Well I've now had three weeks worth of games to look at the Bills offense and defense, and have a few observations about both. But for now I think I'll focus on our running game woes.
From what I've seen it looks like we have two problems, one the offensive line and two the running back.
The offensive line:
The problems with the O-line have been apparent since the preseason. What are these problems you might ask? Well simply put no-one from Pucillo to Jennings can run block. Last yeast we got decent run blocking from Mike Williams, M. Sullivan, and R. Brown. With Teague being below adequate, and Jennings barely holding his own. Well, what has changed? Sullivan, who was a terrible pass blocker is gone in favor of Pucillo, who just happens to be one of the worse run blockers I've seen. Throw in the fact it looks like R. Brown aged 20 years overnight and can no-longer play, the fact Teague is just as lousy run blocker as ever and Jennings is nothing to write home about and you have a huge problem with the running game. That said, I still noticed that the o-line as bad as it has been in this department has still been opening holes, which brings us to...
The Running Back:
Or I should say more specifically, Travis Henry. It was no surprise to me that once Joe Burns got into the game against the fins; mystically holes seemed to open up. Simply put, Henry has run with blinders this whole year. He does not see the holes anymore, and just lowers his head and plows into the backs of his linemen. What will do this to a RB? Well, two things.
We had a senior RB when I was coaching who started to run like Travis and it took our coaching staff to sit down with him and tell him to take the 3 yard gain. You see, Travis has spent the whole off-season hearing how great he is. Then this young hotshot shows up, and Travis thinks he has to make 10 yards a pop, and is intentionally passing up the sure 3 yard gain looking for a game breaking run. In essence he is hesitating then bouncing outside thinking to find more room. Just watch those games over, you will see it over and over, Henry will have an easy 2 or 3 if he cuts inside, and instead he keeps drifting outside, then turns his shoulders toward the sideline and tries to take the corner.
The second problem is that Henry is clearly worrying too much about fumbling. When Henry gets near contact he is lowering his head and plowing forward blindly. When a RB starts to do these two things he no-longer is an effective runner. What is worse is the longer his slump goes the more he will try to force it and bad habit no.1 will continue to get worse not better. We solved the problem with our back by telling him that if he was not gaining 3 yards a pop... just 3 yards, he would sit. We told him that he had to learn to take what the D is giving him, and not force it, that you can't gain 10 yards a pop if its not there. And that he was hurting the team. He listened, and the next week ripped off a 150 yard game at 6 yards a pop... and he didn't make a single bounce to the outside... he simply took the cutbacks when they were there, and ran smart, not greedy.
Solutions?
Well, to the RB problem, it will take a coach to sit down with Travis and get his head back into the game. Get him back to simply gaining yards. Now as to the run blocking? Well there are things you can do to open holes even with a poor O-line. I would like to see more counter’s and more pulling guard action. I’d also like to see us get into more pitchouts if for no other reason that to make the opposing LBers respect the outside run, and I’d like to see more quick hitting inside runs called, simple dives would be fine in my book. In the end run blocking is an attitude, and your coaching staff has to give the o-line confidence, because right now they are feeling awful, doubting themselves, questioning their abilities. That can be a disaster if not rectified soon.
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