With Upgrades Made, Schobel Must Shine

by Brian Galliford on Aug 4, 2008 1:42 PM EDT in Buffalo Bills Opinion

Can Aaron Schobel re-gain his 2006 form? (Photo Source)

He was, perhaps, the least deserving Pro Bowl alternate-elect of the 2007 season. Sure, he'd been there before; he'd even deserved his previous trip, in which a 14-sack season elevated him to a lofty status league-wide (and also led to a big pay day). But 2007's 6.5-sack performance was a let-down for Buffalo Bills defensive end Aaron Schobel.

Known around the league as an effort end more so than for his talents, Schobel's play wasn't all bad in 2007. He was one of Buffalo's better run defenders - though, clearly, that didn't make much of a difference as the Bills were league bottom-dwellers in rush defense. Many of Schobel's teammates dropped like flies, as well - especially on the defensive side of the ball, where by season's end, the team had placed four heavily-involved players (Ryan Denney, Paul Posluszny, Jason Webster, Ko Simpson) on Injured Reserve. Schobel was asked to carry the defense at that point; unlike his Pro Bowl 2006 season, Schobel was not up to the task. It also didn't help that Buffalo's anemic offense, in most cases, did very little to give their defensive counterparts a significant breather.

Those issues, at least on paper, have been eradicated. The team imported Marcus Stroud and Spencer Johnson from Jacksonville and Minnesota, respectively, to give the Bills a deep and versatile corps of defensive tackles. They drafted Chris Ellis from Virginia Tech to be a situational pass rusher, taking some heat off of the team's starters. Kawika Mitchell solidifies the starting linebacking unit, and the team has two experienced reserves there in John DiGiorgio and Keith Ellison. The team stockpiled on cornerbacks during the draft, and their safeties are healthy once again. Unlike 2007, Schobel appears to have plenty of help as he makes his bid to return to 2006 form. He no longer will be asked to carry this defense - but especially on passing downs, he'll be asked to be the unit's catalyst.

Should there be a question, then, whether or not Schobel can return to form? Even during his excellent 14-sack '06 season, Schobel still had stretches in which his presence was not felt. Defenses generally have an easier go of containing Schobel than they do with the league's truly elite pass rushers. Schobel can be a problem for opposing offenses, but he's not a constant force to be reckoned with. The Bills are betting a lot on their shiny new defensive toys to change that; you can make the argument that Stroud is now the team's most important defender, but I'd still give the slight edge to Schobel. This team needs a consistent pass rush more than anything.

Schobel himself, however, doesn't care what his stats look like, so long as they're not giving up points and the team is winning. His head, at least, is in the right place.

"It's all about points. That's what matters. As long as we're not giving up a lot of points and we're creating turnovers, I don't care about the rankings. As long as we're playing and not giving up points, that's what's important. It's points, period."

The excuses have been made, and far more importantly, they've been made non-excuses. Not only does Schobel have help defensively now, he has a lot of it. The front office, through several calculating moves, has put together a deep, versatile, athletic and very fast defense. There are no more excuses for Buffalo's highest-paid player. Time well tell whether or not we'll see 2006 Aaron Schobel or 2007 Aaron Schobel in 2008.

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Comments

Pass Rush

Many on here are very concerned about the pass rush as a whole, and personally, while I saw it to be terrible last year I am a firm believer that the total defense creates pass rush and not just the line, or the line+linebackers.
With that said, I like Schobel and felt he was used improperly last season, even going into coverage, because of all the injuries. We’ll see what type of penetration comes this Saturday.
Also—check buffalobills.com wher Chris Brown mentions both Thomas and Kelly may be out on Saturday. While Devin Thomas’ injury is just something that happens in camp, Kelly seems to have some knee trouble, something many here were weary of going into the draft where the Bills could have taken him. I just hope to see Hardy play.

Protect ya neck!

by killascript on Aug 4, 2008 2:35 PM EDT reply actions

Thanks for the update

I would take Hardy’s bad hammy over Kelly’s bad knees any day.

by Joe P. on Aug 4, 2008 4:20 PM EDT up reply actions

Schobel

should benefit from more push up the middle from the DT’s. Having more depth at the DE position will help keep him fresher at the end of games and the end of the year, when he will be needed even more.

He may not be Mr. Personality, but he’s been a warrior for this franchise for awhile now. I see 2007 as an aberration, not representative of his capabilities persay. IMO, a return to the 2006 form is much more likely with the additions to the D we have on the roster now.

