Who’s to blame for the shitty defense?

its always "next year" but it never comes!

I am losing my faith in flores ability to hire cordinators!

Youngest team in the NFL.
Half the roster turned over.
Reduced preseason.
Lots of talent traded for picks.
Available talent brought in to fill spaces.

This team is still rebuilding. There would be no other possibility at this point.

What I want to see is discipline. We had few penalties last year, I want the same again. And i want to see better discipline on tackling.

And when Tua steps up I want to see talent.

Not enough good players.

"Galant wrote:

Youngest team in the NFL.
Half the roster turned over.
Reduced preseason.
Lots of talent traded for picks.
Available talent brought in to fill spaces.

This team is still rebuilding. There would be no other possibility at this point.

What I want to see is discipline. We had few penalties last year, I want the same again. And i want to see better discipline on tackling.

And when Tua steps up I want to see talent.

This all day.

Rookie defensive coordinator as well, and other rookie assistant defensive coaches.

I predicted a middling year and I think that's what we're going to get. I think it's the most realistic.

"Alan in England wrote:

its always "next year" but it never comes!

That's the story of every season. They sell us hope for next season.

"Galant wrote:

Youngest team in the NFL.
Half the roster turned over.
Reduced preseason.
Lots of talent traded for picks.
Available talent brought in to fill spaces.

This team is still rebuilding. There would be no other possibility at this point.

What I want to see is discipline. We had few penalties last year, I want the same again. And i want to see better discipline on tackling.

And when Tua steps up I want to see talent.

They also have the second highest paid secondary in the NFL.

"Dorfdad wrote:

We hire Flores as head coach a supposed defensive mastermind and brains behind the New England defense we were told (yes it’s belicheck).

Flores comes in rips the defense up brings in his players we sucked last year. Replaced the defensive and offensive Coordinators and brought in an inexperienced defensive and an old retired one for offense.

This year through two games we have probably the worst defense we have had in 10 years. We have zero strengths on defense. Can’t stop the run, can’t cover across the middle, can’t get sacks or much pressure at all.

The defense he cost us BOTH games this year and while we may squeak out a win next week at the Jags (maybe) I don’t see us contending for anything above .500 now I was drinking the koolaid in the off-season but we look unprepared AGAIN and I’m so tired of being asked to be patient and wait so many other teams turn things around quickly but we always say we’re rebuilding and need more parts! I’m loosing faith in Flores to hire proper talented coordinators.

how do we fix this? Or are we going to suck all season and say we need to revamp again next year? If that’s the case I’m going to start counting the days Flores has as head coach because it’s ridiculous.

The GM needs a swift kick in the *** also, not impressed with his tenor either so far.

Yes I’m frustrated but where does the buck stop and how do we fix it??

Who's to blame? Grier for generally bad drafting, Boyer for being terrible at making adjustments, and Flores for choosing an inexperienced DC to lead the defense.

I don't even see them stopping the Jagoffs..it's going to be a long year.

"MikeHoncho wrote:

That's the story of every season. They sell us hope for next season.

It's been that way for the past 25+ years, and the gullible homers keep drinking the koolaid every year.

"TheHighExhaulted wrote:

They also have the second highest paid secondary in the NFL.

One of the reasons they are the highest paid hurt their groin in the first drive.

"TheHighExhaulted wrote:

They also have the second highest paid secondary in the NFL.

Oh my bad. I forgot - high-paid secondary trumps all the rest of it.

Stupid team. They should have built a division winner one year after a tanking season. Fire em all.

And next time the new GM better bring in all the top players along with all the role players in a single season.

"Galant wrote:

Youngest team in the NFL.
Half the roster turned over.
Reduced preseason.
Lots of talent traded for picks.
Available talent brought in to fill spaces.

This team is still rebuilding. There would be no other possibility at this point.

What I want to see is discipline. We had few penalties last year, I want the same again. And i want to see better discipline on tackling.

And when Tua steps up I want to see talent.

Great post! Sometimes I wonder what the hell people think. I know we’re all tired of next year but no one turns around this team in 2 years. Next year is the first year where I think we can properly evaluate our leadership.

Let’s not forget that after the trades last year, most of experts thought we were the least talented team in the league.

Would just be nice if the defence could actually tackle someone first time. Even my missus glanced at the screen at one point and said 'Are they actually trying to stop him or just trying to look like they are?'. That was when Allen was dancing through them like a dad playing with his young son and his mates in a park. Ridiculous and embarrassing. Be interesting to see what the yards after contact is for the Bills running backs and QB.

"Dol-Fan Dupree wrote:

One of the reasons they are the highest paid hurt their groin in the first drive.

Yeah well, the secondary should not completely fall apart because of one injury.

Xavian seems to have lost a step after multiple injuries, Igbinogene is very raw, inexperienced, and lacks makeup speed. Bobby Mccain at safety is not working out, Brandon Jones has been underwhelming at this point. Our secondary seems overpaid and overrated right now.

