Mularkey press conf

[4everBills]

The way you see it today is the way it will be going into the season.

 

His comments were that he sees no drop off and that the unit he has will start again.

 

Jennings is back and played well today.

 

Lawrence Smith is our starting LG. Mularkey said he hasnt seen a drop off there and if he had to guess it would be Lawrences job. I tend to agree. Watching the Colts game, L played well. Sullivan was the guy who screwed up.

 

So,

 

LT-Jennings- very good he is very solid at that spot

LG-L Smith- looked pretty good so far. Big thing is only a few penalties, none in the Colts game if I remember correctly.

C- Teague

RG-Villarial- has been responsible for most of the long runs so far.

RT- Mike Williams- Looked really good against the Colts IMO.

[KRT88]

man, we can't find anyone better to play center?

 

Exactly how did Teague play tackle in Denver? I mean he get pushed around so easily. I know the ends are smaller (but quicker) but he plays whimpy ompared to the guys lining up across from him.

[MadBuffaloDisease]

Now that they have the lineup, they need the reps together. Let us pray to Apollo (god of health) that the Bills suffer no more injuries!

[Mike in Syracuse]

man, we can't find anyone better to play center?

 

Exactly how did Teague play tackle in Denver?  I mean he get pushed around so easily.  I know the ends are smaller (but quicker) but he plays whimpy ompared to the guys lining up across from him.

12424[/snapback]

 

I don't know how to break this to you but Teague has played exceptionally well this preseason. You need to go back and look at the tape!

[CajunBillsBacker]

Congrats to Lawrence Smith. You came into camp as an unknown wildcard and showed the other contenders how it's done. Now don't blow this golden opportunity like Pucillo and Sullivan did.

[Dan Gross]

Now if only we can get them to play 1 down together before the season starts!

[MadBuffaloDisease]

Congrats to Lawrence Smith. You came into camp as an unknown wildcard and showed the other contenders how it's done. Now don't blow this golden opportunity like Pucillo and Sullivan did.

12454[/snapback]

Sounds like one of those Bud "real American hero" commercials:

"Here's to you, Mr. unknown wildcard who showed the other contenders how it's done-guy!" (background singer: "Mr. unknown wilcard starting LG job winner guy!").

[Typical TBD Guy]

From what I've seen in the preseason games, I too will concede that Teague has done a solid job. Maybe Pukecillo was the main problem?

[TigerJ]

Teague seems to have responded well to McNally's coaching. Pucillo, for all the hype regarding his strength and offseason work has no balance. If a DT knocked him off balance he was worthless because he couldnj't get it back. They say Lawrence Smith has very good balance and he recovers well.

 

Beyond the starters there are three reserves that I think are serviceable: Marcus Price, Ross Tucker and Ben Sobieski. They can cut Pucillo and Sullivan as far as I'm concerned. McFarland is to raw to contribute this year, but I wouldn't write him off yet since he's a small school player in addition to being a rookie. Everyone else is camp fodder and scrubs.

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

man, we can't find anyone better to play center?

 

Exactly how did Teague play tackle in Denver?  I mean he get pushed around so easily.  I know the ends are smaller (but quicker) but he plays whimpy ompared to the guys lining up across from him.

12424[/snapback]

 

 

Your question speaks to the difference between playing left tackle and playing center in this league. LTs generally are speed rushers in this league and if they engage the LT at all physically and certainly attempt to use their strength to run through the LT then advanatage to the Tackle over the End.

 

A speed rusher certainly needs more than a quick outside move, but even when they go inside it usually is because they faked outside and got leverage on the tackle who went the wrong way. Teague could do well enough at LT if he was fast enough and agile enough to get good leverage against the opposing end.

 

Unfortunately at center, particularly against the growing bigger DTs like the Miami boys or Big Ted leverage is still important bit raw strength and size are real important too in a way that wasn't the same for a tackle.

 

Nevertheless, there is a lot more to center play than pure size and Teague has held the job because he has shown the coaches something in these other areas:

 

1. Intelligence- This is critical for the center who must recognize the defenders set-up at a level which is only surpassed by the QB on the offense. Teague is pretty much unquestionably recognized as having good football knowledge and I'm willing to take the Braintrust's word on this. As pisspoor as Vinklarek was and not ready for primetime as Ruel turned out to be, the fact that he has never been questioned as the man for the job by McNally points to estimations of his football knowledge as being correct.

 

2. Communication and leadership- The thing which separated Kent Hull from the rest in my mind was his ability to communicate his football knowledge to his peers on the OL in line calls and in the locker room to make them better players. I have little real sense of how well Teague does this as first, the OL scheme he has had to work with from KG was too complicated and simply sucked once people caught on to it, second, the players Teague had to work with were so inexperienced (only Brown had started before at his position in Teague's first year at center) that his communication and leadership tasks were far larger than the norm.

