Offensive Line Rankings

[....lybob]

There's the fan in me that fantasizes about Bell improving his strength and technique to take his athleticism to a new level , Levitre stepping up, Wood becoming a nasty dominate center, Calloway becoming a bigger better Brad Butler at RG, and Meredith becoming a revelation at RT- "and I say woe unto all the prognosticators who belittled and undervalued the Bills Oline for thy day of reckoning is at hand" but of course there someone in Oakland right now saying that Langston Walker is in the best shape of his Life, and that Bruce Campbell is a super stud, Gallery may have bombed as a tackle but he's all-pro as a guard, Samson Satele is a great center and so underrated, that Khalif Barnes is a great run blocker and is perfect to move inside at guard - and right now this guy is ranting and raving about his Oakland Oline being rated below the Bills.

[C.Biscuit97]

It's a fair ranking (though the Pats are ranked why too high). We have young players that can improve. Everyone loves to kill Bell but I still think he has a ton of talent. After the MNF game aginst the Pats*, there is no question there is talent in that group. They just need to mature.

[FitzShowUsYourTitz]

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

 

 

Agreed, but other than that, we're awesome!!

[FitzShowUsYourTitz]

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........

 

Damn you Reality!!! Why did you have to go there???

(But they are high-motor, high-character guys that play with a mean-streak and eat/sleep football)

[K Gun Special]

Agreed, but other than that, we're awesome!!

 

 

yea but we have some young rookies who say good things so we'll be fine, if not the best OL in the league.

[Orton's Arm]

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.

#30 seems about right for this offensive line. Demetrius Bell was a train wreck as a LT--at least in pass protection--even before going down with an injury. His replacements were no better. There's no reason for anyone to give us credit for anything remotely resembling a starting LT, until such time as we prove we have one.

 

I'll grant that the Bills are strong at both OG positions, with Levitre and Wood. But Hangartnar is the lowest-ranked starting center in the league; and we just signed the aging Cornell Green to be the starter at RT. The Raiders apparently no longer wanted him. Out of the five starting-quality players we'd like to have, I only see two (Levitre and Wood).

 

This line has had some success in run-blocking, but thus far has done little or nothing to suggest it can pass protect. Until it begins at least a mild flirtation with credibility in the pass protection department, this line will be (and should be) among the lowest-ranked lines of the league.

[Thurman#1]

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.

 

 

No, we sucked well before the injuries started. The Pats took three quarters or so to adapt to what we were doing. Do you remember that last drive? Horrendous. Two sacks in five plays, and that was with a four-man rush and the defense in prevent.

 

Demetrius Bell got a MINUS 7.7 ranking for the Pats* game. That is, I believe, the worst one-game score of any player in any game last year. Oops, sorry, no, Demetrius himself actually got a MINUS 11.0 in the Cleveland game.

 

http://profootballfocus.com/by_player.php?...p;playerid=4533

 

Frankly, when Bell got injured, our line immediately got better. Losing Wood was a big blow, I give you that, but the biggest blow was losing Butler, and he is gone and unreplaced (Butler was a good player, and Green is well below-average). If we're going to be so good this year, how come absolutely nobody but a few folks on these boards thinks so? It ain't because you folks know better, it's because you have an aversion to avoiding highly sugared fruit-flavored drinks.

 

We have two guys who were below-average last year, Levitre and Wood, and they were far and away our best guys, because they did look alright for rookies. The other three positions were weaknesses. And to improve on that, we brought in a below-average journeyman to play RT. Though he is an improvement, you have to give them that.

 

Cornell Green, 48th out of 77. And he only played 12 games, which means since the scores are cumulative, most likely he would have continued at his current average score per game and gone even lower if he'd played the other four games.

 

http://profootballfocus.com/by_position.ph...&numgames=1

[Thurman#1]

This line has had some success in run-blocking, but thus far has done little or nothing to suggest it can pass protect. Until it begins at least a mild flirtation with credibility in the pass protection department, this line will be (and should be) among the lowest-ranked lines of the league.

 

 

 

And there's good reason to consider that ability to run as a mirage. Look at the stats in terms of "Power" rankings. Power ranking being ..."Rush Pwr = Percentage of rushes on 3rd or 4th down with 2 or fewer yards to go that achieved a first down or TD. Also includes rushes on 1st-and-goal and 2nd-and-goal from the opponent's 2-yard line or closer."

