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Duke Preston...no longer a center prospect?


LabattBlue

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Preston takes snaps at Center

 

Duke and Geisenger seitched spots yesterday at practice.

 

This is good news that the Bills have rectified what I thought was a mistake. The second half of the Carolina game showed that Geisinger has no business whatsoever playing center and if Fowler went down the Bills season would be over. Moving both guys out of their natural position was silly, aprticularly when you're moving hte more talented player away from the more important position. I hope they are done with that experiment.

 

I think the most worrisome thing in terms of how folks are being used...  is that Greg Jerman appears to be our #3 tackle

I think the only legitimate option we have as a backup at Tackle is McFarland. Jerman has apparently been moved inside to Guard permanently as he took no snaps at Tackle in the Carolina game. The bad news is that he was just as horrific at Guard as he was at Tackle. If he's on the Bills final roster I think we have very real problems with our Oline depth.

 

The key questions I have about the OL are:

 

1. How is Gobson doing and has he shown enough at G to make this roster (or even the unlikely possibility he has shown enough at G we can try him at T even though he failed there before we need help>

 

2. How is Butler developing? Can he match Preston's accomplishments?

 

3. Why is Jerman listed on the depth chart as a back-up LG as he seems to be our first call at tackle.

 

4. Anything at all on the youngsters, Pennington, Merz and even Mcfarland? None of these players can reasonably be expected to start, but they could be coached ibnto being reasonable back-ups?

 

From what I've seen so far:

1) Gibson may be huge, however he is all but immobile. He can't get anywhere and imo has no chance to play Tackle in this league. I really don't think he'll even make this roster at Guard but I don't fault the Bills for giving a former blue-chipper another shot.

2) I didn't have much problem with Butler's work vs the Panthers. He looked like he belonged out there and showed some good awareness of his angles and the offense (although he did make one mental mistake when he allowed some penetration when they ran a hitch to his side). The only real knock I had on him is that he needs to get stronger. Is he a rookie by any chance?

3) I assumed McFarland was our primary back-up at Tackle but for some reason teh Bills never gave him a snap vs Carolina until the very last series. He's no great shakes but at this point I like him better than any other option we have.

4) Pennington loooked like crap as did that Morgan kid that the Bills already cut. I don't see either him or Merz making this team.

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This is good news that the Bills have rectified what I thought was a mistake. The second half of the Carolina game showed that Geisinger has no business whatsoever playing center and if Fowler went down the Bills season would be over. Moving both guys out of their natural position was silly, aprticularly when you're moving hte more talented player away from the more important position. I hope they are done with that experiment.

749399[/snapback]

You should take a look at the following post, because with the information we have at this point it appears to be an accurate (and understandable) explanation:

 

they will only dress 7 OL for games, which means 1 "inside" backup (C + G) and 1 "outside" backup (T).  Since they knew Preston knows the center role they have been working him at guard to prepare him to be that "inside" backup.

749097[/snapback]

It looks like they weren't actually moving Preston away from the center position, just giving him some reps at guard.

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You should take a look at the following post, because with the information we have at this point it appears to be an accurate (and understandable) explanation:

It looks like they weren't actually moving Preston away from the center position, just giving him some reps at guard.

749418[/snapback]

 

Maybe that's the case, but I'd sure be more comfortable if he were getting regular snaps with the Bills young QB and working what should be his primary position in an offense that's new to everybody.

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But with the very iffy Chris Villarial situation, he needed to see some time at guard and get acquainted to playing there, just in case

Yeah I suppose. I guess that I'm just holding out hope that Villarrial will stay healthy and return to form and it won't be an issue. If he doesn't and Preston has to man the RG spot we could be in big trouble w/ nobody behind Fowler. Maybe if Fowler went down while Preston was already starting the Bills could go the Lego route and kick Preston back over to the pivot and plug Geisinger or Jerman <shudder> in at Guard.

Cya

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