Bills replay: Offensive line survives growing pains
Published: October 26, 2009, 10:31 pm
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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.
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