Where was the blocking today?
 

I think up front is where we might have seen the effects of the incredibly mentally draining week.

The OL looked out of gas from the start and the breakdowns in protection seemed to me to signal a lack of focus.

We should have been able to pound it on them all day long.

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

o-line didn't show up. That d-line only had 10 sacks all year. That was unacceptable.

Red zone offense and the o-line lost this game.

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

Yeah, Portis had zero holes and lanes. JC was under pressure all day - I mean all day long.

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

Absolutely...I hadn't seen the Bills play this year to know what kind of D they had but they constantly brought pressure that the O line could NOT handle it at all. They beat Campbell up and shut Portis down. You can expect the Bears to do the exact same but maybe even more effective after seeing that.

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

The O-line was the biggest reason of this loss. Portis had no openings and Campbell was getting pounded. I want to see some young blood added to that unit in the draft.

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

[QUOTE=SouperMeister;387527]The O-line was the biggest reason of this loss. Portis had no openings and Campbell was getting pounded. I want to see some young blood added to that unit in the draft.[/QUOTE]

It was the worst performance I have ever seen from our O-line. No holes for Portis, getting blown off the line of scrimmage, missed blocks in pass protection, false starts at critical times etc. We definitely should use our mid and late round picks on O-linemen. Unfortunately, we need help at DE, possibly at DT, and at FS. :(

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

[quote=Sheriff Gonna Getcha;387532]It was the worst performance I have ever seen from our O-line. No holes for Portis, getting blown off the line of scrimmage, missed blocks in pass protection, false starts at critical times etc. We definitely should use our mid and late round picks on O-linemen. Unfortunately, we need help at DE, possibly at DT, and at FS. :([/quote]

It was an uninspiring performance in the trenches on both sides of the ball. Wade was in and out of the game and stunk when he was in there, Samuels had a false start in the red zone on 4th and 1 that caused us to settle for a field goal, and JC was running for his life or on his back the whole game. Not to mention we couldn't run the ball or stop the run and Edwards had way to much time. Putrid.

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

yeah, the O line was the main reason we lost this game, but I was amazed by the level of play from alot of the other player on this team. Springs and Smoot were playing great, and most of the other D looked good. Moss and Caldwell looked awesome as well, and I thought campbell looked good. I couldn't tell if there were any receivers open when we got into the redzone, or if the hesitation was due to not wanting to turn the ball over like he's done the last 2 weeks, but we have a good foundation on offense now and we haven't had that in a long time.

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

I think the offensive line, more than probably any other facet of the game, requires the utmost in concentration and coordination.

What we saw today was an already struggling and banged up O-line suffering the mental and emotional abuse of the week from hell. It's no surprise at all that they looked bad todya.

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

I really think putting Heyer in there for the rest of the year would be a great idea. Just to give him so more experience. I think he is showing a lot of promise and could be a huge part of this line in years to come. If Randy Thomas doesen't intend on coming back next and we do lose to the Bears, I would like to see him sit for the remainder of the season to make sure we don't put him at risk for further injury.

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

Yeah, I am with the "O-Line didn't cut it." I am with SGG - we need some O-line draft picks.

I would go further. I think that the this season has been a testament to the lack of depth and youth on our line. Sure, there has been plenty of blame to go around, but I just haven't seen the push when we need it. Has our line ever really taken over a game when we need it? I posted earlier in the season (pre-season?) that our line was a concern going forward b/c of its age and lack of depth. Yes, it's been decimated by injuries and the loss of Dock was pretty big, but we have no real youth to step forward.

I think this is where all our trades and RFA signings have really hurt us. Those mid-rounders are where you find the depth and those were the ones we traded away.

<sigh> I know I am not saying anything new. I just am frustrated that a management team that built a championship through its o-line didn't see this coming. More than anything else, we need to build a championship line. After that, all else will follow. As for the D, I think we will be fine.

As far as I am concerned - if our draft consisted of 6 O-linemen I would not be dissatisfied (as long as we hit on 2 or three of of 'em).

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

[QUOTE=JoeRedskin;387571]Yeah, I am with the "O-Line didn't cut it." I am with SGG - we need some O-line draft picks.

I would go further. I think that the this season has been a testament to the lack of depth and youth on our line. Sure, there has been plenty of blame to go around, but I just haven't seen the push when we need it. Has our line ever really taken over a game when we need it? I posted earlier in the season (pre-season?) that our line was a concern going forward b/c of its age and lack of depth. Yes, it's been decimated by injuries and the loss of Dock was pretty big, but we have no real youth to step forward.

I think this is where all our trades and RFA signings have really hurt us. Those mid-rounders are where you find the depth and those were the ones we traded away.

<sigh> I know I am not saying anything new. I just am frustrated that a management team that built a championship through its o-line didn't see this coming. More than anything else, we need to build a championship line. After that, all else will follow. As for the D, I think we will be fine.

