The Offensive Line Is Still Terrible

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

Why are you not confident in the stable of young OL Nix and company have brought in over the last few years to be groomed.

 

Do you think a late rd G is going ot step in and outperform one of the many late rd UDFA practice squad groomed OL we have on the roster already ?

 

75 Hairston, Chris LT 6-6 330 24 2 Clemson

64 Eckerson, Hutch OL 6-6 310 25 1 South Carolina

62 Grant, Adam OL 6-6 320 26 1 Arizona

72 Sanders, Zebrie OL 6-6 318 23 R Florida State

73 Scott, Chris OL 6-4 320 25 2 Tennessee

61 Snow, David OL 6-4 305 23 R Texas

74 Brown, Colin C 6-7 326 27 2 Missouri

70 Wood, Eric C 6-4 310 27 4 Louisville

79 Pears, Erik RT 6-8 316 30 7 Colorado State

71 Young, Sam RT 6-8 316 25 3 Notre Dame

51 White, Chris OLB 6-3 238 24 2 Mississippi State

77Glenn, Cordy OT 6-5 343 23 R Georgia

60 Urbik, Kraig G 6-5 324 27 4 Wisconsin

68 Williams, Keith G 6-5 330 25 1 Nebraska

 

 

 

We'll probably bring in an OL in this draft and/or UDFA, and we will see a few new OL make the roster and practice squads as some of the guys who've been around for a couple of years will be given another shot this year to impress> Those who make the jump stick around those who do not get replaced with a new batch of young groomable OL... The Bills IMO have a solid plan keeping the OL stables up.

 

one thing I am not worried about is our OL situation

 

I hope you're right that one of these guys can step into a starter's role. But are the Bills going to bank on it? Seems like if there is value there, grab a lineman in the 3rd or 4th round to throw into the mix.

[CountDorkula]

That must be why this team has been terrible for the last 13 or so years. The Guard play just has not been great. I think the OP has figured it out. Someone call Buddy stat, ask the league if we can get a redo.

[WhitewalkerInPhilly]

*snore* I'm sorry, is the OP finished?

 

I'm not going to say we're elite, or that Levitre leaving doesn't hurt a bit, but the type of scheme we're going to run is predicated on short, accurate passes. With Manuel doing read option and with Spiller and Freddy do to screens, I have a feeling that the O-line is going to be getting a lot of help.

 

The most Offensive Line is the OP's thread title.

 

Well played!

[KOKBILLS]

Quite the influx this last week or so. I wish WoW would have some secret super meet so these nerds would have something better to do (no offense to anyone into WoW, kinda).

 

Well you see the problem here is very likely that WoW is between expansion packs...The true hardcore players tend to be the biggest nerds, and they burn through new content in a matter of weeks usually(sometimes days...)...Then they are immediately bored again, and decide to release that boredom on to the rest of the internet...Thus increasing the amount of Trolling on all types of Forums tenfold...

 

It's just a theory I have...But I've played MMORPG's for over a decade (never WoW though)...So I do know a bit about it...

[Brainiac21]

we should be fine run blocking... but i do worry about pass protection. we didn't have many sacks because they orchestrated the offense to get rid of it quickly specifically to avoid it, cuz they knew we were not great at it.

 

Kolb/Manuel may not be so adept, and even if they are, it is limiting to the offense.

 

AND we just lost their best pass protector in Levitre, so you are counting on Glenn to improve just to even it out. sure, they brought in some UDFA guys.. but that's kind of the defintion of a ? soooo... hardly think this is a non-issue and have serious concerns about RT being any better than mediocre.

[ddaryl]

I hope you're right that one of these guys can step into a starter's role. But are the Bills going to bank on it? Seems like if there is value there, grab a lineman in the 3rd or 4th round to throw into the mix.

