Overall, I have to say that with our starting CBs in that D looked very, very promising. I'm not thrilled with the injuries @ S, since that's a really key spot to this scheme, but I saw a lot to like.
Overall, I'd say the D line impressed me the most. Raji looked a bit lost in a couple instances, but he was driving OL back and throwing dudes just like in college - once he knows what he's supposed to do, he's going to be worth the wait. Jenkins was solid and disruptive in several instances, Pick was Pick, Jolly turned in some good plays - even the rookie did some nice things.
LBs looked good, overall - very happy with the OLB play so far, and am very interested to see how it looks with Thompson and Matthews in the mix. Personally, I thought Hawk looked good - he was being much more aggressive than against Cleveland, IMO, and it looked good. If he can keep that level of aggression and become assignment-sure, he'll do a great job in the middle for us. I'm a little amused to note that, now that our DBs and guys like Kampy have proved that they
can play in this scheme, the new Guy Who Can't Do It is Barnett - as with the other cases, I'll wait to see that before I believe it. I'm definitely on the Bishop bandwagon, though - he's a beast, and really only needs, like Hawk, to be more assignment-sure. That should happen naturally as they become more comfortable in and gain a greater understanding of the scheme.
Overall, and especially to the point that Woody and Al came out, that D looks very promising. And spare me the cliches - I know it's just preseason, and I'm sure the Bills are the crappiest team that ever laced up the cleats, just like the Browns were last week. You play the team that lines up across from you - if you beat them, that's a good thing. If the Packers are good, then they should dominate crappy teams; to date, they have. That's also a good thing.
I am a little worried about S, especially depth @ that position. Collins getting hurt sucks, though I'm glad to hear it isn't serious. Bigby hasn't seemed to show up much, which bothers me. I'm also interested to see how they'll fare against a more elite offense, because while I don't think playing a lower quality team negates a good performance, I do understand that it's not the same as playing the Saints or someone like that.
In all honesty, I think we've got good reason to be optimistic about the defense this year. I really do. They can be good, which should be plenty good enough for our offense.