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Bills’ Week 4 defensive snap counts open questions regarding player usage

Week 4 was a defensive disaster for the Buffalo Bills, but looking at the snap counts leaves many wondering if some players were underutilized.

Anthony Miller

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There’s no getting around the idea that the Buffalo Bills had a tough night on Sunday, losing 35-10 to the Baltimore Ravens in a generally discouraging game.

There are several areas to question following the multi-possession loss, among them the divvying of snaps. WGR550's Sal Capaccio shared snap count data following the game, with safety Damar Hamlin leading the defense as the only player who played 100% of the snaps at 57.

There are a few players whose snap counts stand out as interesting in hindsight. Veteran pass rusher Von Miller only took nine, or 16%, of snaps. Linebacker Nicholas Morrow had 16 snaps and preseason hero Joe Andreessen had only three.

Related: Bills QB Josh Allen on the positive takeaways team will take from ugly Week 4 loss

Miller’s lack of playing time can be largely attributed to the fact that he is used more as a third-down pass rusher at this point in his career, and Baltimore didn’t have many of those situations (facing only three third downs in the first half). What makes it questionable is the Bills’ defense had issues all night stopping the run and pressuring Lamar Jackson, so if the team is struggling early on, why wasn’t Miller brought in more to assist? He had tallied three sacks through three games, showing shades of his former self as he was recording nearly 30 snaps per game; why was he a schematic non-factor against Baltimore? This was a missed opportunity to help slow down the Baltimore offense after the Bills had just one sack and allowed 271 rushing yards.

Buffalo's linebackers struggled all night with missed tackles and assignments. When Derrick Henry was on the loose, the linebackers were clogged up by the offensive line, allowing Henry to get to the third level of the defense more times than not.

That should have opened the door for adjustments to the lineup, with Morrow and Andreessen getting more playing time. Even if it is just because they are down by a lot, that playing time would be valuable to those guys. It might even show the coaching staff that they should get more playing time moving forward, especially with how many injuries they are dealing with on defense.

Derrick Henry
Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

Morrow, a veteran who was one of the top tacklers for the Chicago Bears in 2022 and the Philadelphia Eagles in 2023 with 211 combined tackles in two seasons, saw snaps after the team played more 'base' three linebacker sets to attempt to stop the run, but this is something that should've happened earlier, as Henry was dynamic from Baltimore's opening play. Andreessen shined in three preseason games as he led the way for Buffalo with 24 tackles; we're not implying he would've been a game-changer, but given his preseason promise, wouldn't it have been valuable to get him more than three regular-season reps in a game that was out of hand early?

Buffalo will use this game as a learning experience as the Bills try to bounce back from their first loss of the year next Sunday in a showdown with the Houston Texans.

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