LifetimeBillsFan
09-29-2009, 04:04 AM
A lot of Bills fans saw how poorly the Bills' offensive line performed last season, especially against 3-4 teams, and wanted to see changes made. In signing Hangartner and drafting Wood and Levitre, the Bills responded to the need to upgrade their offensive line by changing their offensive line philosophy and bringing in more athletic young linemen capable of playing within their new approach.
With three new players, two of them rookies, and all five offensive linemen playing different positions when they entered training camp, everyone knew that there were going to be times when the offensive line was going to struggle due to inexperience and a lack of time playing together. This was no secret. Virtually every analyst and even the coaching staff talked about it.
When Langston Walker showed little enthusiasm for playing LT in the Bills' new no-huddle offense and the Bills decided to replace him with Demetrius Bell, the problem of inexperience on their offensive line increased exponentially because this now placed two inexperienced offensive linemen side-by-side instead of having the two rookie offensive guards bracketed by experienced players. The problem increased that much and more when Brad Butler went down for the season and was replaced by Jonathan Scott, whose playing time in Detroit hardly classified him as "experienced".
While Andy Levitre, Eric Wood and Demetrius Bell all have the potential to be very good offensive linemen in the NFL, the fact that they are so inexperienced means that they still have a lot to learn before they reach that potential. And, while Jonathan Scott has the potential to develop into a solid NFL player now that he has a different attitude, he, too, still has a long way to go to achieve his potential as well. Together with Hangartner, they have the potential to become a good unit--in time and as they gain more experience.
But the fact that, individually and as a group, they are inexperienced means that they are going to make mistakes and, at times, they are going to get downright "schooled" by their opponents. And, their inexperience is going to cost the team dearly.
Now, a lot of Bills fans have read about the Bills' offensive line being inexperienced and that this is going to hurt the team this season without knowing exactly what that means and how it will play out in games. On Sunday against the Saints, especially in the fourth quarter, you saw precisely what it means.
Because he is the newest member of the unit, because he failed to impress during his stint for the pitiful Detroit Lions, because a lot of Bills fans wanted the team to sign a veteran offensive tackle like Jon Runyan instead of promoting him to the starting RT job, and because his mistakes were the most glaring, Jonathan Scott has rightly come in for a lot of criticism of his play on Sunday. But Scott was not the only Bills offensive lineman whose inexperience was showing on Sunday and, indeed, some of the problems that the Bills experienced that were laid at Scott's feet were not entirely his fault at all or were only partially his fault.
Eric Wood is going to be a very good player and he is the kind of guy that Bills fans love, but, on Sunday, he got "schooled" by the twists and blitzes that the Saints were running. I don't know if it was a communications problem or not, but Wood simply couldn't handle the DE crashing inside when the Saints ran a twist on the right side of the Bills' offensive line. He was off-balance, late getting over, being pushed back into the backfield or missing his block so often that Scott, instead of being able to simpy hand the DE off to Wood, had to stay with the DE too long for him to get back to the outside quickly enough to take on the man he was supposed to block on the outside.
While Scott made errors that were solely his own doing, more than a few were the result of Wood's inability to deal with the twist that the Saints were running. The Saints, recognizing the problem that Wood and Scott were having with this twist, smartly began to run it more often and added blitzes to the mix, especially in the fourth quarter. The more they pressed the issue, the greater the confusion between Wood and Scott became. Some of the problems that Hangartner had in the fourth quarter were due to the fact that he was concerned with trying to help Scott and Wood deal with the twists and blitzes that the Saints were throwing at them (earlier on Hangartner had been dealing with the NT in the 3-man front the Saints were using or helping Levitre with him).
Wood's inability to deal with the crashing DE and Scott's inability to deal with the outside rusher (often an ILB, but sometimes the NT or a DT) will undoubtedly be noticed by the Bills' upcoming opponents--particularly Miami, the Jets and the Pats--and they can be expected to try to exploit this weakness until the Bills prove that they can handle twists and blitzes properly. That does not bode well for the Bills' offense, at least in the short-term.
NFL teams run twists and blitzes all of the time and experienced NFL offensive lines know how to pick them up and give their QB enough time to throw the ball more often than not. It is not something that the Bills' offensive line can't learn how to do properly. Indeed, it is something that they will have to learn how to do in order to keep playing in the NFL. But, because they are inexperienced and haven't played much together, Wood and Scott haven't learned how to do it yet. Given time and experience facing these kinds of schemes they will.
But, in the meantime, it isn't going to be pretty. Opposing teams will test them. But, that's what being inexperienced means.
No matter how you cut it, this is going to be a tough year for the Bills' young, inexperienced offensive linemen. They still have a lot to learn and opposing defenses will be eager to exploit any weaknesses in their game that they can find. Which means that there are going to be more Sundays this season like this past Sunday.
That is the price of inexperience. But, it is also the only way that young, inexperienced offensive linemen are going to gain the experience that they need to gell into a decent offensive line in the future.
Unfortunately, the future is not now, but more likely next season and, perhaps even, beyond. In the meantime, since the offense almost always goes as the offensive line goes, there are going to be some rough games for the offense this season. And, we're going to have to be prepared for those days.
While Dick Jauron and his coaching staff may well (deservedly) be on the "hot seat" to make the playoffs or else this season, objectively speaking it is hard to see this inexperienced offensive line being able to acquire the experience that it needs to be proficient enough for the team to be able to do that this year. The Bills have plenty of offensive weapons at the skill positions now--and I think even going forward (assuming TO leaves after this season)--and the defense has shown that it can be solid enough to win if it can stay reasonably healthy (which it isn't right now). But, while the parts are there, it's going to take more time to assemble them--and IMHO a different coaching staff to put them together and make them work--particularly given the inexperience of the offensive line and how that inexperience is going to limit the offense.
