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NFL AM: Bills Defensive Linemen Unhappy With Scheme
The Bills are square pegs in round holes; Landry Jones should start on Sunday; Fred Jackson crashes, but is okay.
Bills defensive linemen unhappy with scheme:
The Buffalo Bills are starting to come down to Earth after a hot start that had some believing they might be one of the best teams in football.
One of the team’s issues is that the defense that many expected to dominate after shutting down Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts in Week 1, hasn’t looked as dominant since. One issue is that the front-4, which is the team’s best unit hasn’t been as dominant, and the team has only recorded nine sacks while 23 other teams have at least 10.
The Bills led the NFL in sacks a season ago, and when it comes to why the team is toward the bottom half of the league so far this season, defensive end Mario Williams clearly believes the team’s defensive schemes are not helping.
“The biggest difference I see, you look at the last few years and obviously our numbers, to speak of the guys in our room, the D-line, we’re going,” Williams told NFL.com after Sunday’s loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. “We’re playing the run, we’re playing the pass. When you look at the numbers from last year and compare them to this year, we’re dropping a lot.”
The comments made it clear that while there’s a lot of optimism in Buffalo right now, there are players on the defense that believe they could be used in a more productive way.
“It’s simple, those four guys, no matter what else we do, y’all are going,” Williams explained. “I know for a fact, and I’m not questioning anything, but I know for a fact, I drop a lot myself. And I think last week, watching the film, Kyle dropped six-, seven-plus (times). You can go down the line and say the same thing. Marcell (Dareus) typically doesn’t, but Jerry does. You got guys that you’re saying gotta be disruptive and get after the quarterback.
“It might not even mean being aggressive. It’s just, us four, we need to go. I mean, we have a lot at stake because of who we are, who we’ve been, the amount of money this team put in up front. You gotta let ’em go, or what’s the point of it?”
While Williams refused to say that he and his teammates would ask for change, it’s obvious he thinks change is necessary, and his teammate Marcel Dareus made it clear that Williams isn’t the only one when speaking at an NFL Play 60 event in London on Tuesday.
“Hey, like [Williams] said, they pay us a lot of money,” the Bills $100 million defensive tackle said. “And we want to use our talents the best way we know how. If we’re going to be dropping we don’t want to get questions about not getting sacks. That’s just how it is.
“We want to make some plays,” Dareus explained. “We don’t want fans looking at us crazy. We like making plays. We like getting sacks, just being out there exerting a lot of energy and having fun.”
Right now the Bills aren’t having a lot of fun on the defensive front, and the group can’t seem to figure out why they’re spending so much time in coverage. However, while the group is hoping they’ll be allowed to pin their ears back and get after the quarterback, Dareus knows there’s only one guy who can change the play calling.
“Hopefully Rex is going to implement it. There’s nothing we can do.”
Ryan’s innovative defensive schemes have been lauded for being the reason why Ryan’s Jets often played the New England Patriots so closely, despite usually coming out on the wrong end of those matchups.
So the question becomes, will Ryan be willing to adjust?
While the Bills pass rush is off to a slow start, it is important to point out that the team has faced some very good quarterbacks in Tom Brady, Andrew Luck, Eli Manning and Andy Dalton, with teams in the Patriots, New York Giants and Tennessee Titans that put a heavy emphasis on getting rid of the ball quickly.
Some of the Bills issues may be with the scheme they’re running, but it also comes from the match-ups they’ve faced. The good news is they still have the best personnel in football when it comes to the defensive line. Now they just have to figure out how to start getting the results they expect from that unit.
Pittsburgh Steelers preparing to start Landry Jones:
While the Pittsburgh Steelers prepare for their Week-7 battle in Kansas City, the team is unsure if Ben Roethlisberger or backup quarterback Michael Vick will be ready to go.
While the team is obviously eagerly anticipating the return of Roethlisberger, it probably shouldn’t waste its time worrying about when the latter will be back.
If nothing leading up to Sunday’s victory over the Arizona Cardinals hadn’t convinced you that Vick has no business in the NFL, Sunday’s game should have sealed the deal. There was nothing more absurd on Sunday than listening to the game broadcast, and hearing how Landry Jones allowed the Steelers to open up more of the playbook than Vick did.
If a veteran quarterback who’s more mobile than the inexperienced young man behind him who has never taken a snap can’t allow you to use more of the playbook, what is he doing out there? How is that even possible?
Regardless of whether or not Vick is ready to go on Sunday, if Roethlisberger is not, the Steelers need to hand the ball to Jones. It’s foolish to think Vick is a better option at this point, and Jones’ play against one of the league’s better defenses Sunday proved it.
Arizona would have likely gone on to beat the Steelers on Sunday if not for the play of Jones, and it would be a complete failure in decision making to not hand him the reins again against Kansas City if Roethlisberger is unready to go.
Fred Jackson uninjured after car accident leaving practice:
Fred Jackson was uninjured Tuesday when he crashed his black Corvette leaving practice. Jackson lost control of his car, eventually striking a large planter box and a stop sign before coming to a stop.
Jackson spoke to police at the scene before being taken back to the Seattle Seahawks facility to be checked for injuries.
TMZ had reported that Jackson hit the planter box and stop sign as a result of drag racing teammate Marshawn Lynch, but Renton police weren’t convinced that was the case.
“As of this time, there is no indication that Jackson was racing another vehicle,” Renton police said in a statement. “He remained on scene until officers could speak to him. He was polite and cooperative.”
Nothing to see here looky-loos.
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