that, yeah, first and second

(17:18):
down is actually where we need to start winning more.
They honestly did an okay job getting the teams in
third and long. It's just when third and long came
and these third downs came, too many passes were being
completed all together, giving the offense that many more opportunities
to get to fourth down and short. Yeah, or just
convert first downs all together one thousand percent.

Speaker 1 (17:39):
Yeah, I echo your sentiments there, and I'm in lockt
up with you. Give me give me more man coverage
in some form, or give me, yeah, more pattern matching
man coverage. I don't want to see, you know, however,
we want to phrase its spot drop or country zone
like I don't want no cover zones and holes there,
and okay, let's get to our spot and read. They
really need to restrict airspace, and preferably doing so with

(18:02):
some rerouting and maybe some press and some you know,
true press and some jam and things like that would
be awesome. But yeah, it's again falling into this this
pattern that we've talked about all off season of restricting
air space and how important it is from these situational perspectives.
The bills aren't going to become a team that all
of a sudden leads the league in man coverage despite

(18:23):
the coaching additions that they've had, right, and no team
operates like that. Majority of teams plays on the majority
of teams play cover three the most like that is
what it is. But they need to be able to
sprinkle in these other coverages, especially in high leverage situations
or against in certain matchups, in order to avoid being
consistently vulnerable in this area.

Speaker 2 (18:42):
And just to kind of conclude all these bad metrics,
James says, the Bill's pressure has to improve dramatically, and
like I said, that may be true they but they
also have to convert that pressure into sex. But it
doesn't matter if the coverage is too easy to see. Yes,
it doesn't matter because the all still gonna get out
even if pressure is registered. Yep, So there's some truth

(19:05):
to that, James. But again it's complimentary football rush and coverage.
The pressure needs to be there, but either you can
have an aggressive dB on the backside to make a
play on the ball, which the Bills didn't do a
lot of last year. The Bills overall, not just their downs,
had fifty nine pass breakups last year. That was twenty six.
Eagles led with up over one hundred third downs. They

(19:26):
had six takeaways which is thirteenth overall, and sixteen pass
breakups that was thirtieth, again showing you why Bean was like, no, no, no,
corner is the play And so yes, I agree pressure
A has to be better, has to improve, but coverage
and disguising coverage, the rotations, Bobby Babbage has a lot
of work to do in that regard, and I think

(19:48):
the self scouting, I think, really, I'm sure he hit
it hard this offseason.

Speaker 1 (19:54):
Yeah, and I hope so. And yeah, I think it's
a fair point to James, like you said, you know,
they have to get better generating pressure. They have to
get better finishing when they're generating pressure and kind of
getting home both off the edge and on the interior,
which again is why they leaned into a lot of
interior rush. They brought in Larry Ogunjobe and TJ. Sanders
for more inside rush. They opted to kind of strengthen

(20:14):
the edge from a rush position and perspective as well.
But exactly, Eric, like you said, like that is very helpful,
But I think that's a great piece that gets lost
with the Eagles, right everybody talks about that front. Go
look at what Sleigh and Quinnon, Mitchell and Cooper Degen
were doing on the back end from a corner perspective.
Look at where they were aligned, what kind of coverages

(20:34):
were they playing, and they were sitting and waiting ready
to jump round. So they're also also not only what
they were playing, but look at their physical makeups, their
skill sets, their traits, the type of athleticism and juice
that they play with and what it allows them to do.
And then look at Maxwell Harston and maybe why that's
a kind of drop potentially in a bucket like that
and some change a bit. Why Town's king, thank you

(20:54):
very much for being here, thank you very much for
the super chat. So he says, why is the rookie
on the pup? He says, I'm not gonna deal with
von Miller again this year. For those who don't know,
Bill's rookie land and Jackson placed on. I didn't think
it was officially on the pup, but injury piece for
him yesterday. I saw it as I was preparing for

(21:16):
this guy's coverage last night. Oh yeah, he did get.

Speaker 2 (21:18):
Put he was put there. But it's I think it's
the it's the version that he can come back as
soon as he's cleared. Yes, I'm not I'm not too
worried about it, honestly.

Speaker 1 (21:27):
Yeah. One week. Yeah, but yes, there I was saying
plays were reported to you know, league sources, you know,
saying hopeful the Bills are hopeful he'll be ready for
the start of practice next week, which is weird to
kind of put him on that and then also note
that practice piece we'll get out to see as it progresses.
I feel you, though, with being gun shy about I
wouldn't go that with Landon Jackson though, I would turn

(21:49):
that more to Bosa, who's injured already. Y. Yeah, yeah,
that would be where it'd be head go to. But
understandably so, it is a bit frustrating, though, considering Hoydus
is spended, Bosas already nicked up. They might need Landon
Jackson to kind of wear a more important hat early on,
and if he's got any type of thing that's causing
him to limit his time on task or his reps

(22:10):
in camp or the preseason, it's fair to be frustrated.
But thank you very much for that super chat, Whitecire,
Thank very much for being here. We appreciated Eric. The
show's called the Film Room, which probably look at some film.

Speaker 2 (22:22):
Yeah, I think it's time. I think it's time. We're
well overdue. It's been a couple of weeks since we
broke down some film. So we're gonna go through about
four thirteen or fourteen plays, kind of encapsulating some of
those numbers that we looked at. We're gonna add more
context now this time with the film. And if you
guys remember one of the biggest plays last year that
the Bills gave up on third down was this explosive

(22:43):
pass to our guy, Russ Brown. He interviewed, Yeah, Dame
Brown from the Lions, just the I think today or yesterday.
But this is a big play and it kind of
goes lends to the point I was making about Cover three,
and you know how the Bills allowed too many big
plays and too many completions, not just their downs, but

(23:05):
when they went to Cover three, they allowed a lot
of touchdowns this year. And so one thing I wanted
to pay attention to is watch the post safety Cam Lewis.
Watch his movement, the eye movement from golf. He does
a good job. He's like looking down here and he
moves Cam Lewis just a little bit as you get
that dig route by Brown over the middle. So good
work by I think the linebackers Bernard and Milano. I

(23:26):
could have swore they got a hand on it. I
did from the end zone angle, but because of the
movement by Lewis and getting off the spot to the
middle of the field, that gives him leverage across the
field and now he's not able to make a proper
tackle on Brown and he gets in there for six points.

