Can the Bills win 11+ games without a great OL?

[C.Biscuit97]

I can tell you the coaching is better. Marrone and his offensive coaches have proven nothing in the NFL. Roman and the new offensive coaches OTOH have had success in the NFL. What carried the team last year was defense and ST's and those still figure to be top units because most of the players are the same and the coaches are either the same or no worse, if not better.

How dare you! He won 9 games and multiple Pinstripe Bowls. He left Buffalo for a better job coaching the oline in Jacksonville.

[Doc]

In addition, factor in the success that Aaron Kromer had with the OL (particularly in NO) and you should be better there too.

It should be a multi-factorial improvement.

[UticaBill]

I didn't think our line was so awful last year based on talent, but more on positioning and scheme....and mistakes! Our biggest problem is a dearth of Journeyman type players to secure consistency. We have plenty of prospects all having decent physical skills that lack experience - and that hurts us. I think our line play last season showed more of our lack of experience (both in the league and playing together) than the lack of ability of the players individually.

Wood is our best lineman, despite playing with weak guards last year he still managed to hold his own. - EVEN

Glenn is still young and developing but could be better than Wood in a year or two. - Slight Improvement

Incognito is a solid veteran who can be above average for us if he returns to old form... but best days are probably behind him. - Potential for big improvement, but more likely a small one.

Williams is a wild card this year as much as last, I am penciling him in here but he has the potential to upgrade the position from last season at least! - EVEN

Henderson gave about what you can expect from; lazy feet at times, and waist bending... but everything seems "coachable" and so I think we upgrade here slightly too. - Slight improvement

So far we have a small improvement overall, and we are still depending on youth to step up... but we do have most of the line playing together again and they do have another year of experience to draw on... so with the improvements at TE, RB, WR, FB, I see us having enough improvement to get into the playoffs, but not enough to knock off the Patriots.....

A Solid Left Guard or RT could help a lot

Reserves are scary thin...Richardson, Campbell, Urbik, and Kouandjio with only Urbik having any real experience.... so we better not have any injuries!

So I would conclude that the Bills have done enough to win more games than they did last season and have a good chance of making the playoffs, but getting 11 wins might be difficult without help.

To be honest I would not mind seeing the Bills use their Draft picks this year to trade for a couple more quality veterans rather than draft youthful depth. Keep the #50 pick and get a talent, but all the others could be packaged to get us a quality QB or RT etc... Trades are often cap friendly too depending on how the money was spread out...

With the new firepower I can see 10-6, but as another user noted, the difference between 10 and 11 in the NFL is HUGE!

Edited April 1, 2015 by UticaBill

[moshermw]

Without having a first round draft pick in the upcoming NFL draft in April, the Bills know that they will not be able to draft a franchise quarterback (QB) this year, so they decided to make it a three way competition for the starting QB position by trading for Matt Cassel from the Vikings, as well as signing former Baltimore Raven Tyrod Taylor to compete with former first round EJ Manuel. Bills Offensive Coordinator, Greg Roman knows he does not have a top 10 QB on his roster, which is nothing new to Roman as he dealt with the same issue in San Francisco. The Bills have loaded up the talent on offense to compensate as they now have McCoy, Watkins, Harvin, Clay, and Woods as their stars on offense.

 

The Bills know their offensive line was terrible last season, which is why they hired renown offensive line coach, Aaron Kromer. Kromer is most notably known for the stellar offensive line he coached in New Orleans which won Superbowl XLIV. While the Bills brought in Incognito to improve their Guard play on one side of the field, it is unknown at this point is the Bills will bring in another Guard, take one in the draft or bring in another Tackle and make a switch at the position.

 

McCoy is a year removed from leading the NFL in rushing and has rushed for 1,300 or more in the past three out of four years. The last time the Bills had an RB that ran for 1,300 or more in consecutive seasons was in 2002-03 when Travis Henry rushed for 1,438 yards in 2002 and 1,356 yards in 2003. To help make McCoy more effective, the Bills signed former Minnesota Vikings fullback Jerome Felton, who helped open up holes for Vikings RB Adrian Peterson. Next, the Bills signed wide receiver (WR) Percy Harvin, whom Bills HC Rex Ryan was very familiar with. Ryan stated that Bills WR Sammy Watkins was double teamed in almost every play last season, so Harvin is being brought in to help take some of the pressure off of Watkins, as well as making plays for the offense.

