O-line

[SilverNRed]

Because we have PROVEN in the past that with a great defense and poor offense, your not going anywhere. We need an offense, of which we havent had one since the first half of 2002.

858945[/snapback]

The Bills haven't had a "great defense" in a looooong time. And anyone who has paid any attention to football can tell you that you can win with great defense and OK offense much more easily than you can with great offense and OK defense.

 

I'm not really sure where you got the idea that I was advocating keeping a "poor offense" around.

 

There is literally not one NFL team that can't run all over us. That's a more severe problem than our offensive struggles in the passing and running games.

[Rubes]

It could be that since the right side is pretty much made up of Rookies, they don't trust running a bunch of plays to that side and getting them killed. Maybe they just want to get them used to playing before running more plays that way. Like how they kept JP in the pocket to learn, and unleashed him later.

859044[/snapback]

 

True, although run blocking is supposedly easier than pass blocking.

 

I've also noticed the extreme tendency to run left rather than right, but I've also noticed the few run plays to the right are actually working quite well. Could be the element of surprise, but it's not as though they can't do it reasonably well.

[Mike in Syracuse]

I remember a time when the Bills used to run the Counter Tre at least a dozen times a game and always to the right. Sometimes they'd run it consecutively and almost dare the defense to stop them.

[Dibs]

That stat needs all kinds of context. The Bills have shelved the revolutionary run the ball for no gain offense that they employed earlier in the season. 16 runs to your "weak" side over five games might not be so out of whack now that the ball is in the air. Less running plays to go around.

.

858983[/snapback]

I thought similar so I looked through the play-by-play of the SD game. Ug....it was obvious we don't run to the right....mind you one of the biggest gains, 7 yards, was to the right.

The runs were as follows in that game....

L, L, L, L, L, R, L, M, L, M, M, L, L, L, L, L, L, L

To me this feels like when the coaches forced JP to stay put it the pocket in order to learn. I guess the philosophy is force the player to learn 1 aspect of the game before allowing them to do more.....in this case.....Pennington is learning pass-protection & when he progresses to competent, let him learn to run block then.

Either that or he simply can't get the job done.

[John from Riverside]

I do like Pennington's pass blocking but the lack of run blocking is bad.....

 

We need to be able to run both sides.....

[Nanker]

Why not?  Every single team we've played has run all over us while the offensive line has been showing signs of life the last few weeks.

858942[/snapback]

What Dayquill meant was signing NATE CLEMENTS is The Bills' top priority!

[Pirate Angel]

atleast Pennington and Preston are getting valuable experiance in this develpoyment season to become solid backups and maybe compete with whomever is brought in to replace them, or they may end up starting again

[SilverNRed]

atleast Pennington and Preston are getting valuable experiance in this  develpoyment season to become solid backups and maybe compete with whomever is brought in to replace them, or they may end up starting again

859213[/snapback]

It's not crazy to think either Pennington or Preston could turn out to be a good player. Good offensive linemen often come from the later rounds. And, of course, Peters wasn't even drafted.

[Nanker]

It's not crazy to think either Pennington or Preston could turn out to be a good player.  Good offensive linemen often come from the later rounds.  And, of course, Peters wasn't even drafted.

859228[/snapback]

 

Yes. By that criteria, they all have impeccable credentials! And I do think they're doing an admirable job. Seems every year Jimmy Mac gets off to a slow start with the assignments though. Remember he thought Pucillo was "starter material" over Tucker.

[Tasker]

I've been alarmed with the run left stuff, and have tried to figure out how good Pennington is as much as I can with Tivo. He doesn't seem bad or incapable when they run that side, but appears to be focusing more on pass blocking which has been working out pretty well (although the INT that ended in the Royal forced fumble was Pennington's fault as he backed into JP without having anyone to block).

 

I don't have enough of a read on Pennington yet, but greatly hope he can step up and develop into something special. I see our biggest priority being a dynamic right guard, because that has been a weak spot and Preston is more suited to a multi-position backup.

 

I put D-Tackle second behind RG our wish list, but we would have to expect McCargo and Triplett to be pretty high in the rotation, so anybody who bumps Kyle to 4th and gets Anderson off the team will help. I would of course love to see someone special join the team and push McCargo and Triplett to 2nd and 3rd if that player exists, but our run d will be better with McCargo back and one solid player added.

 

If we can then upgrade at LG or RT because we have a better player available I'd like that too, but view it as a lower priority than RG and DT, and possibly a couple other positions.