Speaker 1 (23:42):
Yeah, you know, a third and long. Here you point
out the linebackers, they do a good job get They
get right essentially right to the sticks. Milano and Bernard
are essentially right to that first down marker, which is
about at the fifty you know, maybe forty nine and
seven eighth's type of yard line right there. But they
get to their depth. They're also honoring that underneath route.

(24:02):
They don't want anything to just be caught and catch
and run and somebody gets close. And especially know in
today's football and the lines in general, if they get
that to like their own forty eight or forty nine
or forty seven, they're probably gonna go for it on
fourth down. But Malano and Bernard do a good job
getting their depth, but yeah, this angle really shows you
that little slight manipulation on cam Lewis. There is that
post safety, he's kicking it kind of pass the hash

(24:25):
ready to almost go on the numbers throw too. Yeah, yeah,
exactly like he does it with his eyes to get
Cam a little pot committed a bit and then just
this throw is nuts. The ball placement, the timing.

Speaker 3 (24:38):
Bernard is so so close and this is perfectly pinned
on Saint Brown after getting cam Lewis to be moved
as that post safety, and if cam Lewis is in
better position, maybe he closes down on this, maybe he
makes the tackle, but it's a good job of golf
moving him.

Speaker 1 (24:55):
And then yeah, just a crazy throw. I remember when
this game happened like this en zone angle. I just
kept watching because I kept expecting it to somehow be
intercepted and it wasn't. Like that throw was just so pretty.

Speaker 2 (25:06):
Yeah, that's that was one of four touchdowns the Bills
gave up in Cover three last year on third downs,
So thirteen offensive touchdowns, which was twenty ninth last year
when we're talking Cover three overall thirteen, but four of
them were in Cover three on third down. Here's another one,
this one in the red zone, and this one Tarren Johnson,

(25:27):
who's in the slot to the bomba screen, kind of
gets caught as a contained type player and leaves the
flats open. So watch Bill's playing Cover three once again
here and you're gonna see golf, you know, break the
pocket here and right here Tarren commits to stopping golf
and then this guy kind of leaks out here and
there's no way that Benford could over there get over

(25:47):
there in time, and you see the receiver Patrick get
in there for the touchdown. So this was another Cover
three touchdowns surrendered, this one by Arrn. And he's a
guy that if I'm looking at specific players I want
to see improve this coming year and coverage, it is
Tarren Johnson. I think there were times where he took
some risks and they capitalize against him. And I'll show

(26:08):
some more plays later, but this one again cover three
touchdown against the Lions.

Speaker 1 (26:12):
Yeah, and Jared Goff made like a couple of plays
with his legs in this game that were so frustrating
because like, of all the quarterbacks to do that, it's
you know, of course somehow Jared Goff. I know there
wasn't a ton of pressure on the first one, James
commented on that, but this one you get Jared Goff
off the spot, and so you're sitting like if if
you're planning out a game plan, if you can get

(26:33):
Jared Goff off his spot and in a place where
he has to be mobile, you're considering that a win
for your defense, because Jared Goff is not this fleet
of foot strong athlete. But that movement, like you said, boom,
there you go. It's drawing the defensive lineman who's in
pursuit and chase. It's got Bernard who's coming down. If
you're tearing, you don't need to squeeze down on this,

(26:55):
Like Jared Goff isn't gonna beat Bernard to any spot.
I don't even think he's gonna beat I mean the
defensive tackle ends up falling a little bit exactly. You've
highlighted where the first down marker is mark He's not
Golf isn't getting there. He's not out running sider. He's
not gonna shake him. He's gonna slide even if he
tries to put his foot in the ground. You know,
I know, the defensive tackle lines up, you know, stumbling
a bit, but Ed Oliver is probably gonna get him. Instead,

(27:17):
Johnson jumps inside, completely vacates the flat hangs Bernard out
to dry. I'm sorry, Benford out to dry. As you mentioned,
you just you just don't need that. But again, that's
part of the zone element there. Your eyes are on
the quarterback, you're getting to a spot, you're reading and
seeing what's in front of you. He jumps and makes
a play, zone gets vacated. There's no one there, and

(27:39):
we get essentially a free play for the Lions.

Speaker 2 (27:41):
Yeah, third and long man. That was just that was
a backbreaker. His one from the playoffs is that deep
in breaker. Another cover three type look, but more of
a five man pressure. So it's three you know they're
sending five and yeah, three deep, it's cover three. But uh,
you see Sutton again kind of running that in breaker,
that dig route. But here's again, if you're looking at this,

(28:03):
you see Taylor rap kind of drop down here. All right,
So you got your three across one, two, three, and
then you're three deep, right, so you got your cover three,
five man pressure, and so these guys are pattern matching.
These three are all pattern matching, doing a decent job.
But as this guy kind of rotates out to the flats,
I want you to watch Terran also do that, and

(28:24):
what is what happens? Then it opens up this passing window.
You have a safety from depth. He's not going to
get there in time, and of course the corner pushing
from the boundary isn't able to get there either. And
you get that first down on another third and long.

Speaker 1 (28:37):
Yeah, you're sitting there at about third and ten. Bring
that five man pressure and you play a three over
three behind it. And this could not work out really
better for the Broncos here. You get that little route
from the number one. Initially that's that little whip route
that pulls Terran. So he's going inside, Arren moves them
and then it just pulls exactly. You've highlighted that whip piece,

(29:00):
that return route. Wherever you want to verbalize it. I know,
different systems call it different things. Tarn gets pulled and
just that window is perfect for bon Nicks. And then
on top of that too, Bernard gets in there a
little bit right as bon Nicks throws it. But Javonte
Williams does enough in pass pro again another little piece
you'd like to see maybe some more pressure early if

(29:22):
you're bringing five. Bernard is able to get there, tries
to obstruct, get tried to get the hand up. Nix
is able to kind of throw it around him and
pin it on Sutton. So again a bit of you know,
you send an extra body, it doesn't really make a
difference in heating the quarterback up. You've got one lesson
coverage and then the route distribution pulls one of those
underneath matching defenders and it's wide open on a dig

(29:44):
route when Benford's trying to protect the deep third and
having to play over the top.