 

The Bills defense was third in the league last season giving up on average 205.8 YPG so I don't get where the question marks are? Also, when McKelvin when down to injury, Corey Graham stepped in and the secondary didn't miss a beat.

 

No depth at LB? Didn't people say the same thing when Kiko Alonso went down in the offseason last year with a knee injury?

 

The Bills had the 4th best defense and 2nd best special teams last season and went 9-7. With a revamped offense, I can see the Bills as either a wild card team or the AFC East champs.

 

 

Good post. First poster so far to pick up the important fact that the Felton pickup was almost like another star OL in terms of both the running and short passing game.

 

I'm more "half-full" than half-empty about this team.

 

With a couple exceptions on either end of the spectrum, every team is an 8-8 team in the NFL when the season begins. One big play either way makes one 9-7 or 7-9. One outcome being considered pretty good and possible playoff caliber and one being a "failed" season. Bills plays from last season that come to mind are the JJ Watt pick 6 and the Lions not hitting chip-shot FGs including a game winner. Bills went 9-7 last year with pedestrian COLLEGE Offensive coaching and a already retired Orton at QB.

 

Even without a first rounder, there are quality OL in the draft we could target and land - for rookie $.

 

I say the OL (plus Felton) isn't horrible but solid average, Tyrod/EJ/Cassell are noticeable improvements and the new, properly used, weapons on offense make enough big plays to win us 3 extra games instead of one - that puts us at 11-5. Easily.

 

I think people (myself included at times) discount/forget the fact that we added FB Felton, who is basically like a roving OL protecting our RB. So I think the analogy to Seattle could be a comparable one.

This.

[thewildrabbit]

Jeez guys. A FB is meant to block on the second level against LBers his own weight, and not open holes on the line. A RB, FB, and even smaller TE's wouldn't last very long in a game continuously blocking defensive line players.

 

The Bills O line was ranked 30th overall in the league, and 32nd in run blocking at the end of the year. It showed those stats most of the season. LT Glenn easily outperformed every other player on the line, and was the only player to finish the season with a positive grade.

 

The players on the line last season were bad, as Pears graded as one of the worst OG's ever, and RT Henderson was right behind him. Woods had his worst season ever, and finished the season with a negative grade.

 

I don't think coaching, scheme, or play calling is going to elevate the talent of the current players on the roster into beating the better teams this season. JMO.

[Buffalo Barbarian]

We will need to be creative. But if they want to pound the ball, they should really get more help. They couldn't run the ball last year and so far they only just added one guy. Doesn't look good.

 

No but Roman is very creative in the run game, plus being man on man is easier and allows them to be more aggressive and hopefully naturally they improve.

[Doc]

Jeez guys. A FB is meant to block on the second level against LBers his own weight, and not open holes on the line. A RB, FB, and even smaller TE's wouldn't last very long in a game continuously blocking defensive line players.

 

The Bills O line was ranked 30th overall in the league, and 32nd in run blocking at the end of the year. It showed those stats most of the season. LT Glenn easily outperformed every other player on the line, and was the only player to finish the season with a positive grade.

 

The players on the line last season were bad, as Pears graded as one of the worst OG's ever, and RT Henderson was right behind him. Woods had his worst season ever, and finished the season with a negative grade.

 

I don't think coaching, scheme, or play calling is going to elevate the talent of the current players on the roster into beating the better teams this season. JMO.

But better coaching, scheme, AND play-calling will. In addition to having better guards in Incognito and Urbik back at RG, and Henderson continuing to improve and having Clay lined up next to him.

[Jobu]

No one has any idea what our line is going to look like this year, so I am not sure how you can say our line is not great. At one time Glenn, Wood, and Urbik were part of a solid line. Whether Glenn goes inside, Wood goes to guard, Urbik starts, etc. remains to be seen. Seantrel is obviously trending up and has all of the skills to be a great tackle. Cyrus is not a piece of crap either, I think the coaches really failed him. The addition of Felton and Clay can only help. A focus on running the ball will too. When a coach comes in and says ground and pound; that is not only music to the backs ears, but the offensive line as well. If those guys had their preference they would run every down.

