Jim Leonhard isn’t hiding what he wants to see from Buffalo’s defense in Saturday’s preseason opener: a group that plays with force and actually puts people on the ground.
For Leonhard, the first thing he’ll be watching is simple enough.
"To me, it's the physicality up front, right? Like, let's go get that done," Leonhard said. "You know, there's going to be mistakes that are made, but can we fly around, be physical?"
That physical edge only matters if it turns into finished plays, and Leonhard made clear that’s the real test. In live action, he wants to see defenders arrive, wrap up and end the down.
"And it's the first opportunity to finish, right? Tackling, right? Tackling, tackling, getting guys on the ground in live situations, making plays on the ball," he said.
Training camp can only tell Buffalo so much. With quarterbacks protected and tackles not truly completed in practice, Leonhard sees the preseason as the first real chance to measure whether the defense is translating its work into game-day results.
"Open field tackling, again, attacking the football or creating turnovers, like those are huge evaluators in this preseason," Leonhard said. "It's big to see because you finally get the opportunity to see the end of the play be real."
He isn’t just talking about one player making one stop, either. Leonhard wants the whole unit swarming to the ball and helping each other finish.
"It's the biggest one, right? In all reality, right?"
Leonhard said when asked about the importance of tackling. "Schematically, you're going to get guys in places and make plays, right?
That's my job, but who can finish, right? Who can finish, get guys on the ground."
He didn’t soften the point when talking about what went wrong before.
"That was an Achilles heel here last year, right?" he said. "So that's the number one thing we have to correct."
The fix, in Leonhard’s view, starts with effort and crowding the football.
"And the number one way to do it is getting population to the football, right? Everybody knows that, the effort you play with and getting more than one guy to the ball," Leonhard said.
That makes Saturday more than just a preseason tune-up for a defense still getting used to Leonhard’s system. The scheme can get players in position, but the finish has to come from the players themselves.
"Scheme is scheme," Leonhard said, "but if you can't get people on the ground, you're going to have to make adjustments and figure out how you can help them do that."
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