Speaker 2 (29:47):
Yeah, and again I think that comes back to coaching.
Here's another cover three play where the Bills and you
can see the safeties are a little wider. They're trying
to cap in right here Taron Johnson making it look
like the blitz's co and Tarn doesn't come and you
just see Hamlin kind of drop down here as an
underneath the fender. But that opens up this seam. Again,
this is cover three. This is the weakness. And so

(30:09):
when you're having you know, these two routes here by
the Rams receiver, he's supposed to Douglas is supposed to
kind of split that a little bit, and once this guy,
you know, kind of sloughs off, then you he has
to get back, but he just didn't quite have the
acceleration to get back into the seam. And then you
got Matthew Stafford who was just dissecting the Bills defense
on this day, whether it's Tokup pukin Dakua, just another

(30:32):
play where they surrendered a touchdown when the Bills were
in cover three again this time against the Rams. It
was just very frustrating, man, after going back and watching
all of these plays and why they gave up these
touchdowns last year, how often it happened in cover three,
whether it's third down, first or second down.

Speaker 1 (30:49):
You know what's funny two is like I was, I was.
I went through all the third down plays and the
in the first game against Arizona, like the second third down,
I think they do like essentially do like an odd
mirror with a non traditional Tampa two behind it, and
it's so fun Like in the first game, that's like, oh,
and then as the year went on, there like no
forget that, We're just gonna run cover three all the time.

(31:10):
It's like oh, like you you gave this little glimpse
and then just shifted from it. Yeah, you know, I
don't have too much to add other than on this one.
Maybe if you have a more juiced up CB two
in Max Harrison instead of Rusul Douglas, maybe he can
close on that seam ball a little quicker. I also,

(31:31):
you know, we talked about it. This what I'm about
to say in the episode that we did after this
Rams game wraps. Angle to the football still pisses me off.
I don't know how he ends up on the backside
of like cup and into Douglas instead of trying to
get and play through the ball and play through the hands.
Yeah weah, right across that goal line. Instead he takes

(31:52):
almost like a forty five degree angle going back. It's
funny too, because if Stafford wanted to manipulate it, like
the same route on the other side is also open,
because why yeah, they're just ready for that, Like you
could tell the Bill they were sitting here ready for
the Bills to go cover three and they attacked it
like They's.

Speaker 2 (32:10):
A lot of blame goes to the coaching right, yes,
in the strategy, and then that's what I want to
portray here like, yeah, you know, certain guys didn't take
a good angle, certain guys didn't get back in time.
But in the end they tried disguising it man coverage
across the board. As I highlighted there Matt Stafford, he
was just like, I'm not buying it. Okay, safety is
dropping down. I have cup down the seam. I just

(32:31):
got to hold that safety a little bit. There's no
way the corner Douglas is gonna get back into that seam,
and he just puts it on them man.

Speaker 1 (32:38):
Yeah, and especially too, like with at this point with
hamling and rapping your safeties. Neither of these guys are
the rangiest, single high post safety type of deal. So
you add that extra added luxury in terms of you know,
I think I can fit this in there in general.
But if you have a quarterback with a cannon like Stafford,
it makes it even harder. If your coverage is predictable,

(32:59):
it makes it even harder. And again this is an example,
you know, if they had actually gone with man coverage,
restrict that airspace a little bit, or if they match
and kind of carry this a little bit instead of
just getting to their zones and the seams are vacating,
wide open, playing a little more like ripplaz carrying somebody
moving and matching. That would also be helpful, but instead
they just play kind of you more of your traditional

(33:21):
spot drop type zone seams are wide open, and Stafford
just picks one and could have picked the other if
he wanted it.

Speaker 2 (33:27):
Yeah, and here's another Cover three big play on a
sale concept to Puka nikoua top of the screen. Just
a three level passing concept. You have a guy kind
of clearing things out right here. He's gonna take the
corner off the top right here. They put someone right
at the six. It's third down. Taron Johnson's gonna jump that.
That leaves that intermediate throw and catch to Nikua, throws
it right to him for the first down. Just another

(33:50):
frustrating play with the Bills and Cover three. It was
just too obvious. There's not much disguising here. Okay, safety
dropping down. You have a you know, handling trying to
get to the post. He's the corner to the top
of screen. Douglas has to honor that vertical route by
two to two at well. And there's just there's too
many holes in this Cover three zone defense. By the

(34:10):
Bills against the Rams.

Speaker 1 (34:12):
Yeah, because it's played like that true zone like we
talked about you essentially, you know, Taylor Rap buzzes down
and they get into cover three and Rap is essentially
sitting there at the thirty six thirty seven covering grass.
Because of these playing zone, maybe if Stafford comes off
of the sale concept, maybe Wrap ends up making a

(34:33):
play to the receiver who's coming across the field from
the bottom of the screen. Maybe something works out there,
YadA YadA whatever. But that's not what happens on this play.
The coverage gets drained, Rasul Douglas gets put into conflict,
and Nicool is wide open tearing nails down on his
man underneath with Cooper Cup going to the flat and
then again like you said, it's just a straight up hole.
This again is another aspect where if you're matching or

(34:56):
if you're playing man, you have somebody attached ideally in
phase or close or be able to do something rather
than just here's my landmark, let me hit it, especially
for the third down piece, where you know, if someone
gets behind you, like if you're Taylor Rap, you're in
no man's land right now, Like you don't know what's
going on behind you because you're looking, you're covering your zone,

(35:17):
your eyes are on the QB, you're doing your thing.
And then Douglas gets put in the conflict like this
is And honestly, even Stafford moves a little bit, he
could have maybe faked this to Nakua. Hamlin is not
getting a too two app Like there's just so many options,
like if they really like wanted to get to it.
In addition to there being some time for Stafford to
kind of sit back, he moves a little bit, but

(35:38):
there's just plenty of space for him to execute the
holes in the coverage. Guys are getting pulled. It's just easy.
And if for an offensive coordinator like McVeigh and a
QB like Stafford.