 

Once we start playing we will know a lot more. I for one believe the cup is half full.

[Stanley Lombardi]

No.

[Luxy312]

Jeez guys. A FB is meant to block on the second level against LBers his own weight, and not open holes on the line. A RB, FB, and even smaller TE's wouldn't last very long in a game continuously blocking defensive line players.

 

The Bills O line was ranked 30th overall in the league, and 32nd in run blocking at the end of the year. It showed those stats most of the season. LT Glenn easily outperformed every other player on the line, and was the only player to finish the season with a positive grade.

 

The players on the line last season were bad, as Pears graded as one of the worst OG's ever, and RT Henderson was right behind him. Woods had his worst season ever, and finished the season with a negative grade.

 

I don't think coaching, scheme, or play calling is going to elevate the talent of the current players on the roster into beating the better teams this season. JMO.

 

FB's and TE's are not meant to block defensive line players by themselves. When I read that, it sounds almost so obvious, that I wonder why it even needs to be said. They do however chip and release as a receiver. They do provide strategic sealing off of defensive lineman that are already being blocked by our offensive line. Shelton is regarded by many as the BEST blocking FB in the NFL. We didn't have anyone close to his caliber last year. We haven't had a TE that could even pick-up a linebacker blitzing in at least 10 years. Clay has that capability. I think what people are saying here is that with the additional help that a lot of these guys are going to get, that they will be better. They will look better, because they won't be asked to do everything. An offensive line is only as good as its weakest link. Bad OG play last year plagued the guys playing the other positions. Chris Williams and Erik Pears were a joke.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

This is a topic that calls for a poll:

 

Yes

Maybe - good but not great OL might do it

No

[Kirby Jackson]

This is a topic that calls for a poll:

 

Yes

Maybe - good but not great OL might do it

No

I think that they can certainly win 11 games as presently constructed. That is due in large part to how good they are everywhere else. I expect an improvement in the play at the LOS. They added good coaching (Kromer), a year of seasoning for the young guys, Incognito should be an upgrade (even a small one), and a FB & TE. If you factor in the dynamic skill players they will be improved as an offense.

 

That doesn't mean that the OL is perfect though. If asked, "can this roster win 11+ games?" The answer is yes. If the question is, "can this offensive line be upgrade?" The answer is yes.

Edited April 4, 2015 by Kirby Jackson

[SoulMan]

No, they can't.

[finn]

I am still a tad worried though.

A tad worried? Yes, there is plenty of reason to be optimistic, as people have explained here, but going into the draft we have the same personnel at OL as last year, except Incognito, who even the hard-core Pollyannas will admit is a question mark. We have two solid players now.

 

Two.

[BuffaloBillsForever]

Zach Martin would have looked really sexy on this team with how it is currently built.

[8-8 Forever?]

no

[Webster Guy]

No.

 

This roster is 9-7 at it's best.

So no improvements over last year's roster then. Right.

I think our RBs were so surprised to see any holes they probably froze in disbelief. Our run blocking was just abysmal last year.

Which is why I'm amazed that a team like Dallas didn't grab CJ, realizing the guy had virtually nowhere to run with us (Although he did go for 50+ on his last carry)

 

This is what worries me w Shady, every highlight I've watched the guy is running through huge holes. I know he's a top 5 back but he's had a top 5 O line.

 

Fingers crossed

[machine gun kelly]

We'll be fine. Better coaching forexisting players, addinng RI, Felton, and Clay will help and we most likely draft one in the second or third. I do believe we can be an 11-5 team. I also see Rex splitting wins with the Patriots.

[Doc]

So no improvements over last year's roster then. Right.

Which is why I'm amazed that a team like Dallas didn't grab CJ, realizing the guy had virtually nowhere to run with us (Although he did go for 50+ on his last carry)

 

This is what worries me w Shady, every highlight I've watched the guy is running through huge holes. I know he's a top 5 back but he's had a top 5 O line.

 

Fingers crossed

No, no improvements other than Incognito.

 

As for the highlights, I saw a lot of good play designs and McCoy having the speed and vision to take it outside. If Roman can do that McCoy will be fine.