THe Biggest Reason I hope this new O LINE works

[patmoran2006]

Everybody talks about having a real O Line for the benefit of Losman. The thinking is perfectly logical, but the BIGGEST reason I want an improved line is I'd love to see what kind of numbers Willis McGahee would put up if he's not getting hit at the line of scrimmage 75% of the time.

A lot of people dont like him here, I can see he's not a Buffalo "character" guy but whether its in Buffalo or somewhere else, wait til he gets a real OL.. He will never be a game-breaker like Barber, LT, or even Warrick Dunn..

But this guy will punish defensese into the ground and break their will, like a Larry Johnson or even an Emmitt Smith (I'm comparing the style, NOT the players)..

If Willis has a better line and more lanes to move, he'll make JP Losman look a lot better.. If not, Willis will continue to look average, and JP is going to continue to be "not good"

Not a slam on JP either, every QB is better with a dominating RB... And despite what most of you think, Willis CAN be a dominating back. Not just good; but dominating.

[The_Philster]

Re: THe Biggest Reason I hope this new O LINE works

The O-line will help everyone..and regarding the QB play, you can't disregard how much the play of those around him helps. If Willis is a bigger threat because the O-line is better, than that'll make the QB's job easier as well.
Let's face it, Jim Kelly wouldn't have had the success he had without Thurman...and Thurman wouldn't have been as successful had we not had a great O-line like we did

[Mudflap1]

Re: THe Biggest Reason I hope this new O LINE works

Everybody talks about having a real O Line for the benefit of Losman. The thinking is perfectly logical, but the BIGGEST reason I want an improved line is I'd love to see what kind of numbers Willis McGahee would put up if he's not getting hit at the line of scrimmage 75% of the time.

A lot of people dont like him here, I can see he's not a Buffalo "character" guy but whether its in Buffalo or somewhere else, wait til he gets a real OL.. He will never be a game-breaker like Barber, LT, or even Warrick Dunn..

But this guy will punish defensese into the ground and break their will, like a Larry Johnson or even an Emmitt Smith (I'm comparing the style, NOT the players)..

If Willis has a better line and more lanes to move, he'll make JP Losman look a lot better.. If not, Willis will continue to look average, and JP is going to continue to be "not good"

Not a slam on JP either, every QB is better with a dominating RB... And despite what most of you think, Willis CAN be a dominating back. Not just good; but dominating.

Good post and agreed. As you alluded to, if this all happens, it can only make Losman better too.

Jon

[PECKERWOOD]

Re: THe Biggest Reason I hope this new O LINE works

How about this. I hope our OL works, so we can win football games! I could give a **** about 'x' players stats.

[DraftBoy]

Re: THe Biggest Reason I hope this new O LINE works

Everybody talks about having a real O Line for the benefit of Losman. The thinking is perfectly logical, but the BIGGEST reason I want an improved line is I'd love to see what kind of numbers Willis McGahee would put up if he's not getting hit at the line of scrimmage 75% of the time.

A lot of people dont like him here, I can see he's not a Buffalo "character" guy but whether its in Buffalo or somewhere else, wait til he gets a real OL.. He will never be a game-breaker like Barber, LT, or even Warrick Dunn..

But this guy will punish defensese into the ground and break their will, like a Larry Johnson or even an Emmitt Smith (I'm comparing the style, NOT the players)..

If Willis has a better line and more lanes to move, he'll make JP Losman look a lot better.. If not, Willis will continue to look average, and JP is going to continue to be "not good"

Not a slam on JP either, every QB is better with a dominating RB... And despite what most of you think, Willis CAN be a dominating back. Not just good; but dominating.

Well said though I find Curtis Martin to be a better comparison for Willis McGahee.