 

3. Shotgun snaps- No other area really calls for heavy-duty multi-tasking as asking the center to deliver a firxwful accurate snap over several yards while simultaneously doing line calls for his peers and being ready for the opposing DT to pound his head in. This facet of Teague's game has not been a disaster which it easily could be, but a lot of this is thanks to some good ball handling skills by Bledsoe on errant snaps. Nevertheless, Bledsoe clearly seems to have to concentrate on receiving the ball which slows down his reads in the shotgun. Further, opposing defenders seem to recognize Teague's difficulty in doing line call changes and make use of a schoolyard rush when Bledsoe goes into the shotgun. Quite frankly this issue worries me a lot more than the weight disparity.

 

Overall, we all see Teague get bowled over from time to time and the weight disparity issue emerges, but in my view Teague has actually improved quite a bit in using his agility to get good leverage on DTs. he i far from perfect yet, but this issue seems workable to me.

 

The solutions seem to me to be:

 

1. Teague needs to improve- However, in my view this is happening. He played center the first time as a Pro year before last, but he is a younger player with some good athletic chops. I think he has improved but a lot of this is quite frankly lost with him improving in a horrible O in decline last year.

 

2. His linemates must improve- Teague can help everyone, but the OL players need to improve and help themselves because Teague has his hands full with all the multi-tasking he still has not mastered. Replacement of the experienced Brown with the experienced Villarial should be a wash, but having the experience on Williams side who simply was incapble of helping the virtual rookie Pucillo when he was a virtual rookie himself was a problem. Now the virtual rookie Smith is in so we will have to see.

 

3. Chemistry is key- Perhaps the biggest problem with the OL (as several posts in this thread point out) is that this crew has not been able to use the pre-season to play together. If I'm Mularkey, rather than doing the usual thing and taking my first string OL out with the rest of the first team in the 4th pre-season game, i think he is forced despite their healing injuries to play them together as much as possible. The key here is not simply to get the 5 best players but to get the 5 players who play best together.

 

4. Run, eun, run- In general OL players like run blocking better than pass pro because they get to attack rather than retreat. i think this conventional wisdome is generally true and the more the Bills go to running which is their area of strength and pass performance by the OL anyway, the better it will be.

 

5. Drew needs to help the OL out- it's tough because his plate is full improving his own game, but he needs to take the time and show the ability to monitor communications within the OL and call a TO if he perceives there is a problem. He needs to read the opponents and correctly feel which defenders may come or need extra watching and insert himself positively into the OL communications if he feels they need the help. This is difficult to do well and if he thinks he will muck it up worse he needs to then shut up and pray.

 

Is Teague good enough to play center like we want? No, we fans are spoiled by the glory of Kent Hull and he will never be good enough for us so for the most part he needs to ignore us fans. Is Teague good enough to be an adequate center in this league? Maybe, but the fact seems to be is that he is the best chance we got on this team. if not Teague then who?

[CajunBillsBacker]

Sounds like one of those Bud "real American hero" commercials:

"Here's to you, Mr. unknown wildcard who showed the other contenders how it's done-guy!" (background singer: "Mr. unknown wilcard starting LG job winner guy!").

12509[/snapback]

 

LMAO, thats hilarious!!

[macaroni]

man, we can't find anyone better to play center?

 

Exactly how did Teague play tackle in Denver?  I mean he get pushed around so easily.  I know the ends are smaller (but quicker) but he plays whimpy ompared to the guys lining up across from him.

12424[/snapback]

 

I've been one of the more vocal Teage bashers on the board ....... but I must admit that maybe ....... and I said MAYBE the biggest problem Teague has had was playing between Brown and Pucillo.

 

I'll never anoint him as a dominating center .......... but that's OK, all he needs to do is hold his ground at the point of attack. He's done fine this preseason, hopefully it will continue.

[justnzane]

I've been one of the more vocal Teage bashers on the board ....... but I must admit that maybe ....... and I said MAYBE the biggest problem Teague has had was playing between Brown and Pucillo.

 

I'll never anoint him as a dominating center .......... but that's OK, all he needs to do is hold his ground at the point of attack. He's done fine this preseason, hopefully it will continue.

12567[/snapback]

 

 

If you base how good could teague can be of off a madden game, I have had up to a 97 overall. Let's just hope he can be anything near as good in real life. I think he did suffer by playing between Ruben and Pussywillow, and he shall get better if Smith keeps playing as well and Villarial plays solidly.

 

OT- Is it me or does the name Villarial sound too much like an STD name?

[scribo]

man, we can't find anyone better to play center?

 

Exactly how did Teague play tackle in Denver?  I mean he get pushed around so easily.  I know the ends are smaller (but quicker) but he plays whimpy ompared to the guys lining up across from him.

12424[/snapback]

 

I shared this opinion 100 percent before the preseason. Of the linemen, I think he has had the best pre-season. He give McNally a lot of credit, and I must say he has changed my moind about him.

 

Teague will be the team's most improved player by season's end.

[ganesh]

I've been one of the more vocal Teage bashers on the board ....... but I must admit that maybe ....... and I said MAYBE the biggest problem Teague has had was playing between Brown and Pucillo.

 

I'll never anoint him as a dominating center .......... but that's OK, all he needs to do is hold his ground at the point of attack. He's done fine this preseason, hopefully it will continue.

