What Has Happened to the Buffalo Bills?

Against the 49ers, he had some penalties called on him, but at least one was very iffy. He's playing good ball and he's getting better every play, never mind every game.

There are other positives as well, with Marcus Stroud showing flashes of his dominant play throughout the season, along with Kyle Williams benefiting from his presence. Also, when the Bills' defensive backs are fully healthy, they are becoming a scary bunch. Both Jabari Greer and McKelvin have returned interceptions for touchdowns this season.

Next season, or possibly even later this season, once players return from injury, this group of defensive backs have the potential to be dominant.

However, with positives come negatives. Unfortunately for the Bills, the negatives appear to be piling on as of late. The play-calling on the offensive side of the ball has been addressed. However, the man making the calls on the defensive side of the ball has not been perfect either.

Perry Fewell, the Bills' defensive coordinator, has had an up-and-down season with his play-calling. At points, the defense has played dominant football both against the ground game and against the pass. At other times, the defense looked like they couldn't stop a junior varsity team. Part of that has been the fact that the Bills are struggling to get pressure from the front four.

However, Fewell has a couple of linebackers who have shown that they have the ability to get after the quarterback in veteran Kawika Mitchell and second-year man Paul Posluszny.

It has appeared at points that Fewell has been reluctant to blitz. Mitchell's strong suit is in the run game and blitzing against the pass. He is not a fast linebacker and not great in coverage, yet Fewell has dropped him back in coverage more often that blitzed him on obvious passing downs.

Also, Fewell has shown a propensity to stick with some questionable schemes with the defense. He often has the defense playing a zone defense, which requires good pressure from the front four to force the quarterback to make decisions faster than he would like. As previously stated, the Bills are struggling to do exactly that.

It would appear that perhaps the Bills should slip into man coverage a bit more often to maybe allow the defensive line to get pressure and hopefully some coverage sacks.

Fewell also has shown a maddeningly consistent propensity to play his cornerbacks around 10 yards off the line of scrimmage. Yes, this helps to prevent long pass plays in theory. However, the Bills have a very athletic group of cornerbacks who can run with a lot of wide receivers in the league.

That advantage would be even greater if they were allowed to come up more often on the wide receiver and prevent them from getting smoothly into their routes. Less read-and-react and more dictate the flow on defense.

So where does that leave my beloved Buffalo Bills? Struggling mightily and looking for some help. Hopefully the Bills can make something out of this season and gain some self-respect. Then they'll turn the draft and get some more key pieces to the puzzle.

A big strong center would be a good place to start. Also look for them to hopefully look for a good pass rusher at the defensive end position. Among the other major needs would be a strong-side linebacker. Nothing against Keith Ellison, who is a heady player and a very good coverage linebacker, but he is not that big and sometimes struggles against the run.

The Bills could definitely use an upgrade and relegate Ellison to backup duties, which would significantly upgrade their depth.

Also, be on the lookout for the Bills to pursue another defensive tackle who can line up opposite Stroud to dominate the middle of opposing offensive lines. Nothing against Kyle Williams, who plays with a lot of heart. He simply, at points, vanishes from the game. If he shows more consistency through these last four games, then this need gets bumped down to depth and long-term replacement.

All in all, the Buffalo Bills still have a long way to go. We knew that before the start of the season. We simply bought into the 5-1 start, and now look at where we are. Ah, another season in the life of a Buffalo Bills fan.

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