Well folks it's back. Your Weekly installment OF What Will Garrett Do? This Week we will be Looking at the Buffalo Bills. Here is the background for those that don't know. In this Series of posts I am going to look at the Defenses that Dallas will be facing this year. I will give a Scouting report on each based heavily on Stats from NFL.com and a few player Profiles Via NFL Draft Scout.com, then based off that I will try to set out what I think the Game plan that I think Garrett will employ. This will be based off my "Air Garrett" posts (Version 1,Version 2) where I set out this statement:
That is what I think "Air Garret" is all about. Attacking the Defense at it's weakest point. Study the opponents carefully. Find out where they are lacking defensively. I bet you will see alot of plays designed to target that area.
So on Sunday, October 30th, 2011, The Cowboys(4-4) will be at home against the Buffalo Bills(5-3 ). With Miles out for a few weeks, Laurent Robinson becomes the #2 WR, However, LR has been very Good for Dallas so there shouldn't be an effect on the Gameplan due to Injury.
SO a Quick Glance that the Bills Defense gives us the Following Information:
16th in Points Allowed @ 21.8 points per game
26th in yards allowed, @ 381 yards per game OF which 260 of those are passing(25th) and 120 are rushing(21st). so they are a poor Defense right? well they are second in the league with 15 INT's 3 of them pick 6's and have recovered 5of 6 FF....which is the main reason they are sitting @ 5-3. Or is it? Lets look at their Season to date:
Performance vs. Eagles and avg. Team performance |
Points | Passing | Rushing | |||||||
ATT | CMP | PCT | YDS | YPA | ATT | YDS | YPC | |||
Chiefs Week 1 |
vs Bills | 7 | 36 | 22 | 61% | 105 | 2.8 | 18 | 108 | 6.0 |
Average/game | 16.4 | 30 | 18 | 61% | 189 | 6.7 | 30 | 123 | 4.0 | |
Oakland Week 2 |
vs Bills | 35 | 33 | 22 | 67% | 323 | 9.8 | 30 | 131 | 4.4 |
Average/game | 23 | 31 | 18 | 58% | 220 | 7.3 | 30 | 151 | 5.0 | |
Patriots Week 3 |
vs Bills | 31 | 45 | 30 | 67% | 387 | 8.6 | 26 | 108 | 4.2 |
Average/game | 27.8 | 40 | 27 |
68% |
325 | 8.4 | 24 | 111 | 4.5 | |
Bengals Week 4 |
vs Bills | 31 | 36 | 18 | 50% | 287 | 7.6 | 32 | 171 | 5.3 |
Average/game | 24 | 34 | 20 | 59% | 212 | 6.6 | 28 | 104 | 3.7 | |
Eagles Week 5 |
vs Bills | 24 | 27 | 21 | 78% | 188 | 6.7 | 35 | 143 | 4.1 |
Average/game | 25 | 35 | 22 | 62% | 262 | 7.6 | 30 | 172 | 5.7 |
|
Giants Week 6 |
vs Bills | 27 | 32 | 21 | 65% | 292 | 9.1 | 33 | 132 | 3.7 |
Average/game | 25 | 35 | 22 | 63% | 282 | 8.5 | 27 | 88 | 3.3 |
|
Redskins Week 8 |
vs Bills | 0 | 33 | 20 | 61% | 152 | 3.5 | 11 | 26 | 2.4 |
Average/game | 19.3 | 36.2 | 20.3 | 56% | 237.2 | 7.0 | 26.7 | 106.8 | 4.0 |
|
Jets Week 9 |
vs Bills | 27 | 28 | 20 | 71% | 222 | 7.7 | 39 | 126 | 3.2 |
Average/game | 25 | 32 | 19 | 59% | 209 | 6.9 | 27 | 97 | 3.6 |
So if we look at this in detail, particularly the Bills three losses, what do we see? Nothing really...the Bills Defense is all over the map. One week it plays really good, then the next it gets destroyed. It is very inconsistent. So where are the Weaknesses? Well lets Look at the Depth Chart:
Left Inside Linebacker | Kelvin Sheppard | Kirk Morrison | |
Right Defensive End | Dwan Edwards | Spencer Johnson | |
Left Outside Linebacker | Chris Kelsay | Alex Carrington | |
Left Defensive End | Marcell Dareus | Kellen Heard | |
Right Outside Linebacker | Danny Batten | Shawn Merriman | |
Free Safety | Jairus Byrd | ||
Right Inside Linebacker | Nick Barnett | Arthur Moats | Chris White |
Left Cornerback | Drayton Florence | Aaron Williams | Justin Rogers |
Strong Safety | George Wilson | Bryan Scott | Da'Norris Searcy |
Right Cornerback | Leodis McKelvin | Terrence McGee | Reggie Corner |
Nose Tackle | Kyle Williams |
Torell Troup |