Speaker 2 (35:49):
Yeah, they dissected the Bill's defense this day. You know,
this was basically like these two cuts. You like, all right,
well you're gonna take away Cooper Cup. Well had a
day when they took away Nicoua Cooper Cup was open
like it was a one two combination on this day
from McVeigh that just totally dissected Babbage's coverages. Again that

(36:12):
that's just too easy. Third a cover three A simple
cover three on third down that just.

Speaker 1 (36:16):
It's space, Like, look how much space there is two
for Nikua and he's passed the sticks. Yeah, like there's
so much this is already, Like the first down is
at the thirty nine and he's catching this like roughly
nine yards ten yards past it. Like there's they're confident
running that deep of a concept that far past the

(36:38):
sticks because they know, like they know they can get
to it. They're either not fearing the rush or they
know that coverage pieces on the back end.

Speaker 2 (36:45):
And so here's a play I was talking about. You know,
if there was a couple of players that really stood
out in third down situations that really in a bad way,
sit out in a bad way tarn there were some
moments that were frustrating. Here's one of them. It's a
tough run pass type read, but you're gonna se that
the running back is able to split out get out
there to the perimeter for the touchdown. There were some

(37:06):
some struggles on film in high leverage situation by Arren.
This was one of them. Albeit this one would be
me nitpicking a little more because he does have run
responsibilities here. But these are the type of players you're
gonna see a lot from opposing offenses in the low
red zone, and the Colts were able to capitalize.

Speaker 1 (37:23):
I love when teams run this play. Well, what do
you call it? You call it?

Speaker 2 (37:26):
I called a speed speed boot.

Speaker 1 (37:27):
I knew I would say you called a speedboot. I
always called it a front side naked. It's always just
so pretty because it it makes the defense feel run
and they react and they have to because of the responsibility,
and you're just caught out so fast. The one that
the Bills hit to tie Johnson in Brady's first game
is OC two years ago was so pretty. Yeah, and
yes against the great call against the Jets. Yeah, Terarrn

(37:48):
commits and it's understandable, but it's just that little bit
inside and you are caught and you are out leveraged
and you're dead in almost an instant. A nice touchdown
celebration there from the Colts too, shout out.

Speaker 2 (38:00):
You see something similar against the Chiefs where Terren gets
caught in the buying watch where his eyes go on
this one though he does a good job, doesn't fall
for that fake this time, running back stays in, doesn't
go to the flats. But then now he's like, okay,
I need to get eyes on threats. Well, the number
one threats coming across in Travis Kelcey. So what does
he do? He and Rap kind of go kind of
hesitate or is that Hamlin. I'm sorry, that's Hamlin. Actually

(38:22):
they both hesitate, and now you have the contained completely
lost and Mahomes is able to get in there. So
again I understand why it happened, the rationale behind it,
but this is one of those plays you can't just
drop contain here on the edge. They kept the running
back in to pick up Rousseau. You want to see
Terren just attack and force issue. I understand that's Travis

(38:44):
Kelcey coming across the middle, but someone else has to
get in position to cover him. It's I understand Tarren
jumping it, but man, that just made it so easy
for Mahomes, and especially.

Speaker 1 (38:54):
With you again, I'm trying to read body language here.
Hamlin's eyes get to Kelsey, yeah, and he's ready to
open up and kind of drop into him. He only
steps up onto Mahomes because he sees Terran Darren ak
exactly vacate to pick up Kelsey and then Hamlin. You
can literally Hamlin's body position right there is literally like,

(39:17):
uh oh, and then he tries to get up and
he doesn't have the foot speed to close down on Mahomes. Yeah,
this is I remember. Uh when this happened in game,
people were all like, oh, of course typical like DeMar Hamlin.
He sucks and I was like, no, man, like, this
is not terren like and it's so weird to not
see him based on what the coverage is here, shoot

(39:37):
closed down like you know, Hamlin is behind you, Hamlin
is there ready to pick up Bishops behind him you.
Essentially Kelsey would essentially kind of run himself into a
little bracket and so Taren, You're done forget about it,
go forward, make the play, and he just this time
it's the opposite of what we saw against golf. He
plays the coverage piece and Mahomes makes him pay because

(39:58):
he takes advantage of the free space.

Speaker 2 (40:00):
So you heard all the stats about you know, cover three,
the zone coverage is how easy with completions were. And
obviously Rassell Douglas when they first got him, he was
making plays on the ball.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
Oh man.

Speaker 2 (40:12):
But it was pretty apparent last year that there were
some play speed issues, whether it was mental mentally processing
a play or just physically unable to stay in a
play because of the lack of foot speed. And so
when I went back and looked at a bunch of
these third downs, he just kept popping in a bad
way on the screen right here, top up top again

(40:33):
Jayalen Wattle, I get it. But he literally did not
deter any type of release or route here by Wattle.
Waddle just ran around him and then back to the
middle field for the easy completion again third down. Too
easy of a release, no deterrent by Rassell Douglas at
or near the line of scrimmage, and no foot speed

(40:54):
to get back into the hip or to make this
that much more difficult. He was not able to chase
that hip as Wattle's coming over the mill. He was
not able to chase a hip because the lack of
foot speed, and too is able to put it in
there for the first down.

Speaker 1 (41:08):
And this is one, you know, not a third and
long this time third and you know relatively you know,
manageable here about you know, five yards opposite up front
that we've seen for a lot of these. Von Miller
wins almost instantly on this spin move against the right tackle.
He is there to heat up tour with pressure. So
there's a good example, right, there's a quick pressure. You

(41:30):
got a guy who is bearing down on an immobile
quarterback or at best a quarterback who does not like
to move and doesn't succeed on the move. But two
was able to be bailed out because he's in the NFL.
That's a wide open guy. And like you said, just
Douglas does nothing to determine that was We talked about
it going into free agency. His I don't know if

(41:51):
he was hurt all year or if it's just the
miles on the tires or if it's age or whatever,
but this is a good example. Like his hips look
so tight and like he's just he.

