When you go with a young offensive line as the Buffalo Bills have, there are going to be

growing pains. There will be some highs, but plenty more lows. Such an experience played out

for the Bills' front five in Sunday's 20-9 win over the Carolina Panthers.

While the Bills' offensive line did a decent job on some plays, quarterback Ryan

Fitzpatrick was under duress a lot. A review of the game showed that Fitzpatrick got sacked

twice, knocked down five times and pressured seven times on 24 drop backs.

At least he got out of the game in one piece.

Panthers Pro Bowl defensive end Julius Peppers gave Bills tackles Demetrius Bell and Jamon

Meredith fits with his tremendous speed off the edge.

Peppers impacted the pass rush when he didn't get pressure. When the Bills double-teamed

him, defensive ends Tyler Brayton, Charles Johnson, Everette Brown and defensive tackle

Damione Lewis whipped one-on-one blocks to get into the backfield.

"With somebody like Julius Peppers, you can change up your techniques and do whatever you

can, but there's no denying that he's just a natural beast and physical specimen," Meredith

said. "He beat me up pretty good."

On first down during the Bills' second possession, Fitzpatrick's pass to wide receiver Lee

Evans fell incomplete when Fitzpatrick got pushed to the ground by Lewis, who drove rookie

left guard Andy Levitre into the backfield with a bull rush.

In the second quarter, the Bills tried to set up a screen pass to running back Marshawn

Lynch. But before Fitzpatrick could make a throw, Brayton was on top of him for a sack. Once

Levitre slid outside to be a lead blocker for Lynch, Brayton had a free run at the

quarterback.

On a third-down play early in the second half, Meredith tried to ride Peppers outside, but

Peppers dipped his shoulder, turned the corner and forced Fitzpatrick to step into the pocket.

Fitzpatrick had receiver Josh Reed open in the left flat, but saw Peppers coming from behind.

Fitzpatrick hit the deck as Peppers and defensive end Everette Brown fell on top of him for a

sack.

Later in the third quarter, Fitzpatrick had Evans open near the Bills' sideline for a first

down. But Fitzpatrick's throw sailed well out of bounds as he was planted into the ground by

Brown, who used his speed to beat Bell off the edge.

Fitzpatrick wasn't the only one who had trouble on Sunday. Running backs Lynch and Fred

Jackson didn't get much done either with 42 rushing yards between them. Seven of their 22

combined rushing attempts went for zero or negative yards.

The O-linemen didn't get much of a push in the run game. Often times, they were the ones

who got pushed back. Such was the case when Jackson was tackled in the end zone for a safety.

After a false start penalty on Bell put the ball at the 2-yard line, Jackson headed toward

the left side. But defensive tackle Hollis Thomas shot a gap and powered past Levitre, who

couldn't reach him for the block. Defensive end Brayton also blew by Bell and left defensive

end Johnson pushed tight end Derek Fine into the end zone. With Levitre and Fine on the ground

in front of him, Jackson was a sitting duck as he got corralled by Thomas, Brayton and

Johnson.

The Bills' last possession of the first half was a rough one for the offense. Lynch

suffered a 1-yard loss on first down when center Geoff Hangartner was beaten by Panthers

linebacker Landon Johnson. Hangartner was victimized on the following play as Thomas fought

off the block to stuff Lynch at the line of scrimmage.

It wasn't all bad for the offensive line. Fitzpatrick had a clean pocket on his 50-yard

completion to Evans in the fourth quarter. The Panthers had eight men in the box and initially

rushed five. Safety Chris Harris came on a delayed blitz up the middle, but Hangartner picked

him up, giving Fitzpatrick a chance to step into the throw.

On Lynch's 7-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, the Panthers' defense got drawn

toward the right side of the offensive formation. Bell and Levitre did a nice job of pushing

the backside defenders to the inside, which allowed Lynch to cut back to the left and run

untouched into the end zone.