Star Lotulelei this season

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

16 hours ago, DBilz2500 said:

Is it just me or does Star seem to be more active, more noticeable and even a little faster this season? I know his numbers don’t jump off the page, they never will, but I just feel like he’s making more of an impact compared to past seasons. Thoughts? 

 

 

Everyone here always knocked Star as providing nothing.  It may have been that 2 and 3 years back, the overall defensive line didn't do that much so teams could more key on him.  Now they can't??

[JohnNord]

The stuff on the WFT QB sneak on 4th and inches is probably the best play Star has made with the Bills.  He absolutely blew up the blocker right into Heineke for a big loss and turnover on downs.  Those are the types of plays that have been absent over his first few seasons in Buffalo 

[BADOLBILZ]

12 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

Definitely looks faster, which is not a surprise because he is clearly a little leaner.

 

 

Yeah the "I always play at 305-310" stuff was nonsense.........he was a fatter and less athletic player in the prior two seasons in Buffalo.

 

The Miami game was definitely the most impactful game he's played for Buffalo snap-for-snap.    Less so this past week but still better.

 

The downside of playing more aggressively may turn out to be injuries....................he's already missed a game with a calf injury after starting 78 straight games to that point and is now also dealing with a groin injury.......but the player he was in 2018 and 2019 was replacement level so give me the more athletic version for half a season over the traffic cone for a full one.

[billsbackto81]

18 hours ago, LeGOATski said:

I feel like he's the same.

 

I've watched some of 2019 on Gamepass.

 

He's clearly not the disappointment that so many fans wanted to label him as.

 

I forgot Beasley used to wear number 10...

I think the disappointment stemmed from his contract and availability, not his performance. It's pretty evident so far this defense is better with him than without.

Edited September 28, 2021 by billsbackto81

[machine gun kelly]

11 hours ago, dollars 2 donuts said:

 

I made many a post frustrated with the throwaway nature many fans here had for him.

 

Part of the reason (to some) that he is a “surprise” is obviously because he didn’t play last year.  There seems to be some difficultly for some in correlating the mediocre nature of our run defense for a good chunk of last year with…oh yeah, that guy not being here that made our defense better that many around here wanted to get rid of.

 

That and the 3/4s of TSW that thought Milano wasn’t worth keeping for the money (I was so on board with the 8 figures per year for him long before they re-signed him), or the “always hurt” or the utterly ridiculous nature of the “he’s just not that good” were simply consternating given the optics of how good he was and how much better we were with him on the field.

 

Makes me, unfortunately, think that a good number of TSW members are the remnants of the Sabres’ “let’s run Donald Audette and Ray Shepherd out of town!” crew.

Donuts, you and I banged that drum amongst several others all last year.  Well written.  I should know the Sabres reference as my sister works for them, but have never been into the NHL.  My family hates it, but Bills only.

[machine gun kelly]

8 hours ago, Don Otreply said:

Well if one ignores the “he sucks” poster, one finds that he does his job, but “those” poster who feel he should be getting lots sacks every season will always b itch about him and their other favs on the team, those are the more comical posters, they are alway right  no matter what, just ask them. After a year out, getting himself fully healthy and rested, he is performing as expected. 
 

Go Bills!!!

Don,

 

I dont get mad at those guys as they demonstrate they either don't understand football, and have certainly never played or coached.  I don't mind the casual fan as they usually know they are the casual fan.  A space eating DT to cement you're point is not the guy who makes the sacks.  He is the guy who clears the road for Oliver to get pressure.  Its not even sacks for Oliver (as much as we love them), its collapsing that pocket while you're big partner clogs up the middle and the QB has to go outside as there is no room to set up.  Well written bud.

 

He looks a little better than 2019, as he is looks leaner and a little faster, but it wasn't by accident we were 3rd in the NFL in defense in 2019.  Other were just mad because we weren't scoring a ton of points.

[Doc]

Kind of figured that after a year of (IMO) having football taken away from him, as well as seeing how well the team was doing, rejuvenated him.  Hopefully he keeps it up and they can find a stud 1T to replace him and make the DL dominant for years to come.

[LeGOATski]

1 hour ago, billsbackto81 said:

I think the disappointment stemmed from his contract and availability, not his performance. It's pretty evident so far this defense is better with him than without.

It definitely stemmed from his performance for some people.

[Saxum]

7 hours ago, Alphadawg7 said:

 

The people who spent all this time whining about him and wanting him "gone" are just puzzling to me.  Its like they ignore everything the coaching staff and players say about him that makes our defense better and just see if he got any sacks or something.  

 

 

Some fans act like PFF and is no wonder so many of click bait sites use it was a source.

