Baldy breakdown on Bates

[TPS]

A nice little Baldy Breakdown on Ryan Bates:

 

[Brand J]

Bates is a very athletic lineman. I thought brute strength was a weakness in his game, but he held up well in his starts. I don’t remember him being blatantly overpowered once and he went up against some good ones. Makes you wonder why it took so long for him to see the field. Backing up all the interior positions isn’t an excuse to me when he outperformed the starter at his job.

[GETTOTHE50]

THE FANNY PACK

[947]

I love Baldy's analysis, he really knows his stuff, especially O-line play. It's great to see him so complimentary of Bates.

 

I was clamoring for giving Bates a shot on here all last season. I knew he had to be better than Ford or Boettger, but I had no idea he'd transform the line the way he did. I'm really glad Beane found a way to keep him.

[LeGOATski]

29 minutes ago, JayBaller10 said:

Bates is a very athletic lineman. I thought brute strength was a weakness in his game, but he held up well in his starts. I don’t remember him being blatantly overpowered once and he went up against some good ones. Makes you wonder why it took so long for him to see the field. Backing up all the interior positions isn’t an excuse to me when he outperformed the starter at his job.

This coaching staff's treatment of the OL has been an enigma for McDermott's entire tenure. You never know what might happen with it.

[SCBills]

1 minute ago, LeGOATski said:

This coaching staff's treatment of the OL has been an enigma for McDermott's entire tenure. You never know what might happen with it.

 

Bright spot.. They can identify OL talent.  

 

Not so bright spot.. We can't be sure they'll play them (Teller, Bates)

 

I do give them a bit of a pass on Teller.  He looks great on Cleveland, but he's also a fit for their style of play.  He's not exactly an elite pass pro guy in a pass heavy offense. 

 

Bates, no clue, seems they were obsessed with having positional flexibility as depth.  

 

Bringing back Kromer is such a big move.  He can make mediocre OL's play to above average level, and this OL does have talent... Dawkins and Morse are very good players, and Kromer has all the potential in the world to play with on the right side of the line in Bates/Brown. 

[msw2112]

A common philosophy with O-lines is to "put the best 5 on the field."  The Bills seemed to follow this logic when they put Brown at RT and moved Williams inside to RG.  They did the opposite with Bates, instead trying just about everyone else at guard (Ike, Ford, the towel boy) before making Bates the starter.  I believe it's because they really liked Bates' flexibility.  He can back up all 5 OL positions, so they wanted to have him ready in the event of an injury.  And maybe they were able to save a roster spot because of it.  If Bates starts, do you need more players to back up all of the 5 OL positions?

 

Regardless of what they were doing prior to that, making Bates the starter was clearly the right move.  The Bills' running game and offense were significantly improved after the Bates was inserted into the starting lineup.  They also made the right move to match his offer sheet - they are now keeping a good, young lineman at a very reasonable cost. 

Edited May 24, 2022 by msw2112

[John from Riverside]

1 hour ago, JayBaller10 said:

Bates is a very athletic lineman. I thought brute strength was a weakness in his game, but he held up well in his starts. I don’t remember him being blatantly overpowered once and he went up against some good ones. Makes you wonder why it took so long for him to see the field. Backing up all the interior positions isn’t an excuse to me when he outperformed the starter at his job.

Yeah I am not buying that either.....if you are outplaying a starter you should be on the field

[babulator]

I love Baldy's breakdowns, he's soo enthusiastic! That's a guy that loves him some football.

[Rigotz]

2 hours ago, JayBaller10 said:

Bates is a very athletic lineman. I thought brute strength was a weakness in his game, but he held up well in his starts. I don’t remember him being blatantly overpowered once and he went up against some good ones. Makes you wonder why it took so long for him to see the field. Backing up all the interior positions isn’t an excuse to me when he outperformed the starter at his job.

 

I made a long thread detailing incidents where Bobby Johnson, our former O-Line, coach failed us.

This year with Kromer, I think you'll see a big positive change. We might also finally get something out of Cody Ford.

 

My guess is that's why we didn't address the Guard position in the draft. We might already have one and not know it.

[H2o]

1 hour ago, Rigotz said:

 

I made a long thread detailing incidents where Bobby Johnson, our former O-Line, coach failed us.

This year with Kromer, I think you'll see a big positive change. We might also finally get something out of Cody Ford.

 

My guess is that's why we didn't address the Guard position in the draft. We might already have one and not know it.

[Rubes]

Be nice if he showed film of Bates from more than one game.

 

[billybrew1]

It’s true! Bates was a revelation to our OL . It was solidified from that point on….

[FilthyBeast]

It says a lot that we decided to match the Vikings offer sheet (although you can argue we should have known he'd cost more to begin with).

 

If Bates does become an above average NFL starter it helps take the stench off the Wyatt Teller situation. Still don't understand how you can let an all pro elite talent like that go though.

[BillsShredder83]

6 hours ago, SCBills said:

 

Bright spot.. They can identify OL talent.  

 

Not so bright spot.. We can't be sure they'll play them (Teller, Bates)

 

I do give them a bit of a pass on Teller.  He looks great on Cleveland, but he's also a fit for their style of play.  He's not exactly an elite pass pro guy in a pass heavy offense. 

 

Bates, no clue, seems they were obsessed with having positional flexibility as depth.  

 

Bringing back Kromer is such a big move.  He can make mediocre OL's play to above average level, and this OL does have talent... Dawkins and Morse are very good players, and Kromer has all the potential in the world to play with on the right side of the line in Bates/Brown. 

Is Saffold taking LG spot for sure? Glad Bates was versatile, but really hoping theirs no drop off with him shifting to the right. Good think is id have to assume switching sides as a guard has to be one of the easier position changes

[ganesh]

5 hours ago, Rubes said:

Be nice if he showed film of Bates from more than one game.

 

He is probably doing this on 10s of lineman.....slow offseason time

[Rubes]

1 hour ago, ganesh said:

He is probably doing this on 10s of lineman.....slow offseason time

 

I know, I just meant that one game is a pretty small sample size. I've read elsewhere that Bates wasn't playing quite so awesome in other appearances.

[HappyDays]

4 hours ago, FilthyBeast said:

Still don't understand how you can let an all pro elite talent like that go though.

 

I know, right? Like can you imagine drafting an injury riddled backup QB 5th overall, and then the very next pick an elite QB is picked by a conference opponent? That would be a tough team to root for.

 

Edited May 25, 2022 by HappyDays

[Big Turk]

Don't see how the Bills don't start him...results matter 

[Thurman#1]

12 hours ago, John from Riverside said:

Yeah I am not buying that either.....if you are outplaying a starter you should be on the field

 

 

People seem to assume that because you can now outplay someone that that has always been true. And just logically, that premise makes zero sense.

 

Maybe Bates got better recently, started playing better and they put him in. This was his third year. That is precisely the time in a UDFA's career where a bunch of guys who hadn't been quite good enough start to become enough better that they get noticed.