Speaker 2 (42:00):
Gets frozen stops right there, like it just that's he's done.
There's no way he's recovering.

Speaker 1 (42:05):
And he was a weapon on third down last year
and man end zone, like he was the guy who
knew that Okay, we're we're making this rusher, we're doing this.
I'm just gonna sit right at the sticks, I'm jumping,
I'm getting to pick I'm getting a PBu And instead
he's a guy. Oh this one is is filthy, but yeah,
he's just getting picked on. A bit.

Speaker 2 (42:22):
So I mean, hypothetically, if you're putting Max Harrison down
here on third down and you're running man and man coverage,
does he have the footspeed to chase the wide receiver
on this he doesn't really get picked off. Douglas doesn't
really get picked off here. You know, he should have
some help over the top, you know, but you'd like
to see Camlwis stay over the top to deter that throw.

(42:43):
But you can see that Douglas doesn't have the footspeed
to stay with the wide receiver there, and again another
third down is completed.

Speaker 1 (42:50):
Yeah, and I say this one was filthy because it's
just it's that little rub from that underneath route that
just forces It's that tiny little slip that Douglas has
to do. He's not it's gonna be tough for him
to stay with ad Mitchell, even if there is no obstruction.
But in that tiny little slip and bank like, look
at the separation it creates. And then you know, the

(43:12):
guys over the top make Mitchell slow down. But if
that doesn't happen, Mitchell is out like Douglas is not
catching him. And exactly your point, you know, maybe this
is why you get a corner who can run in
the four twos, who can stay with these kind of
guys who if somebody's trying to run away from him,
he's okay staying with them or avoiding and you know,
being a little athletic and getting back in face.

Speaker 2 (43:32):
Yeah, here's another play by Douglas against the Dolphins, bottom
of the screen in man coverage. Bill's a show pressure
but then just an easy speed out. It's just there's
he can't stay with any you know, any of the
receivers that have speed on the Dolphins. Look how he
just jumps inside and just look at the separation. It
just uncontested. And this one's a third and long play,

(43:55):
you know, in Bill's territory. Just it was frustrating to
go to see how often this happened against Douglas. When
I love Douglas coming out of college. I loved him
when he was in Green Bay. I love when the
Bills got him. I thought he was a good fit
for the Bill's scheme. But in these high leveled situations
when the Bills did want to go to man coverage,
you saw him struggle in one on one coverage.

Speaker 1 (44:17):
And this one is I remember this one from the
season and watching it, you know, in prep for this episode,
like you mentioned he jumps inside and him calling things
out at the beginning. I don't know if he thought
something else was coming, but he jumps so far inside.

(44:37):
He's completely out leveraged on the outside against the receiver
with more foot speed than him, and so like his
positioning is questionable to be. But then on top of it,
I'm like, okay, say he jumps inside on purpose because
he knows the out is coming. He gets beat at
the top of the route, like he doesn't know what's coming,
and then he doesn't have the foot speed to close
down on it, like you said, like it's just it's

(44:58):
all bad. He jumps inside and is dead from there.
Wattle just continues. His stem gets upfield, little shimmy bank,
he's out that little speed out and then Wattle, he's
fast as hell anyway, transitions really well out of his breaks.
You're dead all because that initial body position, and you
know we're sitting here talking about you know, we want
more man, we want more of this. There's part of

(45:19):
the reason why they potentially couldn't have done that last
year and why they may be changed body types at
these positions.

Speaker 2 (45:24):
No doubt here he is on the backside of play.
Really bad field conditions. Backside, you know, it's a four
by one formation, and again cannot read the hips at
the top of the route and you see Jennings separate.
This is too easy for a third down play. Again,
this is more of a third and manageable and bad
conditions obviously, you see him at the top of the route.

(45:45):
Receiver is able to snap that off and party is
able to put it on him for the first down.

Speaker 1 (45:50):
Yeah, and it's you know, before anybody gets in, it's like,
oh the snow and the poor footing. Even if you
use that look at the separation that's created on the break.
Jennings cells the bang right there, Like even if it's
beautiful outside or they're playing in a dome. Douglas got
beat Like Jennings completely fooled him. And you know it's
funny Thomas in the previous comment of the previous place,

(46:13):
and when speed isn't your thing and you're playing tight man,
how about getting some hands on the wide receiver and
throwing off the timing. Douglas had some hands on Jennings here,
and he's still lost him at the top of the route,
and yes, the snow probably didn't help him the footing
in his recovery. But he's again like beat on the
back side of the play, like you said, gets hands on,

(46:33):
he's he's right there in phase and then he loses
him right at the break.

Speaker 2 (46:38):
Yeah, it's frustrating man. And again the third down struggles
were probably the biggest, you know, type of things that
really stood out. And we're not done as at least
one or two more plays here top of the screen,
and this is more of a play outside of a structure,
but this is a big play to Worthy. You see
him break on the ball from off coverage. Great job there,

(47:00):
but then Asthma Homes escapes the pressure and is able
to get the pass off, you see the separation by Worthy.
Of course gonna happen often against Douglas and Cole Bishop
I thought did a very good job of getting over
the top. And some could argue this is an interception,
but you just see he was not able to accelerate
to get back into the play. Maybe not necessarily make

(47:22):
a play on the ball, but make that catch that
much more difficult. Bill's fans seven eight eight three said
Douglas got old really fast, and it's hard for me
to show all these clips to you guys and not
agree to a certain extent or a certain degree.

Speaker 1 (47:34):
Yeah, and you know, as Ky Morey says, you know,
Douglas was good in run support, but his coverage skills
were not enjoyable to watch last season. Yeah, Like he
was fine coming forward and blitz in and playing as
a forced player on the outside, heady player.

Speaker 2 (47:45):
He's a smart player. He was calling out formations and
tendencies and plays and all that. I'll give him that
for sure, but.

