Cam Lewis was standing in the middle of the field Sunday afternoon as Saints quarterback Spencer Rattler scrambled away from the Buffalo Bills’ pass rush to try to run for a first down.
Lewis nearly missed the tackle because the Bills cornerback dove toward Rattler’s legs, allowing him to stumble forward far enough to convert the third-and-7 in the first quarter at Highmark Stadium.
It shouldn’t have been up to Lewis to make the stop, though. Their defensive line, particularly rookie Deone Walker, got pushed to the outside, creating a hole through which Rattler was able to escape the pressure created by Greg Rousseau and DaQuan Jones.
The Bills are having trouble containing mobile quarterbacks. If they’re not scrambling away from a four- or five-man rush, they’re rolling out to extend the play long enough for a receiver to get open downfield. Buffalo has allowed quarterbacks to rush for a league-high 199 rushing yards on 22 carries, nine of which have occurred on third down and eight that have gone for at least 10 yards.
Sean McDermott’s defense shut down Rattler in the second half of the Bills’ 31-19 win. Rattler had just one scramble for 11 yards after running five times in the first half. But it’s an area they need to quickly improve because their opponent Sunday night, the New England Patriots (2-2), also have a quarterback who can make opponents pay if they allow him to leave the pocket.
“I (would) say right now we’re not where we need to be as far as facing these scrambling quarterbacks,” said Bills defensive coordinator Bobby Babich. “They’re a challenge, right? … It really comes down to guys understanding how the rush is going to work together. There is some, for lack of a better term, not-so-sexy parts of the rush that really help contain the quarterback.”
Drake Maye is one of the best young passers in the NFL.
The Patriots’ second-year quarterback has thrown for seven touchdowns and two interceptions. He became the first in NFL history under the age of 24 with at least two touchdown passes and a completion percentage of 75 or higher in three consecutive games. The third pick of the 2024 draft completed 82.6% of his passes in a win over Dolphins in Week 2 and 75.7% while beating the Panthers in Week 4.
Maye ranks sixth in the NFL in passing yards (988), fifth in quarterback rating (109.7), sixth in yards per attempt (8), first in completion percentage (74) and fourth in Next Gen Stats’ expected points added per drop back (0.23). But his 98 rushing yards are ninth among quarterbacks, and he’s 12th in expected points added per rush. Maye’s 14 runs of 15-plus miles per hour trail only Patrick Mahomes, Kyler Murray and Jalen Hurts. Scrambles are where Maye has inflicted the most damage on defenses, with runs of 13, 15 and 15 yards.
Pressuring Maye is one way to disrupt his rhythm and timing. He’s taken the fourth-most sacks (13) among quarterbacks. It’s unlikely the Bills will blitz more than usual, though. They use five or more rushers at the 16th-highest rate in the NFL, according to Next Gen Stats, and Maye’s 73.2 completion percentage against the blitz is the third-best mark in the NFL.
If the Bills are going to rely on four rushers, they need better attention to detail from their guys inside and on the edge. In Week 2, for example, Joey Bosa lost contain, and Jets quarterback Justin Fields ran for a 27-yard gain. A similar play occurred in Week 1, when Bosa and Rousseau nearly sacked Lamar Jackson, only to watch arguably the best rushing quarterback of all time gain 19 yards on third-and-10.
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Poor tackling is one of the issues. Pro Football Focus credited the Bills with 12 missed tackles in Week 4 and graded the team’s tackling as 23rd-best in the league. Four of Rattler’s six rushes Sunday went longer than they should have because of a missed tackle. Quarterbacks also are trying to take advantage of Buffalo’s preference to play more nickel, with five defensive backs and two linebackers, or dime, with six defensive backs. One option is to use a linebacker as a spy to prevent scrambles, but then there’s one fewer defender in coverage.
The Bills gave Rattler room to run up the middle too often in the first half. They rely on their four or five rushers to create a quarterback trap to close off the rushing lanes. Edge rushers also dropped into coverage with a linebacker as a pass rusher to confuse Rattler. One missed assignment can lead to a big run, like Rattler’s 9-yard scramble on the Saints’ opening drive.
It would help if Buffalo’s defense allowed quarterbacks less time to go through their progressions and diagnose the coverage. The Bills are 12th in pressure rate (36.1%), a slight improvement from their mark in 2024 (34.9%), but their nine sacks this season are 19th.
“It’s a new trend in the NFL or evolving trend, I should say,” McDermott said of mobile quarterbacks. “I thought (Sunday) we did a good job when they were in the drop-back game. But there were times where we gave them some space up the middle, in particular in the pocket. … We didn’t always execute that in particular early in the game. But I thought it got better as the game went on. And I was encouraged by what I saw at the end in terms of the way they closed the game out in the drop-back game.”
According to analytics website Pro Football Focus, the Bills were charged with 12 missed tackles against the Saints in their 31-19 victory.
Designed quarterback runs have become more common across the NFL as offenses try to find different ways to attack the two-high safety looks defenses are using to prevent deep passes.
The Bills allowed 72 yards on nine designed quarterback runs by Fields and Jackson in Weeks 1 and 2. Defenders can’t be fooled by a fake handoff, like those Jackson used in Week 1 for runs of 11, 17, 10 and 13 yards. Bosa showed on a designed run in the second quarter how Buffalo must defend them.
Rather than following the fake handoff to backup running back Justice Hill, Bosa read the play perfectly and covered Jackson as he tried to cut outside. Jackson was forced to run inside, where defensive tackle Ed Oliver tackled him for no gain.
The Patriots rarely use designed quarterback runs with Maye, and he ran for just 30 yards on six attempts in his only career start against the Bills’ first-team defense in Week 16 last season. This is a different New England team, though. Its offensive line is better – rookie left tackle Will Campbell has allowed one sack on 159 pass-blocking snaps – and it has more weapons around Maye, including rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson. Mike Vrabel, their first-year coach, brought back Josh McDaniels as offensive coordinator.
This won’t be the last mobile quarterback the Bills face, either. Each of their next six opponents have one – Maye, Michael Penix Jr., Bryce Young, Mahomes, Tua Tagovailoa and Baker Mayfield – and Buffalo’s coaches aren’t complacent amid a 4-0 start. There are deficiencies, like the Bills’ run defense ranking last in the NFL in yards allowed per game, but there also were signs of improvement Sunday.
The Saints started in Buffalo territory four times, yet they came away with just six points and averaged 3.03 yards per play on those possessions. But for this defense to evolve from flawed to one capable of shutting down the league’s top quarterbacks, it must prevent them from making plays out of the pocket.
“We’ll get that corrected moving forward,” said Babich. “Certainly, we’re going to have another mobile quarterback this week. It’s every week. So, we’ll tighten that up.”
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Lance Lysowski
News Sports Reporter
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