Bocephuz

looks like you are getting your wish http://billswire.usatoday.com/2016/11/14/rex-ryan-seantrel-henderson-jordan-mills/

I do remember being surprised at how well he did against Wake. I was dreading it all week leading up to the game but he did very well.

Towson, MD

Henderson was below average before his illness kicked in. Let's say the best case scenario is him getting back to that level at some point. I'm quite confident the Bills can so better than that in offseason FA or mid level draft pick.

I aim to be objective... although it's hard sometimes

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Something certainly needs to change at RT

Yeah.. Schwartz kept it really simple and never had those kind of issues.

They have a huge advantage there in Seattle with crowd noise. Their D doesn't have to worry about the QB cadence. Actually.. there's probably no QB cadence at all. QB just stomps his feet when he's ready to receive the ball and center snaps when he is ready. All you have to do is watch the ball.. or maybe the Center has a tell when he's about ready to snap. I noticed that Wood's tell was he would look between his legs when ready.. lift his head back up and immediately snap it. I would like to think that the crowd noise at The Ralph ( not ready to use New Era Field yet) gives us the same advantage. The only problem is.. our D is so complex that crowd noise actually hurts the D communication and leads to mistakes/ blown coverages. Seattle's genius is that they play a very simple scheme so crowd noise completely works to their benefit.

GIFS are updated

He was awful on the draw play.. 👍

You are most likely correct. He was horrendous in preseason. I was only reporting what I saw for the few snaps he played this particular game.. on pass protection plays only He did get blown back on a few run plays

