Are Bell and Hairston back?

[Forward_Lateral]

It has Levitre as the C on BB.com and Bell and Hairston at LT. Are they both back?

[k-oneputt]

Hairston.

Who knows with Bell.
Need to draft an o-tackle again early.

[madness]

Hairston will start at LT as he has practiced the last two weeks. I haven't heard anything about Bell practicing as of yet.

[Forward_Lateral]

I don't feel so badly about the O-line then. Levitre will surprise people I think.

[psubills62]

I've heard people saying Bell is back. Not sure if they were simply reading tea leaves because the Bills didn't sign an OT to the roster or what.

[OpIv37]

I don't feel so badly about the O-line then. Levitre will surprise people I think.

Not worried about Levitre as long as he's on the interior- I don't like him at T.

I am worried about whoever takes Levitre's spot at LG now that he had to move to Center.

[Ed]

I'm not too worried about LG. I thought Rinehart did a good job of filling in for Urbik. You can't really replace what Wood brings at center, but I think our interior will be ok. It will be nice to have an actual OT playing OT again too.

[Bill Cody]

Levitre will surprise people I think.

Really? Remind me, what do I do again if I get an erection that lasts more than 4 hours?

[madness]

Mixed bag on O-line (http://blogs.buffalobills.com/2011/11/16/mixed-bag-on-o-line/)

<small>Posted by Chris Brown on <abbr title="2011-11-16T14:32:43+0000"> November 16, 2011 – 2:32 pm </abbr> </small>

The offensive line was getting shuffled around at Wednesday’s practice due to an unexpected absence.
Though preparations for Eric Wood were made with Andy Levitre in the pivot, Erik Pears was a surprise non-participant. Fortunately Demetrius Bell was back practicing along with Chris Hairston. For most of the media viewing portion of practice Hairston lined up at left tackle. Bell got work at left and right tackle. And Kraig Urbik saw a lot of work at right tackle during individual positions drills with Colin Brown lined up next to him at right guard.
Hopefully what is keeping Pears sidelined is nothing significant, otherwise the line could have a different player at every line position from opening day.

[Crisis]

Can Levitre play WR too?

[RoscoeMagic]

Not worried about Levitre as long as he's on the interior- I don't like him at T.

I am worried about whoever takes Levitre's spot at LG now that he had to move to Center.

What are you talking about? Rinehart's been there for 4 weeks and will be there the rest of the year with Levitre at C permanently since Wood's on IR.

[madness]

Can Levitre play WR too?


Forget that... Can he rush the passer?

[madness]

Day 1 goes well for Bell (http://blogs.buffalobills.com/2011/11/16/day-1-goes-well-for-bell/)

<small>Posted by Chris Brown on <abbr title="2011-11-16T16:22:27+0000"> November 16, 2011 – 4:22 pm </abbr> </small>

OT Demetrius Bell was back practicing for the first time since Week 4 and by his account fared well his first day back in pads.
“It went pretty good,” Bell told Buffalobills.com. “It’s been too long. What was it? Six weeks? Way too long.”
Bell took reps at both left and right tackle as he tries to shake the rust off from a month and a half absence from the practice and game settings.
“Just trying to get an extra rep in here and there wherever I can,” he said.
Head coach Chan Gailey said he would consider getting Bell back in the starting lineup this week, but after such a long layoff indicated that he’d be leaning in favor of Hairston who has practiced fully each of the past two weeks to man left tackle.

[Johnny Bugmenot]

Now let's hope Demetrius doesn't revert to his old "penalty machine" self.

[X-Era]

Hairston.

Who knows with Bell.
Need to draft an o-tackle again early.

Why?

If the Bills think Hairston is their long term answer at LT, which is very likely BTW, that position is filled. And the Bills appear to be fine with Pears on the other side. If they lock up Pears long term prior to the end of the season I'd expect OT to become a mid to late round possibility.

And no I still think Hairston is best suited to play RT but I don't make the decisions.

[Forward_Lateral]

I think their depth at OT has been proven pretty decent this year. We'll find out about the interior of the line over the course of the rest of the season.

[GreedoII]

Hairston -LT
Urbik- LG
Levitre-C
Rhinehart-RG
Bell-RT

[better days]

Really? Remind me, what do I do again if I get an erection that lasts more than 4 hours?

Call up every available woman you know..........unless your wife is not good with that if you are Married, then she will have to take one for the team.

[k-oneputt]

Why?

If the Bills think Hairston is their long term answer at LT, which is very likely BTW, that position is filled. And the Bills appear to be fine with Pears on the other side. If they lock up Pears long term prior to the end of the season I'd expect OT to become a mid to late round possibility.

And no I still think Hairston is best suited to play RT but I don't make the decisions.


