In-Roster Offensive Line Option

[SCBills]

Not going to overreact to one game.  
 

We all know the IOL is the weak spot in pass pro, so I’ll chalk up Williams/Dawkins struggles on Sunday to a one off.   Dawkins especially, as he’s coming off Covid and never looks that bad. 
 

That being said, watching that game was infuriating to those of us who were begging to upgrade the Guard positions.  
 

Anyone think we could move Daryl Williams inside to one of the Guard positions if/when Brown is ready to take over RT?  
 

Leaves us with Doyle as swing and Ford/Williams/Bates able to flip back out to Tackle if needed, but im just at a loss for what we saw from our starting OL against a 4 man rush most of the game.  

[TOboy]

I thought you weren’t going to overreact to one game? 

[RyanC883]

I don't think the OP is overreacting to one game.  I think there are several suggestions, including the OPs.  Others include running the ball more, we appear to be better at run blocking, and it's easier to block when the D does not know what you're doing.  It does appear we will need to fix the OL with in-roster moves.  Our rookies luckily look like they can play, so lets get the best 5 lineman out there.  

[Eastport bills]

52 minutes ago, SCBills said:

Not going to overreact to one game.  
 

We all know the IOL is the weak spot in pass pro, so I’ll chalk up Williams/Dawkins struggles on Sunday to a one off.   Dawkins especially, as he’s coming off Covid and never looks that bad. 
 

That being said, watching that game was infuriating to those of us who were begging to upgrade the Guard positions.  
 

Anyone think we could move Daryl Williams inside to one of the Guard positions if/when Brown is ready to take over RT?  
 

Leaves us with Doyle as swing and Ford/Williams/Bates able to flip back out to Tackle if needed, but im just at a loss for what we saw from our starting OL against a 4 man rush most of the game.  

Ford, Dawkins  had scary bad games. Especially Dawkins who is clearly not ready to play left tackle on a empty set, pass happy team. Let Brown play more until Dion recovers fully.

[SCBills]

When Brown was drafted, there was speculation by some of the Bills podcast guys of Williams kicking inside if Brown could take over RT. 
 

Let’s see how they look over the next few games, but I’m hoping we have the solution to a dominant OL in house right now. 

[CuseBill]

I would say it would be an overreaction to do something as drastic as moving Williams to guard and replacing him with a rookie at right tackle.  First of all, the Steelers' front four is one of the best we will face all season. There should have been in-game adjustments by the OC, which did not occur.  Did we attempt a single screen?  Did we try to run the ball on first or second down earlier in the game?  Why did we not go no huddle and run a QB sneak on 4th and 1?  How many empty sets did we throw from?  Those are the questions which the coaching staff should be looking at.  Of course our O line had some bad plays and bad penalties.  Those are going to happen from time to time.  But there is no excuse to not making adjustments in the play calling as the game developed. 

[SCBills]

4 minutes ago, CuseBill said:

I would say it would be an overreaction to do something as drastic as moving Williams to guard and replacing him with a rookie at right tackle.  First of all, the Steelers' front four is one of the best we will face all season. There should have been in-game adjustments by the OC, which did not occur.  Did we attempt a single screen?  Did we try to run the ball on first or second down earlier in the game?  Why did we not go no huddle and run a QB sneak on 4th and 1?  How many empty sets did we throw from?  Those are the questions which the coaching staff should be looking at.  Of course our O line had some bad plays and bad penalties.  Those are going to happen from time to time.  But there is no excuse to not making adjustments in the play calling as the game developed. 

I certainly don’t think we should kick Williams inside and start Brown at RT for Miami.   That would be wildly reactionary to an opening day game.  
 

Im just putting this out there as an option, because this isn’t just Week 1… These are same guys (for the most part) and same issues we saw against the Chiefs.  
 

If the goal is to win a SB, we can’t have an OL that holds up really well against everyone EXCEPT teams we’ll see in the Playoffs. 

[CuseBill]

I think Ford, Feliciano and Boettger are stronger in the run game than they are in pass pro.  That being said, if you almost never run the ball, never pass out of 11 personnel sets, never run play action and never throw screen passes, you are just exposing their vulnerabilities and not playing at all to their strengths.  That's on Daboll.

[BillsVet]

At some point, offensive scheme needs to align with offensive personnel.  Their game-plan yesterday tried to use OL who are solid run blockers (save Morse) and needed them to pass protect 50 times. 

 

If they wanted to be pass-happy (and I can understand with Josh and those receivers) then invest in better pass blockers.  Issue is, they didn't do much to improve their ability to run and now it's too late to be adding pieces to enable them.

 

When you become a good team, scheme versatility is a must and I'm not seeing this organization doing that on offense. 

 

 

[mjd1001]

This OL is just not good.  Average starters at best. All last year they proved they couldn't open holes for RBs on consistent basis, and their pass blocking is decent, but they can be pushed into the backfield against a very good DL.

 

They are not the worst unit in the league, but for sure they are a weak spot on this team, just like there were last year for anyone who really paid attention to their play.  It is a position the coaching staff will have to work around.

