It's what's up front that counts for Bills

It's what's up front that counts for Bills
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August 27
Buffalo News


"Perry Fewell doesn’t want to define the Buffalo Bills’ defense with downfield hits, but a relentless, quarterback-chasing front four. Fewell wants the Bills to become one of the more aggressive units in the NFL, improve on their sack total (which ranked in the bottom of the league) and do it primarily with a four-man pass rush.

“Our base philosophy is that we’d like to get there with four,” said Fewell, the team’s defensive coordinator. “That’s why defensive ends are really important; that’s why we base a lot of our personnel decisions on speed, agility and quickness.”

Although their sack total in the preseason is low — four through three games — the Bills have shown some potential in making improvements with their pass rush. They primarily rushed four in their second preseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, which caused Ben Roethlisberger to throw an interception.

Defensive end Chris Kelsay’s sack on the first defensive snap against Indianapolis last Sunday came on a four-man rush.

“Our four down linemen put great pressure on the quarterback, and we had great coverage,” said Bills safety Donte Whitner, whose interception in the second preseason game against Pittsburgh was the result of four-man pressure. “So when you mix great pressure with good coverage turnovers come, especially when a quarterback tries to force a pass into a tight spot.”

Rushing four without blitzing allows the Bills to put more people into coverage, creating a numbers advantage and more turnovers.

“If you force most quarterbacks out of the pocket they are not comfortable in that situation,” defensive end Aaron Schobel said. “That’s what we’re paid for and that’s what we’re supposed to do. Contrary to what some fans and people in the media think, it’s not always about sacks. As long as we’re getting pressure and disrupting stuff, it’s huge.”

This isn’t a shift in philosophy for the Bills. They’ve always wanted to rush four but injuries forced the team to adjust its schemes. Kelsay was hampered most of last season with an ankle injury, and backup Ryan Denney was inactive for the first seven games with a foot injury. Denney was placed on injured reserve in late December.

The Bills had trouble getting to the quarterback last year — only 26 sacks — without sending extra players on blitzes. "