Shhhhh! Gandy is a good fit

[G. Host]

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20060508/1067899.asp
Bills' tackle has been consistent as starter

Discarded by the Chicago Bears late in the 2004 season, Gandy signed with the Bills during the offseason. The Bills didn't even know what they were getting in the sixth-year veteran, but he was able to win the left tackle job and was one of only two offensive linemen to start every game.

In fact, he probably was the most consistent performer on an offensive line maligned for its inconsistency.

[BuffaloBillsStampede]

I am confortable with him for one more year.

[justasportsfan]

He did a decent job only in his first year with the team and his first time to play LT. With 1 year under his belt, hopefully he plays better.

[Statman]

Gandy had twice as many holding penalties than any other lineman, and allowed 7 sacks. All the other linemen together had 7 holding penalties to Gandy's 6.

Now they are trying to tell us that he's good?

Right

[mysticsoto]

Gandy had twice as many holding penalties than any other lineman, and allowed 7 sacks. All the other linemen together had 7 holding penalties to Gandy's 6.

Now they are trying to tell us that he's good?

Right

Is that only certain penalties??? I can't believe that Bennie Anderson doesn't have atleast that many in false starts. He committed 1-2 per game and there are 16 games!!!

[Tatonka]

i can deal with one holding call and one sack every other game. maybe i am crazy.

[casdhf]

Gandy had twice as many holding penalties than any other lineman, and allowed 7 sacks. All the other linemen together had 7 holding penalties to Gandy's 6.

Now they are trying to tell us that he's good?

Right I would like to see where those numbers came from.

[Saratoga Slim]

I would like to see where those numbers came from.

count me in too.

[ICE74129]

Best lineman on the team? Ok every lineman is a 3 out of a possible 10. Gandy is a 4. 4 still sucks.

[PhinsOwnYou]

He is a pretty good player, not dominating like you would want a LT to be, but he gets the job done consistantly

[John Doe]

I would like to see where those numbers came from.


http://profootballweekly.com/PFW/STATS/NFL_LiveScores.htm?link=stats

Gandy was going up against some pretty good defensive competition. Look at it this way - if your primo pass rushing defensive end had only 7 sacks for the year, you would not be crowing about it.

Gandy hardly missed a snap during the whole season.

[ScottLawrence]

Gandy hardly sucks.


He was consistently shutting down opponents best pass rushers week in, and week out, the only time I really recall him getting beat is against the Jets in the last game of the season last year when John Abraham completely ran right around him to sack Holcomb on 4th down.


He should continue to only get better as he continues to learn, and perhaps having a better Guard next to him in Reyes.

[Statman]

i can deal with one holding call and one sack every other game. maybe i am crazy.
That's 80 yards in holding penalties and 8 sacks per season.

x 5 that's 400 yards and 40 sacks.

Low standards?

[Statman]

i can deal with one holding call and one sack every other game. maybe i am crazy.
PS Jonas Jennings in his first four seasons in the league averaged 1 holding penalty every 6.5 games and 1 sack every 4 games for 16-game averages of 3 holdings and 4 sacks. He wasn't nearly the best LT in the league either.

[Statman]

Is that only certain penalties??? I can't believe that Bennie Anderson doesn't have atleast that many in false starts. He committed 1-2 per game and there are 16 games!!!
Not sure what you mean by "certain penalties." Do you mean not declined penalties?

Of all the linemen that started games last season, ...

Gandy had 8 penalties, 1 of those declined (6 holding, 2 False Start)
Anderson had 9 penalties, 1 declined (3 holding, 5 FS, 1 illegal use of hands)
Villarrial had 5 penalities, all enforced, 1 holding, 3 FS, 1 unnecessary roughness
Teague had 3 penalties, 2 holding, 1 FS
Peters had 3 penalties, 1 holding, 2 FS
Williams and Jerman each had 1 FS penalty each.

Yards are misleading since half the distance can be half a yard. But Gandy (54) and Anderson (57) accounted for 111 of the OL's 201 penalty yards.

