Position grades: Bills' variations of dime defense put lid on Denver pass game
The Bills used their dime defensive package, with six defensive backs, on 17 plays against the Broncos. It was the most the Bills had used the dime since a late October game at Seattle when they ran it 19 times against a pass-oriented Seattle offense trying to play catch up.
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The Buffalo Bills’ defense threw some personnel variety at the Denver Broncos’ passing game in Sunday’s wild-card playoff victory at Highmark Stadium.
The Bills used their dime defensive package, with six defensive backs, on 17 plays against the Broncos, according to Buffalo News charting. It was the most the Bills had used the dime since a late October game at Seattle when they ran it 19 times against a pass-oriented Seattle offense trying to play catch up.
Normally, when the Bills run the dime package, it’s with four defensive linemen, linebacker Terrel Bernard and six defensive backs. They did that on eight plays against the Broncos.
Bills linebacker Matt Milano, bottom left, tackles Denver’s Bo Nix for a sack in the first quarter Sunday on a play
in which Milano was a spy on the quarterback. Joshua Bessex, Buffalo News
But the Bills used three down linemen, two linebackers (Bernard and Matt Milano) and six defensive backs nine times. The rationale was to use Milano as a spy on mobile rookie quarterback Bo Nix, keep him in the pocket and prevent him from making big plays with his legs.
It worked. Nix was only 4 of 8 for 39 yards passing with two sacks against the Bills’ 3-2-6 group. Milano got a sack of Nix from a spy position on Denver’s second drive of the game when he chased the QB to the sideline for no gain on a third-down play. Nix was 2 of 6 passing when Milano wasn’t spying in the dime but Nix did have a scramble for 12 yards.
The past two seasons, the Bills’ use of the dime has largely been a function of Milano being out of the lineup due to injury. So the 3-2-6 wasn’t really an option, because after Bernard, there’s no other linebacker on the team as valuable as Milano in pass coverage.
For the season, the Bills ran the dime coverage an average of nine plays per game (157 plays), which was ninth most in the NFL, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.
“I think really since that first conversion on that first scoring drive that they had ... you got to get off the field on third down,” said coach Sean McDermott. “I thought we were pretty darn good at it, I think they ended up 2 for 9 (on third down), so we’ll take that.”
How much might the Bills use the dime against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday? Probably not much, unless the Ravens somehow fall way behind and are forced into a pass-only mode. The Bills ran dime on five plays in the Week 4 loss at Baltimore. But that game doesn’t have a ton of relevance from a Bills personnel standpoint this week because Buffalo was without Bernard, Milano and Taron Johnson in that meeting.
Here’s a position-by-position breakdown of the win over the Broncos, based on video review and scored on a scale of 0 to 5:
Quarterback (5.0). Josh Allen did his usual spectacular things. On the 24-yard TD pass to Ty Johnson, Allen took 6.78 seconds to pass and threw the ball 43 yards in the air. Johnson ran a total of 67.9 yards on the play and there was a 15% completion probability, according to Next Gen Stats. Allen was great against the blitz, as usual. He was 8 of 12 for 108 yards and a TD (the pass to Johnson) against rushes of five-plus men, according to News charting. The 35-yard deep pass to Dalton Kincaid and a 19-yarder late to Mack Hollins beat the blitz. Allen also was 4 of 7 for 139 yards and two TDs on deep passes.
Running backs (5.0). James Cook showed off speed and power. He bounced outside for 16 yards early with the help of a Dawson Knox block on the edge vs. Jonathon Cooper. He powered through linebacker Cody Barton on his 5-yard TD run. He ran through safety Brandon Jones for 12 yards after contact on a 16-yard run on the first TD drive. Reggie Gilliam had a good kickout block on Cooper on a 19-yard third-quarter Cook run. Ty Johnson had 70 yards on 11 touches.
Receivers (4.5). Khalil Shakir again was the receiving catalyst with six catches for 61 yards, with 50 yards running after the catch. Motion at the snap by Hollins from a bunch formation helped give Curtis Samuel a one-step head start vs. Pat Surtain II on the 55-yard deep-over TD pass. Knox got open on a downfield cross with Kincaid from the same side of the field for 25 yards. Knox also got open for 13 yards vs. man coverage from P.J. Locke. Kincaid beat Locke on an out-and-up for 35 yards. Overall, the Denver secondary played sound coverage. But it was undone by the Bills’ run game and the Bills’ superb pass protection.
Offensive line (5.0). The Broncos led the NFL with 63 sacks and managed two on Allen. One was a coverage sack on which he held the ball for 5.3 seconds in the third quarter. It should have been a pass interference foul on Surtain against Kincaid in the end zone but the officials missed it. The other was when Zach Allen beat David Edwards with an outside move late in the second quarter. It was a brilliant game across the board for the Bills’ line.
Defensive line (4.0). Greg Rousseau spent most of his time going against superb left tackle Garett Bolles. Rousseau had four hurries, by The News’ count, including one on which he was held (no call) and a sack vs. Bolles that actually was a coverage sack (thanks to Rasul Douglas and Taron Johnson). Von Miller had the easier task, working mostly against right tackle Mike McGlinchey, and had five pressures, pretty good considering he had only 16 pass rushes. DaQuan Jones was stout in the middle. Ed Oliver held up a double team in the third quarter to keep Bernard clean for a run stuff. Denver entered the game with the 14th-most efficient run game.
Linebackers (4.0). The play of Bernard and Milano was encouraging. Bernard had a nice early breakup in the deep middle of Cover 2. He read a screen well for a run stuff.
Defensive backs (4.0). After the early mix-up on the deep TD pass (we’re putting the blame on Taylor Rapp), the coverage was excellent. Douglas had tight zone coverage on a third-down incompletion to force a punt. Cam Lewis made a hard hit and coverage stop on a fourth-down play. Christian Benford read a screen and stuffed it for a 3-yard loss. Denver ranked No. 1 in the NFL in backfield targets (123) and No. 3 in yards per game on them (40.6). The Bills held them to 4 yards on three backfield targets.
“They do a lot of screens, and they got a lot of guys that get a lot of YAC,” Douglas said. “We knew once they spit it out, everybody had to take their shot. We blew up two of them and they stopped doing it.”
Special teams (2.5). It was an excellent game for the Bills’ special teams, except for the first down allowed on Denver’s fake punt, which could have been damaging but wasn’t. Hollins has gotten away from his gunner role as the season wore on since he’s playing so many receiver snaps. But on the Bills’ first punt, Hollins beat a Denver double team and hammered return man Marvin Mims at the Denver 15. A 4.51-second hang time from Sam Martin helped. Credit Tyler Bass with an accurate low-hook kickoff in the third quarter that hit inside the landing zone and forced Denver to start a drive at its 20. Shakir made two Broncos whiff on a 23-yard punt return.