As far as I am concerned - if our draft consisted of 6 O-linemen I would not be dissatisfied (as long as we hit on 2 or three of of 'em).[/QUOTE]


Good post. I agree that the trades have hurt our depth along the line. The coaches gambled that we'd stay relatively healthy and have the playmakers to make our offense explosive and our defense dominant. It was a reasonable gamble to make, it just turned out that the gamble didn't work this season. Then again, look at our secondary. We had the deepest secondary in the league and then we lost our #2 CB, FS, and our #1 and #3 CBs have been injured at various times during the season. Sometimes lady luck isn't so kind.

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

I expected a flat performance just like we saw, after the week the team went thru I didn't expect anything. The death of ST really has affected the team and fans, it's too hard to get motivated and fired up after such a loss.

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

And to think that this all happened against a run defense ranked #23 in the league.

By the way, is the jumbo package really working anymore? During the Comcast Postgame show, Ray Brown said that it tends to bunch the defense together, when trying to spread them out might work better.

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

[quote=Beemnseven;387582]And to think that this all happened against a run defense ranked #23 in the league.

By the way, is the jumbo package really working anymore? During the Comcast Postgame show, [B]Ray Brown said that it tends to bunch the defense together, when trying to spread them out might work better[/B].[/quote]I totally agree with Ray, and I've been saying it for weeks. Our Jumbo package success inside the opponent's 10 yard line is pathetic. Beside that, Portis is much better suited to running with the field spread out. Until the O-line either gets healthy or adds better personnel, I'd just as soon see that package put on the shelf the rest of the season.

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

Sellers being on the shelf certainly didn't help with blocking today.

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

[quote=Beemnseven;387582]And to think that this all happened against a run defense ranked #23 in the league.

By the way, is the jumbo package really working anymore? During the Comcast Postgame show, Ray Brown said that it tends to bunch the defense together, when trying to spread them out might work better.[/quote]The Jumbo is wonderful when you can put a hat on a hat and drive them off the ball.

Frankly, it doesn't matter what formation we line up in. The Bills decided that one more guy than we could block was going in the box. Then we proceeded to leave guys unblocked and beat our heads against the wall until we bled to death.

You can't control how the defense is going to play you. But once they commit, you can control how you are going to beat them. Shitty, shitty job of making adjustments today.

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

[quote=GTripp0012;387718]shitty, shitty job of making adjustments all season.[/quote]

Fixed....

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

I've got to admit that the Jumbo package hasn't seemed to work so well for us. That said, I'm not sure if spread formations would do wonders for our running game. Aside from Thrash, are any of our wideouts any good at run-blocking?

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

[QUOTE=SouperMeister;387527]The O-line was the biggest reason of this loss. Portis had no openings and Campbell was getting pounded. I want to see some young blood added to that unit in the draft.[/QUOTE]

What we need is to bring Russ Grimm in as our OL coach, he's know to turn around OL overnite look at Pittsburgh and Arizona. The other thing that we need and the reason we can't score on the redzone is an impact WR. For the defense a DE, FS, DB.

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

[QUOTE=dgack;387713]Sellers being on the shelf certainly didn't help with blocking today.[/QUOTE]

yeah I saw him missing the last 2 weeks as the biggest key to the pitiful run game cuz yoder and company have been completely unable to open up running lanes in his stead. plus he'd also have been another option for all of the 3rd/4th and short plays as well.

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

[quote=GTripp0012;387718]The Jumbo is wonderful when you can put a hat on a hat and drive them off the ball.

Frankly, it doesn't matter what formation we line up in. The Bills decided that one more guy than we could block was going in the box. Then we proceeded to leave guys unblocked and beat our heads against the wall until we bled to death.

You can't control how the defense is going to play you. But once they commit, you can control how you are going to beat them. Shitty, shitty job of making adjustments today.[/quote]

The jumbo stuff needs to be thrown out for now. Enough is enough. It's just not working and if something isn't working then make adjustments. Isn't that was NFL coaches are suppose to do?

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

At least we'll see massive improvement with Randy on thursday...

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

Very dissappointed with the effort today....this one truly hurt. I thought bugel had brought these guys together. and portis......all you have to do is watch him

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

Where was the blocking today? AWOL I guess. With our ragtag group that has come in for injured starters, the emotions of the ST tragedy, etc., this group really struggled today and almost got our franchise QB creamed. Our D-line desperately needs a pass rusher, but now our O-line may be in need of some serious talent from the draft next year. I hope JC can survive the remainder of the season.

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

Did anyone get a tally of how many guys the Bills sent on almost every play? I swear it looked like 6-7 guys came after JC every time. Bad offensive line or not, the Bills gameplan was clearly to just attack the line all day long.

I'm a little surprised that Moss or McCardell weren't able to get open deep given the number of guys that were stacked on the line on almost every down.

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

According to a poster on ES who sat behind the Redskins bench, Portis was letting some of the linemen (particularly Fabini and Wade) have it. The poster didn't know what Portis actually said and perhaps he was just trying to encourage them, but I can't blame him if he was going off.

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

Someone told me he was getting really emotional and imploring them to show some heart out there. To put the BS excuses aside and get the job done. Or at least that was the general jist of it.

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

its impossible to build an o-line without mid-round draft picks. The online will continue to deteriorate throughout the season, thats what old players do.

