Perhaps spending the entire week on the West Coast together as a team, no distractions from home similar to a training camp setting, is just what the beleaguered Buffalo Bills defense needs.
“I think for players, it's just opportunities for them to be together, having those tough conversations, sometimes watching tape together,” defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard said Tuesday, a day after the Bills outlasted the Los Angeles Rams 37-34 in overtime despite his defense again playing terribly.
“You don't have a whole lot going on. You're sitting at a hotel all day. As coaches, we're grinding, you got a short week, you lost the day in the preparation, so you have to roll. But the more you're always around with your guys with kind of nowhere to break
out, you just get into a little bit deeper conversation and get to know people. Hopefully build a little bit more trust with what you're doing and with each other.”
Five games into the season, the Bills are off to a superb 4-1 start, but Leonhard doesn’t have too much to smile about because he knows his defense has played well in just one of those games, and that comes with a caveat because it was against the 0-5 Los Angeles Chargers.
“The reality is we're one out of five, right, as far as showing up and executing a game plan very well and finishing a game,” Leonhard said. “That's not good in any sport, so we’ve got to make some changes for sure.”
Leonhard didn’t elaborate on what those changes might be, but the immediate leap would be that personnel changes might be on the table Sunday when the Bills take on the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium.
"I'm not panicked,” head coach Joe Brady said. “There is a sense of urgency but the urgency doesn't change giving up points or not, and looking forward to their response this week."
Raiders offense gives struggling Bills defense a different test
The Raiders do not have nearly the same talent that the Rams have on offense. Starting at quarterback. Kirk Cousins is certainly a wily veteran who can get the job done, but he’s not reigning NFL MVP Matthew Stafford. Oh, and Cousins won’t be throwing to Puka Nacua and Davante Adams.
Yes, he has the best tight end in the NFL in Brock Bowers who could be in line for a 24-target day like Nacua just had because the Bills could not stop him and Stafford just kept going his way. But other than Bowers, the Raiders trot out a non-accomplished receiver group consisting of Jalen Nailor, Cody White, Tre Tucker and Dareke Young.
Then again, does it even matter given how poorly the Bills pass defense has performed?
Bills pass defense ranks among NFL's worst through five games
Everyone knew the hat trick of young corners, new veteran additions unfamiliar with each other, and the entire unit trying to learn a new defensive scheme was going to create problems for Leonhard, and five weeks in, it’s even worse than we thought. The Bills are helpless against the pass as they rank 31st in passing yards allowed at 280.4 and yards after catch (671), they’ve given up 13 air TDs which is second-most, they are 26th in pressure rate at 31.5%, and 22nd in sack percentage at 5.0%.
“We have to get some bigger wins earlier in the game, and I have to be more aggressive in helping us get off the field in some situations to help these guys just not get to that fourth quarter and be burned out,” Leonhard said. “We're gonna get it better, we have to, that's what I'm here for, to make this thing better and again, put these guys in position to go challenge routes and get off the field.”
Leonhard talks a lot about marrying pass rush and coverage, but right now it’s one big ugly divorce. The rush has been too inconsistent and it has forced the back six or seven to cover for too long and the result has been a 66.6% completion rate allowed.
The coverage issues may not be going away soon given the inexperience of corners Davison Igbinosun and Max Hairston, and the ho-hum play through five games from safeties Cole Bishop and CJ Gardner-Johnson. That’s why pressure will be the key for the Bills because Cousins is immobile and when he’s under heat, he’s not very good.
Bills need to pressure Kirk Cousins to slow Raiders offense
Leonhard, who said his defensive approach would be aggressive, might need to finally prove it and come after the 38-year-old Cousins with blitzes. When he has been under pressure, Cousins has completed just 44.8% of his throws with two picks and eight sacks.
When he gets time, he has completed 75.4% of his passes for 10 TDs and just two picks with no sacks, so if the Bills don’t affect him, he’ll be able to move the ball through the air even with his unknown cast of receivers.
“It's time to be good at something,” Leonhard said. “And that's our struggles right now. It's too inconsistent to pretend that we're building and working and making improvements. Everything's being evaluated right now. Starting with every decision I'm making. Right now, we're living in some bad company as far as the success of what we're doing.”
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for more than four decades including 37 years as the full-time beat writer/columnist for the D&C. He has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills are 4-1 but Jim Leonhard isn't pretending everything is OK
