Have the Bills found their franchise LT?

[BillsWin]

Demetrius Bell is having a fantastic year. It is overlooked because we are a bad football team. But the Bills may have addressed one of their biggest weakness by simply doing nothing.

Bell in his first season as a starter was erratic and not very reliable. He allowed five sacks in just 8 games played. The major problem with Bell was that he had no discipline. He was flagged six times for false starts.

A year later and he has improved drastically.

He has had two false starts in nine games. That is a big-time improvement and saves the team some stupid penalty yards.

Now onto sacks allowed. Scouts INC says that Bell has allowed just 1.25 sacks in nine games. That is big league. How big league?

Jake Long- 1.00 sacks allowed in first nine games.
Jammal Brown- 3.00 sacks allowed
Levi Brown- 5.00 sacks allowed
Bryan Bulaga- 4.50 sacks allowed
Jason Peters- 2.00 sacks allowed, but with 3 holding penalties.
Joe Thomas 3.00 sacks allowed
Bryant McKinnie 2.00 sacks allowed

Bell is performing at a level rivaling the top NFL tackles in the game. If he keeps this up, our clear weak link on the offensive line is right tackle. If that isn't the clear weakness already.

[Dujek]

Bell has looked good this year, especially in passing situations. He still needs to make some improvements in the run game.

[Ebenezer]

I'd like a check on how many times the Bills run to the right. That will speak volumes.

[Ginger Vitis]

Scouts INC says that Bell has allowed just 1.25 sacks

Weird..How can you be scored for giving up .25 of a sack?

[mysticsoto]

Bell has looked good this year, especially in passing situations. He still needs to make some improvements in the run game.

I think they all need improvement in the run game!

RT is much improved with Green hurt...did Gailey really need Green hurt to see that?

My only disappointment is Wood. He's not the same as he was last year. I'm hoping that he returns to form next year or we may need to start thinking of a new Guard.

All that being said, our backups are horrible - we need to address our depth in the lower rds next draft.

But yes, Bell (who I was pretty high on when we got him despite everyone's assertion that he was a waste) is playing pretty well!

[OpIv37]

Franchise LT? That's insane.

I think Bell is looking like a serviceable LT, and we can get by with him for a year or two while we address other glaring holes on this team. But he is by no means a franchise LT.

[ptd86]

I think Fitz makes the line look better than it is. He gets rid of the ball quick and always seems to being getting hit hard as soon as he releases it

[Jan Reimers]

It doesn't matter how well Bell plays. He was not a college stud with a big name and a high draft number. Therefore, to some on here, he will never really be a good player.

[mayotm]

Franchise LT? That's insane.

I think Bell is looking like a serviceable LT, and we can get by with him for a year or two while we address other glaring holes on this team. But he is by no means a franchise LT.

I agree that he's not a "franchise" (whatever that subjective term means) at this point. However, I disagree that he's only good enough to start for a year or two. He could be the starting LT for years to come. Especially if he continues improving. He is young and still quite raw. If I'm not mistaken, he didn't play high school football and only played two years of college. So he's been playing football for five years. It's not unreasonable to think he's going to contiune getting better.

[ghz in pittsburgh]

I liked how this coaching staff eased Bell in; in fact he's still being taken out from time to time 9 weeks into the season. It's very smart way of handling players coming back from serious injury - maybe the organization finally learned how to deal with injury issues.

I'd not call Bell a franchise LT because I just don't think he's part of the cornerstone the Bills to build on. Maybe he can develop into that role down the road through continued imrpovement.

Being in Steel town I can't help to notice that the Steelers have not had a franchise LT for years and they have won two superbowls and is generally recognized as a power house. I'm more of the opinion that QB is much more important. Let's face it, there are guys like Dilfer to won superbowls; but the percentage of top QB leading team to superbowl wins are much higher.

[Beebe's Kid]

It doesn't matter how well Bell plays. He was not a college stud with a big name and a high draft number. Therefore, to some on here, he will never really be a good player.

He is Karl Malone's boy, however, and if somebody didn't know that, that certainly makes him better.

[ddaryl]

there is a lot to be said by sometimes just sticking to your own guys and giving them a chance to succeed.

Johnson, Bell, Fitz, Williams all seem to be stepping it up

giving up on guys who don't come around in a year or 2 and replacing them with FA's is the mentality that has put us in the lost decade.

[Beebe's Kid]

I think they all need improvement in the run game!

RT is much improved with Green hurt...did Gailey really need Green hurt to see that?

My only disappointment is Wood. He's not the same as he was last year. I'm hoping that he returns to form next year or we may need to start thinking of a new Guard.

All that being said, our backups are horrible - we need to address our depth in the lower rds next draft.

But yes, Bell (who I was pretty high on when we got him despite everyone's assertion that he was a waste) is playing pretty well!

What were your expectations of Wood??

He has been playing a lot better as the season progresses, too. I wouldn't call him a disappointment at all. In fact he's doing better than I thought he might coming back on a titanium stick. One of the interesting things that I was told about the surgery he had, by a physician, was that the length of the leg is subject to change. That is kind of a big adjustment.

[OpIv37]

It doesn't matter how well Bell plays. He was not a college stud with a big name and a high draft number. Therefore, to some on here, he will never really be a good player.

Yeah, obviously that's it.

It has nothing to do with someone getting too excited about a player who sucked for a year then was slightly above average for 9 games, 8 of which we lost....

[Sell Local Ralph]

Yeah, obviously that's it.

It has nothing to do with someone getting too excited about a player who sucked for a year then was slightly above average for 9 games, 8 of which we lost....

lol now we judge tackles based on wins and losses?

[OpIv37]

lol now we judge tackles based on wins and losses?

we judge everyone based on wins and losses.

This whole thread is loser talk. "we're 1-8, but on the plus side, Demetrius Bell doesn't completely suck anymore."

You'd never hear Colts, Patriots, Steelers, Cowboys or Eagles fans spouting such nonsense.

[jamze132]

we judge everyone based on wins and losses.

This whole thread is loser talk. "we're 1-8, but on the plus side, Demetrius Bell doesn't completely suck anymore."

You'd never hear Colts, Patriots, Steelers, Cowboys or Eagles fans spouting such nonsense.

I doubt you would hear Bills fans talking like that if we didn't suck balls.

[mayotm]

we judge everyone based on wins and losses.

This whole thread is loser talk. "we're 1-8, but on the plus side, Demetrius Bell doesn't completely suck anymore."

You'd never hear Colts, Patriots, Steelers, Cowboys or Eagles fans spouting such nonsense.

Looks like somebody is overly pissy this morning. There's absolutely nothing wrong with fans trying to find some positives in this crappy season. Everybody realizes that as a whole the team sucks. So, most of us are simply trying to analyze which areas / players may be good enough to stick and build around.

[WeAreArthurMoates]

I agree, Bell has played real good. I don't care that he wont be an allpro, he's a solid LT and once he gets stronger in the run game, he will be legit. The kid is really having a good year. What's even better is that there's a few RT's in this draft that could start immediatly. Of course I'd love to sign Ryan Harris or Jeremy Trueblood.

[THRILLHO]

He has improved simply in the fact we do not hear his name every week. Last year, and the start of this year we kept hearing his name, but for penalties and blown assignments.