Offensive line gets blown up!

[Billsguy]

The offensive line last year was truly offensive. It needed to be blown up and it has been.

 

Fowler-gone. Preston-gone. Dockery-gone. and now Peters-gone.

 

Good riddance to all of them. If you can't do better than 7-9 with them then change course.

 

Now comes the challenging part - re-building a line from scratch basically.

 

Butler at guard and Walker at tackle return and then its a bunch of question marks. I personally feel they are doing the right thing, but the short term consequences could be negative.

 

I still am not a fan of Walker, but for now they're stuck with him.

 

The Bills need to draft at least two top OL prospects in the upcoming draft.

 

Now if only they could trade Kelsay.

[abqmarko]

The offensive line last year was truly offensive. It needed to be blown up and it has been.

 

Fowler-gone. Preston-gone. Dockery-gone. and now Peters-gone.

 

Good riddance to all of them. If you can't do better than 7-9 with them then change course.

 

Now comes the challenging part - re-building a line from scratch basically.

 

Butler at guard and Walker at tackle return and then its a bunch of question marks. I personally feel they are doing the right thing, but the short term consequences could be negative.

 

I still am not a fan of Walker, but for now they're stuck with him.

 

The Bills need to draft at least two top OL prospects in the upcoming draft.

 

Now if only they could trade Kelsay.

 

 

I agree with most except Walkers been fairly solid and not injured

 

I wouldnt mind seeing this line:

 

LT-Jon Runyan (signed for a one year contract) or Rookie Eben Britton-should be there until mid twenties of the 1st round-Chambers backup

 

LG-Rookies (2nd-3rd round)Andy Levitre, Greg Isdaner or Alex Mack/Eric Wood-who can slide to C when they learn the calls switiching with Hangartner-Seth McKinney backup

 

OC-Hangartner-Mack/Wood back up

 

RG-Butler-McKinney backup

 

RT-Walker-rookie Britton-Chambers

[CJPearl2]

You mean blowed up.

 

-Emmitt Smith

[Big Turk]

well, you can look at it that way, but at the end of the day, the biggest predictor of Oline success according to an exhaustive study in Pro Football Prospectus 2007 is the number of years/games an OLine plays together. Thats it...not 1st round picks, not big time free agents plugged in, not probowl players, etc. The effectiveness of an offensive line positively correlates with the length of time the same players on the line all play together. If this holds up, expect the Bills line to be pretty poor in 2009...

[VOR]

The O-line isn't starting from scratch. The Bills had a solid right side and added a good center. And the LG spot has been an abyss for the last 5+ years, and they could plug-in any yahoo and have him produce as well as Dockery did, if not better. So in reality, they need to find their starting LT. The more I think about it, a guy like Pettigrew would make sense, since he's an excellent blocker (they could play him on the left to help the new LT) and a great outlet receiver, should teams try to blitz from that side a lot more now.

[BillsVet]

I thought the Bills were all about "continuity"

 

On second thought, that must only apply to coaches who for whatever reason are signed to extensions and then promptly go 2-8 in their final ten. They would cost the team money, so they're the exception.

 

This is called illustrating absurdity by being absurd.

 

 

Take note of the Giants OL. Those guys have been together for an eternity in the salary cap era-about 3 seasons now.

 

Yet the moves Marv made are being reversed. I'm not clear on what was accomplished in his two seasons of answering fan mail and making speeches.

 

The more I think about it, these are the moves of a marketing guy. Make changes, fail, make some more moves, hope to attract fans with changes, and end up in the same place you started: mediocrity and missing the playoffs.

[VOR]

I thought the Bills were all about "continuity"

 

On second thought, that must only apply to coaches who for whatever reason are signed to extensions and then promptly go 2-8 in their final ten. They would cost the team money, so they're the exception.

 

This is called illustrating absurdity by being absurd.

 

 

Take note of the Giants OL. Those guys have been together for an eternity in the salary cap era-about 3 seasons now.

 

Yet the moves Marv made are being reversed. I'm not clear on what was accomplished in his two seasons of answering fan mail and making speeches.

 

The more I think about it, these are the moves of a marketing guy. Make changes, fail, make some more moves, hope to attract fans with changes, and end up in the same place you started: mediocrity and missing the playoffs.

Wow, a new GM making changes? That's a new one!

[jahnyc]

Sorry, but the offensive line is in shambles right now. Even if the Bills use a couple of picks on the offensive line, the chances of them being effective immediately are not good.

 

We have no idea whether Hangartner is a good player, but we will find out. He was a back-up on Carolina, so we can't assume he will be a great player. The last time I heard stuff about an underrated center who was a back-up was when we acquired Fowler. He did not turn out well.

 

I think McKinney and Chambers are back-up quality. We will see about Bell, but I would expect that he will need more time to develop.

 

Our left side of the line has the potential to be dangerously bad and Edward is brittle.

 

Not a good combination.

[billnutinphoenix]

Bills please sign Kendall Simmons....

[VOR]

Sorry, but the offensive line is in shambles right now. Even if the Bills use a couple of picks on the offensive line, the chances of them being effective immediately are not good.