12567[/snapback]

 

Add to it inadequate coaching the last two years...Looks old Jim has done

some miracles with him.

[jdbillsfan]

Teague sucks, so does L. Smith. Not sure what he did to make you guys all of the sudden think he is good, but he is not. He gets pushed and bowled over way to easy.

 

I saw a play vs. the colts where a DL stunted around to him and just knocked him over with one arm. Seems like he has balance and strength problems.

 

I actually think Teague (I haven't seen enough of L. Smith) is the worst starting player that we have.

[Buckner's Glove]

Teague sucks, so does L. Smith. Not sure what he did to make you guys all of the sudden think he is good, but he is not. He gets pushed and bowled over way to easy.

 

I saw a play vs. the colts where a DL stunted around to him and just knocked him over with one arm. Seems like he has balance and strength problems.

 

I actually think Teague (I haven't seen enough of L. Smith) is the worst starting player that we have.

12800[/snapback]

Thanks for killing the good OL karma, coach!

[34-78-83]

Teague sucks, so does L. Smith. Not sure what he did to make you guys all of the sudden think he is good, but he is not. He gets pushed and bowled over way to easy.

 

I saw a play vs. the colts where a DL stunted around to him and just knocked him over with one arm. Seems like he has balance and strength problems.

 

I actually think Teague (I haven't seen enough of L. Smith) is the worst starting player that we have.

12800[/snapback]

 

You might want to take second look if you taped the games or clean off your glasses. Teague and smith have both played consistently quite well and EVERY lineman gets pushed around atleast once in a game. There are infact good players on the other side of the ball in the NFL too.

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

Teague sucks, so does L. Smith. Not sure what he did to make you guys all of the sudden think he is good, but he is not. He gets pushed and bowled over way to easy.

 

I saw a play vs. the colts where a DL stunted around to him and just knocked him over with one arm. Seems like he has balance and strength problems.

 

I actually think Teague (I haven't seen enough of L. Smith) is the worst starting player that we have.

12800[/snapback]

 

 

Again, the key to good analysis of line play seems to be not merely looking at individual performance, but really analyzing how the unit plays together as a group. When one has the best OL play, the whole ends up being much greater than the sum of the individual parts.

 

Perhaps the best training that Teague has had was being part of a Denver unit which all recognize are generally underweight and many analyze as being adequate to mediocre individual players at best, but generally this unit leads the way for 1000 yard plus rusher after 1000 yard plus rusher seemingly regardless of the skill level of the RB.

 

Obviously individual skill level makes a big impact, but the case seems to be that the individual skill level a player has working with his peers (a skillset us fans have difficulty judging from outside) is a bigger factor in success than our sttic judgments of his individual play and certainly the demographics of how big a guy is.

 

In the end, the concerned fan needs to weigh the value of the observations of fans (honestly concerned though they may be) against the judgments of the coaching staff who someone has made a judgment to actually pay them big bucks for their expertise.

 

For sure, the professional are not always right. One only need look at the horrendous pass protection performance of the Bills line last year to draw that conclusion. Yet, it seems quite facile and probably incorrect to attribute our problems to Teague's play or him being underweight when the fact remains that the OL has operated under Vinklarek and Ruel for three years who had little experience as OL coaches on their resumes and both were fired from the OL position coach job.

 

A new OL position coach is now in place who is roundly heralded as one of the best by those who spend time professionally on football, who has a recent SB appearance to his credit and 25 years of NFL experience. McNally had all sorts of opportunities to find teague lacking and to beg/demand TD get him a new center from FA or the draft. Further, he had all sorts of opportunities to experiment with moving Jennings (a college center) to the job. Nevertheless he has made Teague his guy and done little more at center than push Sobieski and Tucker as back-ups and he cut Koons when a potential alternative was found.

 

Will Teague astound us all and become one of the best centers in the league? No, almost certainly not.

 

However, there appears to be something there which explains more adequately the problems the OL has had in pass pro than a simple judgement that Teague sucks. Further, there also appear to be good reasons for hope for Bills fans that our center play will still have occaisional problems but overall will be adequate because:

 

1. McNally is no miracle worker but there has been a huge and obvious upgrade in OL coaching.

2. The Bills OL has actually been part of a quite successful running attack the last few year despite some horrible pass pro and the new mantra is that the O will run a lot more and we have WM now reinforcing our RB talent.

3. Teague has some clear shortcomings but proved to be an FA with some demand for his skills from other professionals in the league a few years back. he has not been a center since college, but led a good O attack his first year in the job with a ton of inexperience around him.

 

I think there is good and logical reason for hope that Teague will prove adequate this year. He should prove not to be anywhere near perfect, but i think it is quite reasonable to hope for at least adequacy.

[LabattBlue]

I think the OL will be much better this year. Jennings & Williams both have another year of experience and the combo at guard of Smith and Villarial is better than Brown & Pucillo. Add in the McNally factor and I have to believe they will be improved over a year ago. The only thing that worries me is Jennings staying healthy, but thankfully our best backup(Price) plays the tackle position.