Defense, game management questions plague Bills as playoffs approach

After their seven-game winning streak was snapped, the Bills’ 44-42 loss to the Rams yielded several questions as to how that opponent could get the Bills to unravel in the manner they did.

Franchise quarterback Josh Allen deserves no blame, given that by even his lofty standards, he was simply outstanding the entire way. But the fact that his 42-point push wasn’t enough to get the Bills a victory is concerning. And with time to review the game, finding answers is the key.

In the All-22, we looked at the three biggest questions coming out of that game about the defense, the game management from the goal line near the end of the game and the punt return debacle on the final play.

What were the biggest contributors to the Rams shredding the Bills defense?

The Bills’ defense has played well enough throughout the season, even masking some of the core deficiencies they’ve had with some clutch moments. But those clutch moments were nowhere to be found on Sunday in Los Angeles. The game was the worst collective showing on defense they’ve had since they lost to the Ravens in Week 4, and given how easy the Rams made it look, it might be their worst game of the year. So how did it happen?

Well, to begin, there wasn’t a single defensive player who earned an above-average grade on our scale. Only two players, cornerback Christian Benford and safety Damar Hamlin, had an “average” showing, while everyone else was below average to poor. It really shouldn’t come as a surprise, but the majority of the bad moments were dispersed throughout the first three quarters of the game. In the final quarter, the Bills had settled themselves in a bit more and showed much better against the run, but at that point, it was too little, too late.

Most of the disappointment on defense had to do with the defensive line in every phase. In run defense, the defensive tackle quartet of Ed Oliver, DaQuan Jones, DeWayne Carter and Austin Johnson were routinely getting pushed off their spot. There were a handful of good reps by that group, but overwhelmingly, their poor performance strained everyone else on the run defense. But they weren’t the only culprits along the defensive line. The Rams controlled the defensive ends far too easily throughout the game, and that group — specifically Greg Rousseau — is a big reason why the Bills are usually able to center themselves against the run. The Rams kept the defensive ends blocked and also guessing on wide rushes. There were way too many times where the edge defenders would get caught flat-footed and allow the Rams to break contain to the outside on the way to a sizable gain. The Rams knew the wide attempts had given A.J. Epenesa and Von Miller trouble in the past, and they targeted those players until they proved they could stop it.

The run-defending piece extended to both linebackers, Terrel Bernard and Matt Milano, in terms of how poorly they played. Just as he did against the 49ers in the previous week, Milano had a rough start to the game. Many will remember his miss of Rams running back Blake Corum following Corum’s jump cut to find open space. And while there were other misses for Milano in the run game, he was putting up more of a fight early to get stops at or near the line of scrimmage than Bernard had been. Bernard’s early game featured some getting lost in traffic and failing to shed blocks. Some late-game plays helped salvage his day, but Bernard was on pace for his worst game of the season.

On top of their running woes, the defensive line, except Oliver on a handful of rushes, allowed Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford to have way too much time in the backfield. It allowed the receivers to read the Bills’ zone defense and settle into a clear area, using their positioning against them. If it seemed like Rams receivers were running open all game, the lack of a pass rush was one of the biggest reasons for that feeling. The Bills had to resort to blitzes and man coverage to try and get some heat on Stafford, and it worked occasionally. But predictably, because the Bills are a zone-based defense that doesn’t play man at a high rate, it also led to some big passing plays for the Rams.

The Bills’ problems overall didn’t seem to be that they were getting out-schemed by the Rams, which is a positive. There was some of that on route combinations that challenged a specific zone look the Bills were in, just as there is against most opponents, but it wasn’t as if it was a complete flaw that teams can exploit every week moving forward. Many of the Bills problems had to do with diagnosing plays and responding in a timely enough manner, along with winning at the point of attack. The Bills lost at the line of scrimmage in both phases far too often, and that was the biggest reason for Allen’s superhuman efforts to win being wasted.

Terrell Bernard played one of his worst games of the season against the Rams. (Kirby Lee / Imagn Images)

What happened on the failed quarterback sneak?

As it’s well known by now, the Bills called a quarterback sneak at the goal line, down two scores with under two minutes to play, and it made them call a timeout that effectively undercut any remaining hope that they would win. They felt strongly about the play’s ability to work, and it didn’t work. But this isn’t about that decision. It’s about breaking down what happened on that play and why the Bills didn’t do themselves any favors on the attempt. And it all started with personnel.

On most of the Bills’ sneak attempts this season, they’ve put some receivers on the field with a running back lined up in the backfield. Having that personnel on the field keeps the threat of throwing the ball, even if it’s a slight chance given how often the Bills like to run the quarterback sneak with Allen, which keeps smaller defenders on the field. But the group the Bills put on the field for that first-and-goal attempt from the one-yard line had no deception whatsoever. The Bills went extra heavy, using sixth offensive lineman Alec Anderson, tight end Dawson Knox, tight end Zach Davidson and fullback Reggie Gilliam on the field at once. The other skill player was James Cook, who they split out wide and had a safety up against him. The Bills’ personnel is important because it allowed the Rams to match personnel, and they went even heavier than the Bills did.

