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Interior OL Battle


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4 hours 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.

Your points are well made. The run game will have three major objectives, 1) protect the QB/run block, 2) move the chains, 3) score points when the opportunity presents itself. This is a pass first offense, and the running game is a complimentary piece of that strategy. If those three objectives are achieved by the running game on a regular basis the run game will be seen as successful by the GM, HC, OC, and the owners, and that is what counts. I’m starting to believe that some folk are over thinking the run aspect of the offense. 
 

Go Bills!!!

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On 7/8/2021 at 4:11 PM, The_Ripster said:


The dreaded mysterious thumb injury! Will be interesting to see who earns this one after training camp, might be worth noting that Doyle plays LT and Brown plays RT/RB for the Carolina Panthers.
 

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Now we know the real reason he's the only unsigned draft choice.  He signed with Carolina!  

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In an earlier interview, Beane noted that some guys should be kept for their locker room value and the respect they've earned from their teamates. Then we resigned Feliciano. The truth is that we don't have any very good G's. Feliciano is the best and he's barely an average IOL. I wouldn't be surprised if we signed a 1year deal with a veteran G before the preseason ends.

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Good topic.  The battle should be good.  Some items in my head on the Line but specifically the iOL:

  • I think one of Morse and Mongo is not on the team next year.  Looking at contracts this seems likely.  This leads to my next thought
  • I think Doyle is retained because the Bills tend to keep their draft picks which causes me to almost expect a trade for a good player (Boettger or Lamp are most likely imo)
  • From the Bills draft strategy I think the logic is very clear.  Find good players for high value positions in the draft, use FA for the rest.  This is why we did not make big investments into iOL
  • Every team has a weakness if I get to choose mine iOL would be high on the list (with tackle being very low)
  • I remember some folks being upset about the Teller trade, but I think at the time it was great value since he was likely a cut candidate.  He also entered a historically good situation with the rest of the line he gets to play with and the coach he plays for.  Im not sure he reaches his peak this soon for us.

Outside of these things anything seems possible.  

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For whatever reason the O line is usually my biggest concern! We all saw what happened to what many consider the best young QB in the NFL when he didn't have time to throw in SB LV.

 

While it did make my season to watch Mahomes running for his life for nearly 500 yards behind the line of scrimmage in that super bowl. This the reason why the Chiefs spent so much to rebuild their O line this off season. 

 

The Bills couldn't keep Frank Clark off Josh in that AFC Championship game!  KC 4 sacks in all, 10 QB hits in all on Josh. While the Bills did manage to run 18 times for 129 yards, it was mostly Allen 7 rushes for 88 yards. Motor 6 for 17 yards, Yeldon, 3 for 15...38-24. 

 

It does give me pause for concern that the Bills offensive line simply isn't good enough... 

 

Those 90's Bills used to dominate with the line in the run and pass game all season long... Until they ran into a better team in those SBs. The Giants ran the ball down the Bills throats. The Redskins game the Bills O line was so beat up that they were using TE Metz as a tackle in the AFC Champ game against Denver. The Cowboys had the better lines on both sides of the ball. 

 

I'm with the guy who stated he was upset that the Bills passed on Creed Humphrey, only to see the Chiefs draft him. 

 

 

 

 

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36 minutes ago, Nihilarian said:

I'm with the guy who stated he was upset that the Bills passed on Creed Humphrey, only to see the Chiefs draft him. 

 

Agree with a lot of what you said but this struck me as a bit odd.  Most of the points you mentioned (besides our woes in running the ball) seem to be Tackle focused.  We did get two of the most athletic tackles possible this year.  Presumably if we had a KC situation with one or both starters going down late in the season we will not suffer their fate.  I dont know that KC rectified their depth issues at the position.  We also have a ton of bodies at iOL, and I dont know that we needed Humphrey as much as we did Tackle depth.

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On 7/11/2021 at 2:28 PM, akcash said:

By mid season. 

 

Brown-Dawkins-Morse-74/65/76-Williams.