 

I think Nix and Company will always grab an OL, but drafting an OL in the 3rd and 4th will probably mean that OL will need a year of seasoning and depth play just like the guys we have on the roster. We grabbed Zebrie Sanders in the 5th last year, and he has a year under his belt, Maybe he is ready this year ?

 

 

 

ALSO our Quick Tempo WCO is going to see lots of quick passes this year, so not much will have changed in that department. Fitz had time to throw the ball deep often last season he just had bad accuracy and got pigeon holed into the shorter quicker routes that D's got good at jumping on

Edited April 26, 2013 by ddaryl

[Max997]

Something tells me we should have taken Chance Warmack at 8. Instead of yet another terrible QB. Now, our line still sucks and we are putting a crappy QB behind it. Best part of all. We will not think of taking a QB again for the next three years because we have to see if Manuel "will work out."

 

 

i didnt realize the draft is over....thought they only finished the first round

[BringBackFergy]

Is he related to this guy:

 

Chas Rhinegold was one of the premiere offensive linemen that we let slip away this off season...he was fantastic...my favorite player.

 

That picture is clearly Judd Nelson

 

[Malazan]

Obvious OP Troll is obvious

[Nitro]

Loss opf Levtre hurt but it is still a solid line. Plenty of talented O Linemen available. 4th round will be a good shot to land one. 2nd round will see a run on WR and QB. Look for the Bills to try to move back and get more picks in the 3rd.

[3rdand12]

Something tells me we should have taken Chance Warmack at 8. Instead of yet another terrible QB. Now, our line still sucks and we are putting a crappy QB behind it. Best part of all. We will not think of taking a QB again for the next three years because we have to see if Manuel "will work out."

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoRBxEONrIE

We took the qb that Coaches thought has enough upside to take us to the dance. It's an investment and i like it. And we traded down to do it. What pick did Warmack go at ?

You did watch the draft last night ? right?

I would have loved to get Chance on the team too.

[Thurmal34]

What do you mean "still"?

[Bill from NYC]

Still terrible? I wasn't aware it was terrible to begin with.

 

The Bills OL is not terrible. The loss of Levitre must be addressed, but it still isn't terrible.

 

You and I remember what terrible is.

Edited April 26, 2013 by Bill from NYC

[Mickey]

Given the roster holes we have, we would have needed 18 picks in the first two rounds to address them all. So yeah, we have offensive line problems but we also needed a QB. Its going to take some time to plug all the holes in this boat.

[OCinBuffalo]

It seems, at least from 2010-12, that Nix differs significantly with the rest of the NFL on what to look for in lineman. Of the 8 OL picked 1-20, only Fluker goes above 320. OTOH, Nix drafted Cordy Glenn as a tackle who is about 345 and picked Hairston who goes about 330. Bottom line is, the league is getting smaller and more mobile at OL to support pass first offenses. Nix, at least in those drafts and via the UDFA/waiver wire market, has gone bigger.

 

The premium placed on pass blocking to support these pass first offenses is increasing. Most teams aren't looking for 330 pounds who might win in a phone booth but struggle with speed. And it's why teams are going earlier with blockers and not just this year. You just don't typically find athletic lineman who can handle edge rushers and in late rounds and via UDFA, street FA's, or the waiver wire.

I cannot agree with this in any way whatsoever.

 

We suffered through, light in the pants, "quick", "high motor", "zone blocking", offensive lineman from 2004-2010. Bill in NYC was right all along about that. The fact that we couldn't stop the pass over that time either? Well, I was right about that too.

 

We couldn't run for power, we couldn't pass downfield, and we had to run JV football offense schemes as a result.

 

Then, when we finally got the O line we needed, and could run for power, Chan was slow to recognize that, and it wasn't until halfway through the 2010 season that we started running Fred all over the place on people.

 

No. No. and No.

 

I don't want small O lineman. I want the biggest guy we can get, who can meet a set standard for quickness. I do not want to rely on our O line getting to a spot before their D line does, and hoping that we do that more times than not, and then everything comes down to finess and technique, and possibly losing the strength battle = roll the dice on every play.