Get the Bills back to the big game!

by Blitz on Aug 4, 2008 3:53 PM EDT reply actions

Buffalo's highest-paid player

Pretty sure Schobel only trails Jason Taylor in sacks the last few years, so yes he gets the bucks and the big question is whether or not the team can stay healthy.

With that said, I don’t expect Jauron to play the starters for very long this preseason. He pretty much knows what he has in the veterans. Maybe the OL will get more time, but that is about it.

by ferris b on Aug 4, 2008 4:39 PM EDT reply actions

I hope that includes Lynch as I don’t see the need to risk him in any shape or form

Protect ya neck!

by killascript on Aug 4, 2008 5:24 PM EDT up reply actions

Number of sacks (by year)

It’s fairly well known that Schobel trails only Taylor in sacks. The question is, in what years? As with everything else, statistics can lie….

2006-2007: Schobel tied for 7th, trailing Merriman, Kampman, Ware, Taylor, Allen, and Dumervil.
2005-2007: Schobel was 8th overall, trailing Merriman, Taylor, Burgess, Kampman, Allen, Ware, and Umenyiora.
2004-2007: Schobel tied for 3rd, trailing just Taylor and Jared Allen.
2003-2007: Schobel was second, trailing only Taylor.
2002-2007: Again, Schobel trailed only Taylor.
2001-2007: Schobel was 7th, behind Taylor, Strahan, KGB, Rice, Little, and Kerney.

Here’s some bonus ones from last year, when people started noticing it:
2005-2006: Schobel was 3rd; ahead of Taylor, but behind Merriman and Burgess
2004-2006: Schobel was 3rd, trailing Peppers and Taylor
2003-2006: Schobel was 2nd, again just trailing Taylor.

So if you claim Schobel was trailing only Taylor, you have to make sure you specify 2002-2007, as that’s the most impressive claim. But I think it’s interesting to note that you can also say that Jared Allen, Michael Strahan, or even Jason Taylor had the second-most sacks in the past few years, just by changing the dates.

by Krenn on Aug 4, 2008 7:53 PM EDT reply actions

Well, I've said my piece plenty of times

I think our pass rush flat out stinks. It should improve this year with Stroud, Mitchell and hopefully Ellis contributing. It’s just the DE’s that I find dragging us down, Schobel included. I saw his dramatic drop in production coming last year (I predicted he’d have no more than 7 sacks) based on his struggles to be consistent. He seemed to get his sacks in bunches against poor competition and based off hustle. He’ll never be confused with a disruptive pass rusher IMO. He just doesn’t supply the pressure this D needs on a consistent basis. Maybe it’s his contract, maybe it’s his inconsistency, maybe it’s something else, but I don’t see him hitting that Pro Bowl level again. I don’t mind the lower sack production, but it really hurts that he and his buddies just can’t get ANY pressure on QB’s, which leads me to….

Denney and Kelsay. Useless and More Useless. The complete lack of any pass rush that those guys provides hurts the rest of the day. Offenses can use RB’s or a TE to chip Schobel without having to worry about the other side. They can also send more receivers out into the patter as fewer blockers are needed to protect the QB. This is killer for us, especially with such a weak secondary that we had last year.

If we don’t see improvement out of our DE’s, with Schobel included, at getting after the QB, all the hopes and aspirations we have for this D will fade away along with any playoff spot we may hope to get….

by Kurupt on Aug 4, 2008 8:33 PM EDT reply actions

Do I really need to tell anybody how much I agree?

Denney and Kelsay. Useless and More Useless.

I agree from a pass rush point of view, they are both solid at stopping the run so I will disagree a little and say that they have their uses. I just hope that Ellis is able to step up and be the pass rusher this team desperately needs.

The time has come for someone to put his foot down. And that foot is me.

by sireric on Aug 4, 2008 9:30 PM EDT up reply actions

Denney has his uses

Kelsay doesn’t, IMO. Looking at the rushing stats last year over at Football Outsiders early this offseason, we were dead last in the league in rushing over Kelsay’s end. I’m too lazy to go back and look for it now though. I think he flat out stinks in pretty much every area other than leadership. He’ll make a play here or there, but at $6M a season, he should be giving us plays every week.

by Kurupt on Aug 4, 2008 9:59 PM EDT up reply actions