Buffalo and defense as a path to victory

The Buffalo Bills remain one of the strongest teams in the NFL in recent seasons, although unfortunately they have fallen far short of even conference glory. They have found this regularity in their defensive system that changed with the arrival of Sean McDermott as coach in 2017, a success in the search for better results.

Precisely the experience of the native of Nebraska in the national league was working in the defense of other teams. He was first defensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles between 2009 and 2010, later he held the same position for the Carolina Panthers from 2011 to 2016 where he was even a key player in the team reaching Super Bowl LV.

Sean’s impact was immediate since he arrived at the New York team, because in his debut season he returned to the team to the playoffs after not having a presence since 1999. At this point it should be noted that the Bills are far from being one of the most successful franchises. powerful in the NFL, as they are the fourth cheapest franchise according to Sportico estimates with a value of 2,990 million dollars. In addition to this, they have the ninth lowest wage bill this season, a reflection of a team that seeks to exploit the qualities of its players as best as possible.

The great work of the coach was not only the momentum of his arrival to the team, since they have been in the fight for the main positions in the national conference since 2019 and have been in the playoffs in four of the five seasons he has been in charge. Even his mark is 14-11 when allowing 20 points or less to his rivals, another sign of his great defensive work.

Now, heading into the ninth week of activity of the season, Buffalo is the best defense in the NFL with just 98 points conceived in seven games. His defense has been a fundamental part of his good performance, especially in the second parts of the 2022 games where they have a combined score of 70-7 in their favor, balance between offense and defense.

With only one loss in games this season, McDermott has already set a team record by becoming the coach with the best winning percentage: 0.616. All teams, with their strengths and weaknesses, aspire to compete for the ultimate glory, which in this case is the Vince Lombardi Trophy, one that the Bills’ display cases don’t have.

Now, with a consolidated team as the protagonist in the regular phase, the team has not made the leap that many of its fans would expect, since in recent seasons they have not even won a conference title beyond the division titles won in 2020 and 2021.

The New York franchise appears at the top of the latest Power Rankings, synonymous with the fact that they are one of the rivals to beat on the way to the Super Bowl, however, history works against them in an NFL that is increasingly competitive.