ESPN ranks D-Line in bottom third

[Beerball]

22. Buffalo Bills

The Bills made a big splash with the offseason acquisition of DT Marcus Stroud, whose physical presence will improve a run defense that ranked 25th in the league in allowing 124.6 ypg) last season. Stroud not only can defeat the double-team, he also should provide an upfield push that should throw off the timing of the ground game. He will take a lot of pressure off DT Kyle Williams, who is a short, powerful player who shows intensity and solid technique. DEs Chris Kelsay and Aaron Schobel do a good job of getting upfield to pressure the pocket, although Kelsay had a down year in 2007 and probably is a better run-stopper than he is an edge pass-rusher.

 

FYI...

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[colin]

prolly fair until we prove otherwise.

 

they really like the 3-4 lines, having 5 of them in the top 8 or so.

 

the pats and chargers are friggen HUGE at the 3 line. i wonder if they get dinged up and slowed down too much at any point. as bad as we've tended to be i think we are good at running on the 3 man lines, if we can keep marshawn on the feild for more downs so it isn't obvious when we run or pass i think w can exploit the slowness of most 3-4 teams, and we play plenty of them.

[apuszczalowski]

Well, when you look at it from an outsiders point of view, its understandable. In the offseason they opened up a hole by letting Trpplett walk (funny cause he usually opened holes up too on the line) and their big move was bringing in an older DT with injury problems that the jags didn't seem to mind trading away. They also picked up another Dt who is more of a rotational depth player who can also play DE.

 

Untill they actually show improvement on the field, they are not going to impress much on paper. They need Stroud to prove that his ankle is 100% and that he can stay healthy. They need McCargo to continue to grow, and they need the DE to show they can go back and play at the level they played at a couple years ago, and that the decline last year was due to the poor DT play.

[krazykat]

22. Buffalo Bills

The Bills made a big splash with the offseason acquisition of DT Marcus Stroud, whose physical presence will improve a run defense that ranked 25th in the league in allowing 124.6 ypg) last season. Stroud not only can defeat the double-team, he also should provide an upfield push that should throw off the timing of the ground game. He will take a lot of pressure off DT Kyle Williams, who is a short, powerful player who shows intensity and solid technique. DEs Chris Kelsay and Aaron Schobel do a good job of getting upfield to pressure the pocket, although Kelsay had a down year in 2007 and probably is a better run-stopper than he is an edge pass-rusher.

 

Uh oh, everyone duck. I guess that ESPN doesn't know what they're talking about now.

 

And I find it interesting that they pair Stroud with Williams, not McCargo. For all this hype on McCargo and what a beast he's become, what, he's going to serve as a backup again this year maybe? Wouldn't that just be a kick in the groin to many here.

[apuszczalowski]

Uh oh, everyone duck. I guess that ESPN doesn't know what they're talking about now.

 

And I find it interesting that they pair Stroud with Williams, not McCargo. For all this hype on McCargo and what a beast he's become, what, he's going to serve as a backup again this year maybe? Wouldn't that just be a kick in the groin to many here.

The thing is with the Bills D-line and how they work it. There really isn't a starter/backup type status. They are rotational and rotate in and out all the time depending on the play or situation. Their DT's are more of a 1A/1B situation

[Beerball]

The thing is with the Bills D-line and how they work it. There really isn't a starter/backup type status. They are rotational and rotate in and out all the time depending on the play or situation. Their DT's are more of a 1A/1B situation

Yeah see, they really don't have any starters see? Noone starts see but everyone finishes see?

 

</Cagney>

[VOR]

Uh oh, everyone duck. I guess that ESPN doesn't know what they're talking about now.

 

And I find it interesting that they pair Stroud with Williams, not McCargo. For all this hype on McCargo and what a beast he's become, what, he's going to serve as a backup again this year maybe? Wouldn't that just be a kick in the groin to many here.

Maybe at the end of the season, if the DL struggles again. All of the DT's will see plenty of time.

[Glass To The Arson]

I don't mind #22 out of #32 for now...

 

i think we will be better though

[AKC]

It is clear that they are assessing teams based not only on the quality of starters but the quality of the depth of their rotations. There are a number of 3-4 teams at the top of their board who have better quality of depth than we do as a 4-3 team, and consequently they recognize that we might be a little bit better than the bottom-of-the-league line that we fielded last year, but there’s a huge gap between us and the best teams in football.

 

This gap is the one that will only be filled by adding another quality DT to our rotation. While we have some small percentage of our fan-base who went Pollyanna on the moves of the off-season, this is a more reasonable assessment. And it’s the #1 cause for concern about once again being pushed down the field for much of the 2008 campaign as we once again paid too little attention to what IMO is the single most important position in the contemporary NFL.

[/dev/null]

I rank ESPN in bottom third of channels that I watch

[John from Riverside]

While our D line does not deserve respect until they have earned it.....I spit in ESPN's general direction.

 

No mention of McCargo or Spencer

 

In my own opinion I think this line is better by the subtraction of Tripplet who was just so not stout against the run.....

