The Buffalo Bills stare into a horizon filled with several scrambling quarterbacks, the defense potentially stuck between a rock and a hard place as it relates to containing true NFL dual threats.
Overall,
the Bills’ defense has been the subject of much discussion during the first month of the 2025 NFL season. As we pass the roughly quarter mark of the schedule (curse you 17 game schedule and uneven measurements), there are more than a few aspects of Buffalo’s defense that can be examined as areas in need of improvement.
The Bills are tops in the NFL in yards per pass attempt against at 5.5, but are 30th in the league in rush yards per attempt against (6.0). They’re 25th in the NFL in third-down defense. But in addition to these two obvious items of note, Buffalo’s defense has a more niche flaw that’s showing up in the first four weeks of the season: They’re not containing scrambling very well.
Bills reporter Sal Capaccio of WGR550 tweeted out an observation on this specific point:
There are a few items that either contribute to or derive from this metric:
- Linebacker Matt Milano’s absence is likely a contributing factor here. Linebacker Dorian Williams, despite flashes in relief last year, hasn’t replicated Milano’s closing ability and pursuit angles. Linebacker Shaq Thompson has put some good reps on tape, but hasn’t played enough to know if that would continue if his in-game reps increased. The Bills have considered Milano their not-so-secret weapon against elite scramblers like Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson in the past, and although Milano played against Jackson in Week 1, he was injured one week later against the New York Jets (and another elite scrambling quarterback in Justin Fields).
- The 11 rushes for 128 yards are counted in Buffalo’s above-mentioned 6.0 average yards per rush against. In Week 4, New Orleans Saints quarterback Spencer Rattler scrambled three times for 35 yards (per Pro Football Focus). Even notoriously poached Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa averaged 5 yards per scramble on his two instances against the Bills’ defense.
- Scrambles frequently occur on third down, contributing to Buffalo’s bottom-third ranking on third downs. Rattler scrambled for nine yards on 3rd & 7 this past Sunday, as an example.
Whether this connection and unpleasant data point means anything of consequence to you, well that’s likely based on which of the following two camps you fall into:
- Camp #1: the Bills have faced two of the best scramblers in the NFL in recent memory in Lamar Jackson and Justin Fields. This is a smaller sample size issue (Lamar scrambled once for 19 yards and Justin Field three times for 21 during their games) that will correct itself naturally as more games are placed and less-elite scrambling quarterbacks show up on the schedule.
- Camp #2: Quarterbacks scrambling against Buffalo’s defense is a weakness that will be exploited more and more moving forward as tendencies and tape pile up over the course of the regular season. Even the CBS broadcast noted during Bills-Saints that Rattler had made it a point of emphasis coming into the week that he wanted to be more decisive and aggressive in using his legs to convert first downs for the offense.
As with all narratives, time will reveal all. The Bills face an up-and-coming quarterback with live legs in Drake Maye of the New England Patriots on Sunday Night Football before taking on a scramble-adverse quarterback in Michael Penix with the Atlanta Falcons over the next two weeks. They’re scheduled to then take on the Carolina Panthers and quarterback Bryce Young and then the Kansas City Chiefs and quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Of the next four games, three of them are against quarterbacks historically known for scrambling prowess, with Mahomes and Maye being first and third in the league in total scrambles thus far in 2025.
At the risk of going full conspiracy theory with red yarn connecting newspaper clippings on a bulletin board, it’s all connected. Buffalo’s struggle against scramblers (an excellent band name) may not be a singular source for the defensive woes, but it’s interesting that it seems to be tangentially related to most of the narratives surrounding that unit so far this season.
And… I’ll guess we’ll find out if the narrative sticks.
…and that’s the way the cookie crumbles. I’m Bruce Nolan with Buffalo Rumblings. You can find me on Twitter and Instagram @BruceExclusive and look for new episodes of “The Bruce Exclusive” every Thursday on the Rumblings Cast Network — see more in my LinkTree!
