The Enhanced Team Bond: Sean McDermott’s Deeper Connection as Bills DC – Top

If there’s one word that keeps getting repeated about what to expect from the Bills defense this year, it’s this: aggressive.

“You can tell he wants to be aggressive,” Hyde said one day after practice.

“Aggressive is a good word,” added Poyer. “That’s how he’s always been.”

Players explained this summer that the playbook itself won’t change as much as the philosophy and overall approach to how certain calls are made in a game.

“Sometimes situational football, calls may be different from the past and we’re trying to get a clue on what we might be doing,” Poyer detailed during training camp.

NFL Network insider Tom Peliserro took in a day of Bills training camp the week before the first preseason game. He observed exactly what Hyde and Poyer mentioned.

“Sean’s always had some level of his fingerprints on this defense. But just in terms of how he calls the game, yeah I think he’s going to err on the aggressive side,” Pelissero said on One Bills Live.

Now that won’t mean all out blitzes on every play, but more so a tendency to find new ways to attack the opposing offense.

“Just in terms of the exotics and blitz packages. That’s really what the foundation of Sean McDermott as a play caller has been,” Pelissero shared.

Fast forward to the Wednesday after Labor Day and the Bills are starting the first day of Week 1 practice leading up to MNF. The Bills now have all 11 starters finalized on defense as McDermott named the team’s starting middle linebacker (Terrel Bernard) and second cornerback (Christian Benford).

With all the pieces in place, NFL analysts remain confident in Buffalo’s defense even with a coordinator change.

“I’ll trust the infrastructure here,” The Ringer’s Sheil Kapadia wrote in his ranking of top NFL defenses. “In the past five years, the Bills have finished in the top eight in defensive DVOA four times and have never been lower than 12th. This should once again be a strong defense.”

Pro Football Focus echoed that sentiment and believes Buffalo is positioned to field a top five unit.

“If they can have a healthier season on the back end in 2023, the unit could be dramatically improved even without significant changes to personnel,” wrote PFF lead NFL analyst Sam Monson.