thebandit27 Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 No straw man involved. I just openly wonder when someone watches an interior lineman on all access...watches them give up 5 sacks and 28 pressures...and then calls them "average". And then expects people to accept that opinion as fact. I just wonder what they are watching. Much like when Buddy talked about how surprised people were going to be with Colin Brown and Sam Young. People at the time said...Buddy has a plan...so these guys must be good.. They weren't and his "trust me, they're better than you think" statements were no more than naked justification for someone who had the OL as a very low prioritty on his list. If you'd like to say that Chris Williams played "average" feel free. It doesn't change the OL situation... Again..if you want to believe that the Bills put the same emphasis on the OL as the Ravens...go ahead...it isn't true... it has never been true. He seeks quality on the OL...and he pays for quality. Is he always right? no. but he puts far more effort into it than any GM we've had in a while. I used Ozzie as an example for the point that maybe...just maybe..the Bills should start looking at how successful teams build their teams, rather than thinking they are outsmarting people. That's nice...point comepletely missed. I didn't state anything as fact; rather, I urged you to actually WATCH Williams play instead of going solely based on stats. As for how good teams get built, there are many ways, but claiming that putting OL first is a common denominator is incorrect. Seattle's OL was lousy all year. The year before, Baltimore had to shuffle their OL 3/4 of the way through the season out of desperation. The Giants the previous year won the Superbowl with a ferocious pass rush and a group of nobodies on their OL. It's just not true. Again, the OL is indeed important, but let's not pretend that the best teams make it their #1 priority. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewildrabbit Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Russ Brandon said himself on NFL Radio that he refused to renegotiation Peters contract because he felt it was Lee Evans turn in line. In retrospect, the Lee Evans deal was a mistake. He took the money and posted his two least productive seasons as a Bill before getting traded to Baltimore and bouncing out of the NFL. The real issue is where Russ Brandon stands in terms of the prioritization of the OL of his team. In 2009, he was the nominal GM when they completely gutted the entire OL. The track record with him at the helm in terms of re-signing homegrown elite players is very much open to debate. So, it's a fair question: if Glenn develops into a perennial All-Pro caliber player, do the Bills try to re-sign him? Even if he wants a little extra to stay? It is disheartening to think that it all starts at the top, and since Brandon is Wilson's man, I doubt the O line ever gets properly addressed the way it should be. In the end most of the fans here will say EJ always sucked, and just draft another QB already. Seattle drafted an OT in 2010 in Russell Okung with the 6th overall pick, and then drafted another two O linemen in 2012 with their first two picks #25 OT James Carpenter& #75 OG John Moffitt with their first, and third picks. They didn't have a second rounder that year. So, I'd say the very first thing Pete Carroll did to build that SB team was to address the O line!! Then he drafted Russell Wilson, as his starting SB QB in 2012, and after he built up that line. Just because players get injured and don't play a full 16 games doesn't take away the fact that the team addressed the line with first round picks. I'd say its more a testament to those SB teams actually having something called "quality depth" on the O line to still manage to win a SB despite all the injuries. The Buffalo Bills don't even have more then two quality starters, much less quality depth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CookieG Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 I didn't state anything as fact; rather, I urged you to actually WATCH Williams play instead of going solely based on stats. As for how good teams get built, there are many ways, but claiming that putting OL first is a common denominator is incorrect. Seattle's OL was lousy all year. The year before, Baltimore had to shuffle their OL 3/4 of the way through the season out of desperation. The Giants the previous year won the Superbowl with a ferocious pass rush and a group of nobodies on their OL. hey, thanks for bringing up the Seahawks and the Ravens... Okung misses 8 games with injury, their RT misses 9, Max Unger misses 3 and Carpenter doesn't play in 6...and they sucked... Go figure.. So Okung doesn't play, they move their RT to LT and G Pat McQuistan to Rt...and subsequently give up 7 sacks to the Rams... go figure. Of course, if these positions really didn't matter...you could just plug and play anyone in them...you know...like the Bills do.. They get their line back and win the SB. Baltimore 2012..and even better example.. Mckinnie is brought in to play LT...he becomes...Bryant