Offensive Line Improved?

[bluv]

JP's going into his third year with the Bills, but hey, who's counting?  As for the other part of your post, the Patriots had a much better line than some may realize.  In their Super Bowl against the Panthers, the Patriots' offensive line dominated the line of scrimmage from the very first snap.  This, despite the fact the Panthers' defensive line was felt to be the strongest part of their very strong defense.  Despite this, the Patriots barely escaped with a win.  Take away this dominant Patriots' OL performance, and replace it with a Patriots OL that's merely "serviceable and affordable," and the Panthers get the Lombardi trophy at the end of the game.

 

I don't want to see the Bills try to get by with a merely mediocre line.  If they want to get the running game going like it should be, and if they want to give guys like Evans time to get open deep, the Bills will need an offensive line that's every bit as dominant as they can make it.  The Bills have tried to take shortcuts with the offensive line for a very long time, but they've never built a successful offense while doing so.

661975[/snapback]

And yeah those same OL looked horrible for 2 years, needed to be upgraded - while Bledsoe was at the snap! I mean until they got Dillion there running game wasn't all that great either. Remember they took our awful RB Antwain Smith and won 2 SB's with him starting!

 

And I'll agree I don't want to see a "merely mediocre line' for that line wouldn't be servicable or productive, it would be MEDIOCRE! If we can get an OL that while it may not have a superstar or Pro Bowl talent but plays together well as a group then I have no problem with that for we will be productive. Once we have that and then we feel like we want to fine tune and add an upgrade at a position then no problems with that. But since the middle of the line is the most obvious weakness, why worry about replacing our tackles with these draft picks when besides supposedly D'Brick all others are projects that may not be serviceable. Do you want a Mike Willliams situation all over again where we invest a lot of money into a player who hasn't proved anything and he turns out to be nothing more than an average, serviceable player? There is not one tackle in this draft besides Da'Brick who will come in and be an upgrade over Gandy but I guarantee that we could definitely find some upgrades at either guard position or DT for that instance. Since Da'Brick will most likely not make it to #8 the next rated tackle won't be worth consideration at #8. If we stay put then and he is not available, Huff, Davis, or AJ hawk would probably be the choice as I'm sure one of those guys will be available at #8. And if we trade down, since the DT available would probably be a better talent that the available tackle that is who we would go with. Once we get the middle of the OL sturdy then we can worry about upgrading from an average solid player to a superstar - IF the price is right!

[Tasker]

I think our line is improved, and not good enough yet. I would like to see it improve in this draft, and we will definitely take somebody, whether at #8 or a little later. And we could still sign somebody like Tutan Reyes. I'm really glad we haven't overspent in panic, because building super bowl teams is about assigning resources well, not saying "I need a Lineman, I'll pay whatever it takes".

 

This year I'm looking for a solid 8-8 with 16 starts from JPL, MaGahee running on 1st and goal and staying in on third down sometimes. With that plan we would could have been 8-8 last year, and I think we are a better football team now. Then if we can win a game or two more and surprise the league, even better, but I want to build a team that can win a super bowl in four or five years more than I want to win now at all costs.

[Orton's Arm]

And yeah those same OL looked horrible for 2 years, needed to be upgraded - while Bledsoe was at the snap! I mean until they got Dillion there running game wasn't all that great either. Remember they took our awful RB Antwain Smith and won 2 SB's with him starting!

If they could get a decent running game out of Antowain Smith, that says something about their offensive line! I agree NE's line was more about playing well as a group than individual stars. That said, I believe Matt Light was playing LT during all those Super Bowl wins, and he's a better player than Gandy. While I don't feel the Bills should take an OL other than Ferguson at #8, I wouldn't mind seeing a LT in round 2 or 3. Typically your rookies contribute little except on special teams, and this LT would be no exception. But over time, he could perhaps develop into the next Matt Light. This is important, because a below-average-to-average LT will need help blocking a good DE, while a quality LT can block that same DE all by himself. So a significant upgrade at LT would be like having an extra player on the field. You bring up a good point about how the middle of the line should be addressed. The Bills' draft could go something like this:

 

1 - Best player available

2 - interior OL

3a - LT

3b - interior OL

 

Assuming those draft picks work out, this would give the Bills a very good line in a couple of years.