[ParanoidAndroid]

Re: THe Biggest Reason I hope this new O LINE works

Wouldn't it be nice to have a QB like Kelly again with his ability to read defenses and call the right audibles? That's the one factor that separates Manning from the rest as the best in the league right now. (Jim knew the Raiders defense better than their own players did in the AFC championship game.)
That o-line, plus Thurmal, plus Reed.....Manning, Harrison, and James had the same kind of thing, but Buffalo did it better.
I know this isn't quite the topic, but it's just nice to reminisce once in a while.
It helps to have a true leader calling the plays, which JP really isn't. I'm still holding out hope that he can develop that skill, but it might not be in his personality.

[Mr. Shagowski]

Re: THe Biggest Reason I hope this new O LINE works

I hope the OL changes work simply because the OL hasn't worked in a decade and has been the root of much of the Bills problems during that stretch

[scott51]

Re: THe Biggest Reason I hope this new O LINE works

Everybody talks about having a real O Line for the benefit of Losman. The thinking is perfectly logical, but the BIGGEST reason I want an improved line is I'd love to see what kind of numbers Willis McGahee would put up if he's not getting hit at the line of scrimmage 75% of the time.

A lot of people dont like him here, I can see he's not a Buffalo "character" guy but whether its in Buffalo or somewhere else, wait til he gets a real OL.. He will never be a game-breaker like Barber, LT, or even Warrick Dunn..

But this guy will punish defensese into the ground and break their will, like a Larry Johnson or even an Emmitt Smith (I'm comparing the style, NOT the players)..

If Willis has a better line and more lanes to move, he'll make JP Losman look a lot better.. If not, Willis will continue to look average, and JP is going to continue to be "not good"

Not a slam on JP either, every QB is better with a dominating RB... And despite what most of you think, Willis CAN be a dominating back. Not just good; but dominating.

I agree with this post except for what I underlined. I am not saying he is definitly at the level of those guys but given a solid O-Line, I believe he may be able to play at that level. We have seen what he can do with a line that can't block, so imagine what he would do if we opened up some holes for him!

[Mr. Pink]

Re: THe Biggest Reason I hope this new O LINE works

The O-line will help everyone..and regarding the QB play, you can't disregard how much the play of those around him helps. If Willis is a bigger threat because the O-line is better, than that'll make the QB's job easier as well.
Let's face it, Jim Kelly wouldn't have had the success he had without Thurman...and Thurman wouldn't have been as successful had we not had a great O-line like we did

And if you had a QB who could get the ball out quicker it would help the o-line. If you had a QB who was ANY threat at all to an opposing defense it would help Willis be able to run for any yards because teams wouldn't just be geared to stop Willis and stuff the box, which in turn would help the O-line because they wouldn't have to try and block 8 guys every running play.

But no one ever looks at it that way, JP only sucks because the O-line sucks, Willis can't run well because the O-line sucks. There's plenty of times where you see the good QBs of this league get pressured right away and still can make plays, why you ask? Because they have a brain that works properly and can understand the defenses.

In this league of parity the teams with truly awesome lines are few and far between, most are average. The Bills line is below average yes, but not the worst in the NFL.

[PECKERWOOD]

Re: THe Biggest Reason I hope this new O LINE works

And if you had a QB who could get the ball out quicker it would help the o-line. If you had a QB who was ANY threat at all to an opposing defense it would help Willis be able to run for any yards because teams wouldn't just be geared to stop Willis and stuff the box, which in turn would help the O-line because they wouldn't have to try and block 8 guys every running play.

But no one ever looks at it that way, JP only sucks because the O-line sucks, Willis can't run well because the O-line sucks. There's plenty of times where you see the good QBs of this league get pressured right away and still can make plays, why you ask? Because they have a brain that works properly and can understand the defenses.

In this league of parity the teams with truly awesome lines are few and far between, most are average. The Bills line is below average yes, but not the worst in the NFL.

Good points, I think it is a mixture of both to be honest. Even great QB's cant make something out of nothing each play. At times its like I'm watching a game of jailbreak, the OL is non existant.

[Goobylal]

Re: THe Biggest Reason I hope this new O LINE works

And if you had a QB who could get the ball out quicker it would help the o-line. If you had a QB who was ANY threat at all to an opposing defense it would help Willis be able to run for any yards because teams wouldn't just be geared to stop Willis and stuff the box, which in turn would help the O-line because they wouldn't have to try and block 8 guys every running play.

