Buffalo Bills defense generating pressure without racking up the sacks
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick once said, “Stats are for losers.’’ On Wednesday, he came pretty close to saying, “Sacks are for losers.’’
Rex Ryan inherited a Buffalo Bills defense that had been the most productive pass-rushing defense in the NFL for the two years prior to his arrival. With 57 sacks in 2013 (second-most in the NFL) and 54 in 2014 (league-best), the Bills defense figured to get even better with the arrival of one of the best defensive minds of our generation.
Fast forward to Week 11 of the 2015 season, and things have not gone exactly as expected. The Bills have reached the quarterback just 14 times this season, the fourth-fewest sacks for any defense in the NFL this year.
But if you ask Belichick, that’s not the best indication of the Bills’ ability to create pressure on defense.
“They do a good job defensively, I think [sacks are] a great stat for the media and the fans,’’ Belichick said on Wednesday. “I don’t think that’s really what it’s all about.’’
Ryan’s defense is all about the exotic pressure packages. According to Pro Football Focus, the Bills have sent a blitz after the quarterback on 132 of 377 opponent dropbacks (35 percent), and have generated pressure on 129 opponent dropbacks (34.2 percent). Those are respectable numbers that fall right around the middle of the pack in the NFL.
It’s all about the different rushers the Bills use, the different packages, the numbers, the angles, the overload blitzes, the details that sometimes get glossed over in the box score.
“They’ve got a lot of good players,’’ Belichick said. “They pressure, so it’s not just the defensive linemen, you’ve got to block the linebackers, the secondary blitzers, so it’s challenging.’’
The Patriots had a hard enough time blocking a straight four-man rush on Sunday against the New York Giants; the Giants blitzed 11 times on Brady’s 46 dropbacks, but got pressure 18 times (39.1 percent). In Week 2, Tom Brady was under pressure on just 12 of his 61 dropbacks (19.8 percent), but that was with a full complement of offensive linemen.
Things could get interesting against the Bills on Monday night, with fresh faces all over the Patriots’ offensive front.
Photos: 12 great things Rex Ryan said about the Patriots
[bdc-gallery id=”113344″]
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com