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Interior OL Battle


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59 minutes ago, Bills Fan of Maryland said:

Still feel like this is our Achilles heel. Wish we would bring in some talent for the inside. Love Feliciano, but he is a liability when passing. Always has been.

The rest can't run block. Morse is one head bang away from retirement. Ford is looking like a possible bust (needs to step up in a big way). Maybe we need to change our run blocking scheme/approach? Short of Barry Sanders, no one can guarantee positive yardage with this group. It's not the RBs! 

 

Leaves us one dimensional again, but I guess it is a good dimension! 

Hoping the rooks can step up, but.... Really wish we kept Teller....

 

Barry Sanders had a lot of negative plays which would not go well with current fan base and press.

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2 hours ago, ThurmanThomasEnglishMuffin said:

 

Not by passing on Creed Humphrey for Boogie Basham. I'm still angry about that. Worse yet he went to KC.... Then doubling down on two project OT? IOL needed help more.

 

This is one of my favorite topics in this offseason. I went back and watched a load of games from last year. For the regular season the O-Line was really terrific in most games and most combos in pass protection. Some games like against New England the run game looked really good. I'm not sold on Singletary or Moss, but they got chunk plays vs New England and in other games.

 

I'm not sure why people are down on Mongo on this board. Against playoff competition most of our line looked bad. Williams, Morse and Feliciano got beat. Rewatch KC2 from last year, it's not just Mongo. I wanted Buffalo to go heavy on IOL and many opportunities presented themselves, but Buffalo went DE, DE, OT, OT....

 

The early season switch to zone blocking hurt the run game and alienated Spain, and he was gone. Not sure that was a great idea.

 

All of that said I think the starting line up looks like Dawkins/ Lamp/ Morse/ Feliciano/ Williams. Backups Bates/ Boettger/ Brown and ?.

 

Lamp is my dark horse Buffalo Bill this year. I think he takes a starting OG spot and does not give it up. I am no Cody Ford fan he is a stiff and can't stay healthy. Anderson is a wild card. He could be another Teller. Late round G with nasty who develops an NFL game in 1-2 years, that is the hope. Will be interesting, but I have a hard time thinking 2 rookie OL will make the 53.

Would've loved Creed Humphrey.... Lamp will definitely be on the team.

1 hour ago, Bills Fan of Maryland said:

Still feel like this is our Achilles heel. Wish we would bring in some talent for the inside. Love Feliciano, but he is a liability when passing. Always has been.

The rest can't run block. Morse is one head bang away from retirement. Ford is looking like a possible bust (needs to step up in a big way). Maybe we need to change our run blocking scheme/approach? Short of Barry Sanders, no one can guarantee positive yardage with this group. It's not the RBs! 

 

Leaves us one dimensional again, but I guess it is a good dimension! 

Hoping the rooks can step up, but.... Really wish we kept Teller....

Should've hung onto Teller for sure.

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1 hour ago, Bills Fan of Maryland said:

Still feel like this is our Achilles heel. Wish we would bring in some talent for the inside. Love Feliciano, but he is a liability when passing. Always has been.

The rest can't run block. Morse is one head bang away from retirement. Ford is looking like a possible bust (needs to step up in a big way). Maybe we need to change our run blocking scheme/approach? Short of Barry Sanders, no one can guarantee positive yardage with this group. It's not the RBs! 

 

Leaves us one dimensional again, but I guess it is a good dimension! 

Hoping the rooks can step up, but.... Really wish we kept Teller....

 

Agree on all accounts, except on Feliciano. KC beat Morse/ Feliciano and Williams like a drum.

 

I was apoplectic when we traded Teller. Friends laughed, now he is borderline All-Pro. Not sure what other people watch.

 

As for IOL and the draft. Not sure why Buffalo passed on Davis (OG) 3x and Humphrey (C) 2x.

 

Buffalo could have had Rosseau (DE), Humphrey (C) and Davis (OG). That would have been a 'big guy' draft steal in a weak draft.

Will Basham knock Obada from the roster? Would have rather had Humphrey or Davis knock off a weak OL to protect the franchise and keep Rosseau/Obada/Epenesa as young DE. Buffalo will lose one of those DE and be an OL weaker for it.

 

Beane does a lot right, but his OL/DL moves are bad.

 

The best OL/DL move since McBeane was McDermott drafting and starting Dawkins at LT.

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11 hours ago, Bills Fan of Maryland said:

Leaves us one dimensional again, but I guess it is a good dimension! 

Hoping the rooks can step up, but.... Really wish we kept Teller....

 

Amen brother - AMEN!!

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15 hours ago, John from Riverside said:

People sleeping on lamp

Possibly, but I see a similar player to Boettger: a guy with good pass protection technique, but someone who just gets in the way in the run game. Both lack power. But Lamp is a little more athletic giving him the edge in pass pro.

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Remember this, we changed our run blocking scheme from what it was in Singletary’s first season to what it has been this past season, remember when Singletary was 5 yards per carry average? That was the previous run blocking scheme.  The OC and his staff changed what was working, and not for the better…, we must go back to what was so effective during Singletary’s first season, or a version on that theme/scheme. It’s not rocket science folks…,  look at the past three year history of our O line, it’s personnel, and the schemes employed, there in lies the answer…, again not rocket science…,

 

Go Bills!!!

