POLLOCK: Defense has been key to Bills' surge
There's lingering uncertainty about the quarterback situation and the running game with rookie first-round draft choice Marshawn Lynch has yet to find its groove.
So why have the Buffalo Bills won two straight, three of four and are a blown 20 seconds against Dallas from having strung four victories in a row?
How about defense?
This injury-ravaged crew which has lost six starters - three for the season on injured reserve - plus two key reserves, one to a broken foot, the other to an NFL-mandated four game substance abuse suspension, has begun to jell.
Gone for the season are middle linebacker Paul Posluszny (broken arm), free safety Ko Simpson (broken ankle) and cornerback Jason Webster (knee).
But two of the other injured - outside linebackers Keith Ellison (ankle) and Coy Wire (knee) - are back, as is suspended end Anthony Hargrove, with safety Jim Leonhard (calf) and end Ryan Denney (foot) set to return, possibly this Sunday.
And as coordinator Perry Fewell's unit has gotten healthy, so has its performance.
The first three games, Fewell's crew gave up 470, 420 and 485 yards ... and an average of 26 points.
Since then, Buffalo's 'D' has surrendered 346, 385, 308 and 254 yards and an average of 14 points a game.
The Bills, from the first three games to the last four, have improved defensively by 121 yards and 12 points per start.
And, oh yeah, after getting only two takeaways the first three games, Buffalo has 12 in the past four.
ACCORDING to Fewell, those numbers aren't coincidence.
"We're able to expand our package now and do what we want to do because we have the healthy bodies," he said.
But there's more.
According to veteran outside linebacker Angelo Crowell, "It's determination ... guys have been preparing as a unit away from the stadium. Most importantly, we're believing in each other out there."
And it was second-year strong safety Donte Whitner who got it started.
"We get together at my house," he said, "and get familiar with the scheme and each other."
It's worked.
"They're getting together as a group and they're just studying," Fewell said. "What you're seeing is execution because of communication on the field."
That and the return of the injured.
The end of Hargrove's suspension let starting ends Aaron Schobel and Chris Kelsay stay fresher.
"That helps," Schobel said. "It's very tiring playing the attacking style the coaches want every play. And it will be even better when Ryan comes back."
Wire's return give depth to the linebacking corps which was without its top two players for three weeks with him and starter Ellison out simultaneously.
And when Leonhard comes back, he figures to reclaim the free safety position Simpson vacated, though converted wide receiver George Wilson, while not much of a tackler, has two interceptions in three games.
Then there's middle linebacker John DiGiorgio, filling the position of Buffalo's most devastating defensive loss.
The 6-2, 229-pound alumnus of Division II Saginaw Valley State isn't near the athlete Posluszny is, but he's smart and extremely sound technically.
Since DiGiorgio took over as starter, he's averaging over nine tackles a game, one fewer than his predecessor in the first two games.
It will never be the lineup Fewell envisioned in training camp, for the rest of this season, but as he pointed out, "as we get people back, hopefully we'll keep getting better."
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