[TigerJ]

He is a pretty good player, not dominating like you would want a LT to be, but he gets the job done consistantly

This is kind of where I am with Gandy. I'm OK with him while the Bills are trying to rebuild the rest of the line, but when the Bills have the opportunity to address LT, I think an upgrade is certainly worth considering.

[DraftBoy]

I agree with T, I can deal with 1 holding and 1 sack every other game. Over 5 years the numbers look big but if I twist the numbers this way;

8/16=.5 80/16=5

He's avging .5 a penalty a game, and costing us 5 yards a game. Hardly anything thats going to cost us in the long run. Till we have a better option I am comfortable with him.

[YardRat]

I'm fine with Gandy...and I'm hoping his numbers go lower with the addition of Reyes and Royal.

[Goobylal]

PS Jonas Jennings in his first four seasons in the league averaged 1 holding penalty every 6.5 games and 1 sack every 4 games for 16-game averages of 3 holdings and 4 sacks. He wasn't nearly the best LT in the league either.
Jennings started-off at RT and looked to be a future Pro Bowler there his rookie year of 2001. However the Bills needed a LT with Fina released after that season and with the Bills drafting Mike Williams to play RT while he learned (ahem) LT. Once he moved to LT, he gave up 13-1/2 sacks and committed 8 holding and 12 false start penalties in 40 games (giving up 7 sacks and committing 3 false starts and 4 holding penalties in 2002). Oh how I wish the Bills had drafted Bryant McKinnie or especially Levi Jones instead, because Jennings as I said would have been a Pro Bowl RT (health-permitting) and McKinnie and especially Jones would be FAR better players than Mike Williams.

[Statman]

I'm not sure what your point is.

Those numbers are still better than Gandy's and when you factor in that the team didn't have the confidence to run behind him it doesn't help Gandy's cause. 1 sack allowed every two games isn't as good as one allowed every three, and 6 holding penalties isn't as good as 4. 8 holding penalties in 40 games is far better than 6 in 16. It's half the rate.

Gandy wasn't a great run blocker either, not nearly as good as Jennings. Jennings was a solid starter. The same cannot be said of Gandy.

I'm not sure what your point was. Jennings is definitely better than Gandy, ... when healthy.

I agree with you on Jones and McKinnie. Even Steinbach.

The whole thing doesn't say much about McNally to be sure.

[theanswer74]

Does anyone watch games anymore?? Stats really dont do a good job of telling how a player played. There are so many factors that go into a sack. I cant remember Gandy ever getting his lunch handed to him or ever being upset over Gandy's play. There were 1 or 2 plays that had me wondering what he was doing.

Gandy was hardly complained about by fans during the season. TT, Anderson, Villarial, and Williams all were complained about. People just seemed to assume Gandy sucked also, but I hardly heard his name.

I worry about his injury history, but Gandy was good enough last year, he wasnt great, but he did his job. As long as he does that again next year we should be very good upfront because I think Reyes and Fowler are solid upgrades.

What need most of all is consistently good coaching and good QB play before we need to replace Gandy.

[Stewie]

Gandy had twice as many holding penalties than any other lineman, and allowed 7 sacks. All the other linemen together had 7 holding penalties to Gandy's 6.

Now they are trying to tell us that he's good?

Right

If he was one of only two lineman to start, of course he's gonna have more penalties than everyone else (except maybe the other guy)

[Goobylal]

I'm not sure what your point is.

Those numbers are still better than Gandy's and when you factor in that the team didn't have the confidence to run behind him it doesn't help Gandy's cause. 1 sack allowed every two games isn't as good as one allowed every three, and 6 holding penalties isn't as good as 4. 8 holding penalties in 40 games is far better than 6 in 16. It's half the rate.

Gandy wasn't a great run blocker either, not nearly as good as Jennings. Jennings was a solid starter. The same cannot be said of Gandy.

I'm not sure what your point was. Jennings is definitely better than Gandy, ... when healthy.

I agree with you on Jones and McKinnie. Even Steinbach.

