The "O" Line

[obie_wan]

If I were the king of the Bills (and I'm not) I would tell McNalley to give me a list of the 5 starting linemen from our roster that he would make the starters if he had to choose right now (barring injury status) ......... I would then cut every other player on the team that thinks he's a lineman, and totally restock our club via the draft and free agency (having McNalley identify the players to persue).

 

I'd then give McNalley through out the off season, minicamps, and preseason to manipulate the starters/backups and put together a decent line.

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Based on McNally's input over the last 2 years, what makes you think he has any clue in who we need. If TD and MM hold him in such high regard, I'm sure he had input on all the line acquisitions over the last 2 years, including Bennie Anderson (good evaluation on that one!!).

 

With such poor performance by our starters, how is it that no other OL on the roster can challenge for a spot?

[Adam]

Based on McNally's input over the last 2 years, what makes you think he has any clue in who we need. If TD and MM hold him in such high regard, I'm sure he had input on all the line acquisitions over the last 2 years, including Bennie Anderson (good evaluation on that one!!).

 

With such poor performance by our starters, how is it that no other OL on the roster can challenge for a spot?

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With Teague gone, it will be interesting to see how the other perform

[John from Riverside]

If I had my way this would be my plan at guard....

 

Without mentioning WHO I would like out there....I would like a scenario where Jason Peters is a backup at the tackle positions and Chris V. is our worst OL on the field......

 

THAT is going to take some work

[East Brady]

Gandy's probably been our most consistent OLineman all year so I'd hesitate to declare him a backup. I'd like to see the Bills use that high pick on a bluechip LT and move Gandy inside to Guard. I don't care where Anderson then goes, as long as he goes off the field and takes his multiple drive-killing mistakes with him.

Everett/1strndLT/Gandy/Preston/Vilarial/Peters/Campbell might be a servicable unit if they can manage to stay healthy.

Cya

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Leave Gandy at Lt,,,,bluechip LT is a crap shoot,,,,,sign free agent LG from seattle Hutchinson............although they are considering the franchise tag for him......

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

Goodbye: Anderson, Williams, Teague, Jerman

 

Re-role: Gandy

 

Start: Peters, Villarrial, Preston

 

Retain for fodder: Geisinger, McFarland

 

Draft: LT, LG, RG

 

FA: LG, RG, RT

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There are even other considerations, most are goners but most should be given a chance.

 

Anderson- Should be gone as he simply has not produced despite his large cotract. His particular problems of taking undisciplined penalties as part of our ineffective blocking unit indicate that attitude adjustment which is unlikely to happen rather than training is needed here. If the cap allows he should be gone which should be doable in a year the cap will expand but I would not make that assumption unfortunately.

 

Williams- A likely goner as he simply does not play well enough to justify the cap space he will occupy. The sad irony for us is that as MW was on a good track his rookie year, had a bad sophomore year as he and Pacillo were unable to coordinate, suffered a near meltdown when the Grammy who raised him died in off-season his third year but turned that into some productive play during last year's win streak and the followed that with an implosion this year as injuries and poor play made him a bust, it is not certain but not improbable that a change of location may get some production out of him elsewhere.

 

Good play from him is far from certain and not even likely unless he finds the right situation he rarely had with the Bills (namely reasonable position coaches which Vinky and Ruel did not provide and an RG capable of leading him to be all he can be as niether Sullivan nor Pacillo were good enough to do that. Yet, we did see him become more productive last year with JMac and Villarial pulling him back from his meltdown. His time as a Bill is done and we will see next year whether improvement last year or the injury riddled 2005 were the aberration for him.

 

Teague- I like him as a player actually because he is a bright athletic player. However, he has had trouble doing several tasks he can do well on their own all at the same time. I don't mind us keeping him if:

 

1. He does not command an exorbitant contract as an FA.

2. He plays elsewhere than center where multi-tasking is required and it is difficult for him to do all he can do as a blocker when he also has to make line calls and deliver a quality snap. We'll see. but he is not worth the big bucks and if the market gives it to him then adios.

 

Jerman- His name should be journeyman. He is gone IMHO.

 

Gandy- Folks want to re-role him and that is fine, but with a credible OL around him he is even capable of playing a credible LT. Unless someone has a suggestion for who this credible gettable LT is then he probably stays in this slot. I see no crying issues which says he will be a great guard, the drive here seems more to be the recognition that he will never be a great LT. Getting someone better than him at LT is the key to moving him.

 

Peters- I think we have our starting RT (and maybe he can make the jump to be a quality LT since he is just ending his first full year as a tackle and handled it adequaely.

 

Villarial- I think he is well into the backside of his career and between missing games from injury and occaisional mistakes or unprofessional blow-ups like Saturday, i can easily see him gone as well.

 

Preston- He provides hope that he is ready to step up and take the center spot or be a solid starting guard next year.

 

Geisinger- Gets another year to prove himself but I have seen little from him.