 

That is an absolutely crucial stat, needless to say. How did we do when we needed to smash it down their throats?

 

To the left side, 30th out of 32. Through the middle, 25th out of 32. To the right side, 27th out of 32.

 

We simply weren't good when we needed to be.

 

http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?off...mp;d-447263-p=1

[Orton's Arm]

And there's good reason to consider that ability to run as a mirage. Look at the stats in terms of "Power" rankings. Power ranking being ..."Rush Pwr = Percentage of rushes on 3rd or 4th down with 2 or fewer yards to go that achieved a first down or TD. Also includes rushes on 1st-and-goal and 2nd-and-goal from the opponent's 2-yard line or closer."

 

That is an absolutely crucial stat, needless to say. How did we do when we needed to smash it down their throats?

 

To the left side, 30th out of 32. Through the middle, 25th out of 32. To the right side, 27th out of 32.

 

We simply weren't good when we needed to be.

 

http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?off...mp;d-447263-p=1

This makes sense. Our offensive linemen were mobile and athletic. On a running play, a Bills offensive lineman could run very quickly to some spot pretty far away, and deliver a shove to some linebacker or someone. For that kind of run blocking, mobility and athleticism are more important than other forms of offensive lineman talent. But when the linemen were asked to stay at home and pass protect, they did poorly. It stands to reason that if they're asked to stay at home and run block (as one would typically expect in short yardage situations) that they might do poorly as well. Only downfield blocking would emphasize our offensive linemen's strengths (mobility) while minimizing their weaknesses (everything else).

[berriesandcream]

This line hurts, considering how useless Maybin was last year:

 

"Oher is switching to left tackle, where he may quickly surpass Denver’s Ryan Clady(notes) and Miami’s Jake Long as the best at that spot."

 

[thebandit27]

Cornell Green, 48th out of 77. And he only played 12 games, which means since the scores are cumulative, most likely he would have continued at his current average score per game and gone even lower if he'd played the other four games.

 

http://profootballfocus.com/by_position.ph...&numgames=1

 

Actually Thurman, the only category in which Green was well below average was penalties, which is what forced his overall grade to drop so low. I know you often reference that website, so it surprises me that you haven't done a little more analysis on Green using it. See if this changes your stance at all (all stats are listed using the subset of OTs that played a minimum of 25% of their team's offensive snaps):

 

- Sorting by pass blocking, Green scores a 1.2, good for 31 out of 77

- In screen blocking, he's a 1.5, good for 16 out of 77

- In run blocking, he's a 1.3, good for 39 out of 77

- He allowed 5 sacks in 757 plays, ranking him 30th out of 77 in that category

- Outside of those 5 sacks, he allowed 6 QB hits, ranking him #38 out of 77

- He allowed a total of 18 QB pressures, which ranks him 36th out of 77

 

So I'd say he's actually right about average in every category but penalties, wouldn't you agree? Also, it's worth noting that in each of those categories, you'll find that there are some highly-touted OTs that rank well below Green...I don't think he's as bad as you may believe him to be.

[stuckincincy]

Actually Thurman, the only category in which Green was well below average was penalties, which is what forced his overall grade to drop so low. I know you often reference that website, so it surprises me that you haven't done a little more analysis on Green using it. See if this changes your stance at all (all stats are listed using the subset of OTs that played a minimum of 25% of their team's offensive snaps):

 

- Sorting by pass blocking, Green scores a 1.2, good for 31 out of 77

- In screen blocking, he's a 1.5, good for 16 out of 77

- In run blocking, he's a 1.3, good for 39 out of 77

- He allowed 5 sacks in 757 plays, ranking him 30th out of 77 in that category

- Outside of those 5 sacks, he allowed 6 QB hits, ranking him #38 out of 77

- He allowed a total of 18 QB pressures, which ranks him 36th out of 77

 

So I'd say he's actually right about average in every category but penalties, wouldn't you agree? Also, it's worth noting that in each of those categories, you'll find that there are some highly-touted OTs that rank well below Green...I don't think he's as bad as you may believe him to be.

 

Nice work. But with that, why was he let into the FA market? I understand roster crunches and the $ considerations, and that decent player get tossed out because of that. I don't buy into these sites that grade and rank players for this or that. So many variables during a season.