The whole thing doesn't say much about McNally to be sure.
Well you used Jennings' stats as a rookie RT, where he dominated, to make an argument for his ability as a LT, where he was average at best. In his 2nd year and first year at LT, he gave up more sacks and penalties as Gandy did, a guy who's barely played OT in his career. Basically 1 season doesn't make a trend and we'll see how this year shapes up.

In any case, I see Gandy gone after this season, because the Bills will want to put Peters at LT, and Gandy will want to be paid LT money. So it's in all likelihood just 1 more year you'll have to put up with Gandy. Hopefully a better LG will help him out.

And as for McNally, he developed Peters, Preston looks like he'll be a good one, and so do Geisinger and Butler. That's a LT, OC, RG, and RT right there that are young and potentially really good.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

One can make statistics say just about anything that you want them to say. Now, I'm not going to pretend that Gandy was anything more than average last season, but to illustrate my point, here the stats of another NFL starting left tackle from last season:

Games and games started: 16-16
Penalties and yard: 7-35
False starts and holding: 6-0 (he's got Gandy beat there)
Sacks and yards: 9.5-66.0

While he didn't take as many holding penalties as Gandy and had one less penalty, he gave up 1.5 more sacks for 20 more yards lost. So, his numbers are slightly better, but fairly comparable. Guess who he is....

Jonathan Ogden

<TABLE cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=2 width="100%" bgColor=#cccccc border=0><TBODY><TR align=right bgColor=#ffffff><TD class=text11 align=left>2005</TD><TD class=text11 align=left>Bal (http://snap.stats.com/stats/nflinfo/teams.asp?team=33)</TD><TD class=text11>16</TD><TD class=text11>16</TD><TD class=text11>7</TD><TD class=text11>35</TD><TD class=text11>6</TD><TD class=text11>0</TD><TD class=text11>9.25</TD><TD class=text11>66.00</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Now, there's no way that Gandy is in Jonathan Ogden's class as an LT, but, if you just looked at their stats from last year, you might think that they were similar in ability. Which only goes to show that stats like these don't tell the whole story.

IMHO, Gandy's never going to be an All-Pro caliber LT, but, based on what I saw of him last season, he is a solid, average LT who has the potential to be an above average LT if he continues to improve and has a decent LG playing next to him. Given time, he could be a solid contributor to a good, cohesive offensive line.

I think a lot of fans get caught up in seeing names and statistics and lose sight of the fact that a major element in the success of an offensive line comes from the cohesiveness of the unit, as well as the individual talents of the guys who play on the line. For example, all five of Denver's starting offensive line have played together for several years. That has also contributed to the success of the KC offensive line as well.

The Bills' offensive line has had no opportunity to build such cohesion with the turnover in personnel that the team has had there over the last several years. The Bills could have started building that cohesion a few years ago when they brought in Jennings, Williams, Sullivan and Teague all at pretty much the same time, but that never happened because, at first, they kept changing coaches and, along the way, Sullivan and Williams decided not to put in the effort necessary to continue to improve their games: ultimately, Jennings left, Sullivan and Williams got cut, and Teague was not re-signed. And, the Bills have been "playing catch-up" in developing an offensive line ever since.

I don't know if Gandy is part of the answer to the Bills' offensive line woes or not because I don't know if they will keep him around after this season. I think a lot will depend on how the offensive line and linemen that they presently have will perform this season. But, whether they keep Gandy or not, for the moment, he gives them adequate, average play at the LT position and time to integrate some new players into the interior of their offensive line, where they haven't even been getting that level of play for the last couple of seasons, while they concentrate on rebuilding their defense and try to discover if they have a QB on their roster who is capable of playing winning football in the NFL over the course of a season. Gandy may not be the long-term answer for the team at LT, but IMHO he certainly isn't their biggest or most immediate problem.

[Jan Reimers]

You don't notice Gandy very much during games, which is generally a sign that an offensive lineman is doing his job.

[fasteddie]

How many of Gandy's holding penalties were caused by B. Anderson's man flying by him and Gandy making an attempt to stop the sack?

Let's see what happens with a better guard next to him this year.