 

No. I want an off tackle play where the guard says, "I am going to go here, and I'm both big and strong enough to starting pushing everything that is near me this way, and not let anything get by me. The tackle next to me is going to be here, and he's going to do the same thing, but push the other way. It doesn't matter when you get there, because when we get to where we are going, we are going to push you out of there, anyway, and there ain't jack sh_t you are going to do about it".

 

That is Buffalo football. And, when we actually do it, like we could have more often than we did the last 3 years, it wins games and it demoralizes the other team.

 

We can destroy teams with the line we have, and Freddy/Spiller. All we have to do, is go out and do it.

Edited April 26, 2013 by OCinBuffalo

[Bill from NYC]

I cannot agree with this in any way whatsoever.

 

We suffered through, light in the pants, "quick", "high motor", "zone blocking", offensive lineman from 2004-2010. Bill in NYC was right all along about that. The fact that we couldn't stop the pass over that time either? Well, I was right about that too.

 

We couldn't run for power, we couldn't pass downfield, and we had to run JV football offense schemes as a result.

 

Then, when we finally got the O line we needed, and could run for power, Chan was slow to recognize that, and it wasn't until halfway through the 2010 season that we started running Fred all over the place on people.

 

No. No. and No.

 

I don't want small O lineman. I want the biggest guy we can get, who can meet a set standard for quickness. I do not want to rely on our O line getting to a spot before their D line does, and hoping that we do that more times than not, and then everything comes down to finess and technique, and possibly losing the strength battle = roll the dice on every play.

 

No. I want an off tackle play where the guard says, "I am going to go here, and I'm both big and strong enough to starting pushing everything that is near me this way, and not let anything get by me. The tackle next to me is going to be here, and he's going to do the same thing, but push the other way. It doesn't matter when you get there, because when we get to where we are going, we are going to push you out of there, anyway, and there ain't jack sh_t you are going to do about it".

 

That is Buffalo football. And, when we actually do it, like we could have more often than we did the last 3 years, it wins games and it demoralizes the other team.

 

We can destroy teams with the line we have, and Freddy/Spiller. All we have to do, is go out and do it.

 

LOL, now I am going to disagree with you just a tad.

Levitre was not big but he had the agility of a LT, the position he played in college. He was suited for this league, and we should have kept him.

[dubs]

This is a funny OP. O-line was probably one of the few strengths we had last year. We had a solid if not very good running game and Fitz was one of the least sacked QBs in the league. We lost a guard, which was tough, but we didn't overpay for him, which is good. We have a solid backups in place. Not too worried about O-Line. Maybe if you said Linebackers I'd take it more seriously.

[OCinBuffalo]

LOL, now I am going to disagree with you just a tad.

Levitre was not big but he had the agility of a LT, the position he played in college. He was suited for this league, and we should have kept him.

Long, long ago, I accepted the fact that I will never, truly, understand offensive line.

 

That's what I mean when i said "set standard". We can't have anybody that is slow. My thought is that they need to be quick enough to meet the standard, but from there, size and strength should be the priority.

[run dat back]

OL is second behind RB as least of the worries. Top of the to-do list now is linebacker.

[BillsVet]

I cannot agree with this in any way whatsoever.

 

We suffered through, light in the pants, "quick", "high motor", "zone blocking", offensive lineman from 2004-2010. Bill in NYC was right all along about that. The fact that we couldn't stop the pass over that time either? Well, I was right about that too.

 

Then I don't know what to tell you. The league is trending away from bigger linemen and teams aren't taking them, save Fluker in the first. And there aren't too many teams winning by running the ball. Peterson ran for 2k+ and Minnesota barely made the post-season.

 

I'd say, probably as a result of the spread's proliferation in the college game, that athletic linemen are going to become more common. The bigger types are going the way of the dinosaur and Nix, at least from 2010-12, was behind the curve.