Buffalo Bills are developing a worrisome trend that could derail their NFL playoff dreams
Injuries on the defensive side of the ball are clearly starting to mount for the Buffalo Bills. Over the last three weeks, the banged up unit has struggled mightily.One thing stands out above the rest, and that's the defense's inability to get off the field on third downs. It's becoming a trend at the absolute […]
Injuries on the defensive side of the ball are clearly starting to mount for the Buffalo Bills. Over the last three weeks, the banged up unit has struggled mightily.
One thing stands out above the rest, and that's the defense's inability to get off the field on third downs. It's becoming a trend at the absolute worst time.
Ranked 30th in third down defense, the Buffalo Bills have allowed their last three opponents to convert a whopping 60% of their opportunities.
Yes, the injuries matter, but it's hard to separate the injuries from the school and the player execution, but that inability to stop offenses, especially when they get them into third and long situations, is creating major issues for the Bills.
In their game against the Patriots, Josh Allen and the Bills offense only had one single possession in the entire first quarter, in large part because the defense couldn't control the line of scrimmage, and the Patriots effectively drained the clock. New England got a touchdown on both of their first two drives, with the second taking a whopping 16 plays and 9:57 off the game clock.
"They had some third down conversions against the defense, that should never happen," Bills' head coach Sean McDermott said after the game. "And third and long in particular, seven or so, seven plus, so the rush and coverage have to work better together there. Look, there's some young players out there too. They're going to learn from some of those situations and experiences. So, we move forward and make the adjustments we need to make."
The Patriots continued the recent trend, converting seven of 12 third downs, despite their average distance to go on third downs being 6.83 yards.
Buffalo has to figure out how to get off the field when they can, especially in third and long situations. If they can't, they're going to have a hard time in the playoffs when it matters most.
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