Difference in O-Line Year over Year

[Rich Stadium Original]

If memory serves, the Bills offensive line gelled at the end of last season and into the playoffs.  Josh Allen seemingly scored on every drive as the Bills seemingly never punted. He would sit in a mostly clean pocket and pick defenses to pieces. Run blocking was the issue.

In the offseason we picked up what we thought was an upgrade at guard, making a good pass blocking line even better, and hopefully inproving the run game.

Also added was the experienced line coach who would improve that run blocking.

Fast forward to right now, and I think you could argue that yes, its a better run blocking unit...but what has happened to the pass protection?

Granted Miami blitzed on like 52% of dropbacks, but your QB was hurried on multiple occasions (sacked 7 times)  even when there was no blitz.  Allen is getting hit A LOT and I'm sure in some cases he is bailing out of a collapsing pocket sooner than he needs to..regardless, it is affecting success.

Can you imagine this O-Line against the 49ers front four? Even without a blitz?

This mostly intact-serious injury free line needs to get its act together quickly, or this will be a very short playoff run.

[H2o]

This OL is who we thought it was. The run blocking is better this year, but the pass blocking is still suspect on occasion. Saffold and Brown seem to struggle the most. It needs to be the focus of our off-season. That said, we can still beat any team we come up against. It's all scheme and execution. Take the quick hitters, run the ball with consistency to open up the play-action passing game, and put Josh in position to be successful. 

[Franco_92]

16 minutes ago, Rich Stadium Original said:

If memory serves, the Bills offensive line gelled at the end of last season and into the playoffs.  Josh Allen seemingly scored on every drive as the Bills seemingly never punted. He would sit in a mostly clean pocket and pick defenses to pieces. Run blocking was the issue.

In the offseason we picked up what we thought was an upgrade at guard, making a good pass blocking line even better, and hopefully inproving the run game.

Also added was the experienced line coach who would improve that run blocking.

Fast forward to right now, and I think you could argue that yes, its a better run blocking unit...but what has happened to the pass protection?

Granted Miami blitzed on like 52% of dropbacks, but your QB was hurried on multiple occasions (sacked 7 times)  even when there was no blitz.  Allen is getting hit A LOT and I'm sure in some cases he is bailing out of a collapsing pocket sooner than he needs to..regardless, it is affecting success.

Can you imagine this O-Line against the 49ers front four? Even without a blitz?

This mostly intact-serious injury free line needs to get its act together quickly, or this will be a very short playoff run.

I generally thought the OL played well considering the amount of 0 and 1 Miami was playing

 

And think that like last year, they got better in December/January

Saffold is a problem though, and Brown is only sliiiiiightly improved from last year

[Max Fischer]

Miami's D-Line is very good, Josh often held the ball a beat too long and the play calling was erratic.  However, the lack of consistency along the offensive line is puzzling.  I didn't expect the healthy line to be world beaters, but they seem to miss assignments and the pass protection got beaten on a regular basis. 

 

Having said that, the run game has been at least average to good, the Bengals, while very good, aren't nearly as deep on the DLine, Dorsey can call a much better game and we know the line has the ability to raise its level of play. 

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

Imo Daboll’s strength is o line and he helped that unit be as good as they were. 

[BillsShredder83]

Drafting a kilker RT wpukd be fun. Having Brown in the Doyle role takes him from liability to a luxury

[BillsPride12]

Is it just me or did our Offensive Line(primarily speaking from a Pass Protection perspective) look at it's best in 2020?  

[Success]

I hope they continue to make investments in the line. It's such an important aspect of a franchise QB's longevity.  I always thought the Pats did a great job w/ that - they'd put more into the line than in skill players.

 

Yesterday was rough, but as others have pointed out, there are some reasons for that which go beyond the line.  Still, we're likely going to face another tough pass rush or 2 if we want to win the whole thing.  

[NewEra]

They are who we thought they were.  Dawkins and Morse- good

Bates- jag

Brown and Saffold- poor in pass protection- decent run blockers. 
 

Hopefully Morse returns and we can replace Saffold with a stud guard in rd 2-3. Considering our cap sitch, I don’t expect much in FA other than vets willing to take a pay cut.  Drafting an OT high is possible. 

6 minutes ago, BillsPride12 said:

Is it just me or did our Offensive Line(primarily speaking from a Pass Protection perspective) look at it's best in 2020?  

