Why is nobody discussing the offensive line?

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

3 hours ago, THE SLAMMER said:

You do realize that the Bills Superbowl teams had one weakness, the

OL was considered poor in pass protection, strong running

 

Run defense was poor, I don’t remember the line being a big problem

[GreggTX]

To paraphrase Mick Jagger, I just can't seem to drink them off my mind.

[leonbus23]

5 hours ago, Reed83HOF said:

Penn is gonna be pissed...

 

Even magic won't help this OL.

[billsfan89]

2 hours ago, Kelly the Dog said:

He's already improved on his bad habits. Not got rid of them of course. And NFL game experience is really what separates men from boys. There have been ten plays already, in his three quarters of play, that showed he had an awareness of the rush on him. He's not taking off so early. He's looking downfield when he can as he runs. The TD yesterday was extraordinary versus an immediate heavy rush. He's mostly setting his feet well when he throws. 

 

 

He certainly has improved his bad habits but Allen would not be stepping into an offense conducive to being successful esp successful as a rookie. It would be hard for almost any QB to walk into this offense behind this thin group overall and a core lacking along the O-line and WR corps and make an offense good. Asking a rookie to do that might shake his confidence and further entrench bad habits that lead to bad throws. 

 

But then again why waste starts on Nathan Peterman? At least McCarron plays a game managing style that works with the process. It might be the right move to start Josh Allen, but I worry it ends up damaging him longer term. 

[leonbus23]

Bodine guarding:

 

 

[billsfan89]

2 hours ago, NewEraBills said:

 

This is certainly something to consider.  His WR's here should be better though and hopefully the running game is better so it might not be all so bad.

 

The talent he is playing with should be better but the talent he is playing against is also much better too. The injury to AJ really hurt because now the team might be in a position to force Allen in or start Peterman who I think isn't very good (He looked great in the pre-season last year too and we know how that turned out.) I lean towards starting Allen but I would also hope that the front office tries to bring in a veteran guard if one were to hit the waiver wire as a cap causality. 

[Formerly Allan in MD]

This group of offensive linemen was never going to be much more than a mediocre group, indicative of how much we've ignored the OL in the draft.  Many are hoping and rationalizing, but that never worked very well with Manuel and Taylor.

[4merper4mer]

7 hours ago, SouthNYfan said:

 

our two best offensive linemen for starters, and considering he is saying that the oline sucks and that's why we shouldn't start allen, well, he does have a point, at least enough to be concerned.

I would prefer to see him not start either, solely based on the Oline play, but, if he starts, I won't be upset.

I'll trust the coaches on which QB starts but losing Incognito and Wood, while not ideal,  does not turn a playoff team into a rebuilding team.

 

The Bills are going to be a good team this year.

[SoTier]

15 hours ago, 26CornerBlitz said:

 

Come on man!  Let go of the Bitter Bills Face. 

 

IMO, the emperor's strutting around buck naked, and all the Bills believers refuse to admit to what they see.  

 

The Bills have been shedding expensive players via FA and trade and replacing them with cheaper, not as good players and rookies, especially on the offense, since McDermott was hired.  Contrary to the storyline from the Bills true believers, that's pretty much SOP for the Bills for the last twenty years. 

 

Lie to yourself about the Bills  if you want, but I'll continue to call them as I see them, and I see Beane as just another in a line of Bills GMs more interested in increasing team revenues than in winning games.

[MAJBobby]

This is the combo I would like to see in PS 3. 

 

LT - Dawkins

LG - Teller

C - Groy

RG - Miller 

RT - Mills

 

if you dont think Teller is ready  play your best 5. 

 

Dawkins

Groy

Bodine

Miller

Mills

[4merper4mer]

1 hour ago, SoTier said:

 

IMO, the emperor's strutting around buck naked, and all the Bills believers refuse to admit to what they see.  

 

The Bills have been shedding expensive players via FA and trade and replacing them with cheaper, not as good players and rookies, especially on the offense, since McDermott was hired.  Contrary to the storyline from the Bills true believers, that's pretty much SOP for the Bills for the last twenty years. 

