Leslie Frazier had been the Buffalo Bills’ defensive coordinator since 2017, which meant that he was on the staff every year that head coach Sean McDermott has been. There was a parting of the ways this offseason, and while speculation as to why could lead us down a number of paths, Frazier’s general tendency against aggressive pass rush might have been an issue for McDermott, a defensive coach who had always liked to throw the kitchen sink at quarterbacks when he was a defensive coordinator.
Last season, the Buffalo Bills blitzed on 23% of their regular-season snaps. That rate plummeted to 14% in the postseason, to less than optimal avail.
In this week’s edition of “The Xs and Os with Greg Cosell,” Greg (of NFL Films and ESPN’s NFL Matchup) explained why you can expect to see the Bills blitz a lot more in 2023:
“We’re not there, so we don’t know the conversations that are had behind closed doors, but keep in mind that Sean McDermott cut his teeth in this league as an assistant under Jim Johnson with the Eagles. [Johnson] was one of the best blitzing defensive coordinators in the NFL. And my sense is that Sean McDermott will increase that blitz frequency.
“Once they lost Von Miller… he’s back, but he’s an older player, and we don’t know exactly how he’ll be. Just the nature of the injury and the age and the wear and tear. They could not rush the quarterback particularly well with their down four a year ago once Von Miller was out. They didn’t have that player to make that impact play like the sack Miller had on Patrick Mahomes early in the season that helped the Bills win that game.”
(Below, Miller’s sack of Patrick Mahomes with 6:19 left in the game in Week 6 of the 2022 season. The Chiefs had third-and-6 from their own 27-yard line, and this sack ended that drive, allowing the Bills to get on top of what was a 20-17 deficit at the time with a 24-20 win).
“I think there’s going to be a change in the overall world view of how they want to play.”
You can watch Greg’s and Doug’s analysis right here:
