PlayAction column: Arizona's tight end sets will challenge the Bills' run defense
Arizona used three tight ends on 11% of its plays – well over the NFL average of 3.4%. Look for the Cardinals to power up in two- and three-tight-end formations in Sunday’s season opener at Highmark Stadium.
When last we saw the Buffalo Bills’ defense, it was getting steamrolled on the ground by the Kansas City Chiefs.
One element of that steamrolling in the divisional playoff game was the Chiefs’ use of three tight ends – 13 personnel – to overpower the Bills’ nickel defense.
Kansas City ran eight times for 80 yards out of 13 personnel.
Guess what team used 13 personnel the most (and had the most success doing it) last season? The Arizona Cardinals.
Arizona used three tight ends on 11% of its plays – well over the NFL average of 3.4%. Look for the Cardinals to power up in two- and three-tight-end formations in Sunday’s season opener at Highmark Stadium.
Linebacker Terrel Bernard will be a key man in the middle against Arizona’s running game. The Bills sorely missed Bernard in January’s playoff loss to eventual Super Bowl winner Kansas City.
Harry Scull Jr., Buffalo News
Arizona ranked No. 4 overall in rushing yards last season, and lead back James Conner was sixth in the league in rushing.
“They do a really good job of creating angles to help get their guys to the second level and get the ball out to the perimeter,” said Bills linebacker Nicholas Morrow, who faced the Cardinals late last season as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles. “They let James Conner be patient back there. He likes to dip in, dip out and hit the seam, and he can hit the edge, too, and get up on some of the smaller guys (defenders).”
When an offense bulks up with three tight ends, one running back and just one wide receiver, many NFL defenses switch to “regular” personnel – four down linemen and three linebackers. Not the Bills, who love to stay in nickel with five defensive backs.
The Bills want their best 11 players on the field.
Slot cornerback Taron Johnson not only is one of the best 11, he is one of the five best players on the team, offense or defense. It is hard to take Johnson off in favor of a third linebacker, which probably would put Baylon Spector on the field as the strongside ’backer (or maybe Morrow).
Arizona’s tight ends are Trey McBride, who had 81 catches last season; 277-pound rookie Tip Reiman; and Elijah Higgins, who essentially is a big wideout at 6-foot-3 and 234 pounds. McBride, at 246, is a receiver first, but he’s not a zero as a blocker.
Arizona’s 12 personnel set is big, too, if Reiman is the second tight end and with Michael Wilson (6-foot-2, 213) as the Z-receiver.
“New England used to do it when they had Gronk and Martellus Bennett, they’d come out in 12 personnel, but in an 11 personnel look,” Morrow said, referring to Rob Gronkowski. “So do you play nickel or do you play base? The beauty of our defense is: We’re always in nickel. It helps with the matchups in certain situations, and Taron does a great job of fitting the run.”
The Bills’ defensive performance against Kansas City came with an asterisk. Buffalo was without middle linebacker Terrel Bernard. Defensive tackle DaQuan Jones was just back from injury and not at full strength. Linebacker A.J. Klein was signed off his couch. Replacement starting linebacker Tyrel Dodson got hurt.
The pass defense by the linebackers was bad, too. Patrick Mahomes was 7 of 8 for 110 yards and two TDs out of 12 and 13 personnel.
Now, Bernard is back. Jones is healthy. The additions of Austin Johnson and Dawuane Smoot should improve the run-defense depth on the defensive line. The Bills may be wise to give the 275-pound Smoot a bunch of snaps. Maybe let Johnson sub for Ed Oliver on some first downs. And the defensive ends are going to need to stay disciplined vs. Kyler Murray’s read-option handoffs and not let him run to the edge.
The 30,000-foot view. The Cardinals have made the playoffs once in the past eight years and only nine times since 1960. (The Bills have 23 playoff seasons since 1960). This is only Year 2 of the Cardinals’ latest football regime, and there has been a lot of roster turnover since general manager Monti Ossenfort took over. Arizona has just eight draftees in its starting lineup. It will be nine when first round pick Darius Robinson comes back from injury. (The Bills have 15 drafted starters.) Arizona is going to have a huge amount of cap space for 2025.
Rookie respect. One would think the Cardinals will take at least three or four deep shots a game to its marquee rookie, Marvin Harrison Jr., the fourth overall pick in the draft. His 18.07 yards-per-catch average last year was best in the nation among the top Power 5 receivers, and he had five catches for a 47-yard average on go-balls straight up the sideline.
The challenge for the defense if Arizona gets the run game going is: Do you load the box and leave Harrison alone on a cornerback without a safety over the top? Not very often, probably. Look for the Bills to protect deep against the prized rookie.
Young cornerbacks. Arizona’s safety tandem of Budda Baker and Jalen Thompson is a lot more heralded than its mostly young cornerback roster.
The top cover guy is Sean Murphy-Bunting, signed from Tennessee as a free agent for $8.5 million per year. He has 50 career starts, but he had 10 penalties last year for the Titans. The Cardinals drafted cornerback Max Melton out of Rutgers in the second round (43rd overall). He’s a long-armed elite athlete, with 4.39 speed and the second-best vertical jump (40½ inches) in the 2024 cornerback draft class. But he’s not starting, it appears. He was beaten out by Starling Thomas V, an undrafted free agent from last season who had a good summer. He’s small, but feisty, and has 4.38 speed. Thomas made seven starts last season. The slot corner is Garrett Williams, a third-round pick from last year who played one-third of the snaps last season.
Walkaround front. If the Cardinals get the Bills in bad down-and-distance situations, they may use a “mush rush,” with seven or eight players wandering around near the line of scrimmage. Bill Belichick used to do it in New England, and it worked well for him because he had beefy D-linemen to stop the run with six men.
“They try to do confusion a little bit,” center Connor McGovern said. “It’s nickel, but the ends are so far walked out and the safeties are walking around everywhere, so me and Josh (Allen) have to be on the same page. ... You’ve gotta be paying attention all the time.”
Stats for the road. Arizona’s Nick Rallis is the youngest defensive coordinator in the NFL at age 31. (Buffalo’s Bobby Babich is 41.) ... McBride ran 4.56 before the 2022 draft and was the first tight end selected (55th overall). He was raised by two mothers and is the first NFL player raised in a same-sex marriage. ... It’s a tough start for the Arizona defense. Four of the first five games are against offenses that ranked among the top eight last season. Three of the Bills’ first four games are against top-six rushing offenses.