Should We Be Worried About Buffalo’s Pass Rush?
Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images
According to the coaches and players, Sunday’s Buffalo Bills – LA Rams game should be chalked up as nothing more than an outlier for Buffalo’s defense. “Didn’t play to our standard, didn’t feel like we had the urgency starting out,” linebacker Terrel Bernard said. “We feel like the offense kept us in the game the whole way through, gave us the opportunity and we just couldn’t get it done. So we’ll go back, look at it, watch the tape, learn from it, and get better and move on.”
Bobby Babich informed the team that yesterday's defensive performance was not representative of their capabilities. The players understand that they need to make adjustments moving forward. #Bills | #BillsMafia | #GoBills | #BuiltInBuffalo pic.twitter.com/FGviuvdZEs
— Built in Buffalo (@BuiltInBuffalo_) December 9, 2024
That’s probably a wise attitude to take. While recency bias can be difficult to shake off, the Bills are still in the top 10 in points allowed, passing yards allowed, interceptions, and fumble recoveries. But while the panic button shouldn’t be hit just yet, Bernard is right in saying that they have lessons to take from the defense’s poor performance.
Sunday’s shootout loss put a pass rush that has been a weakness for Buffalo all season squarely into the spotlight. While it hasn’t been bottom-of-the-league bad, it hasn’t been the dominant force that it needs to be to stop the NFL’s best teams. It justifiably makes the Bills Mafia wonder if their struggles to generate pressure will hurt them in the playoffs, when they’ll go toe-to-toe with the NFL’s best teams and quarterbacks every week.
If the #Bills don’t achieve what they set out to achieve this season it’ll likely be because of a defensive line that, no matter how many times they remake it, doesn’t ever meet the moment. #BillsMafia
— Air Raid | Buffalo (@TheBillsGuys) December 8, 2024
We can see Buffalo as a less extreme version of the Cincinnati Bengals — an explosive offense that has to produce to compensate for the weaknesses of their front seven. While the Bills have been able to stay well above water (and the Bengals haven’t), fans know that not being able to get to the quarterback is a recipe for losing in the playoffs.
Let’s take stock of the problem: the Bills’ pass rush has been a below-average unit. Their 29 total sacks have them ranked in the bottom half of the league, and the only players with more than two total sacks are Greg Rousseau (6.5), A.J. Epenesa (5.0), and an aging Von Miller (4.0). Buffalo’s lack of consistency in pressuring the quarterback has been a major factor in their defense allowing the sixth-highest completion percentage to opposing quarterbacks this season (69.1%).
As the clear-cut best lineman on the team, Rousseau is their best hope for the pass rush making noise in the playoffs. He ranks third in the NFL with 15 tackles for loss, but his total of 6.5 sacks has him ranked 31st in the league among all defensive players. Unfortunately, he’s the only Bill to penetrate the backfield with any consistency; while he’s been stellar in the TFL category, no one else has more than five.
Epenesa has been largely okay throughout his tenure in Buffalo, and 2024 has been more of the same. A worrysome trend for him, however, is that he’s regressed as a pass rusher as the season has gone on, resulting in his snap count being all over the place. He has one sack since Week 8, and he hasn’t had multiple pressures in a game since Week 6. PFF has him graded as being 99th out of 116 eligible edge rushers this season, putting him in the bottom 15th percentile.
Buffalo’s upcoming game against the Detroit Lions is a potential Super Bowl preview, and will be a measuring stick for the pass rush. If they want to make that Super Bowl matchup a reality, they’ll want to pass this upcoming test. The Lions have an efficient passing game with receivers and running backs that can hit you from all angles. Not to mention, they field one of the best offensive lines in the league.
The centerpiece of the entire Detroit Lions team is the offensive line
Shoutout to the big fellas#OnePride pic.twitter.com/0iegCBw0gQ
— Caleb Czarnik (@calebczarnik) December 9, 2024
In particular, Penei Sewell has cemented himself as arguably the NFL’s best right tackle. He has only allowed one sack in the last two seasons, and he’s been a major reason for Jared Goff’s redemption arc as a football player.
“Next week is a challenging game as well, against a really good football team on the road so we have our work cut out for us this week,” Sean McDermott said.
Luckily for Buffalo, their schedule lightens up after this week, and all three games provide an opportunity for their pass rush to get back on track. They will play a pretty bad New England Patriots squad twice (Weeks 16 and 18), whose offensive line is ranked worst in the NFL by PFF. In Week 17, they will play a Jets team whose quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, is entitled to whatever he wants, except for wins.
Even if Week 15’s game against the loaded Lions offense proves to be another outlier, the rest of the season may allow them to get back on track. It’s similar to a struggling baseball player getting sent down to the minors to regain his confidence, but instead of facing the Buffalo Bisons and the Louisville Bats, the Bills will be facing the lowly Patriots and Jets.
All that said, Buffalo must figure out how to rush the passer consistently, even against great offensive lines, before January arrives. The offenses they will go up against will only get better, and the team can’t survive on Allen’s heroic performances alone. The defense, particularly the pass rush, has to hold up its end of the bargain and provide a credible threat to the QB lining up against them.
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