It’s hard for Leslie Frazier to believe he’s in his third season as Bills defensive coordinator under Sean McDermott.
After spending parts of four seasons as head coach of the Vikings, Frazier was hired away from his subsequent job as secondary coach in Baltimore to take over Buffalo’s ‘D,’ which was left a shambles by fired head coach Rex Ryan and his twin brother Rob, who handled the defense.
Frazier inherited a unit that ranked 29th against the run and 19th in total yards surrendered in 2016.
In the miracle 2017 season, when Buffalo incredibly had everything break right to end a 17-year playoff drought, Frazier’s defense struggled, finishing 26th in both yards and points given up and 29th, again, versus the run.
But last season, the improvement, despite a 6-10 record, was dramatic.
Buffalo was No. 1 in the NFL against the pass and No. 2 in fewest yards surrendered.
This year, Frazier’s ‘D’ is the Bills’ strength with 10 of 11 starters returning, missing only retired tackle and inspirational leader Kyle Williams.
Of the change, starting his third season, Frazier admitted, “It makes a big difference compared to almost three years ago when we got together for the first time. To sit down and talk to the guys and introduce what we’re doing (to) and now they can actually stand up in front of the room and talk about some of the things that we do, what our philosophy is and how we want to do things.
“It’s like night and day and you can see it in how fast they’re playing at this point. Just a year ago, with Tremaine (Edmunds, middle linebacker), his growth and maturity has helped our defense to be able to play faster, because now you can introduce things without having to say, ‘OK we have to slow it down, we have a rookie middle linebacker, we have to go baby steps.’”
He added, “Now you can be aggressive with what and how you’re teaching. They can anticipate something that you’re going to say even before you say it.”
Buffalo has won its two preseason games, but there’s an asterisk.
Colts star quarterback Andrew Luck didn’t play the opener, and last week, against Carolina, QB Cam Newton, running back Christian McCaffery and tight end Greg Olsen, a trio of the Panthers’ top offensive players, were held out.
Thus, the Bills’ first-team defense hasn’t really been tested in the exhibition campaign.
Come Friday night, though, that should change against the Lions and elite quarterback Matthew Stafford in Detroit.
“It will be good to see their ones (starters), but even if we don’t it’s more about are we improving on the fundamentals on what we do?” Frazier said. “Are we getting better at our techniques leading up to the regular season? Because, if we’re holding to the tenets of our defense, running to the ball, forcing takeaways, tackling well, taking good angles and really just being a fundamentally sound defense, that will bode well for us as we go forward. Whether they play their ones or not, if we see those things on tape that will be really good for us. If they do play their ones, that will be great as well.”
He added, “When our ones are on the field, that’s what you have to be concerned about. I’m pretty pleased with the way they’ve handled things thus far (no touchdowns surrendered). We have a lot of work to do and more things to get done, but there was nothing that really alarmed me with our ones on the field (against either Indianapolis or Carolina).”
Does it help, with 10 returning defensive starters, incorporating newbies like tackle Ed Oliver and cornerbacks Captain Munnerlyn or Kevin Johnson?
“I think it does … it makes it a lot easier for those guys to be plugged into our defense, because they have some veterans around them,” Frazier said. “The coaches are coaching their position, but now when they go into the locker room the players are really echoing what the coaches are saying and telling them why it works.
“You have guys who have gone through it, they’ve heard it before, and they’re helping the young guys and new guys understand what we’re looking for. That’s a big deal in the locker room.”
Last year, with the Bills struggling on offense — 31st of 32 teams in fewest points scored, yards gained and passing yards and 30th in third-down proficiency — was there stress for the defense to pick up its effort?
“Our job is to defend the opponent, get the ball to our offense with short fields and try to score on defense,” Frazier said. “We’re always trying to do whatever we can to help our offense, and vice versa. That’s what it’s all about.
“There are going to be so many games over the course of the season where our offense is going to have to pick us up. I never look at it like we’ve got to do more because something may be lacking somewhere else.”
(Chuck Pollock, a Times Herald senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)
