Bills have neglected offensive line

[shelby]

Ya think?

I’ve been trying to figure out why the Buffalo Bills can’t gain a yard when they need one desperately, why they can’t protect quarterback Trent Edwards for the extra portion of a second he needs to find a receiver who might get open.
I think I found the answer in the team’s media guide, the portion which lists its all-time drafts. The current dilemma, it seems, had its beginnings before the new millennium, during which the idea of qualifying for the playoffs has been a pipe dream.
The problem goes all the way back to 1996, when the Bills began a 13-year streak of failing to draft an offensive linemen in either the first or second rounds with one unfortunate exception. That was in 2002 when their first-round pick was used on Texas tackle Mike Williams, whose name produces migraine headaches among Buffalo fandom.
In all that time the entire, top-to-bottom draft has produced just one offensive lineman of high caliber, third-round pick Jonas Jennings, a tackle selected in the 2001 draw but whose worthy contributions became fewer when he turned out to be injury-prone.

more...

[SABURZFAN]

Re: Bills have neglected offensive line

i read that in the paper this morning and laughed at the first sentence. you're getting really sharp in your old age, Felser.

i got a newsflash for you too!!!!!!!!!!!


a lot of us have been saying that for years on this board.

[Mr. Pink]

Re: Bills have neglected offensive line

It's not that they neglected it, they made bad choices over the years...

From Mike Williams to Bennie Anderson to Chris Villarial to Mike Gandy to Tutan Reyes to Melvin Fowler and every other scrub in between.

[X-Era]

Re: Bills have neglected offensive line

Ya think?



more...

If we do it so poorly, why argue that we should do it more?

We have spent a TON on the o-line in Dockery and Walker. And our best lineman in the past decade was an undrafted free agent TE.

Id say we do much better when we DONT draft lineman early and attack it through free agency

That said, its stupid to think there is one formula. Teams like Denver and NE have made a living out of getting later round OL-men and still having a great line.

Thats why you wont here me complain if we draft a C early in this upcoming draft. If we draft a T or even G in the 1st 2 rounds, I will think its a pick at a non-need position (at least not one of our highest needs).

[X-Era]

Re: Bills have neglected offensive line

i read that in the paper this morning and laughed at the first sentence. you're getting really sharp in your old age, Felser.

i got a newsflash for you too!!!!!!!!!!!


a lot of us have been saying that for years on this board.

Felser has been an idiot and a hack for years now.

[OpIv37]

Re: Bills have neglected offensive line

It's not that they neglected it, they made bad choices over the years...

From Mike Williams to Bennie Anderson to Chris Villarial to Mike Gandy to Tutan Reyes to Melvin Fowler and every other scrub in between.

It's both- for a long time they neglected it completely. The more recent FO has certainly made an effort on the OL, but the results have been very disappointing. They:

-Re-signed Peters (good move)
-Signed Fowler (sucks)
-Drafted Butler (OK)
-Signed Whittle (meh- just depth)
-Signed Dockery (looking like a bad move)
-Signed Reyes (cut- terrible move)
-Signed Chambers (decent depth)
-Drafted Merz (cut, but he had injuries)
-Drafted Demetrius Bell (too soon to tell)

The current FO has also neglected the OL in the draft, although to be fair, this team had a lot of needs and they put a lot of FA attention into the OL.

Anyway, it's very disappointing to see those efforts yield such lackluster results.

[X-Era]

Re: Bills have neglected offensive line

It's both- for a long time they neglected it completely. The more recent FO has certainly made an effort on the OL, but the results have been very disappointing. They:

-Re-signed Peters (good move)
-Signed Fowler (sucks)
-Drafted Butler (OK)
-Signed Whittle (meh- just depth)
-Signed Dockery (looking like a bad move)
-Signed Reyes (cut- terrible move)
-Signed Chambers (decent depth)
-Drafted Merz (cut, but he had injuries)
-Drafted Demetrius Bell (too soon to tell)

The current FO has also neglected the OL in the draft, although to be fair, this team had a lot of needs and they put a lot of FA attention into the OL.

Anyway, it's very disappointing to see those efforts yield such lackluster results.

I think it has alot to do with the OL coach this year. Bring back the mouse! I know hes retired and probably wants to stay that way.

[Mr. Pink]

Re: Bills have neglected offensive line

It's both- for a long time they neglected it completely. The more recent FO has certainly made an effort on the OL, but the results have been very disappointing. They:

-Re-signed Peters (good move)
-Signed Fowler (sucks)
-Drafted Butler (OK)
-Signed Whittle (meh- just depth)
-Signed Dockery (looking like a bad move)
-Signed Reyes (cut- terrible move)
-Signed Chambers (decent depth)
-Drafted Merz (cut, but he had injuries)
-Drafted Demetrius Bell (too soon to tell)

The current FO has also neglected the OL in the draft, although to be fair, this team had a lot of needs and they put a lot of FA attention into the OL.

Anyway, it's very disappointing to see those efforts yield such lackluster results.

Donahoe made an effort too...just as much as the current regime...

Mike Williams, Trey Teague, Jason Peters, Duke Preston, Mike Gandy, Chris Villarial, Dylan McFarland, Marques Sullivan, Bennie Anderson, Mike Puccilo, Ross Tucker, etc...

The theme is both regime's have hit on ONE guy and missed on the rest.

Langston Walker is Marv's hit and Peters is TD's hit.

The rest don't look so far.

The scouting we've had since 2001 has been very poor in all areas of the team, not just the O-line.

[jamze132]

Re: Bills have neglected offensive line

Maybe we could have drafted the best O-lineman available last year rather than a kick returner?

[Luisito23]

Re: Bills have neglected offensive line

Maybe we could have drafted the best O-lineman available last year rather than a kick returner?

Yeah man, I really wish we would've drafted Alberts instead of Leodis...

[yordad]

Re: Bills have neglected offensive line

Anyone remember Terrence Pennington?

[Night Train]

Re: Bills have neglected offensive line

I'm hoping the Bills draft a big guard & a center in the first 2 rounds this spring, although the madden brainiacs here will scream for a TE or WR.

[casdhf]

Re: Bills have neglected offensive line

I thought Gandy was a decent pickup.

[Typ0]

Re: Bills have neglected offensive line

as everyone has said the OLine has not been neglected but the wrong decisions have been made. Yeah, it all started with the Williams bust that was devastating to the Donahoe era as a whole IMO and the poor performance of players selected in those postions continues to be our achille's heel. We can only hope, that the guys we have spent handily on now are only a player or two away from being good and we find that player and get rid of the right on in the next offseason.

[Lone Stranger]

Re: Bills have neglected offensive line

This is not startling news. We haven't drafted a decent O Lineman since Rueben Brown, how many years ago.