Speaker 1 (47:50):
You could tell that he just in space and in coverage,
like we said, like, he just he just looked tight,
slow footed. You know it's funny too. I remember when
play happened. It worked out so well that I was like,
was this a purposeful like whipping up? Like are they
trying to? And I was like, it just works out
so smooth with Worthy going inside, slamming on the brakes,

(48:13):
and then how he just immediately spins and gets up field,
and then he does a really good key on Coleman
impression in climbing the ladder and going up to get it.
I still I still can't believe cole Bishop didn't punch
the ball out or that that was complete. Like I
was just there's no a yeah, And maybe if Douglas
is able to get recovered a little bit and getting
phased a little bit, maybe it's a different piece.

Speaker 2 (48:32):
So you know, I was kind of picking on Terror
and I was kind of picking on Russool. But I
want to cap off this this film break down. Excuse
me by saying, I do think all these issues and
nitpicking really comes down to coaching. I do think Babbage
there was one area he went back and looked at.
It had to be third downs, it had to be
third and lungs, and some of the calls that he had,

(48:54):
like this one right at the twenty yard line. But
essentially the Bills have to make a stop here. The
rams aren't empty, and they run a cover zero blitz
and all Stafford does is check to a screen and
you see him just get it out. It's set up beautifully,
and that ends a game like that was way too
aggressive versus McVeigh. That was way too aggressive versus Stafford.

(49:17):
And I thought that Stafford dissected Babbage and McVeigh dissected
Babbage on this day, and I think this was the
play that really capitalized and really showed us that. Okay,
they were hands down way more prepared if you're talking
Bill's defense versus the Rams offense.

Speaker 1 (49:37):
Yeah, this Uh. I had watched this game back from
the Bills defense perspective, this one in the rate and
the Lions one, because they were back to back in
conjunction with one another, just in some run defense things
I was studying. But I watched the whole game, and
they the Bills run the back foot from the beginning.
The Rams are just running duo and split zone and
displacing the Bills left and right, so and then the
Bills are trying to add numbers to the box and

(49:58):
trying to run blitz and blitz in general a little
it more, and then they're getting caught out with a
variety of past concepts and jet sweeps and things. And
like you said, this is a great one here like
Stafford sees it, he can. It feels like so much
of this game, like we keep talking about these highlights,
was like like you said, mccabeing superpared or Stafford seeing
something and knowing and this is just this is too easy,

(50:20):
and like the Rams do stuff like this like all
the time. That's part of it. Too, right, Like if
you show this look, they're going to check like that.

Speaker 2 (50:29):
Yeah, yeah, I don't have I don't really have muchaco.
It's just got to be like, okay, Bernard, you gotta
get out in the cover two or something, because again,
this is third down, guys, this is third down with
essentially the game online, and the Bills needed that stop there. Yeah,
and again just McVeigh and Stafford were a step ahead

(50:49):
and they were able to capitalize on that, and so
it was no surprise really. That was a frustrating game obviously,
but it was a great season. I do overall as
a team, it was a great season. But I think
third down and third down struggles, third and seven, you know,
seven plus, I think that is the area that they

(51:09):
need to be a lot better. You know, when we
talked to the players like Bernard and Rousseau, they said, yeah,
they they got to do better on early downs. It's tough, man,
because they did a good job of getting these opposing
offenses in the third and longs and the pre to
postnet picture was just too easy. The pass rush wasn't
getting home. Passes were being completed. As I said, like

(51:31):
the Bills surrendered a sixty seven percent completion percentage on
third downs that was the worst in the league. And again,
completion percentage, you're like, oh, okay, that's kind of a
basic raws stat. Yes, but that's just showing you that
the opposing offense was completing passes on third downs at
a high clip getting the first Yeah, were they were

(51:52):
they getting the first that's to be determined, all that
advanced metrics saying, yeah, they did convert a lot of
those into first downs. So it just gives you an
idea painted picture. As you said that, how much the
Bills did struggle in third down situations.

Speaker 1 (52:04):
Yeah, it was a really glaring issue on this team
that was prevalent throughout the year. And you know when
you put the film together with the metrics and you
can honestly pick either of them siloed and not even
combine them and still be able to get a pretty
good picture in a good sense. Yeah, it was just
a really ugly vulnerability for this team that never really
got corrected as the season went on. And it's even

(52:26):
more so frustrating watching so many teams that are getting
creative with their coverage spins and what they're doing, like
all the Tampa to invert or Tampa too robber. However,
everybody wants to verbalize it, but the creative ways they're
getting to coverages and split field stuff that they're doing.
And for a team that's been creative with their stuff,
like the Bills with what they do. We talked about
it with the you know, Tyreek Hill saying the Bills

(52:48):
only play cover four and there are a bunch of bitches.
It's like, no, actually they don't just do that. But
you might think that because of the how creative and
good they are in coverage, right, And we just did
not see that in these high I leverage moments consistently.
And it wasn't like all this one game they got burned. No,
was it was consistent. Whatever metric you're using, even if
it's just basic third down conversion rate, they were poor.

(53:11):
And then when you bucket it or expand it and extrapolate,
it just gets worse and worse. And again I think,
you know, you have to hang your head on them
at them self scouting and knowing that this was a
weakness and trying to fix it, and whether it's having
more juice up front to win and get home, or
it's some more juice on the back end, or ideally

(53:32):
a combination and a marriage of both between the coverage
and the pass rush. It's something that you're going to
die a very slow and painful death if you can
knot get off the field on third down defense, especially
when you got this juggernaut kind of of an offense
on the other side and you can't get in the ball.
It's it's going to be a tremendous nightmare for this
team if they can't correct it.

