Published: September 22, 2008 11:43 pm            

BILLS: D-line fared well against tough blocking

ORCHARD PARK — Through three games, it seems like just about everything is different this season for the Buffalo Bills compared to a year ago. For starters, and most importantly, the team is 3-0 as opposed to 0-3. A big reason for the turnaround is the improved run defense, which has been anchored by the offseason acquisition of Marcus Stroud.

In three straight games, the Bills have held their opponents to less than 100 yards rushing, including in Sunday’s 24-23 win over Oakland. The Raiders had rushed for more than 300 yards in Week 2 against the Kansas City Chiefs, so keeping rookie sensation Darren McFadden and Co. in check was a big reason the Bills’ locker room was a happy place after the game.

“I can’t be any prouder of the guys in here just sticking it out and playing their behinds off and winning a ballgame,” defensive tackle Kyle Williams said.

Williams is one of the players who was around last year when the Bills gave up huge chunks of yardage on the ground, but playing next to Stroud has helped him excel this season. He finished with four tackles Sunday, including a big stop for no gain on a first-and-10 play for Oakland with 4:03 to play. The Raiders went three-and-out on the series, and Buffalo marched down the field for the game-winning field goal on the ensuing drive.

Another improvement has come in third-down defense. For the game, the Raiders were just 2-of-12 (17 percent) on third downs.

“I thought our pressure has been pretty good, pretty consistently good, and our coverage has been, I think, probably tighter than it was a year ago. All of those things factor in, and then as we’ve talked about before, third down is obviously set up by those other two. And you have to be good on first and second if you’re going to have good numbers on third,” Bills coach Dick Jauron said.

The Raiders tried on a couple of occasions to give the Bills different looks, like putting McFadden at quarterback in the shotgun and having him hand-off to Michael Bush.

“They got us a couple of times on it,” Williams said. “They didn’t go to it late in the game, which kind of surprised me, but you know we were able to make the plays when we needed to make them.”

Asked what keyed Sunday’s performance, Williams — a fifth-round pick in 2006 who was awarded a contract extension earlier this year — rehashed a line about filling gaps that’s been the motto for Bills defenders this season.

“Just getting out there and being sound, hitting our gaps and making plays,” he said. “We missed a tackle here, we’d miss a tackle there, they would get us on a couple runs, but for the most part we were able to hold a team down that ran for 300-plus yards last week.”

So far, holding teams down has been the norm for the run defense this year.

        

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