Now If I remember Correctly Merriman was either released or put on IR, so that means that Danny Batten is the ROLB starter. So lets look a little deeper into the Roster, here is the top 5 Tacklers for the Bills:
Player | Comb | Total | Assist | Sck | Fumb |
George Wilson | 71 | 54 | 17 | 0.0 | 1 |
Jairus Byrd | 56 | 42 | 14 | 1.0 | 1 |
Nick Barnett | 67 | 40 | 27 | 1.0 | 1 |
Bryan Scott | 40 | 30 | 10 | 1.0 | 0 |
Leodis McKelvin | 28 | 21 | 7 | 0.0 | 0 |
Well this is intriguing. Of the Top 5 Tacklers on the Bills 4 of them play in the Secondary and one of them isn't even listed as a Starter. So lets look at how the Bills create pressure:
Player | Comb | Total | Assist | Sck | Fumb |
Marcell Dareus | 24 | 17 | 7 | 3.5 | 0 |
Spencer Johnson | 22 | 12 | 10 | 2.0 | 1 |
Dwan Edwards | 34 | 18 | 16 | 1.5 | 0 |
Jairus Byrd | 56 | 42 | 14 | 1.0 | 1 |
Nick Barnett | 67 | 40 | 27 | 1.0 | 1 |
Bryan Scott | 40 | 30 | 10 | 1.0 | 0 |
Normally I wouldn't include players that have less than 2 sacks, except that The Bills only have two players with more than 2 as you can see. However they have a bunch with 1 which could mean that they are similar to Dallas in that they bring a bunch of different players at different times. And Marcell Dareus is looking like a great pick for the Bills. 3.5 sacks as 3-4 DE is pretty good, the Fact that he is a Rookie is scary(Note to Self: Make sure Marcell Dareus is Blocked at all times) Other than Dareus, the Bills don't really have that "Demarcus Ware type" player. So lets look at some individual players on the Defense, specifically, Marcell Dareus, Nick Barnett, and George Wilson.
Marcell Dareus:
Height: 6031 Weight: 319 40 Yrd Dash: 4.93 20 Yrd Dash: 2.83 10 Yrd Dash: 1.68 |
225 Lb. Bench Reps: 24 Vertical Jump: 27 Broad Jump: 20 Yrd Shuttle: 4.62 3-Cone Drill: 7.83 +10 pounds, 4.85/4.95/5.12 40 range before Combine |
Dates: 03/09/11 Height: 6031 Weight: 319 40 Yrd Dash: 20 Yrd Dash: 10 Yrd Dash: |
225 Lb. Bench Reps: Vertical Jump: Broad Jump: 08'10" 20 Yrd Shuttle: 3-Cone Drill: |
Nick Barnett:
Height: 6015 Weight: 236 40 Yrd Dash: 4.67 20 Yrd Dash: 2.75 10 Yrd Dash: 1.65 |
225 Lb. Bench Reps: 32 Vertical Jump: 34 1/2 Broad Jump: 10'03" 20 Yrd Shuttle: 4.08 3-Cone Drill: 7.00 |
George Wilson:
Combine Invite: yes Height: 6001 Weight: 213 40 Yrd Dash: 4.63 20 Yrd Dash: 2.71 10 Yrd Dash: 1.61 |
225 Lb. Bench Reps: Vertical Jump: 35 Broad Jump: 10'00" 20 Yrd Shuttle: 3.98 3-Cone Drill: 7.07 |
Dates: 03/04, 03/24 Height: 6001 Weight: 213 40 Yrd Dash: 4.56 20 Yrd Dash: 10 Yrd Dash: |
225 Lb. Bench Reps: Vertical Jump: Broad Jump: 20 Yrd Shuttle: 3-Cone Drill: |
Random Facts that annoy intrigue me: Barnett was a Free agent and signed a 3 year 11.5 million deal to play for the Bills but we went with Brooking and James.....SMH George Wilson is a Converted WR playing SS...I wonder....Harris? It was rumored that the Bills were looking to trade out of the three spot this past draft. IF certain things had gone differently could we have been talking about Marcell instead of Tyron?
Anyway the best game plan I can think of is to try and play Keep away with the Bills Offense. IF Murray can continue to be as good as he has been, and Felix Get some time in to keep him fresh, there is no reason why we can't keep the Defense off the Field. Now with as far as Passing goes, Dez should get Doubled with Austin out, which means that LR should have a Favorable Matchup. Witten will probably be covered by Wilson or Barnett or Both. Murray should be a good matchup against the LB's if Witten pulls Barnett. The Biggest thing will be to score Touchdowns and not Field Goals. But then that is nothing new. No Funky Formation, just beat the Bills.
As Always I welcome any comments or critiques, especially from any Bills Fans that stop by. but just as a friendly Reminder:
MNF: Cowboys vs. Bills 2007 (via MEZ92)