The Buffalo Bills’ defensive line has been dominant through the first five weeks of the 2022 season. With their offseason additions of Von Miller and DaQuan Jones, they set the tone early by opening up against the Los Angeles Rams and getting to Matthew Stafford seven times.
This defense has accumulated 13 sacks in the month of September, and they are on pace to double that number by the end of October. This is a big difference from this time last year — in 2021, the Bills were averaging 2.5 sacks per game, but this year, they are averaging 3.2.
These numbers last year were from blitzing at a 26.0% rate (according to Pro Football Reference), this year they are averaging at 13.5%. The Bills are getting more sacks, and blitzing less.
To put it simply, the Bills have a much more dominant front four. Last year, they were taking away players from their secondary to pressure the quarterback.
Let’s dive into the film to diagnose how this Bills defense has improved and increased their production from last year to this year, especially as this defense prepares to face Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.
Offseason additions
“We like to go fast. We like to do what we do… Mindsets really separate good teams from other good teams.” — Von Miller
Von Miller elevates this defensive line from the moment the ball is snapped.
Von Miller does a great job of anticipating this snap.. pic.twitter.com/pjZk5Q7LZU
— Erik Turner (@ErikJTurner) October 11, 2022
Miller has a total of 17 pressures, and he’s winning at a 26.7%-win percentage (according to PFF). In week 4, against the Baltimore Ravens, Miller had five pressures, one sack in 21 pass rushes: ending with a 23.8% pressure rate.
This helped the Bills come back from a 17-point deficit in the second half.
The Ravens were looking to put away the Bills, but on third-and-16 in the second quarter, Miller took the bull by the horns and prevented Lamar Jackson from getting a first down with his feet.
On the right side of the screen, Miller bends the edge against Ravens right tackle Morgan Moses.
Another addition who has been a stud on the Bills defense is DaQuan Jones. According to PFF, in pass rushers who have played in 50% of 199 pass rush snaps, Jones is the 11th ranked interior defensive lineman.
If that isn’t convincing, Seth Walder of ESPN released a double team rate x pass rush win rate chart, and look who is one of the most dominant.
You guessed it, Jones.
This clip is an example of the double teams that are forcing quarterbacks to hand off the run-pass option and forcing ball carriers to bounce it outside.
DaQuan Jones completely gums this play up. pic.twitter.com/53ey45nly1
— Erik Turner (@ErikJTurner) October 11, 2022
Miller and Jones have been a big enough force on this defense to bring the pressure up front without taking away any players from the second level of the defense.
After checking the ‘time to throw’ on Next Gen Stats, the Bills have only given quarterbacks an average of 2.7 seconds in the pocket before they are forced to throw the ball.
Earlier this year, PFF named the Bills defensive line one of the most improved groups in 2022.
Let’s move onto the line as a whole and diagnose how they are getting to the quarterback with pressure from all four down linemen.
Front four!
As mentioned earlier, the Bills are blitzing a lot less from last season. Actually, they blitz the second least in the league, 13.5% of snaps.
They are blitzing less and just as dominant when getting to the quarterback compared to last season. All while allowing the second fewest number of points in the league (61), averaging 12.2 points per games.
This is because of their front four can get pressure, so the secondary can remain deceptive while taking away the deep threats down field.
PFF’s Sam Monson created a chart showing the effectiveness of defenses based on scheme, aggression and front four.
How NFL defenses look in terms of pass rush this season: pic.twitter.com/XwgTd753DN
— Sam Monson (@PFF_Sam) October 11, 2022
There are a number of reasons why the Bills’ front four is able to maintain success. From unbalanced looks to stunts, defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier knows how to attack the weak points of an offensive line.
Against the Miami Dolphins, it was second-and-10 when the offense motions to an empty look. In the clip below, we see that the inside tackle is lined up in a 2-technquie with inside shade. This forces the center to pick him up leaving even numbers on the left side.
The tackle rushes to the outside shoulder of the left guard, and Greg Rousseau gets behind his own player to get a free lane to the quarterback. This works so well against Teddy Bridgewater because of the lack of depth he dropped in the pocket. The left guard doesn’t have the space to pass his responsibility off. Resulting in an eight-yard loss and a sack.
In the last two plays against the Ravens, the Bills did a great job funneling Jackson in from the outside, forcing him to step up into their defensive ‘QB spy.’
The clip below shows the last two plays of the game for the Ravens offense.
In the first clip, on third down, the Bills preformed a T/E stunt which brought clean pressure to Jacksons’ right side. In the second clip, it was third down and the Bills just brought straight pressure and left linebacker Matt Milano in the middle of the field to pick up Jackson if he decides to tuck and run.
The Chiefs are next.
This weekend will be a redemption game for the Bills from when they lost to the Chiefs in the AFC divisional round last season.
As it looks right now, the Bills defense has the personnel and scheme to matchup better against Patrick Mahomes and the new Chiefs offense.
Mahomes currently has eight touchdowns and zero interceptions when facing a blitz and as we now know, the Bills barely blitz.
According to PFF, Mahomes has been playing his best ball against man coverage defense, and yet again, the Bills haven’t played much man coverage this year.
According to this chart (made by Haley English from PFF) the Bills play the third least amount of man coverage in the league (14.9%).
If the Bills can apply pressure in the same way they have been this season, they could come away with a win. It will be interesting to see how the Bills come out as it will be one of the first games all season where they have a healthy lineup.
Just in time for the rematch of the year!