Speaker 2 (53:52):
And that's why we talked about the additions when it
comes to personnel, but it also ties back to some
of the addition in the coaching staff and how they
may help. We've talked about it several times offseason. It's
it's almost worn out at this point by adding a
guy like Ryan Nielsen. We showed you some plays in
the last a few breakdowns of you know, him disguising

(54:13):
sin pressures, putting guys up near line of scrimmage like
the Bills did against that Rams game, but then popping
out and only rushing four and really heating up opposing
quarterbacks to picture post snap wasn't as easy to decipher,
and he was able to affect the quarterback in some
of those clips we showed from the Falcons days when
he was a defensive coordinator. You talk about adding the

(54:34):
assistant the D line coach in Jason Rebovich, you know,
helping that D line, helping Marcus West and that coaching
staff coach up the pass rushers, that being added to
the roster. And then of course you know Mike Pellegrino,
who is very well respected across the league coming over
from the Patriots. And I remember, I think it was
mc dermott who said that he has always respected him

(54:57):
and the packages that he developed in New England about
how they disguise certain coverages pre to postnap and so
to me, that always stuck with me. And so while
he may be coaching the Nickels, he's going to have
certain jobs and roles when it comes to game plan strategy,
when it comes to watching film on opponents, when it
comes to being on the sideline or up in the

(55:18):
booth during the game, what he's seeing and how they
can marry the run in the past, but more importantly,
marry all of the coverages to look the same pre
to post snap, holding that quarterback's eyes a little bit longer,
so then maybe the rush does get home or vice versa,
confusing them post snap the quarterback, you know, post snap,
and then now the rush is able to get home.

(55:39):
So it's again it's a marriage thing. It's a pass
rush thing, it's a coverage thing and bringing them together.
But it's not just a personnel, it's also the coaching staff,
and I understand it. Like Bobby Babbage, I think he's
got a future, but this area that we covered tonight
was definitely the area that he has the most work
to do. I believe he's self scouted in many ways,

(56:00):
will have better answers this year as a second year
in DC.

Speaker 1 (56:05):
I'm very interested to see everything with this defense. I
you know, Babbage in year two, the corrections on third down,
how the new additions from free agency and the draft fit.
I really just think there's some good and not not
necessarily good and like oh fun good, but good in
like oh kind of way. Questions that need to be answered,

(56:26):
Like I want to know what the safety tantems look like,
what the corner two spot looks like, what the defensive
line rotation looks like during the suspensions, during the injuries,
because all of it ties into and I think that's
what frustrates me a bit. All of it ties into
what they're going to be able to get to and
what they're going to be able to do, and I
want to know how much of it is like, well,

(56:46):
we're limited because three of our defensive ends are hurt
right now, or you know, we feel limited on the interior,
or you know, our safeties don't compliment each other tremendously,
so we can only do this, or Max Harriston's hurts,
we're rolling with Dane or Tray at CB two or something.
I want to see as much of the complete picture
as I can, and I think that will come from

(57:09):
obviously having like that, everybody being healthy and then being
able to pick whatever they want to do. I want
there to be no questions in terms of, well, maybe
they couldn't run this because they felt they didn't have
the horses for it. I don't want to worry about
any of that because I think, like we've highlighted this episode,
like you talked about there does need to be schematic
changes on this defense. We've talked about it for a
couple of years, right, Like we've talked about the wrinkles

(57:31):
and what we'd like to see more in tweaks, not
a holistic, you know, wholesale change to the defensive ideology
or philosophy, but the struggles that we keep seeing for
this Bill's defense, especially come playoffs time. Yes, injuries have
played a role there, but their concerns and struggles and
vulnerabilities that we've talked about for several years, and they

(57:51):
gotta rage them at some point. And you know, I
think the addition of Nielsen and Pellegrino, like we've talked
about this offseason, are a really positive potential step in
that direction towards moving again. They're not going to change
your complete identity. This isn't going to become some crazy,
blitz happy, you know, three four hybrid defense, but just

(58:12):
some tweaks here and there, a little more man coverage,
some more sims, some more creepers, anything to create doubt
in a better way for quarterbacks and offenses because they've
I don't know if I want to say this, they've
gotten a bit stale on defense and especially in these
high leverage moments. And I don't know, they can't keep
relying on turnovers. But I've been saying that for the

(58:32):
last three years, and every year they keep being amazing
they get taking the ball away, so like, I don't.

Speaker 2 (58:36):
Know, like it's it's it's gonna be pretty much, but
everything else they've been terrible at.

Speaker 1 (58:41):
Yeah, it's it also even more so shows how much
you know, takeaways matter. But yeah, I imagine if if
this is the year that the turnovers finally regressed to
the mean, they gotta they got to correct for that
by being able to marriage marry more of the coverage
and passers or somebody's got to step up, either the
coverage or the pass firsh unit. Oh, it's gonna be

(59:03):
a very fun training camp and preseason and regular season,
and there's no rest for the weary as they open
up with Baltimore and who man, good times.

Speaker 2 (59:12):
I'm excited. No, I'm excited too. Man. Camp's right around
the corner, and you know, before camp starts, before the
season starts, guys become a Cover one insider. You'll get
a d kal a T shirt made by twenty six Shirts.
You get you know, exclusive content, you get access more
importantly to the Cover One discord with all of our
insiders that they're talking football as we speak. They're watching

(59:33):
the film channel, they're in the analytics channel, there's fantasy
football leagues. There's a channel for everything there. We don't
really push you know this a lot our premium content
enough honestly, But all the stuff that you saw tonight,
whether it's the telestration, the stats that we rattled off
at the beginning, just us being live right now wouldn't

(59:55):
be done if we didn't have the support of our
Cover one insiders. So jumping jump to Cover one dot
Football and sign out to become an insider for this
year by Chris's Fantasy football draft guide. Dude put in work.
It is an in depth guide. It's nineteen bucks. It's
on the website. If you're already an insider, send me

(01:00:16):
a message and we can work it out that way.
As far as when it comes to getting it sent
to you the link sent to you, we have a
lot to offer. We're a grassroots company. Of course, we
appreciate eOne tuning in live, but as I said, man,
we couldn't do this, any of this stuff without you guys.
And we're ready for another season of covering this team.

(01:00:37):
It's been a fun few years for us, and I'm
excited for what's on the horizon, including some new podcasts
and some new ideas when it comes to film, when
it comes to guests coming on. So if you're not
an insider, get to Cover One dot Football and join.

