The Mularkey O-Line strategy

[ghz in pittsburgh]

I'm seeing a difference under Mularkey in terms of how the Bills ask their linemen to do. Unlike the previous offensive schemes where quick release from the line is of utmost importance, now the TEs, backs, even receivers are asked to help out our tackles by chipping at DEs or rushing LBs on their way out. This is really one of the "secrets" of the success of the Steelers O-Line over the years - they draft run dominating guys and use a variety of helping out techniques by design to get through the pass protection.

You don't often see the Steelers having a dominating, premier OT in Pro-ball. But they regularly send interior lineman to Hawaii.

Under this scheme, the interior linemen are asked to held on their own, and be able to push the pocket whereas the tackles often get help. I noticed one time even Moulds, lined up in the slot, chipped Jason Taylor on his way out to a route.

With this in mind, I see the Bills play more emphasis on getting a quality LG in free agency and may not mind moving Teague back to tackle again if they can find someone with more bulk at center.

You guys know my position on Teague. He's doing OK at center, but not where we need to be for a power running team, especially against a 3-4 defense where a nose tackle lined up directly across from him. I think the statistics speaks for itself: the Bills lost every game against a 3-4 defense last year. Teague could not control the nose tackle on running plays, and often had to reset to react to the bull rushing of the nose tackle while losing a couple of steps backwards on passing plays. Against 4-3 defense, he did much better, even accomplished some of the more difficult tasks such as snap the ball and pull outside of the tackles.

I don't know what his problem is. He's at adequate weight around 300 lb. Maybe he's just not a very strong dude, especially at lower body (could be very true because he's very agile and mobile - guys not known for strong lower body).

At tackle, I see him handling speed rushers and inside/outside moves very well. May have troubles against bull rushers and we can use someone else to bump or chip to knock the bull rusher out of balance a bit to help out. Against those who is strong and fast rushers a.k.a Bruce Smith type ... well, no matter who you put out there, you will have trouble. That's when double teams are called for.

[casdhf]

Excellent point...I have never thought of that.

[Yasgur's Farm]

I think we will sign either DeMulling or Womack and draft either Evan Mathis or Scott Young in the 5th round for depth/future starter.

Here are what I think the 2 scenarios are for our 2005 O-line...

Williams___Gandy____DeMulling__Villarrial_____Teague
Peters__Tucker/Rookie__Tucker__Smith/Rookie__Mcfarland

OR

Williams___Gandy_____Teague____Villarrial____Womack
Peters__Tucker/Rookie__Tucker__Smith/Rookie__Mcfarland

My reasoning is this...

1) Williams is undeniably our best tackle in any scenario (even if we get Shelton) and therefore logically must be moved to LT.
2) Gandy is an upgrade over Tucker at LG.
3) Villarrial is solid and will not be challenged at RG.
4) Teague is a better center than Tucker and a better tackle than Peters, McFarland or Gandy.
5) Peters has the size, quickness and athleticism for LT. All he lacks is the technique which mouse is teaching him.
6) DeMulling would be a better center than Teague.
7) Womack would be a better tackle than Teague.

Furthermore...

-I don't think we'll get Shelton.
-I don't think we'll sign both DeMulling and Womack.
-I don't think we'll spend the money on resigning Price.
-I don't think we signed Gandy for depth.
-I think Gandy eliminates the need to use Bannan at guard.
-I think we'll keep 10 O-lineman with the 10th being a rookie guard.

[dannyek71]

good post. I see no reason why Teague couldnt play LT. He was basically moved to center because Jonas was not panning out there, and at the time we needed a center, and had an extra LT, so we moved Teague to center for the time being.

For everyone that says Teague cant play LT you are dead wrong. He was the LT on the Broncos superbowl teams a while back (which was one of the best OL's that I have ever seen) so while he has gotten a bit older, I see no reason why he couldn't perform well here. Teague may be rusty at first, but I think he can play as good, or better than Jonas (and be hurt alot less)

This would let us use Tucker at C (a posistion that he did well at last year) I see us getting away from these fat dumb lineman (Ruben, Pucillo) strategy and going more towards smaller, faster guys who will beat the crap out of the opposing DL and play smart football. (Tucker)

Nice post above though

[Tatonka]

teague giving up 11 sacks in 16 games as a tackle is the thing that concerns me.

[buffmaniac]

Exactly! Teague had 1 season where he was the full-time starter at LT and he gave up 11 sacks in 16 games. Moving Teague to LT should be the absolute last resort IMO

[helmetguy]

Compare those 11 sacks in 16 games to the other LTs in the league, please, if for no other reason than to provide some context. Also, how many total sacks were given up in Denver that year? How many passing plays did they have? How many did Jennings allow? What was his sacks/game average?

