Few steals, few sacks, fewer wins for Bills

By Anthony Bialy  |   Tuesday, November 18, 2008  |  Comments( 146 )

Buffalo Bills
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Life is already rough for the Buffalo Bills’ defenders: They were without the services of Aaron Schobel and Ashton Youboty at the beginning of the game against the Cleveland Browns on Monday and without Donte Whitner and Jabari Greer by the end, all while having to attempt to overcome quarterback Trent Edwards’ continued slide toward oblivion.

Unfortunately, even though they’ve held up fairly well under trying circumstances, they’re going to have to display more ruthlessness: This unit needs to do more than occasionally contain opponents and instead impose its will by forcing big plays, something it has not done nearly enough. Worse, they sometimes don’t even pull off any big moments at all.

Take their last game. While Buffalo’s offense notably lost the ball four times against the Browns, almost as alarming is the fact that the turnover margin for the game was minus-4: The defense couldn’t manage a takeaway on the evening. That’s nothing new, as the Bills have only totaled five interceptions in 2008 while picking up nine fumbles; 14 turnovers forced in 10 games is evidence that this defense feebly permits other teams to keep the ball until they get into the end zone or kick it.

And the fact they only managed to take down Cleveland quarterback Brady Quinn once reflects a season-long unimpressive tendency; their 15 sacks tie them for 27th in the NFL with the Washington Redskins. They’re OK in total defense with 312 yards per game, good for 13th best, but their inability to initiate game-changing incidents is what’s preventing them from being considered a truly effective unit, much less dominant.

Such a play would have tipped the balance permanently in the team’s favor Monday night. As poorly as Edwards played, the Bills could have spent this week discussing how they dodged a bullet discharged by their own offense if either safety Ko Simpson or cornerback Leodis McKelvin had intercepted a pass when presented with the possibility on Cleveland’s final scoring drive. Instead, they settled for good breakups instead of great interceptions before letting their foe take the lead for good on the drive.

Despite not exploiting chances for turnovers at that crucial juncture, the defenders played well in some regards. For example, 22 of Quinn’s 36 passes fell incomplete. Plus, tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. was held to 40 yards on three catches, while wideout Braylon Edwards’ 104 yards on eight receptions looks good even though he was kept quiet through long phases; either he consumed his 5-Hour Energy shot too late before the game or Terrence McGee did a decent job with a tough assignment, even factoring in the receiver’s drops.

But limiting one aspect of an opponent’s performance isn’t enough, as the Bills must pilfer footballs, too. If this franchise wants to maintain its ludicrously faded postseason hopes, the focus must be on holding on to passes thrown by enemy quarterbacks, not merely knocking them away or even just barely letting them touch the playing surface.

Jarring the ball from rushers and then pouncing on the loose object of course works, too, and the important thing is that slowing foes is only a decent start: They have to be both aggressive and swift enough to give their troubled offense two or three free possessions per game. Short of that, setting back drives with sacks would help, too, and either way the Bills have come to learn that they must display more than unspectacular competence.
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