Obvious problems early in the season suggested the Bills’ defensive collapse was imminent in Week 4

Running back Derrick Henry made the Buffalo Bills defense look like a crappy football team after the club’s miserable 35-10 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday night. It was embarrassing and just not worth watching at the end of the evening. The most frustrating thing about the loss is that a defensive implosion of this magnitude was thought possible since Week 1, but few talked about it because the Bills dominated on the scoreboard and forced teams to put the ball in play more than they did probably would have liked.

We’re referring to Ed Oliver and DaQuan Jones, and more broadly to the interior of Buffalo’s defensive line. Oliver and Jones posted abysmal Pro Football Focus grades in Week 4, posting run defense grades of 50.2 and 51.2, respectively. It’s not that PFF grades are the be-all and end-all when it comes to player performance, but the consistency with which the outlet has rated the two poorly this season is concerning; The best grade either has received since the start of the season was Oliver in Week 2 against the Dolphins with a grade of 64.1. This is the only grade achieved by any of the players over 60. Both have a run defense grade of 47.2 this season.

Related: Bills’ defensive snap in Week 4 counts lingering questions about player usage

Buffalo has allowed average yards per carry of 5.0, 4.1, 5.4 and 8.0 yards against the Cardinals, Dolphins, Jaguars and Ravens; Some of these averages are better than others, but none are particularly promising. This season they have given up 626 yards and a whopping 5.7 yards per rush. Opposing teams are not stupid; They will recognize this trend and attack the Bills with their rushing game. Even the Jaguars had an impressive per carry average, but the game quickly got out of control and they were only able to run the ball 17 times. That has to change or Josh Allen and the Bills’ offense will be put under pressure to lead the team and play flawlessly, which wasn’t the case against the Ravens.

Neither Oliver nor Jones recorded a tackle in the ugly Week 4 loss and didn’t even appear in the box score in a game in which they played in over 50% of the team’s snaps. The advanced stats weren’t exactly good for her either; According to PFF, neither recorded a single run stop in the game, while Oliver was the only player of the two to record a pressure. They are simply not producing this season and this is becoming a worrying trend.

According to PFF, Oliver’s season numbers are six tackles, one sack and nine pressures. Things are even worse for Jones with three tackles, no sacks and just five pressures. When defending Jones, his job is not primarily to pressure quarterbacks, but rather to keep blockers busy and help overload the middle. The problem is that this doesn’t happen consistently, as his run defense grade shows.

There’s not much that can be done at this point, except perhaps a stronger rotation of DeWayne Carter and Austin Johnson. Bring these two into the game more and see what they can do. Carter is a rookie and has struggled in his limited snaps, but it’s a small sample and he had a big tackle for loss against Henry near the goal line late in Week 4. Whatever the case, Oliver and Jones aren’t playing at the same level. They made it in 2023 and need to step up their game or it could be a very long season for the Bills’ interior defenders.

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