Logical Reasoning Posted March 14, 2010 Posted March 14, 2010 I saw the post on the Left Tackle and with more teams going to a 3-4, the difference is the skills/talent between a tackle, a guard and a center is minimal. A weakness is a weakness no matter where he is lining up. Sure the blindside is important but if you are getting beat, your te can chip off the line. If your guard and center are getting beat by lets say a Jenkins from the Jets or a Wilfork from the Pats, your quarterback is still going to struggle especially when he can't step up in the pocket. I have never accepted the argument that the blindside lineman is so much more valuable than the other lineman that the position warrants its own nickname. If the Bills miss out on the best offensive tackles at nine and they think they can move down and get Iupatai (sp), do or don't even move down if you think he is the best.
San Jose Bills Fan Posted March 14, 2010 Posted March 14, 2010 I saw the post on the Left Tackle and with more teams going to a 3-4, the difference is the skills/talent between a tackle, a guard and a center is minimal. A weakness is a weakness no matter where he is lining up. Sure the blindside is important but if you are getting beat, your te can chip off the line. If your guard and center are getting beat by lets say a Jenkins from the Jets or a Wilfork from the Pats, your quarterback is still going to struggle especially when he can't step up in the pocket. I have never accepted the argument that the blindside lineman is so much more valuable than the other lineman that the position warrants its own nickname. If the Bills miss out on the best offensive tackles at nine and they think they can move down and get Iupatai (sp), do or don't even move down if you think he is the best. The possible flaw in your reasoning is that the Bills spent two high draft picks last year on interior linemen as well as getting Hangartner in free agency. In theory anyways, the Bills are deeper and have better quality players at the interior O-line than at the tackles. If you think Iaputi projects to tackle, then draft him. But if not, center/guard is a much lesser need than O-tackle, Nose Tackle, etc. and thus arguably a bad use of a draft pick.
Lofton80 Posted March 14, 2010 Posted March 14, 2010 The way people ran by Bell, Scott and Chambers, I cannot see any justification to not upgrade the tackle positions immediately. You cannot run a modern day offense without at least some resistance to the defense.
Thurman#1 Posted March 14, 2010 Posted March 14, 2010 The top ten sackers in the NFl last year played which positions? Eight of them lined up opposite the left tackle. The other two lined up over the right tackle, and both of those guys teams (Steelers and Skins) also had a guy lining over LT in the top 15.. There's your answer. It's true of course that you can't have any huge holes anywhere in your line. If you have, say, a Demetrius Bell as your starter, you absolutely need to replace him at top possible speed. And the same is true of a Melvin Fowler. If Fowler is your center, you need to get a new center in, pronto. But you don't have to spend $7 million a year on a center, you don't have to draft your center in the top 10 and you don't need a spectacularly athletic guy there. You just need a strong guy. And that's why LTs earn more, have to be much more athletic and go in fairly large numbers in the top 10.
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