O-line puts grindstone to Jets' nose
Jenkins held in check while Bills run wild
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — You want motivated? Try the Buffalo Bills' offensive line.
The line was manhandled by the New York Jets in the earlier meeting, holding the Bills to 30 yards rushing. The linemen promised each other they would do better the next time around, and they were true to their resolve.
With their front five paving the way, the Bills rushed for a season-high 187 yards (5.8 per carry) against the Jets' fourth-ranked run defense Sunday.
"We had a score to settle, man," center Duke Preston said. "After what the Jets did to us the last game, we wanted to get even. We went out with that purpose and we shoved it down their throats."
In order to establish a ground game, the Bills knew what they had to do: block Kris Jenkins.
The Jets' mammoth 6-foot-4, 349-pound nose tackle dominated the Bills' interior line in a 26-17 win Nov. 2. He was virtually unblockable, spending most of the afternoon in the Bills' backfield.
On Sunday, Jenkins was barely visible with two tackles and one quarterback hit.
"Kris Jenkins is a really, really good, phenomenal player," left guard Derrick Dockery said. "We knew coming into this game, whether it was double teams or triple teams, we made up our minds that we can't let this guy in the middle beat us. So whatever it takes to beat him. Sometimes you've got to double and triple team him. You can't block him one on one."
Whatever the Bills did to Jenkins, it worked.
Marshawn Lynch ran 21 times for 127 yards. Fred Jackson added 31 yards on seven attempts, including a physical 11-yard touchdown in which he dragged defenders the final 5 yards to the end zone.
Lynch's day allowed him to go over 1,000 yards (1,002) for the second straight season. He joined Joe Cribbs and Willis McGahee as the only Bills backs to gain 1,000 yards in their first two seasons.
The Bills' offensive line did a good job of getting movement on Jenkins and not allowing him to get upfield. The Bills succeeded in getting outside, and when the interior line was able to redirect Jenkins, Lynch and Jackson were able to cut back and find creases.
It's a similar tactic used by the Denver Broncos, who ran for 127 yards (5.1 per carry) in a 34-17 win over the Jets two weeks ago.
"That's the way our run game works with these 3-4 noses," Preston said. "You're not going to blow the guy off the ball. You're not going to have him 5 yards deep. We get a stalemate and maybe we get a yard or 2, and our backs do such an amazing job of setting defenders up with head fakes. Not only that, they will fake one way and put their foot in the ground and it's like trying to tackle a freight train when they run downhill. They make our jobs easier."
The Bills' running game has been much better during the second half of the season, but players felt the team got away from it in last week's 16-3 loss to Miami.
Offensive coordinator Turk Schonert heard their pleas and put the game in the O-line's hands.
"We ran the ball well. That was good to see," Schonert said. "I kind of challenged our guys this week about the run game. Some guys were clamoring for the run last week. I showed them we didn't run the ball last week.
"We were sputtering running the ball. I kind of said show me. You want to run the ball? We'll run the ball and we did. We ran it as good as anybody's run it against this team."
Log into MyBuffalo to post a comment
MyBuffalo is the new social network from Buffalo.com. Your MyBuffalo account lets you comment on and rate stories at buffalonews.com. You can also head over to mybuffalo.com to share your blog posts, stories, photos, and videos with the community. Join now or learn more.
Reader comments