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Bills Source Opens Up About Jim Leonhard's First-Year Defense Bumps Before Ravens Game
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- Bills Source Opens Up About Jim Leonhard's First-Year Defense Bumps Before Ravens Game
Jim Leonhard's first season running the Buffalo Bills' defense has come with growing pains, and the team isn't pretending otherwise with Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens headed to Orchard Park on Sunday. "It's a new system, so you knew there would be some bumps in the road," a team source told The Athletic's Jonathan Jones in his weekly column Friday night . The source added that knowing it was coming in the spring hasn't made it any easier to live through.
Buffalo is 5-1 and atop the AFC East, but it has the third-worst scoring defense in the league and has given up the second-most yards. Five of its six opponents have scored at least 29 points, which is how the Bills ended up with the NFL's best EPA offense and one of its worst defenses at the same time.
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Penalties are extending drives on the Bills
Sep 17, 2026; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Detroit Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams (1) makes a catch against Buffalo Bills cornerback Maxwell Hairston (1) during the first half at New Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images
Jones reported that the Bills spent their bye cleaning up small mistakes, and the flags are the biggest of them. Buffalo is averaging one defensive pass interference penalty per game, tied for second-most in the league behind only the Las Vegas Raiders. It also has nine accepted defensive holding penalties, more than double the four for the teams tied at 31st.
Those penalties add up. Two-thirds of the points Buffalo has allowed came on drives extended by a penalty or a fourth-down conversion, and the Bills believe the overall numbers look worse than the film.
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Some of it is personnel, too. Jones noted the defense has a new look in the back end, and Maxwell Hairston has struggled on the outside . His 36.4 PFF coverage grade ranks 98th among 102 qualified cornerbacks, and quarterbacks have a 114.6 passer rating throwing at him. Up front, Greg Rousseau leads all edge defenders with 39 pressures and has six of the team's 11 sacks.
Outside help is limited. Buffalo hired three-time head coach John Fox as a senior assistant in the offseason to support Leonhard, and sources told Jones the Bills could still make a trade for defense. With about $3 million in cap space, though, it won't be a Jeffery Simmons-level move, and every name tied to Buffalo is in our Bills trade rumors tracker .
That leaves the fix in-house against a healthy Lamar Jackson , who returns after missing three games with a high ankle sprain. Nickel corner Dee Alford is questionable with an ankle injury and defensive tackle Greg Gaines is questionable with a lower-body injury, so Leonhard may have to clean up the mistakes with a thinner group than he had coming out of the bye.
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This story was originally published by Athlon on Oct 31, 2026, where it first appeared in the NFL section. Add Athlon as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
