Offensive Line Rankings

[San Jose Bills Fan]

Not bad, Cole was actually given more space to write his thoughts on his offensive line rankings than Rich Gosselin was given when he wrote his team rankings.

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=ApTe...erankings061810

 

edit: Hope this wasn't already posted. I hadn't seen it. Please delete if it's a duplicate.

[Thoner7]

We are rated too high.

 

PS - How are the Raiders last? They have a very strong running game and are/were head a shoulders better than the Bills line last season. Not great, but could easily be ranked 5+ slots higher on run blocking alone IMO.

[Guest dog14787]

Not bad, Cole was actually given more space to write his thoughts on his offensive line rankings than Rich Gosselin was given when he wrote his team rankings.

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=ApTe...erankings061810

 

edit: Hope this wasn't already posted. I hadn't seen it. Please delete if it's a duplicate.

 

 

Bills RB 's ranked 18th, Fred Jackson is a souped up back up (wish Fred would read this), Bills QB's ranked last in the league

[marsadale]

With our current line up, if we can stay remotely healthy, we'll finish up fine.

 

If D. Bell can stay in the line up, he'll end up being at the very least a serviceable starter. His athleticism alone will save him from being horrible...he'll just need time for the game to begin to slow down for him. If he gets that far, the sky could be the limit

 

Levitre is on his way to becoming a finished product.

 

Hangartner should be fine for a few more years.

 

Eric Wood........steel rods and plates be damned

 

Cornell Green.....all he needs to do is not suck

 

 

 

That being said....everything is gonna be predicated on the five of them staying healthy, and being in the lineup.

 

ps. im not entirely done being excited about the big Wang, and when he might make his entry onto the seen. If D. Bell cant stay on the field, Chan might slide the Wang in through the back door.

[San Jose Bills Fan]

The first thing that jumped out at me was:

 

2) New England

5) Miami

7) New York Jets

 

All three teams run the ball very well and it's a good thing that the Bills have moved in the direction of stiffening up the run defense.

 

The second thing that jumped out at me was:

 

23) Green Bay

24) Pittsburgh

 

This speaks to a couple of things. Rodgers and Roethlesberger both extend plays which is partly what makes them great, and partly what makes their offensive lines look bad. Those guys take a lot of hits and if I were a fan of those teams, I'd be a bit nervous about quarterback injury. Both of them were banged around a lot last season and durability tends to have an inverse relationship with age. If those guys don't change their games a bit, they might not have as long a career as guys who stay clean like Manning and Brees. I remember the one play last year where a pass rusher broke in alone on Manning and he simply fell to the turf and allowed himself to be tapped out. It was a weird graphic depiction about the importance of avoiding injuries to the franchise quarterback.

 

Their offensive line rankings also speak to the fact that a very good quarterback who can extend plays can transcend a mediocre offensive line, at least for a few seasons.

[DanInUticaTampa]

We are rated too high.

 

PS - How are the Raiders last? They have a very strong running game and are/were head a shoulders better than the Bills line last season. Not great, but could easily be ranked 5+ slots higher on run blocking alone IMO.

 

The raiders oline was head and shoulders above the bills line last year? they had a good run game? Then why were people pissed when we got their starting RT, which is like the key part of the line for the run game?

 

 

"our starting RT wasn't even good enough to be on the raiders. the raiders!"

 

PS: I wrote that too fast without thinking. I didnt' mean to imply that you were one of the people pissed about Cornell green being the stop-gap starter for us. I don't think you were. I just find is dumb so many people dismiss Green when he is quite capable. The only knock on him for me is his age.

[NewHampshireBillsFan]

30th is a ridiculously low prediction. It is based on no real knowledge of our players (since many are fairly new) and mainly based on last year's production when the line was riddled with injuries. The thinking is Buffalo should be ranked at or near the bottom of the league because they didn't play very well last year. But what if we were fairly healthy this year? How do they know how we would do since they can't compare it to last year when we weren't healthy. The line played pretty well in the opening game at NE that we won except for stupidity and the players are a lot more experienced now than they were then.