But no one ever looks at it that way, JP only sucks because the O-line sucks, Willis can't run well because the O-line sucks. There's plenty of times where you see the good QBs of this league get pressured right away and still can make plays, why you ask? Because they have a brain that works properly and can understand the defenses.

In this league of parity the teams with truly awesome lines are few and far between, most are average. The Bills line is below average yes, but not the worst in the NFL.

And the QB needs to get rid of the ball quickly...to guys who get OPEN quickly. That isn't happening. I can't recall how many times against the Pats Dierdork said "and there was no one open" on an incompletion. And from people who have attended the games and are JP-haters, I've heard the same thing.

Where are the screen passes? Throws to backs or TE's in the flats? Slants? Play-action? Roll-outs? How about a flea-flicker or a reverse to keep defenses honest?

[Saratoga Slim]

Re: THe Biggest Reason I hope this new O LINE works

And if you had a QB who could get the ball out quicker it would help the o-line. If you had a QB who was ANY threat at all to an opposing defense it would help Willis be able to run for any yards because teams wouldn't just be geared to stop Willis and stuff the box, which in turn would help the O-line because they wouldn't have to try and block 8 guys every running play.

But no one ever looks at it that way, JP only sucks because the O-line sucks, Willis can't run well because the O-line sucks. There's plenty of times where you see the good QBs of this league get pressured right away and still can make plays, why you ask? Because they have a brain that works properly and can understand the defenses.

In this league of parity the teams with truly awesome lines are few and far between, most are average. The Bills line is below average yes, but not the worst in the NFL.

You're right, the OL isn't the worst line in the league, and a good QB has to be able to deal with pressure from time to time. There is no question that JP is not getting the job done. But there's also no question that the OL is below average at best in pass protection, which makes it all that much harder for him to get up to speed.

Great QB play can disguise a bad OL in passing situations, and great OL play can make a young QB look good. When neither are playing well, it makes both look worse.

The point is, if JP got rid of the ball as fast as Tom Brady or Chad Pennington, then we could get by with starting practice squad players on the OL (like the Patsies did at RG last week) and otherwise deal with our line's sub-par pass protection. But he can't yet, whether it be from lack of brains or lack of experience. And if we do bring someone in to replace him, it will likely be either a rookie, or an inexperienced backup, either of whom is going to have similar issues while they learn. Thus, below-average play from the OL will not cut it for this team in the near future. Inexperience at QB and bad OL play are a deadly combination.

[bflojohn]

Re: THe Biggest Reason I hope this new O LINE works

The reasons for the Bills being 29th in offensive production is the FACT all eleven players are simply NOT getting it done! The finger can be pointed at any one of the eleven gentlemen who now constitute the starting unit of Buffalo Bills offensive football. Think about this... no one calls out Lee Evans for running the wrong route or any WR, for that matter! What about snap count? False starts are singularly the most frustrating part of failure this team NEEDS to answer to in the coming weeks! Missing assignments can "deep six" any play when one or two guys are not performing as the play calls for. Picking up twists or stunts requires all five O-linemen to work in unison, and how often is this a problem? My feeling is that there are quite a few reasons for the poor statistical output on this unit

[The_Philster]

Re: THe Biggest Reason I hope this new O LINE works

But no one ever looks at it that way, JP only sucks because the O-line sucks, Willis can't run well because the O-line sucks.

putting words in the mouths of others ruined your whole post, IMO

[Goobylal]

Re: THe Biggest Reason I hope this new O LINE works

JP can get the ball out quickly. I've watched more than a few games where he got the ball out quickly WHEN there was a guy open quickly. As bflojohn said, all 11 guys on offense aren't getting it done. From poor pass and run blocking, to missed blitz pickups by the O-line and backs, receivers running the wrong route and dropping passes, dumb penalties (the Bills lead the NFL in pre-snap penalties), and turnovers by JP. Also the coaching isn't what I'd hoped it would be.