McKinnie...unmotivated and lazy. The Ravens shuffle their line,... move Oher to LT...Osemele to RT...the offense goes between sputtering and mediocre. McKinnie asks why is isn't playing...Harbaugh informs him that he isn't practicing. Had it been the Bills...there would have been a cry that Rice, Torrey Smith, Flacco and Boldin needed to be upgraded and they needed more "playmakers". Instead..McKinnie gets his stuff together in late December and gets in the line up. Oher goes back to RT, Osemele goes back to LG. and....wait for it...the offense takes off, averaging 30 points and 400 yards in the playoffs. Again..go figure Thank oyu for citing those examples to prove my assertions. . It's just not true. Again, the OL is indeed important, but let's not pretend that the best teams make it their #1 priority. I don't recall saying it was a no. 1 priority.. if a team has a no. 1 priority. its far more than the afterthought the Bills put into it.. 14 years and counting...and people saying the same thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebandit27 Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 hey, thanks for bringing up the Seahawks and the Ravens... Okung misses 8 games with injury, their RT misses 9, Max Unger misses 3 and Carpenter doesn't play in 6...and they sucked... Go figure.. So Okung doesn't play, they move their RT to LT and G Pat McQuistan to Rt...and subsequently give up 7 sacks to the Rams... go figure. Of course, if these positions really didn't matter...you could just plug and play anyone in them...you know...like the Bills do.. They get their line back and win the SB. Baltimore 2012..and even better example.. Mckinnie is brought in to play LT...he becomes...Bryant McKinnie...unmotivated and lazy. The Ravens shuffle their line,... move Oher to LT...Osemele to RT...the offense goes between sputtering and mediocre. McKinnie asks why is isn't playing...Harbaugh informs him that he isn't practicing. Had it been the Bills...there would have been a cry that Rice, Torrey Smith, Flacco and Boldin needed to be upgraded and they needed more "playmakers". Instead..McKinnie gets his stuff together in late December and gets in the line up. Oher goes back to RT, Osemele goes back to LG. and....wait for it...the offense takes off, averaging 30 points and 400 yards in the playoffs. Again..go figure Thank oyu for citing those examples to prove my assertions. . I don't recall saying it was a no. 1 priority.. if a team has a no. 1 priority. its far more than the afterthought the Bills put into it.. 14 years and counting...and people saying the same thing. I don't even know where to begin to refute this hodgepodge of misrepresentation of facts (I especially like it when folks use the "thanks for proving my point" line...nothing puts a button on a weak argument quite like that ) I guess I'll keep this as short and sweet as possible: I never said that OL wasn't important--you are, once again, straw manning. I'm saying that it isn't the priority that you seem to be trying to simultaneously say and not say that it is. The Bills haven't made the OL an afterthought in the least--up until last season, they started a 1st round pick, two 2nd round picks, and a 3rd round pick. This season, they'll be starting a 2nd round LT, a former 3rd round pick at RG, and former 1st round picks at C and LG. Oh, and there's also the chance that they add a starting RT in the draft. There was also the whole Jason Peters-Langston Walker-Derrick Dockery span where they invested a mere $100M into 3 OLmen and never won more than 7 games. Sounds like an afterthought to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
26CornerBlitz Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 @NBCSports Bills need a right tackle, says @EvanSilva, and Jake Matthews is an option, says @JoshNorris http://tw.nbcsports.com/7hc pic.twitter.com/2Xd3IpYKFN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billykaykay Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Man, I'd hate to tell you what Levitre gave up in 2012. 1 sack 3 hits 7 hurries http://blogs.buffalo...g/andy-levitre/ So it goes like this... Levitre wasn't worth the money because he wasn't a stud and no more than above average. Ok.. He's replaced by a duo that gives 5 sacks to his 1..and a whopping 24 more hurries Who are then replaced by a guy that gave up 5 sacks to Levitre's 1 and who gave up a whopping 21 more hurries...a guy who is deemed "average" by some. If that's average..I'd hate to see below average. I liked Levitre, but you must agree that he was playing with Fitz,. The one thing that Fitz did well was to get rid of the damn ball. Our QB last year was hesitant, thus the hurries & sacks.Having said that, we still need a couple of offensive lineman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPS Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 (edited) Jeremiah's latest mock has all 3 OTs gone by 7th pick. http://www.nfl.com/draft/2014/mock-drafts/daniel-jeremiah/195602 See what he says about the Brown's pick. Edited March 24, 2014 by TPS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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