The Buffalo Bills and the Chicago Bears met for a preseason game on August 17. The Bears won the game 38-0. While some may be concerned with that result, exhibition season is meant to be taken as a time to work through questions. For the Bills, some of those questions involve starting positions — looking at you, safety group — but most of the questions have to do with reserves.
The Bills know who their starting linebackers are. In most cases, the team runs a nickel defense, which means that Matt Milano
and Terrel Bernard will slot in as the only two linebackers on the field. Dorian Williams figures to be the third linebacker, and he’ll likely be Milano’s backup as he was last season. The backup middle linebacker slot looks like it’s going to Joe Andreessen, last year’s training camp darling and recent Hard Knocks star. After a rookie season where he impressed in limited opportunities, expectations were raised coming into this preseason.
After two preseason games and a full training camp, Andreessen’s struggles are starting to come to light. Against Chicago, Andreessen started at MIKE linebacker, leading a defense where 10 of the 11 players are projected as reserves this season. Andreessen and the rest of the defense struggled mightily against a Bears offense that looked to run through multiple pages of its playbook against an over-matched, vanilla Buffalo defensive unit.
Andreessen’s strengths lie in his ability to trigger downhill quickly against the run. Faced against a Bears squad that came out throwing, Andreessen looked like a tremendous liability in the passing game. He was slow to process what was in front of him, and he struggled to gain enough depth in zone coverage while also looking slow in man coverage. He was credited with five tackles — one solo, four assists — and a forced fumble in the game. Andreessen led all Bills players in defensive snaps, as well, totaling 67 snaps in the game.
Andreessen not only played in the first half, which featured plenty of run against the Bears’ starters, but he was back on the field with the defense at the end of the fourth quarter, as well. Andreessen was far from the only player on defense to struggle, as both Damar Hamlin and Cole Bishop, the latter of whom was the lone projected starter to begin the game on defense, each looked lost in coverage, as well.
If Bernard misses any time this season — he missed four games last year — then the Bills could be in trouble if Andreessen is pressed into service. To Buffalo’s credit, it seemed like they recognized the issues last night, as there were a few drives where it seemed that they played Andreessen at WILL linebacker and Dorian Williams at MIKE, swapping the players’ usual roles. Maybe they were just looking at all possibilities, working through their options as they ramp up for their first game on September 7 against the Baltimore Ravens.
Whatever the case, two things can be true: Joe Andreessen is a valuable member of the Bills, one who figures to play a big role as a heat-seeking missile on special teams and who could contribute as a sub-package linebacker on run downs. He also could be a major liability if pressed into action as the MIKE linebacker, especially if he’s asked to cover medium and deep zones in the passing game.
As a second-year player and an undrafted free agent with a great backstory, Andreessen is an easy player to root for on a team full of great stories. One terrible night doesn’t define him unless he allows it to do so. Andreessen would never have made it as far as he has if he weren’t a resilient player and person, so he’ll watch the tape, learn from the experience, and hopefully improve for the future.
For the Bills, that last part is paramount, and could be the difference between winning and losing in the regular season.