Unforced errors.. bad throws/ How did the O Line do?/ What mistakes are on the O-Line.. what ones are not? I watched the NFL rewind all 22 and here is my unofficial count of how the O-Line did / How the QB did on every pass play (I may have missed a snap or two here or there. There also may be a few extra pass attempts that were cancelled due to penalites..but this should be 95% accurate) Sufficient protection means that TT had time to hit his drop and had at least a second to scan the field. DISCLAIMER (I am not a coach, I don't know the hot reads or route combinations called.. this is just my educated perception of what happened on each pass play) _______ ______________________ TOTAL PASS PLAYS: 42 - (last week was 36 for reference) LINE BREAKDOWNS: 12/42 or 29% of snaps ( last week was 9/36 or 25% of snaps) In other words TT didn't really have a chance on 29% of his drop backs. Based on historical data the threshold for average O Line performance has been around a 20% breakdown rate. In short.. the O Line performed much worse than the norm on Monday. SUFFICIENT PROTECTION: 30/42 snaps or 71% (last week was 27/36 snaps or 75%). In other words TT had a relatively clean pocket 71% of the time UNFORCED QB ERRORS: 2/30 snaps or 7% ( last week was 6/27 snaps or 22% ) Based on my 2015/16 studies if the Bills' QBs commit 5 unforced QB errors or less during a game their odds of winning are solid. TT had 2 unforced errors by my count.. far below the danger line. Both of these errors were in Q1. From then on.. he made many, many good decisions and many, many tough throws. Also.. as a point of interest.. I did not count his 1 INT as an unforced error as it appeared Woods ran the wrong route. Bottom Line: MILLS WAS ABUSED - Cliff Avril is a very good pass rusher. Jordan Mills made him look like LT on Monday. There are basically 3 ways an OT can be beaten.1.) Outside speed rush, 2.) getting set up by a pass rushing move.. 3.)being physically bullied. Early in the game Avril attacked Mills on the inside. Later on he beat him on the outside speed rush.. and to cap off the hat trick he physically bullied Mills by throwing him aside to get to TT. Q1:11:08 - Mills beaten to inside q2 :27 - Mills manhandled and pushed aside q4: :52 - Avril blows by Mills on the outside RICHIE COMES BACK STRONG - Incognito has struggled a little bit the past few weeks in pass protection.. at times not recognizing stunts and at times just physically being beaten. Not this game. Based on what I saw #64 had a nearly perfect game in pass protect against the Seahawks. WOOD DELAYS GAME - There were several delay of game penalties .. and from what I saw Eric Wood was responsible for all of them (except for the one on Walt Anderson to end the half ). TT was stamping his feet and clapping his hands well before the clock hit zero in both cases. I realize they were in Seattle on a Monday night and it was very loud.. even so... Wood is a vet and he needed to be more aware in those situations. GROY OK - The few plays he was in after Wood broke his leg he was ok in pass protect.( run blocking not so much) RBS STRUGGLE IN PASS PROTECT - There were several plays where the RBs were tasked with picking up the free guy where the RB would dive at the rusher's ankles and essentially whiff.. allowing the free man to disrupt the pocket. Both Gillislee and McCoy were guilty of this. To be fair there were also a few plays where McCoy did a nice job picking up the free guy and actually using proper technique by standing stiff and engaging. TYROD VERY CAREFUL/ VERY ELUSIVE/ VERY EFFECTIVE - When I watched this game in real time I was a bit concerned that TT was bailing out of the pocket too early on a lot of plays. After re-watching I only saw one time that he obviously bailed out early. I was also concerned that he was not going through his reads and was doing too much improvising.This was also not the case. As I will show below.. TT displayed several instances where he went through multiple progressions before checking down.. or deciding it was time to scramble and buy more time. Seattle typically had several dbs in a deep shell coverage.. so there were very few opportunities for him to attempt the deep throws he so excels at. For the most part he did an excellent job taking what the D was giving him and attacking the soft spots in what appeared to be mostly zone defense. My only criticism is that he is still a hair late on delivering some throws and he is still not being anticipatory enough. This is splitting hairs a little I realize.. However.. It's clear if you watch Russell Wilson you will see many examples of "throwing" guys open or "throwing into tight windows". Hopefully TT will become confident enough in his WRs to do that at some point in the future. Really.. that is the only thing I can criticize him for in this game. I re-watched the game ending sequence several times to see if TT could have done anything better or if he obviously missed any chances on the last few plays there.. and quite frankly there were no good options for him on that last throw. Can't really pin the failed comeback on TT this time. Q1: 10:14 - UNFORCED ERROR - TT has time, does not see open O'Leary on deep seem route at top of the screen and he bails out of the pocket unnecessarily early Q1: 6:08 - UNFORCED ERROR - Designed rollout to the right and Woods is clearly the #1 target running flag route to the back corner of the end zone. TT is not really under duress and simply overthrows him here. Q3 14:21 - TT goes through progressions. . 1st read McCoy at Top, 2nd read Clay, 3rd read Powell at bottom.. no one open.. dump off to RB Q4 5:11 - TT looks left 1st read, looks right 2nd read, left again and then dumps down to Felton SUMMARY - John Miller was cleanly beaten once.. and Glenn got flagged for kicking .. but other than those two instances 4 of the o linemen were competent in pass protect throughout the game. The exceptions were Jordan Mills and the running backs. Mills himself was responsible for 5 out of the 12 line breakdowns. The RBs were responsible for 3 out of 12. When TT had time and a clean pocket he was very effective. When the line broke down..which happened often this game ( Mills was just as bad in game as he was in Miami .) TT was even more effective. His mobility and ability to avoid pressure and make throws on the run is elite. The screen game was generally solid (well placed bubble screen to Bush, well thrown screen to McCoy), the short timing game was solid (solid well timed hitch throws to Woods and Clay),the intermediate game was solid ( out routes, deep crossing routes).. again .. the only thing missing was the deep go routes.. but that was mainly due to Seattle taking that option away. At the end of the day the passing game was very solid, even with many instances of poor pass protect. TT is back to showing progress after regressing last week against the Pats. Hopefully this level of play continues. If he can start "throwing guys open" and anticipating routes more then we may end up having our own version of Russell Wilson to lead our team. As it stands now however.. he has a few levels to advance before getting to Wilson level accuracy and anticipation. O Line Pass block grades GLENN - B- INCOGNITO - A- WOOD - C (dinged for delay of game) MILLER - B MILLS- D- PLAYS OF NOTE Q1 11:08 - Mills beaten to the inside by 56 .. TT flushed q1 10:14 - UNFORCED ERROR - TT has time, does not see O'Leary open in deep seam, bails out of pocket too early q1 6:08 - UNFORCED ERROR - Designed rollout to the right and Woods is clearly the #1 target running flag route to the back corner of the end zone. TT is not really under duress and simply overthrows him here. q1 5:34 - nice timing throw on hitch to Clay q1 3:43 - McCoy whiffs block on backside rusher q2 14:54 - nice out route to Woods q2 11:25 - Well thrown bubble screen to Bush.. leading him allowing YAC q2 11:19 - Well thrown screen to McCoy leading him allowing YAC as well q2 : 9:51 - SACK - Mills beaten to inside by Avril again.. q2 6:35 - Avril blows by Gillislee on outside causing pressure q2 2:48 - TT steps up into pocket and hits Woods in deep middle q2:27 - Mills is pushed aside like a small child by Avril and TT is flushed q3 14:21 - TT clearly goes through his 1st, 2nd and 3rd reads (none of whom are open) and checks down to RB q3 10:30 - INT - great protection, looks like Woods ran wrong route q3 5:29 - Glenn does not pick up outside blitzer.. TT makes amazing escape and even more incredible completion on the run q3 3:50 - well placed/timed hitch to Woods q3 2:46 - McCoy whiffs on block .. TT flushed q4 - 5:11 - TT goes through 1st and 2nd reads and then checks down q4 4:16 - Glenn trips DE after he is beaten to the inside q4 2:00 - SACK - #55 beats John Miller to the inside and TT is flushed and sacked q4 1:25 - All around breakdown.. Mills is beaten, guards do not pick up the stunt.. TT is flushed and makes a SUPER HUMAN escape job and impressive completion to Woods q4 1:01 - Coverage Sack q4 :52 - SACK - Avril blows by Mills (who doesn't even lay a hand on him) and Sacks TT who has no chance