 

That is our best line.

Dawkins is our best lineman. Little will change this year except at LG perhaps. I have questions about Ford. Spencer Brown will likely ***** that RT spot within the next year or so.

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On 7/11/2021 at 2:28 PM, akcash said:

By mid season. 

 

Brown-Dawkins-Morse-74/65/76-Williams.

 

That is our best line.

 

 

Right. An NFL division champ, that reached the AFC Championship game, will make radical changes to their line MID SEASON.  Right.  And put a rookie (3rd rd pick) at left tackle, replacing their best offensive lineman. Sure. Happens ALL THE TIME!

 

BTW, I'm not discounting that this may be the best OL lineup down the road. But that ain't happening this year.

 

My only contribution here is to suggest they make try to keep Bate's relatively clean to be ready to play C in a pinch, and not have to move Feliciano. But there is still a ways to go before we know. We could see another one or two guys pass through.

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9 hours ago, YattaOkasan said:

Agree with a lot of what you said but this struck me as a bit odd.  Most of the points you mentioned (besides our woes in running the ball) seem to be Tackle focused.  We did get two of the most athletic tackles possible this year.  Presumably if we had a KC situation with one or both starters going down late in the season we will not suffer their fate.  I dont know that KC rectified their depth issues at the position.  We also have a ton of bodies at iOL, and I dont know that we needed Humphrey as much as we did Tackle depth.

Like the man said, Morse might be one head bump away from retiring and Humphrey was listed as a pretty darn good OC.

 

KC signed Ex Patriots Joe Thuney now the highest paid OG in the league. They brought back OG Andrew Wylie. Signed retired 3x pro bowler OL Kyle Long who was a OG and now listed as a OT.

 

The Chiefs traded with the Ravens for pro bowl OT Orlando Brown Jr who wanted to leave Baltimore because he wanted to start at LT.  They have seven OT's listed on their 2021 roster including Brown. Sounds like some major upgrades to me. 

 

I don't even want to think about what the Bills O line would have looked like playing against that Bucs D... if the Chiefs could do that to the Bills. Not...good...enough! 

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2 minutes ago, Nihilarian said:

Like the man said, Morse might be one head bump away from retiring and Humphrey was listed as a pretty darn good OC.

 

KC signed Ex Patriots Joe Thuney now the highest paid OG in the league. They brought back OG Andrew Wylie. Signed retired 3x pro bowler OL Kyle Long who was a OG and now listed as a OT.

 

The Chiefs traded with the Ravens for pro bowl OT Orlando Brown Jr who wanted to leave Baltimore because he wanted to start at LT.  They have seven OT's listed on their 2021 roster including Brown. Sounds like some major upgrades to me. 

 

I don't even want to think about what the Bills O line would have looked like playing against that Bucs D... if the Chiefs could do that to the Bills. Not...good...enough! 

So now I don’t agree with much of anything you said after I did agree with a lot. 

 

do you think the chiefs lost the SB because of iOL or tackle? Tackle was my assessment. You mentioned frank Clark. That wasn’t a iOL problem either. So that’s why I wondered why you thought it was such a mistake for us to pass on Humphries (your examples). I now see why your focus on humphries as I agree our iOL is one of our biggest weaknesses (check my posts I also don’t one of Morse/Mongo is here after next year). Again I think I can live with iOL as weakness as opposed to more important positions.  My one caveat is I agree with joe Marino and against the chiefs the OL needs to enable us to run the ball better. 
 

as for chiefs I think they did good in UFA but that’s a bit of an back handed compliment right?

 

they really don’t have much under contract for next year on their line. Re-signing brown would go along way but he might be close to double dawkins in cap hit. I think any injury (particularly tackle again) and they could be in a world of trouble again. Whereas I think we have backups that won’t wreck the game plan.
 

Re:SB I think we fare better than the chiefs who really felt the absence of missing their starting OT.  Our weakness has been iOL as the OP has mentioned so while Vita Vea would have been a handful I think we had a better chance than the chiefs at that point. 

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