Marcell Dareus Developing into Elite Defensive Tackle for Buffalo Bills

Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz got used to elite play from his defensive tackles when he was coaching the Detroit Lions. Ndamukong Suh and Nick Fairley provided a dangerous duo that could blow up running plays and disrupt the pocket against the pass.

He has not had to adjust much with Kyle Williams and Marcell Dareus in the middle of his line in Buffalo.

Dareus has been a wrecking ball in the middle of the Bills defensive line, and while all four men (Dareus, Williams, defensive ends Mario Williams and Jerry Hughes) have played a hand in the success of the defensive line, Dareus' performance has been just as good or better than those of his teammates.

He has logged seven sacks, just a half-sack short of his career high for a season, and currently the team high through eight games. Beyond just the sack production, he's generating a good deal of pressure on opposing quarterbacks, and his 18 combined pressures (nine hurries, two hits, seven sacks) rank among the top 10 defensive tackles in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required).

"He's off to a good start for sure," said Bills head coach Doug Marrone. "He's playing at a high level. He's playing with energy. He hustles and he's been effective in the run game. He's also been effective rushing the passer. Seven sacks in half a season is pretty hard for a defensive tackle to do, but he's played really well."

The reason it's so hard for a defensive tackle to log sacks is because of the amount of traffic in the middle of the line, with three interior offensive linemen often tasked with blocking only two interior defensive linemen on the pass rush. That holds particularly true in Schwartz's scheme that often only employs a four-man rush.

Compound that with added responsibilities in run defense and the importance of gap discipline, and defensive tackles are rarely the men getting all the glory.

Credit: NFL Game Rewind

Dareus laughs in the face of double-teams, though, as we saw against the Minnesota Vikings on this sack of quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. The Vikings came out with a single-back formation on 1st-and-10 with 7:19 left in the first quarter, and the Bills sent a four-man rush after Bridgewater.

Credit: NFL Game Rewind

Dareus absorbed two blocks at the start of the play, with guard Charlie Johnson (No. 74) helping left tackle Matt Kalil (No. 75) with an initial punch before slipping off to get out to the second level. That initial double-team was barely enough to keep Dareus at bay, as the defensive tackle "got skinny" through the hole (or as skinny as a 331-pound defensive tackle can get) by turning his hips perpendicular to the line of scrimmage. 

Dareus shoved Johnson to the side (second frame), and in shifting his weight, he also slipped past Kalil's block. 

Bridgewater faked the handoff, then faked the reverse. The long-developing play never had a chance to get going, though, as Dareus had already begun to split the double-team by the time Bridgewater had faked the second handoff (third frame). 

That play was a fine example of some praise New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick had heaped on Dareus a few weeks back.

"He's a hard guy to block," Belichick said prior to the two teams meeting in Week 6. "He's strong, quick, he's got good instincts. He reads blocks well, does a good job attacking the leverage, does a good job in the pass rush of beating, based on how the guard or how he gets set."

But being a dominant defensive tackle is never about simply creating pressure—though high sack totals will always help garner national recognition.

Credit: NFL Game Rewind

We see a fine example of sound run defense on 1st-and-10 with 6:05 left in the third quarter against the Detroit Lions. The Lions came out with a single-back formation, and Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford handed it off to running back Reggie Bush.

The run was designed to go through the A-gap between the center and left guard, but Dareus would have none of that.

Credit: NFL Game Rewind

Center Dominic Raiola got his hands in Dareus' chest off the snap, but Dareus was able to hold his ground despite only using one hand to control Raiola. This is a fine example of two-gap technique, with Dareus maintaining control over the gaps on either side of the lineman in front of him.

Because he was able to hold his own with only one hand, he was able to use the other hand to wrap up Bush when he got to the line of scrimmage. So, on this play, not only was Dareus able to control a 310-pound man with one arm, but he was also able to use the other arm to tackle a 205-pound man running full speed at him. 

Impressive, to say the least.

But Dareus' freakish athleticism and strength come as no surprise to those who have followed him since the scouting process prior to the 2011 NFL draft. 

And Dareus' play is a big reason why the Bills defense did not allow a single rushing touchdown through the first seven games of the 2014 season (before finally yielding three rushing scores to the New York Jets in Week 9).

In fact, according to Pro Football Focus, he has registered a run stop (a tackle that constitutes a "loss" for the offense) on 12 of his 138 snaps (8.7 percent), which is in the top 15 among NFL defensive tackles. His 12 run stops are tied for ninth-most among defensive tackles. 

Dareus' performance this season has been comparable to another defensive tackle who just received a massive six-year, $95.2 million pay day: Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive tackle Gerald McCoy.

It remains to be seen whether Dareus will garner that kind of payday, but the Bills have to make a decision on Dareus in the near future. As a 2011 first-round pick, the Bills were able to exercise a fifth-year option in his rookie contract to keep him in-house through the 2015 season.

After that, the Bills will have to either use the franchise tag on him and pay him the average of the top five defensive tackles in the NFL, sign him to a new contract or watch him hit the open market.

If the Bills want their defense to continue to thrive as it has early in the 2014 season, they have no choice but to re-sign Dareus at whatever the cost. The Bills have formed one of the best defensive lines in football, and if they can keep that unit together for the future, there's no reason their defense can't remain one of the top units in the league.

Unless otherwise noted, quotes obtained via team news release and stats obtained via Pro Football Focus (subscription required).