Bills' Butler set to tackle new job
Practice time spent improving footwork
Brad Butler worked overtime on the Buffalo Bills' practice field Tuesday to get some extra tutoring on his pass-protection techniques.
Butler has 3-1/2 months to get ready for his new job … starting right tackle for the Bills … and he's determined to make the most of it.
"I have been working with [offensive line] coach [Sean] Kugler every day for 10 or 15 minutes [after practice] continuing to work on my sets," Butler said. "At tackle, every day it's sets, sets, sets, sets. When you see a tackle get beat, it's usually because he had a bad set. It's something I'm going to continue to have to work at and get better at."
Butler is one of the key pieces to the Bills' offensive puzzle this season. The team is asking him to switch from right guard to a more conspicuous position on the outside of the offensive line.
In 29 starts at guard over the past two seasons, Butler has proven he has the size, the smarts and the attitude to succeed in the NFL. The question he now must answer is: Does he have the foot speed and athleticism to excel at tackle?
The Bills believe he does, in part because it's where he played in college. Butler started 34 games at right tackle at the University of Virginia.
"I think with reps and time, he's going to feel more comfortable at tackle because he's a natural tackle," Kugler said. "His history of being a tackle makes his transition a little easier. He is willing, and that makes it easier from a coaching standpoint, along with the fact he's a worker. Today he was unhappy with one of his sets and he came out here after practice and worked that set until he felt comfortable with it. That's Brad Butler. That's how he approaches it. I don't worry about it because I know how hard he works."
So Butler keeps working his sets, which refers to the angle and posture an offensive linemen assumes in his first couple of steps off the snap of the ball.
"If you're going against an extremely fast guy you're going to want to set more vertical [moving almost straight backward] because they're going to want a quicker path to the quarterback," Butler said. "Whereas if you're facing a stronger guy, you want to set with more width and be ready for a bull rush. It's a little give and take, whereas at guard it's pretty much the same set every time."
"At tackle not only do you have different sets according to the guy you're going against, but also there's a lot of dual reading," Butler said. "Dual reading basically means you've got an outside linebacker, an inside linebacker and an end, and you have to take the most dangerous of the three. Usually at guard you don't have too much of that. So that's another thing, learning how to set vertically and look at the whole picture."
At 6-foot-7, 315 pounds, Butler has ideal size for a tackle. He has long arms. Having played two seasons at guard should help some, too.
"On the offensive line, there's a lot of combination blocks, so when I have a block with the guard I'll understand what the guard is going through," Butler said. "If we've got a big nose tackle that week, I'll understand I might not be getting as much help. . . . There's a lot of times, especially versus 3-4 teams, where you're fanning out and the tackle and guard both are working out to the outside linebacker and end."
Butler is pretty familiar with the 3-4 defensive ends in the AFC East.
"I think one thing that will help me is that we play 10 teams that run a 3-4 defense this year," Butler said. "I was at the University of Virginia and we played a 3-4, so I got to block it every day for four years. So hopefully that will ease the transition to tackle."
The biggest adjustment is handling speed pass rushers coming off the edge.
"The biggest difference besides the opponent you're going against is just the space out there, and you have to get used to working in space," he said. "When I was at guard, it was maybe a yard to your right or your left. Now there's 5, 10 yards to the back and side, so that's something I really have to work on, is working in space."
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Fullback Corey McIntyre was back at practice Tuesday after missing all of last week's sessions. McIntyre is charged with a misdemeanor count of exposing himself outside a woman's home in Port St. Lucie, Fla. McIntyre's agent has called the charges "outrageous" and a "horrible case of misidentification." McIntyre declined to comment after practice on his situation on the advice of his lawyers. "It's been difficult," McIntyre said. "But that's all I'm going to comment on the situation because my lawyers told me that. . . . This is my home. I'm happy to be back with my teammates." . . . The only absent players Tuesday were Aaron Schobel, Roscoe Parrish and rookies Jairus Byrd and Dan Urrego (both of whom are not allowed to attend because their colleges have not completed final exams). . . . Reggie Corner made the top defensive play by intercepting a Trent Edwards pass for Terrell Owens on a post-pattern near the goal line."
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