[frostbitmic]

With all of his penalties, Dawkins clearly wasn't ready to play yesterday, Bobby Hart couldn't have been worse.

 

Feliciano wasn't much better.

 

I didn't notice Morse, Ford or Williams much but that could just be that the left side of the line was so abysmal.

[GunnerBill]

52 minutes ago, RyanC883 said:

I don't think the OP is overreacting to one game.  I think there are several suggestions, including the OPs.  Others include running the ball more, we appear to be better at run blocking, and it's easier to block when the D does not know what you're doing.  It does appear we will need to fix the OL with in-roster moves.  Our rookies luckily look like they can play, so lets get the best 5 lineman out there.  

 

I don't think we are better run blocking. Until Pitt were in more of a prevent Singletary was averaging less than 3.5 per carry. 

 

I don't know what the fix it. Maybe trade for a guard? It is hard with our cap situation.

[Augie]

17 minutes ago, BillsVet said:

At some point, offensive scheme needs to align with offensive personnel.  Their game-plan yesterday tried to use OL who are solid run blockers (save Morse) and needed them to pass protect 50 times. 

 

If they wanted to be pass-happy (and I can understand with Josh and those receivers) then invest in better pass blockers.  Issue is, they didn't do much to improve their ability to run and now it's too late to be adding pieces to enable them.

 

When you become a good team, scheme versatility is a must and I'm not seeing this organization doing that on offense. 

 

 

We took a flight in with Morse’s uncle (I think, some said father). He told me this would probably be his last year in Buffalo. I said I thought he had one more year on his deal, and he just shrugged and said “well, you know…” 

 

 

.

Edited September 13, 2021 by Augie

[SCBills]

4 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

I don't think we are better run blocking. Until Pitt were in more of a prevent Singletary was averaging less than 3.5 per carry. 

 

I don't know what the fix it. Maybe trade for a guard? It is hard with our cap situation.

 

Move Williams inside to Guard, Brown at RT. 

 

Maybe bench Morse and put Feliciano at C.  

 

Only two options we really have. 

[GunnerBill]

2 minutes ago, SCBills said:

 

Move Williams inside to Guard, Brown at RT. 

 

Maybe bench Morse and put Feliciano at C.  

 

Only two options we really have. 

 

I need to watch it again but my initial instinct was that Feliciano was the worst player on the line yesterday. I thought he had a horrible game. The Williams inside and Brown to RT suggestion is worth considering... but I wouldn't go to that yet. Maybe if come the bye we are still really struggling then I'd go that way. 

[John from Riverside]

Maybe stop overreacting and one game at the beginning of the season

 

This is a marathon folks

[SCBills]

8 minutes ago, John from Riverside said:

Maybe stop overreacting and one game at the beginning of the season

 

This is a marathon folks

 

It's not one game though, and we have the same OL as last year. 

[Augie]

4 minutes ago, SCBills said:

 

 It's not one game though, and we have the same OL as last year. 

 

I’m pretty sure is was one game. Will the next 16 be any better? Hard to say, but I sure hope so!  Hard to be overly optimistic with the same cast of characters. First they overhauled WR room, then DL. I think next offseason will be all about the OL. 

 

 

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Edited September 13, 2021 by Augie

[SCBills]

1 minute ago, Augie said:

 

I’m pretty sure is was one game. Will the next 16 be any better? Hard to say, but I sure hope so! 

 

This game looked exactly like the 2 Chiefs games last year.  

 

If we made any changes to the starting OL, i'd be willing to say it's one week, but it's not.... it's a continuation of the same issues we saw these starting 4 plus Boettger or Ford have last year against a good team with a dominant DL.

[BuffaloBillyG]

1 hour ago, SCBills said:

Not going to overreact to one game.  
 

We all know the IOL is the weak spot in pass pro, so I’ll chalk up Williams/Dawkins struggles on Sunday to a one off.   Dawkins especially, as he’s coming off Covid and never looks that bad. 
 

That being said, watching that game was infuriating to those of us who were begging to upgrade the Guard positions.  
 

Anyone think we could move Daryl Williams inside to one of the Guard positions if/when Brown is ready to take over RT?  
 

Leaves us with Doyle as swing and Ford/Williams/Bates able to flip back out to Tackle if needed, but im just at a loss for what we saw from our starting OL against a 4 man rush most of the game.  

Pittsburgh has a dominating pass rush. So, our idea was to go 5 wide a good portion of the game. Not a great plan. Then when they saw our line couldn't contain it they didn't adjust. Could have had a back or TE help with chipping off the line and staying in to block. Nope. Moss, who many say is our best pass blocking RB wasn't even dressed. We have 2 and a half TEs on the roster and neither is a noted blocker. 

 

Of the players we did dress yesterday they still could have been an asset to slow the rush. Get Brieda in space and let them chase. Mix in a screen pass here and there. Their DC said flat out they were prepared for an 80-20 pass to run ratio and we gave them that. For most of the game our "running game" consisted of Josh and his 2 yard awkward looking keepers. Terrible planning +terrible execution + terrible adjustments and the Bills deserved that loss.