Schobel gets charge from Bills’ depth
Aaron Schobel is not one to show a lot of emotion. The Pro Bowl defensive end would rather express himself through his play than with his words.
But with the additions on defense this offseason, even the low-key Schobel is excited about the Buffalo Bills’ chances of putting a much better unit on the field.
“I like what they did last year with the offense, and they’ve done it again this year with the defense,” Schobel said during the Bills’ minicamp. “Put it all together and see what happens.”
Schobel likes what he’s seen from defensive tackles Marcus Stroud and Spencer Johnson, linebacker Kawika Mitchell and rookie cornerback Leodis McKelvin. He also is encouraged to see the guys who missed time last season back on the field.
Add it all up and the Bills have a lot of pieces to the defensive puzzle that they didn’t have before.
“The one thing with these guys coming in this year is we’ll have more depth,” Schobel said. “Last year when guys went down, you had guys that hadn’t played before. Now some of those second string guys understand the game and that’s definitely going to help. Depth was needed. If a guy goes down we’ve got somebody who can fill in.”
Stroud might be the most welcome newcomer as far as Schobel is concerned. Schobel’s sack total dropped from a career-best 14 in 2006 to 6z l 1/2 1/3 t season because of the extra attention teams paid to keeping him off their quarterback. Stroud’s ability to command double teams up front could free Schobel to wreak more havoc on opposing backfields.
Schobel also said Stroud, Johnson and Mitchell bring needed size and strength to the front seven.
“I think obviously we’re a little bigger than we were in previous years,” Schobel said. “Even the guys they brought in, as big as they are they run as good as a smaller guy. So we’ll still be a fast defense. We’re just bigger.”
Does bigger mean better? The Bills ranked 31st in total defense last season, but Schobel scoffs at the notion that the number of yards allowed is the only way to judge how good a defense is.
“You’ve got to look at the whole picture,” he said. “What do they base it on? Yards? Touchdowns? Forget yards. Points are what matters. As long as we’re not giving up a lot of points and we’re creating turnovers, and we did a pretty good job of that last year, I don’t care about the ranking.”
What Schobel does care about is winning. The Bills haven’t done a lot of that since he arrived in 2001 as second- round draft pick.
As the longest tenured Bills player along with punter Brian Moorman, Schobel is hungrier than anyone to get into the playoffs.
“I’ve never been there, so I don’t know how it feels to play in the playoffs,” he said.
“But it would be nice to get there at least one time. That’s what we all are working towards.”
A lot of Schobel’s work has been away from the Bills’ facility. He has been an infrequent participant in the organized team activities, though he was here for the mandatory mini-camp, which concluded the offseason workouts.
Missing OTAs could be a major issue to some teams, but the Bills viewed Schobel’s absences as no big deal because he has proved that he’ll be ready to play when training camp arrives.
“We’d like him here every day, there’s no doubt about it,” coach Dick Jauron said. “But there’s also situations, usually with your veteran players who have families and who don’t live in Buffalo year-round, you’d like them to come in for a week, spend some time with their family, and we try to structure our camp so they can do that. We obviously trust them all, but you’ve seen Aaron Schobel perform at a very high level in this league.”
Schobel has spent most of the spring at his home in Columbus, Texas, a small town west of Houston. However, he hasn’t been sitting around the pool all day.
“I’m in good shape,” he said. “This year I think I’ve worked harder than ever, trying to be not just strong but in good condition running-wise. I’ve tried some different stuff. I even tried some aerobics lately. I’m more focused than I have been in the past.
“When I’m here I’m doing what I can do to get better whereas some guys are here just to get through it. If I’m here I’m working on something, trying to figure something out and I’m constantly thinking. Just because I’m not here doesn’t mean I’m not thinking. Whatever it is that I need to do, I feel like I can do it physically.”
