In their preseason game 1 against the New Jersey Giants, Tre’Davious made his comeback debut for the Buffalo Bills. While rookie Mad Max Hairston is the heir apparent to the CB spot opposite Christian Benford, Tre White is a former first-round pick himself whose knowledge of the system and mastery of navigating the zone schemes make this job White’s to lose, especially in the earliest stages of the season.
Can Tre recover some of his previous excellence, or have his injuries robbed him of his ability to make an impact on the defense? We’re examining every play Tre had an impact on. Let’s take a closer look:
1st and 10
In his return from 2 major injuries and a season away with other clubs, Tre made a statement in his return by consistently being in the right place at the right time and stepping up on every responsibility that CB2 is tasked with.
The Giants come out in a trips formation to the right, and the Bills respond by showing a cover 1 man look presnap, with Tre on single man coverage against the lone wide out on the left. Just before the snap, Cam Lewis darts back from his linebacker position to shift into a cover 2 zone look, allowing Tre to have help over the top. As the play develops, Tre hands off his man to Cam, and with Da’Quan Jones collapsing the pocket on Russell Wilson, who has stepped up, Wilson dumps it down to the bac,k who leaked out of the backfield.
Tre reads it perfectly, shading his intermediate assignment, while keeping his eyes on the quarterback, allowing him to break down on the throw with great timing, making contact at the line of scrimmage. The back had a bit of an angle on Tre and slips the tackle with the result being a 9-yard gain.
1st & 10
In his return from 2 major injuries and a season away with other clubs, Tre made a statement in his return by consistently being in the right place at the right time and stepping up on every responsibility that CB2 is tasked with.
On this 1st and 10 play, the Giants are lined up tight to the line in a tight formation with WR Lil’Jordan Humphrey lined up outside of TE Theo Johnson. Tre’s assignment as the CB on the weak side is to cover the TE close to him in case of a play action, but also to be ready to jump down to the line in case they actually run it up the middle or to the weak side. You can see him sneaking down from a cover-three look to more of a third linebacker position.
As the play develops, Tre sets up the zone with Matt Milano and is ready to make a play on the ball if it is thrown to the out route, but keeps his eyes on the QB to read the play. This is the strength of McDermott’s brand of a zone D, that if you’re in the right position and read your keys correctly, all eyes can be facing the QB, and the entire LB and DB levels can read and react to what’s in front of them and fire on the ball when it comes out.
When Russell Wilson reads that all the intermediate routes aren’t opening quickly, he dumps it down to the TE in the flat. Tre reads this and knows his responsibility is to crash. For the past two years, he had the knowledge, but the instabilities caused by the ACL and Achilles injuries robbed him of the physical suddenness to match the instincts and knowledge, so he would be late and lack confidence to take on the tackle. But the new and improved Tre White is not only able to explode on the route, but also has the confidence to smash into and wrap up the much bigger TE, single-handedly bringing him down for only a gain of 3.
Immediately, the other defenders rush down to dap him up and congratulate him. You can tell the rest of the D are excited for him and are celebrating his return to form.
During his recovery process, he was very open about the mental side of recovery of trying to decide whether he could recover the drive and will to do the hard things necessary to not only get his body back to capacity, but also the willingness to put his body at risk again. From what we saw so far, Tre’s mental side has recovered even better than his physical capacity, and he demonstrated a willingness to do whatever his role demands and to put the team first.
2nd & 7
The Bills apparently trust Tre on an island again. The giants come out with a 3 WR set, and the Bills respond with Cover 3, putting Tre on a deep 3 single coverage against Wandale Robinson.
Wandale challenged Tre’s speed and coverage ability by bolting down the field 22 yards and then cutting back up the sideline. While Wandale got the catch on a comeback route, Tre was right on him for the challenge and the tackle.
1st & 10
The Giants are driving into Bills’ territory and decide to test the lateral ability of Bills defenders, and Tre reads the pitch to WR Montrell Washington from the jump.
The motion of the entire offensive Line and skill positions shifting to the right made it a pretty good guess, but still the commitment to cover from one end of the field to the other, taking on a block from a offensive lineman and ending up on the opponents sideline opposite his coverage assignment, demonstrates how locked in and dedicated Tre is right now.
2nd & 6
With twin receivers to the wide side of the formation and twin tight ends to the short side, Tre is again responsible for a large coverage area.
As both receivers push deep down the field, Tre hands his coverage off once again to the safety, with his vision revealing that Wilson is set up to dump it to the TE crossing the field.
When Tre sees that Matt Milano and Joe Andreesen are teaming up for the tackle, he savvily goes for the punch to try and knock the ball loose.
1st & 10
On the first play of the second series, begin toying with presnap motions, going from trips right to twins on the right with another receiver motioning to Tre’s side. Tre is now in single deep coverage, again responsible for a large area of the field.
His assignment runs a quick hitch route, reading the deep off coverage.
Tre reads it well and answers by firing off his spot and making a solo tackle to stop the receiver. Granted, the receiver kept fighting, and Tre went for a bit of a ride.
1st & 10
This is pretty much the same kind of play we’ve seen a couple of times now. The receivers run deep clearance routes so the TEs can run short outs for easy completions from QB Jaxon Dart.
Again, Tre plays the deep third but shades underneath, handing the receiver off to the safety over the top. Reading Dart’s eyes, Tre breaks on the out route and is the first defender to the ball.
Tre seems to feel both the motion of the receiver pushing towards the sideline and the help coming from the line. He responds by flinging the receiver spinning to the sideline and trying to rip the ball out, but it doesn’t work, and the receiver goes out of bounds.
With that, Tre’s day is done, and the 2nd team defense takes over.
Conclusion
Tre’s first game back in a Bills uniform wasn’t spectacular, but it was solid. Tre never touched the football, but his mastery of the scheme and knowing where he needs to be, what his assignment is, and how to read the QB was readily apparent. His days as an all-pro shutdown #1 corner are likely behind him (with Benford picking up that mantle), but the tape shows that he is fully capable of being a solid CB opposite Benford and is an upgrade over Rasul Douglas from last season, due to his positioning and ability to fire on the ball and make a tackle.
Reviews from commentators that Tre’s performance was mixed are entirely from the one missed tackle, where the RB out of the backfield had an angle and slipped free, missing the context that Tre had to leave his coverage and break 7 yards back down the field to find the receiver. It’s not uncommon for the defender’s momentum to work against them and for the receiver to be able to get skinny and slip off the tackle. While it would have been nice for him to wrap up his man, Tre was in the right place, made the right read, and was on time.
Overall, the tape shows Tre has a solid day in his return and seems to be beyond his injuries’ impacts, both physically and mentally. He is a competent DB who understands the scheme and his role within it. He has enough athleticism to accomplish the tasks given to him and still has that elite processing ability, allowing him to read and react. His willingness to tackle and to run across the entire width of the field reflects Tre’s desire to make an impact on this team that he loves, and to give the Bills the best chance to win. Mad Max may be the long-term heir apparent, but Tre is not going to make winning that job away from him easy.