Speaker 1 (01:00:53):
Us absolutely, And you know, we we're so grateful and
appreciative of all of the support that comes our way,
whether it's alike or subscription, or rating or a review
or just word of mouth, whatever it is. But you know,
the the Cover One insiders have a special place. Everyone
has a special place in our heart, but them even

(01:01:14):
more so for just what their insider membership does for us.
And Eric, you hit it on the head, like we
especially you and I. Everything that we do from a
film and a stats perspective, we comb through different things
that we are subscribed to and members for as a
brand to be able to put these things together. And sometimes,
you know, this episode, we pull stuff from this site

(01:01:35):
because it's better for this and sometimes we're pulling it
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this specific area we're looking for. There's there's a lot
of elements that happen behind the scenes that we would
not be able to do without the you know, support
of everyone in general, but especially the insider. So yeah,
if you're if you are craving, you know that membership

(01:01:56):
and again all the added content and pieces that come
with it, communication that comes with it. Sign up and
we appreciate the hell out of you. And if you
need anything along the way, questions, thoughts, commons, concerns, Get
at us on Twitter, Get at us on Social find
Eric Eric runs. You know the cover one handle so
at covering the number one, so cover one. We also
have Eric's individual channel which is our handle Eric at

(01:02:17):
Eric j Turner. And then we've also got the film
room channel just cover one film room. Yeah right, this
faddy that we can find myself at pro Underscore Underscore
and a lot of pieces of neat questions answered or support,
whatever you got get at us in any way, shape
or form that you can. Thank you very much.

Speaker 2 (01:02:36):
Yeah, thank you to all of you guys. But also
thanks to Joe DeRosa and the chat. He's our producer.
He helps us pre and post production when it comes
to this show. He's been with us for the last
year and uh he's been a huge help to us
as well. And it again, this is a very taxing
show when we're live, but it's probably even more taxing
during the week. When we're setting it up, whether it

(01:02:58):
comes to again setting up the stream, finding graphics, finding
the film, uploading this, uploading that.

Speaker 1 (01:03:05):
And then in the season in season two, like so
we're working our day jobs. I'm having to get through
all the film plan the episode. We're like figuring out
what we're gonna do. I also do a show on
Tuesday in addition to do in the film room. Like
so you do the added like video usually the day
after games. So Joe is an absolute godsend for what

(01:03:25):
we Yeah, he says, appreciated fellas almost that by one
thousand questions, asked Eric.

Speaker 2 (01:03:33):
No, and hey, he's come such a long way. We
already have him training someone else and creating SOLP for
the producer for our new show real quick. We're gonna
be having a new show typically on Mondays of the
day after the games with Seal Capaccio from w GR,
obviously a sideline reporter for the Bills as well. During
the get the Games, he and I will be doing

(01:03:54):
a show called Turf to Tape where we take some
of the film observations, some of the side line press
conference type nuggets that he's able to accrue and garner
thanks to his credentialed media and so it's gonna be
a fun episode that each Monday or gay days after

(01:04:14):
the game that we're gonna be breaking down into the
games and just having some different commentary on the game
and what happened. So that should be fun. I'm excited
about that for the next year. And we brought on
a new sponsor for that show show. I'm sure you
guys know, especially if you live in Western New York,
who thin Man Brewery is. They are on board as
the sponsor for the entire season. So Man seasons here. Man,

(01:04:38):
We're going like I'll be going to camp here in
a couple of weeks. In the scrimmage. I'm ready. I'm
ready to get some new film. I'm ready to get
some new analysis. And I'm sick of some of the
stories that we've had to talk about for months now.
It just we're almost there, Anthony, We're almost there.

Speaker 1 (01:04:54):
So close. I'm so tired of I keep going back
to like watching tape, just things that I like from
the season, Like I've watched so much like Buccaneers offense
tape and Packers offense tape because I'm just like I
need to watch something, but there's nothing to watch because
there's nothing here, So I'm very excited.

Speaker 2 (01:05:12):
Yeah, the season is here.

Speaker 1 (01:05:13):
We're so close, so very close, and we appreciate everyone
for riding with us through the entirety of this off season.
As Joe says in the comments, camp is near, nature
is healing. Yes, we are very very very close. And yeah,
thank you to everyone who rode with us this offseason.
Thank you everyone who wrote with us this episode. We
greatly appreciate it. Whether you're watching this episode live or
watching it later on YouTube, please drop a mike on

(01:05:34):
this video. Likes so the lifeblood of these streams. You're
listening on one of the podcasting apps or platforms, that's
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Cover one Film room wherever you are listening to this show.
If you enjoyed this episode or enjoyed this content, tell
your family, friends, loved ones. As we you know Eric
mentioned earlier, grassroots company and everything we've done is been organic,

(01:05:56):
so word of mouth is still tremendously, tremendously important to us.
Check out all the multitude of content across the Cover
one channel, especially as the season starts to get rolling.
Will I have you covered pretty much every single day
of the week with a variety of forms of content.
Whatever your poison is for the Bills or football, we
have you covered here at Cover One.

Speaker 2 (01:06:16):
Eric.

Speaker 1 (01:06:16):
Anything for the folks before we say go bye.

Speaker 2 (01:06:18):
No, that was a good show. Like I said, I'm
just ready for camp man, I'm ready for some actual football.
I want to see them, you know hitting that. Just
can't wait, dude, I can't wait. Thanks for joining us, guys,
so very close.

Speaker 1 (01:06:29):
Thanks for joining us, guys. We appreciate you, folks. If
vidia a thing, get at us on the socials, comment
on YouTube, comment in the discord, and yeah, we appreciate you, folks,
and we hope you and your family and friends and
loved ones are all doing well and staying safe. Be
kind to one another, take care of one another. We
will see you when we see you. For myself, Anthony
pro Haska. For the godfather and founder of Cover one,

(01:06:52):
mister Eric Turner, this has been another episode of the
Cover one Film Room. Godspeed and as always, go Bills. Okay,
just

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Will Coaching, Talent Upgrades Fix the Bills' Third Down Issues? | Film Room

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Will Coaching, Talent Upgrades Fix the Bills' Third Down Issues? | Film Room