[Statman]

Well you used Jennings' stats as a rookie RT, where he dominated, to make an argument for his ability as a LT, where he was average at best. In his 2nd year and first year at LT, he gave up more sacks and penalties as Gandy did, a guy who's barely played OT in his career. Basically 1 season doesn't make a trend and we'll see how this year shapes up.

In any case, I see Gandy gone after this season, because the Bills will want to put Peters at LT, and Gandy will want to be paid LT money. So it's in all likelihood just 1 more year you'll have to put up with Gandy. Hopefully a better LG will help him out.

And as for McNally, he developed Peters, Preston looks like he'll be a good one, and so do Geisinger and Butler. That's a LT, OC, RG, and RT right there that are young and potentially really good.
Absolutely not true. Jennings' numbers were mostly at LT where he played most of his time in Buffalo. They were about twice as good as Gandy's.

Again, have you got a link to your numbers?

As to Gandy being gone, I won't argue. He's simply not that good. There's no argument however that he's as good as Jennings was.

McNally hasn't done anything with anyone. Peters, maybe. But Peters has ideal size and athleticism. IMO the reason he didn't go in the draft was because teams weren't sure and didn't want to take a gamble. But what does it say for our front office that our best linemen in years appears to be an undrafted free agent? If they were on their toes and had believed he would do what he's doing they'd have at least used a 7th then.

Good discussing with you.

[Statman]

If he was one of only two lineman to start, of course he's gonna have more penalties than everyone else (except maybe the other guy)
LOL

Gandy started 16 games.
Teague 16, Villarrial 15, and Anderson 14.

On a per start basis, Anderson led the team with .64 penalties per start, but most were False Starts. Gandy was second at .50 pps, but most were holdings.

After that it drops off dramatically. Villarrial at .33, Jerman at .33, Peters at .30, Teague at .19, and Williams at .17.

It's natural for him to have a few penalties more at LT, but I'm sure he's nowhere near the top half of starting LTs for penalties and sacks allowed.

In answer to someone else's post, he was highly inconsistent last season. He played well v. Jason Taylor for example but then poorly vs. far lesser DEs.

[Statman]

If he was one of only two lineman to start, of course he's gonna have more penalties than everyone else (except maybe the other guy)
Let me put it this way also, the team's linemen had 13 holding penalties last season. Of those, Gandy had 6, or about half of them.

[Stewie]

LOL

Gandy started 16 games.
Teague 16, Villarrial 15, and Anderson 14.

On a per start basis, Anderson led the team with .64 penalties per start, but most were False Starts. Gandy was second at .50 pps, but most were holdings.

After that it drops off dramatically. Villarrial at .33, Jerman at .33, Peters at .30, Teague at .19, and Williams at .17.

It's natural for him to have a few penalties more at LT, but I'm sure he's nowhere near the top half of starting LTs for penalties and sacks allowed.

In answer to someone else's post, he was highly inconsistent last season. He played well v. Jason Taylor for example but then poorly vs. far lesser DEs.

According to your own numbers, anderson had 30% more penalties per start.

Which proves.. nothing.. just like all the other stats in this thread.

There's holding on every play. The NFL protects quarterbacks who are usually right handed. So it doesn't surprise me that our LT gets called for holding more than other positions on the line.

If you're really the stat man, you should show me the numbers for every NFL team regarding the number of holding penalties the LT gets vs other positions, then tell me if Gandy is within one or two standard deviations of the mean.

[Goobylal]

Absolutely not true. Jennings' numbers were mostly at LT where he played most of his time in Buffalo. They were about twice as good as Gandy's.

Again, have you got a link to your numbers?
http://snap.stats.com/stats/nflinfo/playerstats.asp?id=5543&Submit=Go

As to Gandy being gone, I won't argue. He's simply not that good.
To receive LT money, I agree. I'd like to see him at RT and pay him accordingly, but now that he's had a taste of LT, he'll always be convinced he can play it and should be paid like a guy like Jennings. Hopefully I'm wrong and he'll stay-on as a decently-paid RT, but I don't see that happening.