With three new players, two of them rookies, and all five offensive linemen playing different positions when they entered training camp, everyone knew that there were going to be times when the offensive line was going to struggle due to inexperience and a lack of time playing together. This was no secret. Virtually every analyst and even the coaching staff talked about it.
When Langston Walker showed little enthusiasm for playing LT in the Bills' new no-huddle offense and the Bills decided to replace him with Demetrius Bell, the problem of inexperience on their offensive line increased exponentially because this now placed two inexperienced offensive linemen side-by-side instead of having the two rookie offensive guards bracketed by experienced players. The problem increased that much and more when Brad Butler went down for the season and was replaced by Jonathan Scott, whose playing time in Detroit hardly classified him as "experienced".
While Andy Levitre, Eric Wood and Demetrius Bell all have the potential to be very good offensive linemen in the NFL, the fact that they are so inexperienced means that they still have a lot to learn before they reach that potential. And, while Jonathan Scott has the potential to develop into a solid NFL player now that he has a different attitude, he, too, still has a long way to go to achieve his potential as well. Together with Hangartner, they have the potential to become a good unit--in time and as they gain more experience.
But the fact that, individually and as a group, they are inexperienced means that they are going to make mistakes and, at times, they are going to get downright "schooled" by their opponents. And, their inexperience is going to cost the team dearly.
Now, a lot of Bills fans have read about the Bills' offensive line being inexperienced and that this is going to hurt the team this season without knowing exactly what that means and how it will play out in games. On Sunday against the Saints, especially in the fourth quarter, you saw precisely what it means.
Because he is the newest member of the unit, because he failed to impress during his stint for the pitiful Detroit Lions, because a lot of Bills fans wanted the team to sign a veteran offensive tackle like Jon Runyan instead of promoting him to the starting RT job, and because his mistakes were the most glaring, Jonathan Scott has rightly come in for a lot of criticism of his play on Sunday. But Scott was not the only Bills offensive lineman whose inexperience was showing on Sunday and, indeed, some of the problems that the Bills experienced that were laid at Scott's feet were not entirely his fault at all or were only partially his fault.
Eric Wood is going to be a very good player and he is the kind of guy that Bills fans love, but, on Sunday, he got "schooled" by the twists and blitzes that the Saints were running. I don't know if it was a communications problem or not, but Wood simply couldn't handle the DE crashing inside when the Saints ran a twist on the right side of the Bills' offensive line. He was off-balance, late getting over, being pushed back into the backfield or missing his block so often that Scott, instead of being able to simpy hand the DE off to Wood, had to stay with the DE too long for him to get back to the outside quickly enough to take on the man he was supposed to block on the outside.
While Scott made errors that were solely his own doing, more than a few were the result of Wood's inability to deal with the twist that the Saints were running. The Saints, recognizing the problem that Wood and Scott were having with this twist, smartly began to run it more often and added blitzes to the mix, especially in the fourth quarter. The more they pressed the issue, the greater the confusion between Wood and Scott became. Some of the problems that Hangartner had in the fourth quarter were due to the fact that he was concerned with trying to help Scott and Wood deal with the twists and blitzes that the Saints were throwing at them (earlier on Hangartner had been dealing with the NT in the 3-man front the Saints were using or helping Levitre with him).
Wood's inability to deal with the crashing DE and Scott's inability to deal with the outside rusher (often an ILB, but sometimes the NT or a DT) will undoubtedly be noticed by the Bills' upcoming opponents--particularly Miami, the Jets and the Pats--and they can be expected to try to exploit this weakness until the Bills prove that they can handle twists and blitzes properly. That does not bode well for the Bills' offense, at least in the short-term.
NFL teams run twists and blitzes all of the time and experienced NFL offensive lines know how to pick them up and give their QB enough time to throw the ball more often than not. It is not something that the Bills' offensive line can't learn how to do properly. Indeed, it is something that they will have to learn how to do in order to keep playing in the NFL. But, because they are inexperienced and haven't played much together, Wood and Scott haven't learned how to do it yet. Given time and experience facing these kinds of schemes they will.
But, in the meantime, it isn't going to be pretty. Opposing teams will test them. But, that's what being inexperienced means.
No matter how you cut it, this is going to be a tough year for the Bills' young, inexperienced offensive linemen. They still have a lot to learn and opposing defenses will be eager to exploit any weaknesses in their game that they can find. Which means that there are going to be more Sundays this season like this past Sunday.
That is the price of inexperience. But, it is also the only way that young, inexperienced offensive linemen are going to gain the experience that they need to gell into a decent offensive line in the future.
Unfortunately, the future is not now, but more likely next season and, perhaps even, beyond. In the meantime, since the offense almost always goes as the offensive line goes, there are going to be some rough games for the offense this season. And, we're going to have to be prepared for those days.
While Dick Jauron and his coaching staff may well (deservedly) be on the "hot seat" to make the playoffs or else this season, objectively speaking it is hard to see this inexperienced offensive line being able to acquire the experience that it needs to be proficient enough for the team to be able to do that this year. The Bills have plenty of offensive weapons at the skill positions now--and I think even going forward (assuming TO leaves after this season)--and the defense has shown that it can be solid enough to win if it can stay reasonably healthy (which it isn't right now). But, while the parts are there, it's going to take more time to assemble them--and IMHO a different coaching staff to put them together and make them work--particularly given the inexperience of the offensive line and how that inexperience is going to limit the offense.