[Dr. K]

30th is a ridiculously low prediction. It is based on no real knowledge of our players (since many are fairly new) and mainly based on last year's production when the line was riddled with injuries. The thinking is Buffalo should be ranked at or near the bottom of the league because they didn't play very well last year. But what if we were fairly healthy this year? How do they know how we would do since they can't compare it to last year when we weren't healthy. The line played pretty well in the opening game at NE that we won except for stupidity and the players are a lot more experienced now than they were then.

 

We should not be surprised. They'll be ranked low until they show differently. That goes for the team as a whole. I would expect the line and the team right now to be working to learn the new system and get coordinated. It will help when Wood and Bell are back practicing. Time enough to prove the prognosticators wrong when the season starts, if they can.

[milehiLou]

there is no way in the world that denvers line is even on par with the bills line and are projected way above buffalo. hilarious. absolutely hilarious how these moron prognosticators read each others predictions and regurgitate the crap the other is saying. absolute crap.

 

and please stop believing that demetrius bell is going to beat out jamon meredith for the starting lt job, absolutely no way thats happening, no way. if im wrong i will eat fifteen teds hot dogs on youtube.

[San-O]

Not bad, Cole was actually given more space to write his thoughts on his offensive line rankings than Rich Gosselin was given when he wrote his team rankings.

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=ApTe...erankings061810

 

edit: Hope this wasn't already posted. I hadn't seen it. Please delete if it's a duplicate.

 

 

Having started 2 and another player who never took an NFL snap, all the injuries and players playing new

positions, the line was really a mess.

 

They must be improved over last year, and I'm interested to see how much.

[San Jose Bills Fan]

30th is a ridiculously low prediction. It is based on no real knowledge of our players (since many are fairly new) and mainly based on last year's production when the line was riddled with injuries. The thinking is Buffalo should be ranked at or near the bottom of the league because they didn't play very well last year. But what if we were fairly healthy this year? How do they know how we would do since they can't compare it to last year when we weren't healthy. The line played pretty well in the opening game at NE that we won except for stupidity and the players are a lot more experienced now than they were then.

Also as SoCal-Surf pointed out, besides all the injuries, we were VERY inexperienced. The opening day offensive line had a combined 56 starts of NFL experience.

 

We should not be surprised. They'll be ranked low until they show differently. That goes for the team as a whole. I would expect the line and the team right now to be working to learn the new system and get coordinated. It will help when Wood and Bell are back practicing. Time enough to prove the prognosticators wrong when the season starts, if they can.

This is also true. Regardless of the accuracy of their rankings, until we prove them wrong, the Bills will be poorly ranked across the board by most "analysts."

 

Let's just accept the following. Until we prove them wrong, our team, our draft, our offensive line, and just about everything about the Bills short of their running backs and defensive backs will suck in the eyes of NFL observers.

 

I hope someone at One Bills Drive is printing out and posting this stuff on the bulletin boards. The players should have no shortage of motivational materials this year. "Everyone" is predicting we're gonna suck.

[spartacus]

 "Everyone" is predicting we're gonna suck.

 

As with most years, those expert opinions are universally discarded by the blind homers at the beginning of the year.

 

 

yet by year end, those experts are much closer to the truth than the local homers who follow the team so closely and know so  much more than everyone else.

[Dr. K]

As with most years, those expert opinions are universally discarded by the blind homers at the beginning of the year.

 

 

yet by year end, those experts are much closer to the truth than the local homers who follow the team so closely and know so  much more than everyone else.

 

Thanks for filling us in on this. And of course, this proves unequivocally that the situation will be eternally as it has been no matter what changes are made.

 

As of 1980 the Bills had lost 20 in a row to the Dolphins. And as we all know, they never have beaten them from that day to this.