 

We have no idea whether Hangartner is a good player, but we will find out. He was a back-up on Carolina, so we can't assume he will be a great player. The last time I heard stuff about an underrated center who was a back-up was when we acquired Fowler. He did not turn out well.

 

I think McKinney and Chambers are back-up quality. We will see about Bell, but I would expect that he will need more time to develop.

 

Our left side of the line has the potential to be dangerously bad and Edward is brittle.

 

Not a good combination.

Regarding Fowler, not a single Vikings fan (he was with them for a year) or Browns fan (3 years) said a good word about him, unlike with Hangartner. That tells me the difference between the two. And McKinney can be no worse than Dockery as a starter, and being a Buffalo boy, I'm sure he'll actually give a damn about his performance.

[billybob]

The offensive line last year was truly offensive. It needed to be blown up and it has been.

 

Fowler-gone. Preston-gone. Dockery-gone. and now Peters-gone.

 

Good riddance to all of them. If you can't do better than 7-9 with them then change course.

 

Now comes the challenging part - re-building a line from scratch basically.

 

Butler at guard and Walker at tackle return and then its a bunch of question marks. I personally feel they are doing the right thing, but the short term consequences could be negative.

 

I still am not a fan of Walker, but for now they're stuck with him.

 

The Bills need to draft at least two top OL prospects in the upcoming draft.

 

Now if only they could trade Kelsay.

 

Hey you're not a fan of Walker and I think Butler sucks-so let really start with a blank slate.

[VOR]

Hey you're not a fan of Walker and I think Butler sucks-so let really start with a blank slate.

Butler sucks?

[jahnyc]

Mckinney could not crack the starting line up in Cleveland. He is from Buffalo, Texas.

[Beerball]

FWIW...probably mentioned in another thread, but Marcellus Wiley on Inside the NFL mentioned that he has spoken with a Bills 'locker room leader' about the Peters trade. The player said that Peters was 'holding the team hostage'.

[Spiderweb]

I thought the Bills were all about "continuity"

 

On second thought, that must only apply to coaches who for whatever reason are signed to extensions and then promptly go 2-8 in their final ten. They would cost the team money, so they're the exception.

 

This is called illustrating absurdity by being absurd.

 

 

Take note of the Giants OL. Those guys have been together for an eternity in the salary cap era-about 3 seasons now.

 

Yet the moves Marv made are being reversed. I'm not clear on what was accomplished in his two seasons of answering fan mail and making speeches.

 

The more I think about it, these are the moves of a marketing guy. Make changes, fail, make some more moves, hope to attract fans with changes, and end up in the same place you started: mediocrity and missing the playoffs.

 

 

Continuity? How is this achieved with the collective genius of the top four officers of the Buffalo Bills:

 

Ralph C. Wilson, Jr.....Owner and President

Russ Brandon............Chief Operating Officer/GM

Jim Overdorf..............Senior Vice President of Football Administration

Linda Bogdan............Vice President/Assistant Director of College Scouting

 

Wilson's talent evaluation is pitiful, both from a player and coaching perspective, and the others are must worse. One Bills Drive, the "good hands people"?????

[BillsVet]

Continuity? How is this achieved with the collective genius of the top four officers of the Buffalo Bills:

 

Ralph C. Wilson, Jr.....Owner and President

Russ Brandon............Chief Operating Officer/GM

Jim Overdorf..............Senior Vice President of Football Administration

Linda Bogdan.............Vice President/Assistant Director of College Scouting

 

Wilson's talent evaluation is pitiful, both from a player and coach perspective, and the others are must worse. One Bills Drive, the "good hands people"?????

 

You won't get any argument from me. The problem always returns to RW. I can't help but recall the story of why Lou Saban decided to leave in 1976. OJ sat out all of camp wanting a new deal, Saban made preparations for life without him, and then Ralph shows up the night before the opener with OJ and a new contract. RW has sold games to Toronto with no intention of spending more on players, gripes about revenue sharing, and tells us the HC needs to stick around for the sake of continuity. We are no better than the Bengals, or Raiders. At least the Lions hired a new coach and fired Millen.

 

RW is a stubborn and micromanaging type, who while wealthy, couldn't make this team better if he tried. He struck gold with Polian, but aside from BP's GM time (86-92 seasons) RW has exactly 8 playoff appearances in the other 30+ seasons.

 

There's no GM, Bogdan is a know-nothing, Overdorf couldn't negotiate a deal for ice with people in hell, and Brandon's time at the combine doesn't make up for never being full time in personnel.

[VOR]

Mckinney could not crack the starting line up in Cleveland. He is from Buffalo, Texas.

Dang, that's what I get for believing what others write (re: being from Buffalo, NY). And he was the starter for the Browns at RG in 2007 for the first 8 games, and then missed the rest of the season with an injury. He started the first game at RG in 2008, but the team wanted to replace him with FA signing Rex Hadnot, who was younger and to whom they gave a much larger contract than McKinney got. And the Browns were horrible on offense last year.