Mike Rodak, ESPN Staff Writer 7y

Tests loom, but Bills' defense much improved from Rex Ryan era

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- For as poorly as the Buffalo Bills' offense played in Sunday's 9-3 defeat by the Carolina Panthers, the Bills' defense kept the game close enough for Buffalo to almost come back for a win in the final minute.

Despite being on the field for almost two-thirds of the game, the Bills held Carolina to 3.9 yards per offensive play and 0-for-3 in the red zone, while limiting Panthers running backs Jonathan Stewart and Christian McCaffrey to 50 yards on 23 carries.

It was a commendable effort by Buffalo, but not enough to earn the win because of the offense's inability to move the ball until the game's final drive, which ended on a fourth-down incompletion to rookie receiver Zay Jones close to the Panthers' goal line.

"We have to be the best defense on the field each and every week," linebacker Preston Brown said Wednesday. "We weren't that. Everyone says, 'Oh we gave up [only] nine points,' but that is more than what our offense scored. We have to find ways to get less points, to find ways to shut them out. We could have had times to get turnovers and we didn't, so we have to find a way to get the offense the ball on the other side of the field."

The Bills' defense did not force any turnovers Sunday, one the few slights against a unit that has been among the NFL's best through the first two weeks. Major tests remain in coming weeks at Atlanta (Week 4), versus Oakland (Week 8) and versus New Orleans (Week 10), but the results thus far for Buffalo have been much better than what former coach Rex Ryan and former assistant head coach/defense Rob Ryan received from the Bills' defense last season.

Consider the turnaround in several statistical categories from 2016:

  • The Bills have allowed 3.88 yards per play, second fewest in the NFL. Last season, they allowed 5.61 yards per play, 22nd in the league.

  • The Bills have allowed 0.95 points per opponent drive, fourth fewest in the NFL. Last season, they allowed 2.14 points per drive, 24th in the league.

  • 45.5 percent of opponent possessions have been three-and-outs, the fifth-highest rate in the NFL. Last season, opponents went three-and-out on 29.4 percent of possessions, 24th in the league.

  • The Bills have disrupted 22.5 percent of opponent dropbacks via a sack, interception, batted pass or pass defensed, the sixth-highest rate in the NFL. Last season, the Bills disrupted 14.5 percent of opponent dropbacks, the 16th-highest rate in the NFL.

Buffalo's defensive personnel is a mix of old and new this season. The front seven is largely unchanged from 2016, although responsibilities have shifted under defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier's 4-3 system from Rex Ryan's 3-4 scheme last season.

Shaq Lawson, a 2016 first-round pick,  has played 63 percent of defensive snaps as a defensive end for Frazier after participating in 22 percent of snaps as an outside linebacker and sub-package rusher for Ryan. Lawson has one sack and one pass defensed in two games after posting two sacks and one pass defensed in 10 games last season.

Every member of the Bills' secondary last season is gone, replaced with players who better fit Frazier's zone-based scheme than Ryan's man-coverage system. The new group includes cornerbacks Tre'Davious White, a 2017 first-round pick, and E.J. Gaines, acquired in exchange for wide receiver Sammy Watkins in an August trade, as well as safeties Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer, both free-agent signings.

Poyer has been one of the top performers on the Bills through two weeks, disrupting more opponent dropbacks -- 10 percent -- than any other defensive player in the NFL. Poyer has two sacks, one interception, five passes defensed and 14 tackles in two games.

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