There's no argument however that he's as good as Jennings was.
Again most of my argument is based on the fact that Jenning's first year as a starting LT (2002, since he was playing RT in 2001, trust me) wasn't all that great, and Gandy's last year (not technically his first year playing LT, but...) wasn't either. But he was solid and hopefully will build on that. If not, Peters' LT career gets started sooner and Gandy moves to RT and does better than he would have at LT.

McNally hasn't done anything with anyone. Peters, maybe. But Peters has ideal size and athleticism. IMO the reason he didn't go in the draft was because teams weren't sure and didn't want to take a gamble. But what does it say for our front office that our best linemen in years appears to be an undrafted free agent? If they were on their toes and had believed he would do what he's doing they'd have at least used a 7th then.
I'm skeptical as to how much input McNally had on the O-line, and as they say, you can't make chicken salad out of chicken Mike Williams. Basically with the pick and money the Bills spent on MW, TD FORCED McNally to start him at RT, even though McNally said when he first came to Buffalo that MW would be better-served at OG. He was also forced to stick with Teague, an out-of-place OT playing OC, again because TD had spent a ton on him. Those are 2 critical positions. Then the Bills let Jennings go, because he was offered mad money and because he was injury-prone, and basically no better than a slightly above average LT WHEN he was healthy. So that left a hole at LT that Gandy surprisingly filled. At RG it's mostly been fine, although at LG is where I might give you that McNally hasn't done much.

Good discussing with you.
Same here.

[Statman]

According to your own numbers, anderson had 30% more penalties per start.

Which proves.. nothing.. just like all the other stats in this thread.

There's holding on every play. The NFL protects quarterbacks who are usually right handed. So it doesn't surprise me that our LT gets called for holding more than other positions on the line.

If you're really the stat man, you should show me the numbers for every NFL team regarding the number of holding penalties the LT gets vs other positions, then tell me if Gandy is within one or two standard deviations of the mean.
Uh, ... OK. But we weren't comparing Anderson and Gandy, were we? For a guard, the penalties and lapses in play that Anderson exhibited last season were inexcusable. For a player like him, at his contract, to be released after one season says a lot. There aren't a lot of people saying Anderson was good.

We were comparing Jennings and Gandy, and even there, there's not much of a comparison. Jennings is clearly the better LT when both are healthy.

Comparing a LT to a LG isn't an apples to apples comparison. Gandy compares best to Anderson however than to any other lineman last season when it comes to penalties, again, which doesn't say much for him.

[Statman]

http://snap.stats.com/stats/nflinfo/playerstats.asp?id=5543&Submit=Go

To receive LT money, I agree. I'd like to see him at RT and pay him accordingly, but now that he's had a taste of LT, he'll always be convinced he can play it and should be paid like a guy like Jennings. Hopefully I'm wrong and he'll stay-on as a decently-paid RT, but I don't see that happening.

Again most of my argument is based on the fact that Jenning's first year as a starting LT (2002, since he was playing RT in 2001, trust me) wasn't all that great, and Gandy's last year (not technically his first year playing LT, but...) wasn't either. But he was solid and hopefully will build on that. If not, Peters' LT career gets started sooner and Gandy moves to RT and does better than he would have at LT.

I'm skeptical as to how much input McNally had on the O-line, and as they say, you can't make chicken salad out of chicken Mike Williams. Basically with the pick and money the Bills spent on MW, TD FORCED McNally to start him at RT, even though McNally said when he first came to Buffalo that MW would be better-served at OG. He was also forced to stick with Teague, an out-of-place OT playing OC, again because TD had spent a ton on him. Those are 2 critical positions. Then the Bills let Jennings go, because he was offered mad money and because he was injury-prone, and basically no better than a slightly above average LT WHEN he was healthy. So that left a hole at LT that Gandy surprisingly filled. At RG it's mostly been fine, although at LG is where I might give you that McNally hasn't done much.

