Chandler#81 Posted August 1, 2009 Posted August 1, 2009 Thanks, NY Nole! As they say here in 'the Nooga', 'Preciate-cha!!'
Wagon Circler Posted August 1, 2009 Posted August 1, 2009 I especially enjoy reading the negative stuff which you don't get from Chris Brown. The tackle situation has me worried. Chambers may end up starting. I don't think LW has the quickness to play LT.
bluv Posted August 2, 2009 Posted August 2, 2009 They should have left the right side of the line alone and play Chambers at left tackle like they did part of last season. I have more confidence in Chambers at left tackle than I do Walker and think Walker is top 10 RT. I agree as I made a similar post on BuffaloBills.com. Wood could have came in and started at LG while either Chambers, Bell, FA acquistion, or draft pick competed for LT. That way we don't have 4 of our starters learning new positions or maybe being out of position. My biggest fear is that part of our season gets wasted away as the staff trys to make this lineup work or give it too much time to gel even if it is obvious that some are overmatched. Not saying or hoping it will happen but if it does I cant see them sitting Walker or Butler if they play bad; they'd have to painfully obvious or get injured to get benched in 09.
seq004 Posted August 2, 2009 Posted August 2, 2009 Very nice report. It looks like we still need a left tackle. This really should concern the Bills FO going into the season.
DDD Posted August 2, 2009 Posted August 2, 2009 Just got back from this morning's camp, here goes: The Good: 1. T.O. - First impression was this guy is really big. I've never seen him in person before and he is a very tall receiver (dwarfed our DB's). It is easy to see why this guy is a play maker -- because he is so big and conditioned that he can easily beat a jam or fend off a DB for position. I know TO had issues with dropped balls last year, but the guy is catching every thing thrown his way (let's hope this continues when the bullets start flying for real). He made McGee look like an amateur on a goal line route, when he fought off the jam, made a quick move to the outside and grabbed a pass for a touchdown (then he threw the ball into the crowd where it was dropped by a fan). The guy is really making it look easy and I'm glad we got him. 2. Eric Wood - I will go on record and say Wood will be our BEST offensive lineman (he is not far from it right now in my opinion). I spent alot of time watching him (and the rest of the OLine because they were in front of me for the majority of camp). Wood is very big and powerful. When he gets his base set and locks onto a defender -- he wins. He appears to struggle with elite speed (particularly fast stunts around the outside). When matched up on Stroud, he lost a few battles like that and gave up would-be sacks. However, he improved steadily throughout the course of the practice and never got beat by the same move from Stroud again. One play in particular that I remember was when Wood got set, squared his shoulders, locked onto Stroud and stood the big man up (barely losing any ground). This left me in amazement since Stroud is a beast (see below). Wood was in a constant rotation with Seth McKinney for first team reps, which I believe is pointless. If McKinney starts the season as a starting RG, look for Wood to takeover shortly thereafter and end up in many pro bowls in the future. 3. Marcus Stroud - talk about a menacing presence. This guy is picking up right where he left off a year ago. He is quick as hell on stunts and was consistently winning match ups or at the very least creating havoc. The Bad: 1. Both offensive tackles - I have read other TBD camp reports about our tackle play and hoped they were just being overly pessimistic or chalked it up to being so early in camp. I'm here to report things haven't changed much on this front. Hopefully it was just another bad day for Walker and Butler -- but from what I saw today this could be problematic. While both struggled (mightily) I think Butler was the worst. He was consistently beaten by Kelsay and Trent would have been sacked multiple times. Walker, while not brilliant by any stretch, had quicker feet and at least slowed down the edge rushers coming from his side (although 68 would have given up a few sacks today too). Too make matters worse, our backups really didn't fare any better - although I do believe Bell shows alot of promise. Bell was the #2 LT and rotated in at RT behind Jonathan Scott. Bell is athletic for a man his size and has good footwork. His problem appears to be his strength at holding up to bull rushers and anticipating the rush moves. For instance, he excels at getting wide and taking away edge rushers' angles -- but struggled to get in front when they crossed back to the inside. Scott, from what I saw is a big guy with a powerful base, but lacks good footwork and had his share of technical mistakes. Chambers didn't practice. Hold your collective breath Buffalo and hope Kugler works some magic. 