 

McFarland- He's been cut and is gone as far as I can tell and is not on the practice squad and has no affiliation with the team.

 

However, there are some additional OL players with ties to the team which at least earns them a look see though I have heard or seen nothing in their play which makes them a likely 06 OL candidate.

 

Lawrence Smith- Is on injured reserve and did not deserve a starting role last uear or this one based on his play. However, he jumped from the Ravens PS to a starter's role for us until redzone and other problems got us looking to Tucker to take the LG role.

 

He oddly had more trouble with run blocking than pass blocking (most young OL guys have the problem the other way around) and he deserves a look see to see if you used the enforced down time to bulk up and learn and visualize the proper technique. He is unlikely to be more than a back-up but we will see.

 

Ben Sobieski- showed great talent at multiple positions in college, but injury issues as a pro following injury issues in college almost certainly mean has RJ type injury proneness. Goodbye.

 

Jasen Esposito- On the PS at guard two years so he must have learned something and also impressed the coaches that he was a better bet than McFarlans, Sullivan, Pacillo or some of the other former NFL players cut. A likely cut.

 

Marques Ogden- Good college credentials at the small college level and has made the switch to learn the Center position. A likely cut but may get a PS look.

 

These are the holes I see and reasonable answers:

 

LT- Big hole and Gandy or some continued meteoric rise by Peters appear to be the only in house answers. It will be expensive but this may be the FA purchase.

 

LG- Anderson is not the answer. Thia looks like an FA purchase as well unless we find and LT and Gandy can move over to this slot.

 

C- We need Preston to step up and take this slot. Perhaps the braintrust have backing up C in mind for Ogden or yet another FA purchase is important for a plan B in case Preston goes down or cannot make it.

 

RG- I hate to say it because at least he has some anger at this stituatio rather than simply punching the clock and collecting his check. However, I think at best he can hold down the position but miss a significant number of games to injury in 06. We could use an FA starter purchase here (but other OL positions may be a priority forcing us to stand pat. Geisinger or a rookie will need to step up bigtime to be a solid back-up here because if we sticl with Villarial the back-up almost certainly will start a significant number of games.

 

RT- Peters should continue to learn and hold this position.

[Bflojohn]

First and foremost, Jason Peters is destined for OLT, IMHO, so the plan for him is lock him away in the weight room so he can assume the run blocking role that he is going to have to provide if the running game is to improve. The Center should be LeCharles Bentley from New Orleans, as this position is pivotal (no pun intended!) with the massive DT's that the Bills see on a regular basis. Maybe the Bills can work their way back into the tail end of the 1st round in April to snag Max Jean-Gilles from Georgia, ala the trade that the Bills pulled off for J.P. Losman. This guy played the OLG spot at Georgia and would look great in a Bills uniform!! Since most players improve the most between the 1st and 2nd seasons, Duke Preston may actually be the answer at ORG in place of Villarial (keep Chris for OG depth). That leaves the ORT position open, and I'd say that Mike Williams is still salvageable, and Mike Gandy can play the role of Marcus Price, whereby he can be the OT jack-of-all-trades type this team needs for depth. Geisinger stays for development and draft picks round out your OL roster. Maybe, as someone else has mentioned, Laurence Smith is also due back.... We'll see on him!

[Dr. K]

Is Williams completely out of the question in this discussion? I point out that the running game was doing much better early in the season when he was playing RT than it has been since he has been riding the pine or trying to become a guard. When he was healthy, he seemed to me like a pretty good tackle. The problem was we expected a lot better than pretty good from a number four draft choice commanding such a huge salary.

[MikeSpeed]

I just can't see how any of our OL men are worth keeping. Think hard about this. If you were GM of any one of the playoff contending teams, and all of our OL were FA's who would you honestly pursue? I say playoff contending because that's the first plateau of a good team. And if you are the GM for say Houston, San Fran, or us, you take what you can get.

I know we can't 86 the whole OL, but let's face it we are not going to get to the playoffs next year if we have to keep any of these guys as starters.

 

The argument of keeping CV, & JP doesn't fly with me at all. If they were worth keeping why wouldn't we be running to the right all day long behind these guys?

The other 3 guys

 

Don't ask me how we fix this mess, but I wouldn't be against us drafting and FAing only OL and DL guys. But we won't we'll get "the best person on the board" and be able to boast that we have "One of the best LBs corps" or "Lot's of RB depth".

[JAMIEBUF12]

i still do not want to give up on mike williams...............i know it sounds crazy but i think he has talent he just needs to get maen and healthy!

[MikeSpeed]

i still do not want to give up on mike williams...............i know it sounds crazy but i think he has talent he just needs to get maen and healthy!

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Now this I agree with. (Don't know if that says much about me or not)

But when MW was healthy last year he was a road grader. If we could get him to re-do his contract for next year, I'd be willing to switch Peters to the left side and put Mike back at the right.