To your point.. I believe the Bills flipped Jerry Hughes so he can go against RTs more often and other teams seem to be doing that as well. I would also argue that the way TT plays RT is even more important than LT. If TT was a traditional drop back right handed pocket passer then maybe LT should be at a premium.. but what I've seen is that pass rush from his throwing hand side is worse for him.

That is an accurate statement. In the first few games against lesser edge rushers he was hanging on by a thread vs. the outside speed rush. The dam finally broke in Miami. Kujo looked very solid at LT this preseason and also was solid in filling in for Glenn the first few games this year. LT was his college position... more of a natural fit.

That is actually a sensible idea... Kujo was very solid early in the year filling in for Glenn on the left... the position he played in college. He has never really looked comfortable at RT. As long as the line as a whole is functioning I don't know why it matters if Glenn or Kujo plays LT. Glenn already got his LT long term big bucks contract so I doubt if he would object... and I think it would be just for this season anyway. We need to either draft or get permanent FA RT for long term.

Jordan Mills is officially a tire fire after the last 3 games. He was abused in Miami, barely held on against the Pats and was abused in Seattle. His pass protection is a clear liability and some major adjustments need to be made.. right? Here are some options.. what do you all think? INTERNAL REPLACEMENTS Kouandjio - Is he even healthy? He was great at LT but can he go back to RT and be competent? Henderson - Is he healthy? He was not very good when healthy but can he at least be a stop gap? SCHEME ADJUSTMENTS Does Anthony Lynn need to give Mills or whoever the RT is more RB and TE help in pass protect? FREE AGENTS Are there any plausible free agents out there to consider signing?http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/2016/right-tackle/available/

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All valid points. If there was one takeaway from my post I would highlight it would be that while the O line had breakdowns it would be unfair to pin the majority of the O's issues in the passing game on poor protection

Good observation. I still think TT is going off of pre-determined reads from the called play and he isn't really at a level of awareness to execute the kind of pre snap improvisation you point out here TT and Alex Smith are good comparison. Both mobile and risk averse. Smith has better footwork and is better at timing routes... TT is better at deep ball

It's a valid point regarding Bills QB vs rest of league. The heart of my analysis is to give an honest picture of how much pass rush affects any particular throw and how much is on the QB himself. I started this because I was trying to figure how how much of EJ's issues were due to bad o line play and how much was on him alone.

One of those 3 and outs was a direct result of back to back drops by Clay and Tate Whatever Lynn's gameplan was it certainly was not at all like the successful Week 4 gameplan. Week 4 was all about the quick game, 3 step drops, slants hitches etc...which TT executed surprisingly well. There was very little of that week 8. ALynn was definitely calling more intermediate and deep routes. Belichick frequently rushed 3 and dropped 8 in the 1st half and naturally this clogged up passing lanes.. so the wuick game wasn't really there to be had. A Lynn probably should have called more draw plays. and more called TT runs to get them out of that.

I don't have the time to watch every pass play of every NFL game and write up an analysis to get that data. I can only go from the data/ studies I myself have done regarding recent Bills QB play in games I've analyzed. Im not claiming to make any sort of overarching statement on NFL QB play.. just trying to apply some sort of method to analyzing how much impact OLine play has on QB play for the Bills