{"id":1034465,"date":"2026-10-22T23:48:25","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T23:48:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1034465\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T23:48:25","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T23:48:25","slug":"jim-leonhard-has-a-big-to-do-list-in-addressing-bills-defensive-deficiencies-during-teams-bye-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1034465\/","title":{"rendered":"Jim Leonhard has a big to-do list in addressing Bills&#8217; defensive deficiencies during team&#8217;s bye week"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-baabd5ed=\"\">ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) \u2014 Jim Leonhard leaned back to loosen his shoulders and let out a big yawn upon approaching the podium for his weekly news conference before addressing the first question of whether he got any sleep.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-baabd5ed=\"\">\u201cNot much,\u201d the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/nfl\/buffalo-bills-team\" class=\"entity\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Buffalo Bills<\/a>&#8216; first-year defensive coordinator said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-baabd5ed=\"\">The lack of rest was the combination of the team\u2019s late-night return home following a 33-30 win at Las Vegas on Sunday and whatever restlessness Leonhard is experiencing in attempting to plug a leaky defense that&#8217;s among the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/nfl\" class=\"entity\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NFL<\/a>\u2019s worst in yards and points allowed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-baabd5ed=\"\">Tired as the first-year coordinator felt, the one thing Leonhard wouldn\u2019t give into was frustration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-baabd5ed=\"\">\u201cMe being frustrated, it doesn\u2019t help us get there,\u201d Leonhard added, while looking ahead to Buffalo entering its bye week off with an AFC East-leading 5-1 record. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a couple of days in the office for us re-evaluating everything. If 75% of the problem is me, then we\u2019ll fix that. But what\u2019s the rest of it that we can clean up for these guys?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-baabd5ed=\"\">His to-do list is vast.<\/p>\n<p>Secondary is a primary concern<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-baabd5ed=\"\">Though pleased with Buffalo&#8217;s pass rush, Leonhard conceded his secondary has been a weak spot while allowing 15 touchdown passes, tied for the second most in the NFL entering Week 7. On-field communication continues to be a problem even though Leonhard worked on simplifying the game plan last week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-baabd5ed=\"\">\u201cThere\u2019s too many times we look confused,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-baabd5ed=\"\">And then there are disciplinary issues, beyond safety <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/nfl\/chauncey-gardner-johnson-player\" class=\"entity\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">C.J. Gardner-Johnson&#8217;s<\/a> ejection and one-game suspension for spitting in the direction of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/nfl\/las-vegas-raiders-team\" class=\"entity\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Raiders<\/a> players. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-baabd5ed=\"\">A week after allowing the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/nfl\/los-angeles-rams-team\" class=\"entity\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Rams<\/a> to convert four first downs as a result of penalties in a 37-34 overtime win at LA, five more flags led to Raiders first downs. Overall, the Bills rank last in the NFL with 151 first downs allowed and 21 by penalties. And that has contributed to Buffalo ranking 28th in the league in allowing opponents to convert 45% of their third-down opportunities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-baabd5ed=\"\">The problems reflect a defense that opened the season working in four new starters while also transitioning to a 3-4 system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-baabd5ed=\"\">Leonhard has focused on addressing the issues with the players on his roster, though he has cautioned changes might be necessary. One reinforcement is already on the way with Buffalo bringing back Tre\u2019Davious White, signing the veteran cornerback to the practice squad this week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-baabd5ed=\"\">First-year coach Joe Brady refuses to fix blame on one unit by saying each of the team\u2019s three phases needs to improve. That\u2019s despite a sizzling Josh Allen-led offense that&#8217;s tied for the league lead with Detroit in averaging 32.8 points per outing, and scoring points on 36 of 58 possessions not ending in a kneel-down.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-baabd5ed=\"\">\u201cIt\u2019s never offense versus defense or anything like that with us. We\u2019re going to win as a team,\u201d Brady said. \u201cThere\u2019s going to be games where we might try to find a way to win 10-7. And there\u2019s going to be games like (the Raiders) where we got to go find a way to win in the 30s.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-baabd5ed=\"\">More often than not, it has been the latter this season with Buffalo winning all four outings when allowing 30 or more points. The defense\u2019s best showing was a 24-16 win over the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/nfl\/los-angeles-chargers-team\" class=\"entity\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Chargers<\/a> in Week 3 in which Buffalo overcame committing five turnovers.<\/p>\n<p>Defense bailed out by offense<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-baabd5ed=\"\">It was left to Leonhard to play the so-called bad cop in blaming the defense and praising the offense.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-baabd5ed=\"\">\u201cIt&#8217;s great to have Superman as your quarterback,\u201d he said following the win against the Rams, in which Allen had 210 yards passing and 121 yards rushing. \u201cBut we can&#8217;t wait until it&#8217;s our turn to go save the day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-baabd5ed=\"\">That wasn&#8217;t the case in Las Vegas, with Buffalo squandering a 10-point lead by allowing the Raiders to score 17 points in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-baabd5ed=\"\">\u201cIt\u2019s consistency. It\u2019s finish,\u201d Leonhard said this week. \u201cAnd the ultimate job that we have is keeping points off the board, and we\u2019re not doing that right now. And that\u2019s a big problem.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-baabd5ed=\"\">___<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-baabd5ed=\"\">See AP\u2019s full NFL coverage here<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) \u2014 Jim Leonhard leaned back to loosen his shoulders and let out a big&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":975804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2048],"tags":[215,214,53,2086,1172,7,393,58,122,6],"class_list":["post-1034465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-buffalo-bills","tag-bills","tag-buffalo","tag-buffalo-bills","tag-buffalobills","tag-c-j-gardner-johnson","tag-football","tag-las-vegas-raiders","tag-los-angeles-rams","tag-national-football-league","tag-nfl"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117487239414962709","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1034465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1034465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1034465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/975804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1034465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1034465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1034465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}