Why ?
Because I don't think you can count on Bell. I think his shoulder will be a continuous problem throughout his career. You cannot have your starting left tackle missing half of the games every year. For this reason I would like Bell more has the #3 man and I also think Hairston is more of a right tackle then left, although I admit Hairston did do better then I expect in his brief time on the left side. Pears has held his own but again is a r-tackle.
If there is a top left tackle available when we draft I think he has to strongly be considered and finally solve this problem. Of course we also need a pass rusher so I would take the best available of those two positions.

[better days]

Why?

If the Bills think Hairston is their long term answer at LT, which is very likely BTW, that position is filled. And the Bills appear to be fine with Pears on the other side. If they lock up Pears long term prior to the end of the season I'd expect OT to become a mid to late round possibility.

And no I still think Hairston is best suited to play RT but I don't make the decisions.

I think the rest of this season will determine the fate of Bell & Hairston. Bell has had a problem staying healthy since day one. Unless he resigns at a REASONABLE price, I think the Bills move on from him.

The Bills will draft an OT at some point IMO, the play of Hairston will determine how much of a need that is.

[mysticsoto]

Why ?
Because I don't think you can count on Bell. I think his shoulder will be a continuous problem throughout his career. You cannot have your starting left tackle missing half of the games every year. For this reason I would like Bell more has the #3 man and I also think Hairston is more of a right tackle then left, although I admit Hairston did do better then I expect in his brief time on the left side. Pears has held his own but again is a r-tackle.
If there is a top left tackle available when we draft I think he has to strongly be considered and finally solve this problem. Of course we also need a pass rusher so I would take the best available of those two positions.

Good left tackles generally all go in the 1st round. So what you are saying is to use the 1st pick on a left tackle. I really can't justify that considering how horrible our pass rush has been. I think that should be 1st and foremost the priority.

[k-oneputt]

Good left tackles generally all go in the 1st round. So what you are saying is to use the 1st pick on a left tackle. I really can't justify that considering how horrible our pass rush has been. I think that should be 1st and foremost the priority.

Pass rushers generally go early 1st rd also. I want either. If the 3rd rated tackle is available or the 6th rated olb/de is available, who do you take ? Personally I think we need both. BPA of the two positions works for me.
I don't want to take a wr or db rd.1, even though we need both. Thoses can be found later.
Again for the 15th year in a row, we will not win big until both sides of the line are strong and dominant.

[Spiderweb]

Now let's hope Demetrius doesn't revert to his old "penalty machine" self.

That's a bit out there. Bell is already a season and a half past when he was a "penalty machine". Whether he's healthy enough to play, and isn't too rusty, that's the only question at this point.

[mysticsoto]

Pass rushers generally go early 1st rd also. I want either. If the 3rd rated tackle is available or the 6th rated olb/de is available, who do you take ? Personally I think we need both. BPA of the two positions works for me.
I don't want to take a wr or db rd.1, even though we need both. Thoses can be found later.
Again for the 15th year in a row, we will not win big until both sides of the line are strong and dominant.

That would be a fair answer except that it's not in line with reality and what usually happens. LTs are much more in demand and go ALOT faster than 3-4 OLBs. Given that (atleast so far) we will be picking mid rd 1 it's likely that the top 1-2...maybe even 3 LTs will be gone already regardless. However, it is unlikely that that many 3-4 OLBs will be gone. As such, we are likely to end up with a higher rated OLB if we make that our pick. And I would be satisfied with that given the play of both Bell and Hairston at LT.

Given the play of our OLBs...can you honestly say you'd be okay having them again next year???

[k-oneputt]

No I can't regarding the olb's. It's a huge need. I don't think much of any of them. I guess that's what you get when you don't draft properly. I'm not big on taking small school players and then changing their position once they get here. Maybe it will still work out but I'm not impressed at all with Batten or Moats or using guys like Carrington, Kelsay and S. Johnson out there.

[X-Era]

Why ?
Because I don't think you can count on Bell. I think his shoulder will be a continuous problem throughout his career. You cannot have your starting left tackle missing half of the games every year. For this reason I would like Bell more has the #3 man and I also think Hairston is more of a right tackle then left, although I admit Hairston did do better then I expect in his brief time on the left side. Pears has held his own but again is a r-tackle.
If there is a top left tackle available when we draft I think he has to strongly be considered and finally solve this problem. Of course we also need a pass rusher so I would take the best available of those two positions.
And I think even without Bell, the Bills still may not draft a OT early.

I think they like Hairston a lot and at LT. And they certainly seem content with Pears at RT. At that point your talking about depth and Sam Young may already be a factor in that.

Where I do agree is that Hairston will need to show he can play at LT for good. Maybe the Bills feel he already has, who knows.