Buffalo Bills Will Use 13th, 14th Offensive Line Combinations This Week

by MattRichWarren on Dec 9, 2010 10:01 AM EST in Buffalo Bills News

Have you been asking yourself the question, "Just how many offensive line combinations have the Buffalo Bills used this season?" The answer is twelve so far. On Sunday the Buffalo Bills will use their 13th and 14th offensive line combinations of the season and that's if nobody gets hurt. Please, God, let nobody get hurt.

Part of the reason for the high number is the substitution the coaching staff employed early in the year. To keep guard Eric Wood and tackle Demetrius Bell from re-aggravating their injuries and remain effective the entire game, the Bills freely substituted within the game for a series here and a series there. Sometimes it was one at a time and other times it was both together. The result was four line combos in the first two weeks:

Week 1-5 starters

Left Tackle	Left Guard	Center	Right Guard	Right Tackle
D. Bell	A. Levitre	G. Hangartner	E. Wood	C. Green

Weeks 1-2 reserves

Left Tackle	Left Guard	Center	Right Guard	Right Tackle
J. Meredith	A. Levitre	G. Hangartner	E. Wood	C. Green

Weeks 1-2 reserves

Left Tackle	Left Guard	Center	Right Guard	Right Tackle
D. Bell	A. Levitre	G. Hangartner	C. Howard	C. Green

Weeks 1-2 reserves

Left Tackle	Left Guard	Center	Right Guard	Right Tackle
J. Meredith	A. Levitre	G. Hangartner	C. Howard	C. Green

When the Bills cut Jamon Meredith and the numbers increased in reserves.

Week 3-5 reserves

Left Tackle	Left Guard	Center	Right Guard	Right Tackle
D. Bell	A. Levitre	G. Hangartner	K. Urbik	C. Green

Week 3-5 reserves

Left Tackle	Left Guard	Center	Right Guard	Right Tackle
C. Howard	A. Levitre	G. Hangartner	E. Wood	C. Green

Following the bye week, the Bills had to make some changes when Cornell Green became the first starter to succumb to injury. It wasn't a bad thing but did add Cordaro Howard to the mix at right tackle.

Week 7-9 starters

Left Tackle	Left Guard	Center	Right Guard	Right Tackle
D. Bell	A. Levitre	G. Hangartner	E. Wood	C. Howard

Week 7-9 reserves

Left Tackle	Left Guard	Center	Right Guard	Right Tackle
D. Bell	A. Levitre	G. Hangartner	K. Urbik	C. Howard

Howard went down to a shoulder injury in Week 9 where Wrotto replaced him adding another new starting lineup for Week 10 and 11.

Week 9 reserves
Week 10-11 starters

Left Tackle	Left Guard	Center	Right Guard	Right Tackle
D. Bell	A. Levitre	G. Hangartner	E. Wood	M. Wrotto

When Wood went down in Week 10, Urbik stepped in with his third right tackle beside him and that group of five has started for the last two weeks.

Week 9-11 reserves
Week 12-13 starters

Left Tackle	Left Guard	Center	Right Guard	Right Tackle
D. Bell	A. Levitre	G. Hangartner	K. Urbik	M. Wrotto

In Week 13, Hangartner goes down to a knee injury forcing Urbik to center and Howard to RG. Then Urbik went down to injury forcing Levitre out of position for the first time all season. Ed Wang stepped in for his first NFL experience at LG.

Week 13 reserves

Left Tackle	Left Guard	Center	Right Guard	Right Tackle
D. Bell	A. Levitre	K. Urbik	C. Howard	M. Wrotto

Week 13 reserves

Left Tackle	Left Guard	Center	Right Guard	Right Tackle
D. Bell	E. Wang	A. Levitre	C. Howard	M. Wrotto

When the Bills host the Cleveland Browns this week, Eric Wood will get his first start in the NFL at center while Howard and Wang will platoon at RG. Howard is still not fully healed from his shoulder injury.

Week 14 starters

Left Tackle	Left Guard	Center	Right Guard	Right Tackle
D. Bell	A. Levitre	E. Wood	C. Howard	M. Wrotto

Week 14 reserves

Left Tackle	Left Guard	Center	Right Guard	Right Tackle
D. Bell	A. Levitre	E. Wood	E. Wang	M. Wrotto

Grand total is fourteen offensive line combinations with ten different offensive linemen. Good luck Ryan Fitzpatrick. you're going to need it.

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Comments

Wasn't Urbik added before week 1?

Or do you mean to the active gameday roster and not just active roster?

15 OL combination is just another year for the Bills. Why it happens every year, I don’t know, but it certainly does happen….