 

Lie to yourself about the Bills  if you want, but I'll continue to call them as I see them, and I see Beane as just another in a line of Bills GMs more interested in increasing team revenues than in winning games.

What was our record last year?  What talented expensive players did we shed?

[Clockwork]

3 hours ago, MAJBobby said:

This is the combo I would like to see in PS 3. 

 

LT - Dawkins

LG - Teller

C - Groy

RG - Miller 

RT - Mills

 

if you dont think Teller is ready  play your best 5. 

 

Dawkins

Groy

Bodine

Miller

Mills

This. That Ducasse is an absolute train wreck out there. 

[Fadingpain]

I can't think of a topic of conversation that has received more attention over the entire off-season than our offensive line.

 

It's been up there all along with the QB situation and our WR corps.

WTF?

 

 

[ColoradoBills]

1 minute ago, Clockwork said:

This. That Ducasse is an absolute train wreck out there. 

 

To be fair, Ducasse is pretty good in run blocking.  He just doesn't cut it in pass blocking.

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

3 minutes ago, Clockwork said:

This. That Ducasse is an absolute train wreck out there. 

 

...so why does the 'Nad continually get the nod?.......time for Daboll to jack up Castillo.....offense initially vs Cleveland was running on two cylinders.....

[njbuff]

Vlad at LG could be a season killer.

 

If there ever was a position that is an emergency for the Buffalo Bills.............. it's LG.

[FistingBot]

7 minutes ago, ColoradoBills said:

 

To be fair, Ducasse is pretty good in run blocking.  He just doesn't cut it in pass blocking.

 

Just rewatched the Browns game and this is pretty much what I saw. Vlad struggled mightily in pass protection, but had some nice run blocks. But, I think his best run blocks were against Browns 2nd teamers.

[dlonce]

On 8/18/2018 at 10:33 AM, Steptide said:

The Browns brought alot of pressure last night in the 1st team series. This is a product of not game planning. While I think the o line needs to improve prior to the regular season, I also don't think they'll be as bad what it looked like last night 

 

That is exactly right.

 

Clevelands attempting to change culture, they threw the kitchen sink at the Bills. It’s a Pre Season game for Christ sake.

Our OL wasn’t prepared for it, and don’t think for a minute our players who are penciled in as starters are playing full tilt.

Cleveland’s desire to create excitement at home, is why Greggie Williams created a more complex defense for this game.

 

 

[The Frankish Reich]

The O line will not be this bad all year simply because if they are this bad, they won't be playing anymore. But neither is it going to be good this year, and that's even if Teller is a whole lot better than anyone expects him to be as a rookie. The weakest link right now isn't Ducasse, it's Bodine. He was terrible in Cincy and there's no reason to think he'll get better in his 5th year in the NFL. Obviously the same is true with Ducasse too, who's now in his 9th year, but Ducasse actually rated as about average on PFF's evaluation. (I think he's worse, but there's a reason he beat out John Miller.) So ... with the exception of Dawkins and (maybe) Teller, it's a veteran line made up of below average to awful players, and the Bills focused on other needs this off season rather than on improving the O line. Playing Groy at C is the obvious way to improve right away, if only because he's been roughly average there, which is a whole lot better than awful. Maybe by midseason Teller will take over at LG, either Miller will play better or Ducasse will move back to RG, and the line may become lousy, but not awful.  Other than a significant personnel change, any other scenario is just dreaming. The line will be addressed in 2019, but not in any serious way before that.

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

12 minutes ago, dlonce said:

 

That is exactly right.

 

Clevelands attempting to change culture, they threw the kitchen sink at the Bills. It’s a Pre Season game for Christ sake.

Our OL wasn’t prepared for it, and don’t think for a minute our players who are penciled in as starters are playing full tilt.

Cleveland’s desire to create excitement at home, is why Greggie Williams created a more complex defense for this game.

 

 

 

...but wouldn't you tend to expect that from Airhorn Greggy?........everything will be a statement game for Bounty Boy............