[billsbackto81]

31 minutes ago, LeGOATski said:

It definitely stemmed from his performance for some people.

Well aware. My biggest issue was his contract but there's no denying his presence. He's not All Pro but he is a difference maker. All it took was last season to see you don't know what you got until it's gone.

[Mikie2times]

Stars biggest role in the defense to take out two blockers and free our LB's. Won't get you many PFF points or stats but he is the best on the team at doing this and it's clearly helped our LB's make plays.

[Doc]

1 hour ago, billsbackto81 said:

Well aware. My biggest issue was his contract but there's no denying his presence. He's not All Pro but he is a difference maker. All it took was last season to see you don't know what you got until it's gone.

 

The contract wasn't ideal.  But that's what they had to do to get him.  Hopefully those days are in the past.

[Saxum]

43 minutes ago, Doc said:

The contract wasn't ideal.  But that's what they had to do to get him.  Hopefully those days are in the past.

 

Contracts are never ideal.  Players hold out when they do not make enough and when they are overpriced & cut people complain team breaks contract even though money not guaranteed. 

[maryland-bills-fan]

We have a lot of people posting here who seem to have limited allowed reasoning.  ....  I have a lot of tools in my workshop.  A few of them are a screwdriver, a hammer and a wrench.    Sometimes I need to hammer something down and the hammer works best. Most of the time something else works better. The hammer donesn't work well if I have to tighten a bolt.  

 

On some plays, having Star play one of the interior DT is the best thing.  Then we win most of those battles.

On other plays, having two mobile DT's is the best thing.

Sometimes, having Star playing, when it might seem that two mobile DT's would be better, but we put in Star. It confuses the offense and allows us to play games because of that or because they try to exploit that, but we are one jump ahead of them.

 

There are games within games. He allows us to play all of them and the other team makes more mistakes.

 

[WideNine]

18 hours ago, dorquemada said:

 

I'm sure there's a lot of other factors but yeah, that's exactly how it looks to me

 

On that play he chased Heineke out of bounds he looked positively quick.  There's some value in a guy who can both clog the middle and also chase an athletic QB out of bounds

 

Star has been playing solid and yes he played solid the last year he suited up for us too absorbing blockers and freeing up others.

 

He does seem a bit leaner and quicker this year.

 

The Bills have a better run defense when he is in the middle and Zimmer has been a pleasant surprise spelling him at NT too.

 

When WFT's Gibson was ripping off his 70+ yd catch and run I was thinking who is that fat guy that damn near caught up to him before Gibson found another gear.

 

Yep 61... you usually do not see NTs a zillion miles downfiled chasing a play.

 

The kid has heart.

 

 

[GunnerBill]

13 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

Yeah the "I always play at 305-310" stuff was nonsense.........he was a fatter and less athletic player in the prior two seasons in Buffalo.

 

This is absolutely beyond doubt. The play he got credited a sack on this past week where he ran a QB down and forced him out just short of the marker...... no way he makes that play in 2018 or 2019. Even if his overall weight hasn't changed that much (which can happen when your body changes) the muscle to fat ratio has very obviously changed significantly. 

[Royale with Cheese]

1 hour ago, GunnerBill said:

 

This is absolutely beyond doubt. The play he got credited a sack on this past week where he ran a QB down and forced him out just short of the marker...... no way he makes that play in 2018 or 2019. Even if his overall weight hasn't changed that much (which can happen when your body changes) the muscle to fat ratio has very obviously changed significantly. 

He played 57% of the snaps which might be his high as a Bill.  Oliver also played 57%.  Hughes only DL that had more….but overall pretty balanced throughout the line.

[Apocalypse Nuts]

On 9/28/2021 at 7:58 AM, Hebert19 said:

2019 D with star good. 

2020 D without star not so good

2021 D with star good. 

 

Thats all I need to know. 

 

This.

 

Now if you can only make it into a haiku.

[Doc]

7 hours ago, WideNine said:

 

Star has been playing solid and yes he played solid the last year he suited up for us too absorbing blockers and freeing up others.

 

He does seem a bit leaner and quicker this year.

 

The Bills have a better run defense when he is in the middle and Zimmer has been a pleasant surprise spelling him at NT too.

 

When WFT's Gibson was ripping off his 70+ yd catch and run I was thinking who is that fat guy that damn near caught up to him before Gibson found another gear.

 

Yep 61... you usually do not see NTs a zillion miles downfiled chasing a play.

 

The kid has heart.

 

Yeah, Butler was the closest guy but wasn't agile enough to get the angle.  

[Rico]

Right now, I think it looks like Star is back next year, with a new backup 1T drafted or signed to go with Oliver/Zim at 3T.