Same here.
Good post. I'll only take issue with Jennings being "slightly above average." IMO he was solidly above average and improving well. Splitting hairs I realize. If we had five linemen that could play at Jennings' level we'd have one of the top 10 lines in the league.

I will also discount Jennings' first season at LT for that reason, it was his first in his second season in the NFL. In his third and fourth seasons, he allowed only 2 sacks in '03 but had 10 penalties, but only 4 holds. 4 holds and 2 sacks isn't bad for a LT. That was only 11 starts however.

In his last season with us he started 14 games and had only 3 false starts, no holdings, and allowed 4 sacks, which for a LT isn't bad.

It'll be interesting if they make that switch of Peters to LT. It might be a bit early though. Who knows. Now's as good a time as any I suppose.

[Goobylal]

Good post. I'll only take issue with Jennings being "slightly above average." IMO he was solidly above average and improving well. Splitting hairs I realize. If we had five linemen that could play at Jennings' level we'd have one of the top 10 lines in the league.

I will also discount Jennings' first season at LT for that reason, it was his first in his second season in the NFL. In his third and fourth seasons, he allowed only 2 sacks in '03 but had 10 penalties, but only 4 holds. 4 holds and 2 sacks isn't bad for a LT. That was only 11 starts however.

In his last season with us he started 14 games and had only 3 false starts, no holdings, and allowed 4 sacks, which for a LT isn't bad.

It'll be interesting if they make that switch of Peters to LT. It might be a bit early though. Who knows. Now's as good a time as any I suppose.
When talking about Jennings, I include his injury history. I'd agree with you if he were able to stay healthy for all 16 games a year. That's why I'm glad the Bills let him go and true to form (although to the extreme) he got injured last year. Again I think he would have been a Pro Bowl RT had he stayed there but TD screwed the pooch by drafting a guy they THOUGHT could play LT, couldn't even play RT but played him there anyway and moved Jennings to LT, where he got what I expect Gandy will get next year when he's an UFA, i.e. "I'm a LT and I want LT money" disease.

[ArcticWildMan]

When the LG next to you blows and can't block a 98 year old, you're going to have holding penalties. I'd rather a guy draw a holding penalty than have our QB get sacked and/or hurt.

Give the guy a solid Guard to play next to him and he might just be a pleasant surprise.

[Statman]

When talking about Jennings, I include his injury history. I'd agree with you if he were able to stay healthy for all 16 games a year. That's why I'm glad the Bills let him go and true to form (although to the extreme) he got injured last year. Again I think he would have been a Pro Bowl RT had he stayed there but TD screwed the pooch by drafting a guy they THOUGHT could play LT, couldn't even play RT but played him there anyway and moved Jennings to LT, where he got what I expect Gandy will get next year when he's an UFA, i.e. "I'm a LT and I want LT money" disease.
Yeah, we didn't have a choice but to let him walk. There's no way that Gandy gets anything close to what Jennings got though. He was unreliable for McGahee to run wide on last season and he's simply not viewed by many as being very good. This season will tell, but if one word can define his play it's inconsistency. He'll really need to step up and be consistent this season if he's even gonna challenge for a starting spot on a decent team if he leaves Buffalo. He will be lucky to get half the contract that Jennings got.

[Statman]

When the LG next to you blows and can't block a 98 year old, you're going to have holding penalties. I'd rather a guy draw a holding penalty than have our QB get sacked and/or hurt.

Give the guy a solid Guard to play next to him and he might just be a pleasant surprise.
Point taken. And his 7 sacks allowed, which is high, even for a LT, those all came through the inside?

Can't a solid LT also help a LG though too? Which would be a better OL, one with two standout Gs or one with two standout Ts?

Consider, that the Bears made no move to retain him in Chicago. They took a shot on a 30-year old T on his downside instead. Gandy averaged more than one sack allowed every other game in Chicago. That's a lot. Holding, sacks, are essentially one in the same.

Also, a stat that doesn't seem to be tracked is pressures allowed. That's key too. Actual sacks can vary dependent upon opponents played and situations and other stuff. Sacks allowed are the DB equivalent of INTs whereas pressures allowed (which throw a play off) are the equivalent to passes defensed, a tracked, but often overlooked stat for DBs, yet a very revealing one.