[Crisis]

There’s no question, however, that the Bills will miss Jennings in pass protection. The conventional wisdom says Jennings has problems with speed-rushing defensive ends, but you would too if the quarterback you were protecting was Drew "The Monolith" Bledsoe. STATS, Inc. keeps numbers on sacks allowed (by "keeps", I mean "keeps fairly hidden from the public") and Jennings, protecting Bledsoe’s blind side, is listed with two sacks allowed in 2003 and four in 2004. Over at right tackle, Mike Williams is listed with 9.5 sacks allowed in 2003 and 8.5 allowed in 2004. Yikes.



http://www.footballoutsiders.com/ramblings.php?p=2435&cat=16

[Sportsuser101]

Compare those 11 sacks in 16 games to the other LTs in the league, please, if for no other reason than to provide some context. Also, how many total sacks were given up in Denver that year? How many passing plays did they have? How many did Jennings allow? What was his sacks/game average?
W Jones 0 sacks given up in 16 games
Pace 5 sacks given up in 16 games
Ogden 2 1/2 sacks given up in 12 games

Jennings 4 sacks given up in 14 games

As for TT offensive line teamates in 01

LG Friedman 4 1/2 sacks given up in 15 games
C Nalen 6 1/2 sacks given up in 16 games
RG Neil 2 sacks given up in 15 games
RT Lepsis 5 1/2 sacks given up in 15 games
Backup G Herndon started 3 games and gave up 0 sacks

[Forward_Lateral]

If we get Demulling, I have a feeling it will be so he can play guard, not center. Tucker would probably move to center if Teague moved to LT.

[dannyek71]

I feel that Demulling should be someone we should definatly be going after. A solid offense begins with a solid interior line. Come draft day if we dont have a solid LT, lets draft one in round 2 (assuming someone decent is there for us) If not we can always use Jason peters there. The man can do anything. (sarcastic)

[BuffaloRanger]

I think we can all agree on this.

1. LT is the most important position on the line - if QB is a righty.
2. LTs don't grow on trees. 2/3's of all starting LTs are 1st rd picks.
3. Teams only let their starting LT go if they want too much money or aren't very good.

TT didn't want too much money...then why did Denver let him walk?

TT was signed to play LT because our line totally sucked not because he was a coveted LT. He was an improvement over what we had. But Jennings showed fast development and TT was moved to center.

Finally Draz54 - if the bills don't select an OL until the 5th (big time project) what position do they go for in the 2nd and 3rd? Kicker?

[Yasgur's Farm]

Draz54 - if the bills don't select an OL until the 5th (big time project) what position do they go for in the 2nd and 3rd? Kicker? Read the siggy for my projections...
IMO...
Nugent and a big reliable 3rd WR will win more games for us in 2005 than any of the top O-linemen would. The Bills would be best served to draft a depth need at O-line in the later rounds. There's no way we'll get somebody in here that will be able to beat out any of our projected starters.

Start adding up the linemen we have or may have by the time we draft. Then start figuring how many we'll keep (I say 10). Now consider who we cut.

I'm lookinh at...
Williams
Villarrial
Teague
Gandy
Tucker
Peters
McFarland
Smith
DeMulling or Womack
Rookie

That's 10

Pucillo, Esposito and Pruce will be cut if there are no injuries during preseason.
I guess I would say Smith is on the bubble as well.
Price will not be persued.
Sobieski... who knows where this guy is... he's not on the roster.

Finally... many fine O-linemen in the NFL come from the later rounds or are undrafted. I wouldn't consider either Mathis oy Young to be projects.

[Throne Logic]

TT didn't want too much money...then why did Denver let him walk?

TT was signed to play LT because our line totally sucked not because he was a coveted LT. He was an improvement over what we had. But Jennings showed fast development and TT was moved to center.

That's pretty much exactly how it happened.



1. LT is the most important position on the line - if QB is a righty.
2. LTs don't grow on trees. 2/3's of all starting LTs are 1st rd picks.
3. Teams only let their starting LT go if they want too much money or aren't very good.

LT is important (RT for lefty QBs), however, I'd certainly argue that Center is one of the more under-appreciated positions on the line. The Center is responsible for making the blocking adjustment calls for the line. As was pointed out initially in this thread, the Center sets the tone for the running game, especially vs. the 3-4 defense.

Unless Tucker shows something really impressive during camp and preseason, I expect Teague to remain in the position. Teague has had the experience of making those calls. I'm interested to see how he does after a year of working with McNally.


... if the bills don't select an OL until the 5th (big time project) what position do they go for in the 2nd and 3rd? Kicker?

Funny you should say that. Yes, I'd consider taking a solid kicker with a 3rd round pick. I firmly believe that the PK is THE most under-appreciated position in the game. More games come down to how well PKs did than most fans seem willing to accept. Look beyond the last second scores that "win or lose the game" (which should be enough, by itself, to make my point). If you take note of kicks missed within the scope of the entire game, you'll see that there are plenty of games that would have turned out very differently had PKs hit their kicks. Then you need to factor in the field position average on Kick Offs. There's a good reason teams like PKs who can generate Touch Backs.

[G. Host]

I think we will sign either DeMulling or Womack and draft either Evan Mathis or Scott Young in the 5th round for depth/future starter.

Here are what I think the 2 scenarios are for our 2005 O-line...

Williams___Gandy____DeMulling__Villarrial_____Teague
Peters__Tucker/Rookie__Tucker__Smith/Rookie__Mcfarland

OR

Williams___Gandy_____Teague____Villarrial____Womack
Peters__Tucker/Rookie__Tucker__Smith/Rookie__Mcfarland


I think there is no guarentee that Gandy beats out Tucker and I think most people are underestimating him. Tucker will be starting unless the Bills bring in an experienced, expensive guard or use first pick on a guard.

[Dozerdog]

At the time, the Bills didn't have a QB or an OL. Teague was signed well before the draft either to be the LT (If the Bills at #4 were to draft Carr, Peppers, or Harrington)- or to play C if the Bills were to get McKinnie or Williams.

There were more expensive options but the Bills were still wading out of cap hell. I think his sloppy shotgun snaps, coupled with Bledsoe's lead feet- exaggerated his weaknesses.