They did, until the AFCCG where they got destroyed 

[Ramza86]

#15 from the Fins literally beat the RT on every single play. 

 

Wtf was that man? Seriously...get some talent.

[BuffalOhio]

For '23, as it currently stands, the Bills are $6.4M OVER the salary cap.  https://www.spotrac.com/redirect/team/62/cap/

 

There are a few important players on the list of UFAs, and those will be very difficult decisions:  https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/contracts/sort-value/buffalo-bills/free-agent-2023/limit-100/

 

While I'm thrilled that Josh is our QB and we have him long-term, his contract is going to seriously hamper our roster building over the next several years.  The same goes for every team with a high-dollar QB. 

 

Upgrading the O-Line through FA will be impossible.  They must draft properly.

 

Go Bills!

[Process]

I remember them being much better at the end of last season. But Miami is also the best d line we will face until the Superbowl. Hopefully we get a better performance vs Cinci and KC.

[Commish]

47.8% pressure rate on Allen yesterday:

 

https://twitter.com/NextGenStats/status/1615001505198911489?cxt=HHwWgsDR0f7T0eksAAAA 

[Sierra Foothills]

4 minutes ago, Process said:

I remember them being much better at the end of last season. But Miami is also the best d line we will face until the Superbowl. Hopefully we get a better performance vs Cinci and KC.

 

I was surprised to find out that Miami only had 40 sacks this year. They have a lot of talent on that D-line. I wonder if their sack total accelerated towards the end of the season?

 

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

The last three games of last season plus two playoff games, Allen was 113 out of 180 for 1310 yards 62.7% completion, 14 TD, 3 Int and all three were in week 15, last 4 games zero Ints. They also ran the ball much better in that same timeframe.  That point in time corresponded with when they moved Bates to starting lineup.

 

On the other hand, we couldn't sack the QB and were very weak against the run last season.

 

Move to the off season with limited resources $$ wise, they put most of the money on the defensive side, brought back 4 of the 5 lineman and signed Stafford in place of Williams which in hindsight may be a small drop off.  I can recall pre-season the announcers commenting how the Bills backups are better than some teams starting 5. (probably true based on experience only) So all in all didn't seem like a bad place to be st the time.

 

What else has changed since, new line coach which was supposedly a step up.  But new blocking styles mean learning curve, could also be some of the Bills starters aren't as good in this scheme?  Add to that Brown missed all actual on field work all off-season, plus training camp and pre-season.  For a guy like seasoned vet may not be that big a deal.  But for a 2nd year player now in a new scheme, that likely set him back some too.

 

Think we'll see the Bills draft an interior lineman high, I'd prefer WR 1st round OL 2nd round and also sign a good vet.  If Morse were to retire then need another starter.  But to many people's dismay IMO Dawkins, Bates, Morse, and Brown will be next years starters barring injury or some surprise move.  I'd also draft another OL maybe around rd 4.  They also have Doyle coming back.

 

I've seen crazy [posts here draft all lineman.  If you want a better stronger team in 2023, you don't want all rookie backups so that really makes no sense. I always like to say, whomever you draft, you need to have a landing spot on the roster for them, else it's a wasted pick if you turn around and cut them.  Maybe 6th and 7th rounders can take a chance on sneaking to the PS, but not anyone higher.

 

[BillMafia716ix]

We probably won’t do it..but I think Dion Dawkins would be better at RT. Then we draft a stud to play the left side. Spencer Brown was good the first half of his rookie year and has been suspect ever since…

[Buffalo_Stampede]

They’ve been playing much better but they had a rough game Sunday.

 

 

[Rubes]

Seems like our guards are very susceptible to stunts, and our RT is repeatedly susceptible to outside rushes. Those seem like things that could be corrected, but aren't, for whatever reason.

 

[Teddy KGB]

Looked like same old soft OL 

[LABILLBACKER]

2 hours ago, H2o said:

This OL is who we thought it was. The run blocking is better this year, but the pass blocking is still suspect on occasion. Saffold and Brown seem to struggle the most. It needs to be the focus of our off-season. That said, we can still beat any team we come up against. It's all scheme and execution. Take the quick hitters, run the ball with consistency to open up the play-action passing game, and put Josh in position to be successful. 

We have the 27th ranked overall OL this season. Our OL has been neglected for years. Guys like Saffold, Brown and Quessenberry need immediate upgrading. Josh's pocket is still collapsing way too quickly. Can one April we just ease up on defense and go heavy OL/ WR2.