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We have a lot of people who can start in the NFL-  actually more starters & borderline starters than roster spots.  Don't get your shorts tied up in knots about it, because it is a good thing.   When we get down to full equipment/contact training camp, we will get the comparisons between the different players and keep the best ones.   If the apparent starter or backup is hurt in preseason and out for part or all of the year, we have another good player to immediately plug in without much loss in quality.  If everyone is healthy, we can trade our almost-roster-players for 4th to 7th round draft picks for next year.  A better place to be than trading our future draft picks for replacement players !!!  As people have pointed out, the 3 2020 OL draft picks are not meant to be starters= at best they might be the 2nd swing tackle or guard.  We drafted big athletic guys and they are for a 2-3 season development project.

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1 minute ago, delirious said:

 

Replace Ford with Boettger or Lamp and that looks decent

I'm giving Ford a chance this year. In his first year they moved him between RT and RG. Last year without any camp or preseason they moved him to LG. He was getting better until he got injured.

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4 hours ago, Don Otreply said:

Remember this, we changed our run blocking scheme from what it was in Singletary’s first season to what it has been this past season, remember when Singletary was 5 yards per carry average? That was the previous run blocking scheme.  The OC and his staff changed what was working, and not for the better…, we must go back to what was so effective during Singletary’s first season, or a version on that theme/scheme. It’s not rocket science folks…,  look at the past three year history of our O line, it’s personnel, and the schemes employed, there in lies the answer…, again not rocket science…,

 

Go Bills!!!

Well written Don.  We blew it in our scheme last year.  Added to that though was shifting the line until it finally settled down with Feliciano’s return.

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12 minutes ago, machine gun kelly said:

Well written Don.  We blew it in our scheme last year.  Added to that though was shifting the line until it finally settled down with Feliciano’s return.

Absolutely correct MGK, if you start with the Quentin Spain situation, then add on injuries, and scheme changes, you get what we had, as you said, I do think Beane, McDermott, and Dabol, more than likely had a long sit down so to speak, to hash out objectives and the means to achieve those objectives. I believe we will have a run game that nicely complements our pass first offense, it’s going to be a fun watch all season long! 
 

Go Bills!!!

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Yep, I think barring injury we should have our best lone with depth.  My guess again barring injury we will have our front five set and a solid group of backups.  It’s a mistake to not replay why we didn’t have things set.  I’m guessing as Don the leaders of our team probably have dissected every last point on scheme and getting the most out of our guys.

 

Last year this team surpassed everyone’s expectations.  I challenge anyone who was seriously not high in the sky expectations we were going to finish 13-3 facing the AFCW, NFCW, TN, and Pitt.  You’re lying if you said in August 13-3.  I don’t remember anyone writing that prediction. 
 

Now we face the AFCS, NFCS, KC, and Pitt.  We’re battle hardened now, won two playoff games against tough teams, and most likely have a fully functioning offensive line.  Why wouldn’t they play even better this year with a QB even more experienced and poised than last year.

 

Lastly, we were solid in pass pro.  We can most likely all agree our run blocking was a legit problem.  I expect that to improve.

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I would think that in terms of competition, Ford, and Boettger are on pretty equal footing. Before we picked up Boettger as a UDFA, he had previously been projected as a second round pick, but fell from the draft because of a knee injury his senior year-- essentially the same injury that sidelined Ford, last season, if I'm not mistaken. At this point, I wouldn't give Ford the "inside track" as a function of his draft position, as Carucci suggests. The time they've put into developing Boettger is no small investment, either. Whichever player performs the best in TC, and preseason, should be the starter. Beyond that, I think the OL battles, as with most of the rest of the team, will be for backup positions. Continuity will make us better this season.

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8 hours ago, TheBeaneBandit said:

Possibly, but I see a similar player to Boettger: a guy with good pass protection technique, but someone who just gets in the way in the run game. Both lack power. But Lamp is a little more athletic giving him the edge in pass pro.

And our pass to run ratio for our offense is very slanted......jmo saying that Lamp is slightly more athletic to Boettger is like saying a camero is slightly faster then a taurus.

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The way I see it is the Bills will field the best starting 5 due to their combined pass blocking skills.

That's the high priority.  Run blocking is important but will only be determined AFTER the pass blocking consideration.

 

It is quite obvious (I've posted this before) that last abridged off season was dedicated to the passing game.

We all benefited from that.  I predict that this camp/preseason will have a more balanced approach and the run game

work and reps will be increased.  I can see this improving the run game slightly.

 

While it would be great to have the running game "yards per carry" to increase by 0.4 yards but ultimately keeping Josh upright

and in the pocket trumps everything else.  That goes for the RBs play too.

 

I plan to watch the IOL battle this summer with all that in mind.

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1 hour ago, ColoradoBills said:

The way I see it is the Bills will field the best starting 5 due to their combined pass blocking skills.

That's the high priority.  Run blocking is important but will only be determined AFTER the pass blocking consideration.

 

It is quite obvious (I've posted this before) that last abridged off season was dedicated to the passing game.

We all benefited from that.  I predict that this camp/preseason will have a more balanced approach and the run game

work and reps will be increased.  I can see this improving the run game slightly.

 

While it would be great to have the running game "yards per carry" to increase by 0.4 yards but ultimately keeping Josh upright

and in the pocket trumps everything else.  That goes for the RBs play too.

 

I plan to watch the IOL battle this summer with all that in mind.

Exactly this ^^^^^ 

First and foremost it’s all about keeping Allen upright and the passing game and the best five OL man for that will be on the field , they will not put  in Guards who are better at run blocking then pass protection even if our running game will be less effective , 

 

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