While the Buffalo Bills’ overall defense has not been spectacular by any means, their biggest strength that they had with Sean McDermott in charge was their ability to stop the pass. Even though the Bills didn’t have the most dominating secondary like some other teams like the Texans, Broncos, or Seahawks, Buffalo played great situational pass defense.
Luckily, the Bills now have Jim Leonhard as their defensive coordinator who could elevate this secondary even more than they already are. Leonhard was an NFL player at one point himself, having played for multiple teams including the Bills. For the past two seasons, he has been on the Broncos' coaching staff as their pass game coordinator for the defense. Now he's in charge of the whole unit.
Focusing on their pass-defense, the Bills had one of the best overall defenses in terms of stopping the pass. They only allowed an average of 156.9 yards per game, which was ranked as the best in the league. The next closest team was the Minnesota Vikings at 158.5 yards per game.
Everyone was so focused on Buffalo’s inability to stop the run (giving up 136.2 yards per game), that their pass-defense was overlooked and quite frankly, there is an argument to be made that they upgraded the secondary this offseason with C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Jalon Kilgore, and Davison Igbinosun. Let's not forget either, Christian Benford and Maxwell Hairston are the top two corners.
Even though Buffalo's secondary is one of their strengths, some of their matchups this season have the potential to be a nightmare for them, and Lou Scataglia from NFL Spin Zone has listed five duos on a recent WR duo power rankings list going into the season.
Bills' secondary set to be heavily challenged by 5 WR duos
Out of the eight duos that Scataglia listed, five of them are on the Bills’ schedule which includes one duo right in the AFC East. Below are the listed duos, along with when the Bills will face them.
WR Duo & Team | Week(s) set to face Bills |
|---|---|
Amon-Ra St. Brown & Jameson Williams: Detroit Lions | Week 2 (Thursday Night Football) |
A.J. Brown & Romeo Doubs: New England Patriots | Weeks 4 & 13 |
Puka Nacua & Davante Adams: Los Angeles Rams | Week 5 (Monday Night Football) |
Justin Jefferson & Jordan Addison: Minnesota Vikings | Week 9 (Monday Night Football) |
Jaylen Waddle & Courtland Sutton: Denver Broncos | Week 16 (Christmas Day) |
After taking on a tough Houton Texans team, the Bills will only have three full days to prepare for the Lions in the official home debut of their new stadium on Thursday night in Week 2. Detroit has one of the more explosive WR duos in St. Brown and Williams, and if they don't do damage, then you know that RB Jahmyr Gibbs will.
A.J. Brown and Romeo Doubs are a completely new duo, as Brown was traded to New England from the Philadelphia, and Doubs joined the Patriots from Green Bay. In Week 4, the Patriots will be coming to Buffalo so the Bills will get an early test against them before facing off again in Foxborough in Week 13.
The Rams should be the Bills’ biggest challenge by far just because of them adding Myles Garrett to an already stacked roster. However, the duo of Puka Nacua and Davante Adams should surely make life miserable for Buffalo. They are a top three duo in the league, and the only duo I would have ahead of them is Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins of the Cincinnati Bengals.
If only the Vikings had some kind of stability at quarterback, then I would be more afraid of a Jefferson/Addison duo. Now granted, Kyler Murray is in the offense and maybe that provides some spark. But if the quarterback position isn’t great, then that duo won’t be either.
Finally, the Broncos made their big splash by acquiring Jaylen Waddle from the Miami Dolphins, who spent many years playing against the Bills in the AFC East. Even though Waddle is a great addition, the duo of him and Courtland Sutton isn’t one that Bills fans should be worried about. Bo Nix has shown promise, but Denver’s passing attack was not great last year. Unless Waddle provides a massive spark right away, I wouldn’t consider this duo one of the best.
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