Bills defense piecing together
With guys returning from injury and younger players logging more reps, Buffalo’s defense is slowly shaping back up. At exactly the right time, there’s a lot more fire powering the defense.
Seven Bills were credited with a sack against Carolina. Alongside defensive end Joey Bosa who Pro Football Focus graded the fourth best pass rusher heading into Week 9, defensive end Michael Hoecht gave an immediate spark to the defense in his first game back.
Hoecht had three tackles, 1.5 tackles, and one tackle for loss on Sunday, but his “Tasmanian devil” energy, as defensive tackle Jordan Phillips described him on Wednesday, uplifted the defense entirely. Hoecht said that regardless of who gets the sack or tackle, everyone gets celebrated on every impactful play.
“No job is too small, no job is too big. It’s easy to say, ‘Hey, you know, look at the things he can do,’ but look at the things that he also embraces in terms of doing things for the team,” McDermott said. “That’s a lost art, it seems like. I don’t want to say totally lost, but it’s getting harder and harder to find guys that are willing to do the little things, and he embraces those tasks.”
Cornerback Maxwell Hairston and safety Jordan Hancock got in-game experience as well against the Panthers, something McDermott said is always helpful. While important to have that experience before a big matchup, Bernard said he emphasizes to the younger players not to make one game or opponent bigger or smaller than it is.