Buffalo Bills Coach Eric Washington Praises Jordan Poyer's Leadership, Versatility

The Buffalo Bills have had to utilize safeties to fill the hole Matt Milano left with his injury. Assistant head coach Eric Washington emphasized Jordan Poyer's importance in doing so.

The Buffalo Bills are not a young, up-and-coming team looking to ride a rookie-contract quarterback into relevancy. Their core has remained almost entirely unchanged for essentially a half-decade at this point, and with that comes expectations.

Said expectations took a bit of a nosedive when star linebacker Matt Milano suffered what figures to be a season-ending leg injury. They’ve relied on a handful of names to patch the hole he left in the middle of the defense, but through Week 8 it's clear a deep playoff run is still on the table, especially if that loss is mitigated.

It’s no surprise an integral piece of the core has stepped up to make life easier for the Buffalo defense.

Bills safety Jordan Poyer makes a tackle against the New England Patriots / © JAMIE GERMANO, Democrat and Chronicle

Safety Jordan Poyer has played well this season, but on Thursday night, he made his presence felt in the box. It was perhaps his best game of the season, and he allowed the Bills to utilize dime packages, leaning on their secondary depth instead of a less experienced group of linebackers.

Assistant head coach Eric Washington spoke about Poyer’s acclimation to that role.

“With Jordan, when you present the duty of the job description or whatever we’re trying to do in terms of the game plan or the best way of utilizing him, there’s a certain level of enthusiasm from Jordan,” he said. “Just about being able to help from a different position or help the overall concept, design, the call.”

Poyer earned himself an awesome 89.4 defense grade from Pro Football Focus in Thursday night’s win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He assisted on six tackles, broke up two passes, and most importantly, provided stability for a back seven that has had some concerning stretches of play.

Buffalo won 24-18 to advance to 5-3.

Washington made it clear that attitude is one that resonates throughout the locker room.

“So he’s a willing participant and there’s a reason why he’s respected and he’s a captain for our team,” Washington said. “He’s always willing to do whatever, even if that means getting outside his comfort zone to provide us a different look or different dimension from what he can do.”

Poyer’s big day may have fueled the Bills’ defensive performance, but they’ll need him to continue to perform. That, and other role players on this defense will have to step up. A next-man-up mentality is critical in an adversity-laden league like the NFL, and as Poyer embodies, sometimes that means stepping out of one's comfort zone.

Week 9’s Sunday Night Football date with the Cincinnati Bengals demands a strong defensive showing, especially if Buffalo wants to be considered amongst the elite in the AFC. Poyer and the rest of the Bills defense have their work cut out for them.