"hitman8 wrote:

Yeah well, the secondary should not completely fall apart because of one injury.

Xavian seems to have lost a step after multiple injuries, Igbinogene is very raw, inexperienced, and lacks makeup speed. Bobby Mccain at safety is not working out, Brandon Jones has been underwhelming at this point. Our secondary seems overpaid and overrated right now.

I disagree about Brandon Jones.

I disagree with you overall basically.

"Dol-Fan Dupree wrote:

I disagree about Brandon Jones.

I disagree with you overall basically.

I think he meant the other Jones...What's it? Byron? From Dallas? Brandon Jones has been awesome.

"Dol-Fan Dupree wrote:

One of the reasons they are the highest paid hurt their groin in the first drive.

He's not the only guy with a big contract back there.

"Dol-Fan Dupree wrote:

I disagree about Brandon Jones.

I disagree with you overall basically.

You are free to disagree, but you did not provide any real counterargument.

"hitman8 wrote:

You are free to disagree, but you did not provide any real counterargument.

I spent too much time on this forum to provide a counter argument. I see what happens.

"Galant wrote:

Youngest team in the NFL.
Half the roster turned over.
Reduced preseason.
Lots of talent traded for picks.
Available talent brought in to fill spaces.

This team is still rebuilding. There would be no other possibility at this point.

What I want to see is discipline. We had few penalties last year, I want the same again. And i want to see better discipline on tackling.

And when Tua steps up I want to see talent.

You know, there's some good points in there that I know I haven't really kept in mind so far this season.

1. roster turnover again
2. no preseason. short camp etc.
I'll add a 3rd... youngest roster in the league. I didnt look if that is true, but it's got to be damn close.

I mean, those are 3 big things that are going to have a negative effect on a team. So, last week wasnt good. This week wasnt either, but we still put up 28 on the Bills, although I guess you could argue 20, because the Gesicki TD you could call garbage time if you wanted I suppose.

Hopefully we're just looking at a scenario here where it takes this team a bit more time to gel together. We took some big lumps early last year and the team grew and played much better down the stretch. Hopefully we see the same outcome again this year, but I guess for me, I need to keep those 3 things in mind. Some may call them excuses; sure. But those are 3 things that are going to have an effect on a team like ours. KC, Baltimore, Seattle etc. etc. Yeah, it won't hurt them as much with them being so established in their systems. That's not the case here yet.

"Dolphin Dundee wrote:

I don't even see them stopping the Jagoffs..it's going to be a long year.

I hate the Jags.

I'm trying to be patient with Flores/Grier and I did not expect to win either of the first two games. Competing in both was nice but I saw reasons to worry in both contests. Last week, our receivers got zero separation (thanks to holding). This week, they still got next to zero separation and we had to rely on talent to win 50/50 balls. Gisecki & Ford stepped up while Preston Williams dropped the potential game-winning pass...and then we go right back to him on the 2-point conversion.

Also, why did we not kick a field goal on 4th and 1 from the 1? Looking at the final score, that would have tied the game and sent us to overtime. I know it's not fair 2nd guessing after the fact, but we had just wasted 3 downs without our best short-distance back on the field and the odds of scoring a TD were low. Take the points.

I questioned several moves on Flores today and I have to say, I'm not impressed so far this season. Very little pressure from our front 7. Mixed secondary coverages. Poor line blocking both passing and running. Poor route running. Just a lot of sloppy play in particular and some discipline-related penalties.

Entering the 2nd season and flipping the entire roster, I don't see the team that's going to turn into a "perennial playoff contender" just yet. That doesn't mean we won't get there, but that also means we had a 3-year rebuild to go from an average team to what....maybe an average team at best in year 3? That's just not good enough and I really doubt Flores/Grier makes it the full five years without some playoff games. Our trend is to fire in year 3 and I think that would be a catastrophic mistake for this franchise (just like I think it was a catastrophic mistake to fire Gase). I'm just so fed up with the 3-year rebuild cycle.

It's too soon to demand excellence today and COVID certainly didn't help, but I think it's going to be a long season and these types of cries to "fire the staff" are only going to get louder.

"Dorfdad wrote:

Yes I’m frustrated but where does the buck stop and how do we fix it??

Buck stops with Flores plain and simple. As others have said this is still a rebuilding year, so I'm not too upset yet. But there are absolutely no excuses come next year. If we aren't in the playoffs next year, then I think we need to look for a new HC.

And before someone says playoffs is too demanding after 3 years, first of all note that with the expanded playoff system you only need to be one of the top 14 out of 32 teams = top 43.75%. That's barely above average! And secondly, most HC's that ended up successful over long careers, as well as most HoF coaches, actually showed by year 3 the ability to produce a consistent winner (understanding there are some notable exceptions like Landry and Belichick).

I view HC's like QB's. Keep trying until you find the right one. Flores is in year 2 of a 3 year trial period (hopefully Ross sticks with that). But this isn't year 3 yet, it's year 2. So give him a little more time.