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

You could tell during the warm-ups CP was ready to roll. He came out in his all burgundy socks and those yellow cleats. For a minute, I thought he was going to sport the striped socks from a couple of years ago.

But the o-line did nothing yesterday. I really don't know how JC played as well as he did because he had guys hanging on him all day long.

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

Fabini and Wade are just a disaster. I had some hope when Heyer came in for a play or two, but Wade was determined to suck and came back in the game. It was the o-line's worst game of the season.

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

Not sure where they were but they wern't at Fed/Ex Field.
They were terrible and almost got JC killed.

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

[quote=70Chip;388000]Fabini and Wade are just a disaster. I had some hope when Heyer came in for a play or two, but Wade was determined to suck and came back in the game. It was the o-line's worst game of the season.[/quote]

I specifically made it point to watch Fabini and Wade. They are both good back-ups at best. I think both should be on the team next year, but not starting. Wade is always, I mean always banged up. He can't stay healthy for an entire series it seems. Also, Pete Kendall has slowed down a bit since the beginning of the season. He's moving on two ailing knees and I'm not sure how much more they dope them up to keep him going. Don't get me wrong, he's not terribly but has seemed to lose some gas as of late.

Samuels is still solid. No real complaints there. He's a real leader on the field too.

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

[quote=SFREDSKIN;387805]What we need is to bring Russ Grimm in as our OL coach, he's know to turn around OL overnite look at Pittsburgh and Arizona. The other thing that we need and the reason we can't score on the redzone is an impact WR. For the defense a DE, FS, DB.[/quote]

If we don't have the players then there is not much anyone can do. That's on the front office. Wade, Fabini and Heyer are not full time starters and they all got manhandled yesterday. Kendall got pushed around too. It might get real ugly on Thurs. The coaches had better adjust and go to a max protection scheme. Yesterday it looked like we wre trying to get 4-5 guys out in the patterns.

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

We miss Sellers and Thrash for their blocking abilities. It doesn't help the issues on our o-line, but they (especially Sellers) are critical to our blocking game.

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

[quote=12thMan;388004]I specifically made it point to watch Fabini and Wade. They are both good back-ups at best. I think both should be on the team next year, but not starting. Wade is always, I mean always banged up. He can't stay healthy for an entire series it seems. Also, Pete Kendall has slowed down a bit since the beginning of the season. He's moving on two ailing knees and I'm not sure how much more they dope them up to keep him going. Don't get me wrong, he's not terribly but has seemed to lose some gas as of late.

Samuels is still solid. No real complaints there. He's a real leader on the field too.[/quote]

Man you hit it right on the head with Wade. He gets hurt before the damn ball is snapped. Now we see why Houston let the guy walk. I know people (including myself) wants a pass rusher but the o-line needs a serious shot of youth.

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

[quote=Sheriff Gonna Getcha;387532]It was the worst performance I have ever seen from our O-line. No holes for Portis, getting blown off the line of scrimmage, missed blocks in pass protection, false starts at critical times etc. We definitely should use our mid and late round picks on O-linemen. Unfortunately, we need help at DE, possibly at DT, and at FS. :([/quote]

I think we are OK at FS...
Doughty is no Taylor :(, but he seems to be good, maybe not Pro Bowl caliber good but def. an effective starter...but he did good job getting to the ball...he didn't get burned on anything deep. I think G. Williams can adjust the scheme to fit Reed into the system permanently.

I am all about the trenches...good teams win the game in the trenches, of all the changes the game has undergone over the last ten-twenty years, that's the one thing that has remained the same...I hope we go all line in the draft this year, maybe even in FA as well...

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

[QUOTE=squrrelco3;388019]I think we are OK at FS...
Doughty is no Taylor :(, but he seems to be good, maybe not Pro Bowl caliber good but def. an effective starter...but he did good job getting to the ball...he didn't get burned on anything deep. I think G. Williams can adjust the scheme to fit Reed into the system permanently.

I am all about the trenches...good teams win the game in the trenches, of all the changes the game has undergone over the last ten-twenty years, that's the one thing that has remained the same...I hope we go all line in the draft this year, maybe even in FA as well...[/QUOTE]

Well I'll throw out what I've been laughed at for (by a few here, I'm keeping a list :) ) the past three years here.

What about moving Shawn Springs to safety...a la Rod Woodson.

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

[quote=12thMan;388004]I specifically made it point to watch Fabini and Wade. They are both good back-ups at best. I think both should be on the team next year, but not starting. Wade is always, I mean always banged up. He can't stay healthy for an entire series it seems. Also, Pete Kendall has slowed down a bit since the beginning of the season. He's moving on two ailing knees and I'm not sure how much more they dope them up to keep him going. Don't get me wrong, he's not terribly but has seemed to lose some gas as of late.

Samuels is still solid. No real complaints there. He's a real leader on the field too.[/quote]

This is why I think we take the best OG available with our second pick this year.

Re: Where was the blocking today?
 

I'd love to know how many times we have run that jumbo package and how many yards we have gained. I'm guess around 30 times and about 2 yards.