[Gabe Northern]

Thought this was a great point made by someone who actually watched some Bills' games last year. Protection issues as bad as we had do not lend themselves to down field passing attacks.

 

"At least they were above average in run blocking and the addition of offensive-minded head coach Chan Gailey will keep the Bills from doing stupid things that accentuate their lack of talent up front."

[Thoner7]

The raiders Oline was head and shoulders above the bills line last year? they had a good run game? Then why were people pissed when we got their starting RT, which is like the key part of the line for the run game?

 

 

"our starting RT wasn't even good enough to be on the raiders. the raiders!"

 

PS: I wrote that too fast without thinking. I didn't' mean to imply that you were one of the people pissed about Cornell green being the stop-gap starter for us. I don't think you were. I just find is dumb so many people dismiss Green when he is quite capable. The only knock on him for me is his age.

 

The Raiders had very good run blocking and Green was a quality contributer from what I saw. Obviously I don't watch many Raiders games, but I was pleased with the Green signing. I was not pleased with the fact that thats where our OL improvement stopped.

[Adam]

Our line is absolutely awful. Can't consistently get short yardage in the run game and can't keep pressure off the QB

[Bob in STL]

30th is a ridiculously low prediction. It is based on no real knowledge of our players (since many are fairly new) and mainly based on last year's production when the line was riddled with injuries. The thinking is Buffalo should be ranked at or near the bottom of the league because they didn't play very well last year. But what if we were fairly healthy this year? How do they know how we would do since they can't compare it to last year when we weren't healthy. The line played pretty well in the opening game at NE that we won except for stupidity and the players are a lot more experienced now than they were then.

 

Ridiculously low? It sounds about right. It is based on last years performance and the fact that we have not upgraded any postions. Butler out at RT and Green is in ... can that be looked at as an upgrade? What did we do in the draft? We picked up two late round projects.

 

If the interior three improve, and that is likely, then that will help. Please admit we are lacking at both tackles with Bell, Green, Meredith, Chambers and Wang.

[Bills Fan in Charlotte]

With our current line up, if we can stay remotely healthy, we'll finish up fine.

 

If D. Bell can stay in the line up, he'll end up being at the very least a serviceable starter. His athleticism alone will save him from being horrible...he'll just need time for the game to begin to slow down for him. If he gets that far, the sky could be the limit

 

Levitre is on his way to becoming a finished product.

 

Hangartner should be fine for a few more years.

 

Eric Wood........steel rods and plates be damned

 

Cornell Green.....all he needs to do is not suck

 

 

 

That being said....everything is gonna be predicated on the five of them staying healthy, and being in the lineup.

 

ps. im not entirely done being excited about the big Wang, and when he might make his entry onto the seen. If D. Bell cant stay on the field, Chan might slide the Wang in through the back door.

 

Exactly my feeling, I don't understand why everyone is so doom and gloom about our line. I believe we're better off now then we were a few years ago with Melvin Fowler, Darnell Dockett, etc. All we need is a year in which our line can stay healthy and I think people would be surprised as to how good we really are.

[Adam]

Exactly my feeling, I don't understand why everyone is so doom and gloom about our line. I believe we're better off now then we were a few years ago with Melvin Fowler, Darnell Dockett, etc. All we need is a year in which our line can stay healthy and I think people would be surprised as to how good we really are.

Levitre and Wood are still unproven, Hangartner isn't all that good, neither is Green. We don't have a viable left tackle. Add to that, we play in one of the toughest divisions........

[stuckincincy]

Levitre and Wood are still unproven, Hangartner isn't all that good, neither is Green. We don't have a viable left tackle. Add to that, we play in one of the toughest divisions........

 

A bit of a "silver lining": With their switch to a 3-4, the offense will get camp time playing against same. In addition to the AFC East opponents, they square off against the AFC North and the NFC North. IIRC, they will be playing 11 or more games vs. a 3-4 defense.