The Rams used a group of four heavier defensive linemen in the middle of the formation and four edge rushers who normally battle at the line of scrimmage. It was those eight all lined up in a row, with their usual two inside linebackers roaming on the second level to see where Allen would try his rush. Because the Bills didn’t have a receiver on the field, there wasn’t a single cornerback on the field — rather, another bigger player prepared to stop the run because it was very likely that the Bills would run given that formation.

On most of the team’s quarterback sneaks with Allen, they’ll have a player tight to the quarterback to help push him to the required yardage. Instead of going with what has worked time and time again, the Bills had no one lined up in the backfield, and instead called Davidson in motion to the backfield and then snapped the ball. Davidson extended his arms to try and get to Allen to get a push for him, but by that point, the Rams had already infiltrated between the left tackle and guard to stop Allen’s momentum. And with that many large players all piled into one area, it would have taken even longer than normal to get everyone up, to the line and to run another play.

Even with that in mind, the lesser of two evils would have been to sacrifice time off the clock and keep the timeout. But the lesser of all evils would have been not to put themselves in the position to make that difficult decision. They could have passed the ball, or they could have spread out the Rams’ defense and tried a quarterback draw that Allen could pivot to a throwaway if the rushing lane wasn’t there. And even if he did run it and got stopped, there would be fewer players to remove from a pile to quickly snap the ball on second down. The play call was a regrettable one in that situation.

Findings on the 9-man punt return

Although it was not the reason the Bills lost the game, only having nine players on the field for the final punt return with six seconds to go was inexcusable and a bit emblematic of the lack of attention to detail the Bills had throughout the final minute of the game. But now it’s really a matter of figuring out what happened. Upon returning to the game, the Bills had only forced the Rams to punt once, earlier in the fourth quarter. The Bills faced a 4th-and-2, which had them only put four rushers at the line of scrimmage, with a wall of second-level defenders in case the Rams decided to run a fake punt. The Rams, of course, did not run a fake punt. But what was important was who was on the field for the Bills. The group consisted of Ray Davis, Reggie Gilliam, Zach Davidson, Javon Solomon, Dorian Williams, Joe Andreessen, Cole Bishop, Ja’Marcus Ingram, Lewis Cine, Cam Lewis and Brandon Codrington.

Spinning that forward to the final play of the game, who was on the field? Nine of those 11 players from the previous punt were, in fact, out there for the game’s final play. The two missing players? Davis and Gilliam. McDermott commented after the game about understanding who’s in the game and who’s available. So the first question is if something happened to either of those players on their last play. Davis was last on the field for a touchback on a kickoff return, so he was likely fine. And Gilliam was on the field for both quarterback sneaks and the ensuing extra-point attempt, celebrating after the made attempt. It would be extremely odd if Gilliam, one of the most dependable special teams players on the roster and nears 100 percent of core-four reps every game he’s active, would just flat-out forget to go on the field. Because both were seemingly fine and both are offensive players, it likely came down to a substitution error.

One hypothesis is that Casey Toohill may have been a part of that plan. Toohill had taken every kickoff return rep in the first half, but was replaced in the second half by Anderson, perhaps for a different look. Toohill’s last special teams rep was on a punt early in the third quarter, and of course, the Bills didn’t punt again in the game. Toohill was declared doubtful to return in the third quarter due to an injury, so perhaps his unavailability had something to do with it. The other spot missing is unclear. The only other defensive player not on the field that took multiple core-four special teams reps was Hamlin, but he was only used on kickoffs. Regardless, whoever was supposed to replace Davis and Gilliam on that unit contributed to the complete failure.

Players with 15 or fewer snaps:

RB Ray Davis (13), DB Cam Lewis (13), IOL Alec Anderson (9), FB Reggie Gilliam (3), WR Jalen Virgil (1), QB Mitchell Trubisky (0), OL Ryan Van Demark (0), OL Sedrick Van Pran-Granger (0), DE Javon Solomon (0), LB Dorian Williams (0), LB Joe Andreessen (0), LB Lewis Cine (0), CB Brandon Codrington (0), S Cole Bishop (0)

**Minimum 195 snaps

How the standards work

When the All-22 film becomes available, we’ll go through and watch every player on every play as many times as necessary to assess letter grades. It is a subjective analysis, and it’s important to note we do not know the play calls and full responsibilities. The grades stem from technique, effort and presumed liability.

The study accounts only for players who take a snap on offense or defense. Players with fewer than 15 snaps — unless they significantly impact the game — will not factor into weekly rankings. The grades range from an ‘A’ (a perfect 4.00 GPA) to ‘F’ (0.00 GPA). There is no such thing as an ‘A+’ in this grading system. Season-long grades will be tallied and documented, with a single game’s grade weighted based on how much the player was on the field in a given week.

(Top photo: Harry How / Getty Images)