 

and just watch our good our DE's get with push up the middle to not allow a QB to step up in the pocket

[BUFFALOTONE]

Now I know the D-line will be good, ESPN has us ranked at the bottom of the league based on last years perception.

 

If we stay healthy at all point this could be a defens reminiscent of when Tampa Bay wont the Super Bowl.

[AKC]

this could be a defens reminiscent of when Tampa Bay wont the Super Bowl.

 

Entering the 2002 season, ESPN ranked the Defensive line of the Tampa Bay Bucs one of the best in the NFL.

[BillsVet]

While our D line does not deserve respect until they have earned it.....I spit in ESPN's general direction.

 

No mention of McCargo or Spencer

 

In my own opinion I think this line is better by the subtraction of Tripplet who was just so not stout against the run.....

 

Neither McCargo or Spencer have a deep NFL resume, but one of them will start. Williams is depth.

 

The Tripplett signing was heralded by this franchise as one that would be important for the team's development. Two years later he's gone, the first bad decision DJ and ML made. Hopefully the team redeemed itself with Stroud, but it was a big gamble.

 

That said, the DL will need to be better than 22nd in the league for this team to make the playoffs. It'll need to be stellar to make up for an offense that will need all the help it can get. That includes a pass rush, which was non-existent last year.

[MartyBall4Buffalo]

Seems like a fair ranking, 1 good edge rusher, and a rotational player posing as a starter by default options, until Chris Ellis can prove otherwise. Unknown dt situation. This whole "We don't have a starter at dt" rhetoric annoys me. Ideally you should have 2 players, who can start the majority of snaps. Yeah rotation is nice, but the idea is rotation for the sake of rotation says you don't trust the guys you have. Your defense shouldn't be on the field for that many plays in a game that you're seeing your #3 and #4 dt's all that much. If you are it's cause your defense is generally really bad. Sub packages, are one thing, a 50/50 split, speaks to lack of talent. I probably would rank them lower. Stroud is nice, and hopefully McCargo, can take that next step. Spencher Johnson is a question mark, and Kyle Williams is good depth. The de's other then Schobel are all blah.

[WellDressed]

Neither McCargo or Spencer have a deep NFL resume, but one of them will start. Williams is depth.

 

The Tripplett signing was heralded by this franchise as one that would be important for the team's development. Two years later he's gone, the first bad decision DJ and ML made.

 

More early John Guy stuff (Tutan Reyes). The thing about Tripplet that shocked me when reading your post, was that fact: "two years later he's gone" It really seamed so much longer.

[colin]

again,

 

i agree w the ranking but to start last season we had no back up DEs and that's a big part of our D. we now have denney, ellis, and sometimes johnson. we went from tripps and willaims to johnson and williams being back ups and mccargo and stroud starting. we are much much better at the D line.

 

we also are up Poz who is more mature and not hurt, and mitchell over coy friggen wire.

 

that means the guys playing front 7 are better at between 4 and 6 spots depending on who's rotating in.

 

so you can rank each unit how you like, but our run D should be miles better this season.

 

akc, didn't you make a big deal about drafting D linemen early = good team, but then it turned out that that's not really true?

[BUFFALOTONE]

Entering the 2002 season, ESPN ranked the Defensive line of the Tampa Bay Bucs one of the best in the NFL.

 

you're missing what i am saying. i dont care where TB was ranked. Im saying are defens could be reminiscent of that.

[AKC]

akc, didn't you make a big deal about drafting D linemen early = good team, but then it turned out that that's not really true?

 

One of the board morons conjured up that argument because he couldn't grasp the clear record that shows the best teams don't pass on premier DT talent at the top of the draft.

 

My position remains the same it's been for years- we've passed on at least 3 top DTs in recent drafts and our team is still hurt by it more than any other personnel decisions that've been made on or off the field in contemporary times. Knuckleheads who can't intellectually grasp the the facts are left putting a moron's spin on it like that "D Linemen early = good team". If you want to study and learn about the best teams, you'll recognize that drafting GOOD interior D line talent early leads to long periods of respectable football product on Sundays, something we haven't seen in Buffalo in way too long.

 

The media and most fans love "skill position" players, and the league promotes them over the reality on the ground in the NFL. But in the back rooms of the teams who whip our butts with regularity, there's surely a good laugh every time we let a good DT talent drop to one of those better teams down the board in favor of a RB or WR, positions the best teams know can be filled other ways. DT is at the top of the best team's draft priority at the top of the draft, while the Bill's have drafted more like the Lions than our toughest competition. It's kept us in the bottom half of the league and outside of blind optimism the partial move forward taken in this past off-season is probably reflected pretty fairly by the ESPN assessment. We may have moved forward 4 or 5 spots with the moves, but anyone who thinks we have a defensive interior that in any way resembles the depth and quality of the best teams is a fool.

[billybob]

If Stroud and Schobel return to form our D-line is at least top 15- if on top of that McCargo starts to put together those flashes from the second half of last season then our D-line will be top 10