2. Ryan Fitzpatrick's arm - I am a fantasy football fan and actually had Houshmanzadeh last year when Palmer went out... I grew to loathe Fitzpatrick. When the Bills signed him, I hoped they secretly transplanted RoboCop's arm on him and kept it on the low down. What I saw at camp doesn't have me believing this was the case. While I will give credit to Fitz for throwing a nice deep pass that was on the money -- he routinely placed the ball on the wrong shoulder making it more difficult for his receivers. His out routes were also not good as the ball seemed to take forever in getting there and I was left imagining the sight of a Patriots DB taking one back to the house after Fitz served him up. For all those Hamdan fans out there, Fitzpatrick is the second best QB on the Bills right now (ie. Hamdan is no better). The Ugly: 1. Keith Ellison - although I really didn't pay too much attention to the LB's, Ellison appears to be a LB in a safety's body. He did nothing to stand out and really does not look the part out there. He looks like an exploitable part of our Defense. Sorry -- don't have any good observations on Harris or Bowen because I really didn't focus on them. That being said -- here's hoping one of them lights it up in pre-season and relegates Ellison to his rightful backup slot. Misc: 1. Levitre had all reps at first team LG. Levitre & Hangman are the 2 smallest lineman but both have great instincts and seem to get to the right spot. Levitre is almost the opposite of Wood in that his footwork is really quick and he rarely gets beat by speed. His problem is that he is not as strong as Wood and cannot simply lock on and drive his guy out. He uses more of a finesse style. Hangman is also smaller -- but seems to have a nasty streak and uses great leverage to fend off his opponent. I like the makings of our interior line and think it could be our strength. 2. The Wildcat made an appearance. Fred Jackson lined up behind center and had Dominic Rhodes/Lynch as the pitchmen. I was surprised that Parrish wasn't in this formation as I think Jackson and Parrish could pose serious matchups in this scheme. 3. Moorman hasn't lost his touch. Still kicks one hell of a punt. Player to watch: Shaine Smith -his real value seemed to be on Special Teams. He partially blocked a punt and generally made some nice special teams plays. He was working on the ST first unit much of the day. Doubt he makes the team as a WR but you never know. sorry for the long post -- will focus more on Defense next time. That was terrific. It's nice to get an objective report from someone other than Chris Brown-noser.
Turn Down For Watkins Posted August 2, 2009 Posted August 2, 2009 I think the Bills O-Line should look like this on opening night, This would definitly be a conservative approach if they felt Levitre wasn't ready LT-Chambers LG- Wood C- Hangartner RG- Butler RT- Walker
Rubes Posted August 2, 2009 Posted August 2, 2009 I agree, I think we should just give up on Walker right now. How much more of an opportunity does he need?
Wagon Circler Posted August 2, 2009 Posted August 2, 2009 I agree, I think we should just give up on Walker right now. How much more of an opportunity does he need? No, let's wait for our quarterbak to get killed first. Ryan Fitzgerald could be a breath of fresh air. At least Hamdan would move up to no.2.
vincec Posted August 2, 2009 Posted August 2, 2009 Walker is obviously not going to make it at LT long term, partly because of his attitude, but I didn't see him dominate at RT last year the way some people are saying. He was a strong pass blocker, but the Bills had almost no confidence in the right side of their line in the running game. Everything went behind Peters and Dockery... even though they weren't really producing. I spent a lot of last year wondering about this and then I read an interview with a Bills coach (I believe Kugler) saying that Walker has a lot of work to do on his run blocking. I have a feeling that Walker is not moving back to RT under any circumstances. If the Bills were really happy with him at RT then they would've left him there and used a different approach at LT. I think that it's LT or bust for him with the Bills.
Flutie Flakes Posted August 2, 2009 Posted August 2, 2009 Excellent report NOLE! Your observations are spot on. These are the types of posts that I really enjoy reading as I have yet to get out to camp. Thank you!
SouthernMan Posted August 3, 2009 Posted August 3, 2009 the 2nd quickest way to get your QB killed is to have your rookie interior OL give up the middle to those pesky 3-4 nose tackles and LBs while trying to help to the outside If Bell can't handle a simple one-on-one move, he will be dangerous to the health of the QBs Jesus, the guy gets beat to the inside on one practice play and everyone's ready to give up on him. Let's see him in some live game action before we draw any final conclusions. And I agree that keeping Walker at RT might be the best move. Chambers filled in fine at LT last season, and let Bell compete for some playing time. If there's a lot of worry concerning the left side, devise some schemes that favor rolling to the right side and/or leave a FB or H-back in to help block on the left side, or slip past the defender, acting as an outlet receiver in the flat. I think having Wood at LG, Hangartner C, Butler a RG, and Walker in his natural position at RT makes the most sense. But again, who am I. I have to have trust in the Bills decision makers who deal with this stuff on a daily basis. Still, I wouldn't be shocked if Walker ended up back on the right side. Time will tell.
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