We'll see. If Willis can't run behind Gandy again however, then Gandy simply isn't that good.

[GarnOFreak]

"that's 400 yards and 40 sacks."

So what you're saying is the number of sacks would go down significantly from when Drew BLedsoe was here? The Yards would have been closer if he could have backed up faster....alas stone feet meant he got dropped where he caught the snap.

I think that the 1 sack/1Holding Penalty every other game is not what they want(other posters) but about the maximum bad play they are willing to tolerate. If Bennie only got hit as many times as you say for Penalties(and I know the Ravens fans were screaming in joy when he left there about his penalty causing, because I asked on several boards) then he must have had them at really critical moments because we were groaning constantly last year about the OL and him in particular.

[GarnOFreak]

"Can't a solid LT also help a LG though too? Which would be a better OL, one with two standout Gs or one with two standout Ts? "

Not sure, I'll go ask the packers if having a set of quality Guards makes a difference in the play of the line. Just need to find a team that let two good OTs go to compare which freefalled faster.

[Statman]

"that's 400 yards and 40 sacks."

So what you're saying is the number of sacks would go down significantly from when Drew BLedsoe was here? The Yards would have been closer if he could have backed up faster....alas stone feet meant he got dropped where he caught the snap.

I think that the 1 sack/1Holding Penalty every other game is not what they want(other posters) but about the maximum bad play they are willing to tolerate. If Bennie only got hit as many times as you say for Penalties(and I know the Ravens fans were screaming in joy when he left there about his penalty causing, because I asked on several boards) then he must have had them at really critical moments because we were groaning constantly last year about the OL and him in particular.
Well, 1 sack/1 holding penalty every other game isn't what Gandy brought last year. He had 6 holdings and 7 sacks for 13 total in 16 games, nearly one per game. Somehow I also doubt that his best games there were our three toughest opponents. There's no way that anyone can justify that as even average. It's not good. Now what happens this season remains to be seen. But if every starting player on the offense committed the equivalent it would cost us close to 100 yards per game in one form or another, either lost yards/downs or penalty yards.

It's funny how some people view the objective.

6 holdings, 7 sacks allowed. If that satisfies some people then it certainly helps explain the acceptance for the mediocre in Buffalo these days. I just don't know what else to tell you. I'm not satisfied with that kind of play from our LT and if we get it again, I seriously doubt that there will be many fans that will be.

[Statman]

Again, I'm sure that means he's letting guys get through that aren't logging sacks but pressuring our QBs too. They are usually proportional.

[Stewie]

Uh, ... OK. But we weren't comparing Anderson and Gandy, were we? For a guard, the penalties and lapses in play that Anderson exhibited last season were inexcusable. For a player like him, at his contract, to be released after one season says a lot. There aren't a lot of people saying Anderson was good.

We were comparing Jennings and Gandy, and even there, there's not much of a comparison. Jennings is clearly the better LT when both are healthy.

Comparing a LT to a LG isn't an apples to apples comparison. Gandy compares best to Anderson however than to any other lineman last season when it comes to penalties, again, which doesn't say much for him.

Tony Boselli is a better LT than Gandy too. When he's healthy. He wont be on the field this year.

What's your point?

[Goobylal]

Yeah, we didn't have a choice but to let him walk. There's no way that Gandy gets anything close to what Jennings got though. He was unreliable for McGahee to run wide on last season and he's simply not viewed by many as being very good. This season will tell, but if one word can define his play it's inconsistency. He'll really need to step up and be consistent this season if he's even gonna challenge for a starting spot on a decent team if he leaves Buffalo. He will be lucky to get half the contract that Jennings got.
Most likely, but it won't stop Gandy from looking for one. I'm sure the Bills will offer a deal worth about $2.5M a year and tell him they want him to play RT, but he'll balk, test the market, and find pretty much the same offers and still leave. Or there might be some team desperate for a LT who pays him a lot more, I don't know. But I think he's gone just the same.