~K
"As the governor of Louisiana once said, the only way Chris Kelsay can lose his job is if he got caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy."

by Kurupt on Dec 9, 2010 10:06 AM EST reply actions

Yes. Ironically it doesn’t change the numbers. :-)

You can't have CHANGE without CHAN.
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by MattRichWarren on Dec 9, 2010 10:19 AM EST up reply actions

I should elaborate. Urbik didn’t play during the game until Green went out and Howard replaced him. Then Urbik began spelling Wood.

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by MattRichWarren on Dec 9, 2010 10:44 AM EST up reply actions

The way I see it, the only way we keep the starting five on the field is if they can stay healthy.

Unfortunately, This problem started last season with the injuries, suggesting to Gailey to mix the others in. Right now I see two bad’s, 1.) is Urbik’s injury, it could be awhile for him to get healthy, not sure if surgery is needed, if it is a surgical injury we may not see a return for a while. 2.) Cornell Green which never panned out and could be attibuted to the front office failing to either draft a tackle eariler or scouring the FA market more seriously prior to the season.

We are not the only club to suffer injury to the O-Line but the O-Line is probably one of the busiest areas the coaching staff has had to work to solidify during the season. Considering this, they have done a great job. Hopefully, this area will be addressed more seriously in this offseason than in last offseason. The way I see things, they need a couple solid additions here and to be more specific, a RT and a swing tackle, and that is if Urbik can return to 100% healthy before training camp.

YOU ARE OUT of you kuku fufu mine craker laker Flaber baber FUNKI chunki brain. WE want to winn every year -- abayarde

by VanScottM on Dec 9, 2010 10:31 AM EST reply actions

The offensive line has taken a beating but the lines usually do. It is rare that five guys take all of the snaps in a season, due mainly to the fact that linemen get knocked around each and every play. So good teams develop quality depth. Buffalo isn’t yet to the point where there are legitimate starters at all positions. Depth players are both a luxury and necessity. Lets hope the offensive line, mainly the tackle positions, see serious attention this offseason.

It can always get worse. Let me tell you how.

by Ron From NM on Dec 9, 2010 10:59 AM EST via mobile reply actions

The only way I see any serious attention applied is if we kidnapp OT's from other teams.

I know that is an exaggeration but until Buddy demonstrates the willingness to pry away this elite tallent everyone seeks we could very well be playing the same members next season as we did this season with possibly a couple additions equal to or younger than what we already have. Bell, LeVetrie, Wood and hopefully Hangartner will all have another year under their belt going forward and that continuity is almost as important than restructuring the whole thing and starting over. Bell, LeVetrie and Wood will begin thier third season as NFL starting Offensive Lineman and the expected development of Bell in the offseason along with Wood and LeVetrie in a coventional run supporting O-Line would be a higher priority before preseason starts in 2011. I like those odds better than rebuilding a unit that has improved together since they began playing together. Now the right side and depth is another story. Chix has their work cut out for them, but at least there have been signs of them concentrating in that area. One positive sign for next season would be the elimination of this rotation thing during games.

YOU ARE OUT of you kuku fufu mine craker laker Flaber baber FUNKI chunki brain. WE want to winn every year -- abayarde

by VanScottM on Dec 9, 2010 12:29 PM EST up reply actions

The Bell-Levitre-Hangartner-Wood-Howard line is listed twice; once under the week 7-9 starters and once under the week 3 reserves.

So according to this – Levitre and Wrotto are the only two players who have not come out of the lineup due to injury or someone recovering from injury replacing them. Interesting…

by Krenn on Dec 9, 2010 11:14 AM EST reply actions

Levitre missed most of an early game….green bay if I’m remembering right off the top of my head

It can always get worse. Let me tell you how.

by Ron From NM on Dec 9, 2010 12:51 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

how many did we have last year?

by LABillsFan on Dec 9, 2010 11:30 AM EST reply actions

I guess I’m not as concerned as most.

The line isn’t going to be that different this week. You have 4 of the 5 normal starters starting. And Howard has already started some games this year.

Now, if there’s an injury, that’s another story.

by Pistol on Dec 9, 2010 11:37 AM EST reply actions

The first step to becoming a winning team...

is to stop feeling sorry for yourself. This injury sob story is getting old. Most of the guys that are getting injured are reserves and late round / undrafted players (see Batten, Easley, Huggins, Matthews, etc.). That will happen when you’re playing against superior athletes who are stronger and faster.

One of the reasons there have been so many offensive line combinations is because that’s the way Chan and Buddy planned on doing it this year. They had 2 players coming off serious injuries in Bell and Wood, and they had several inexperienced young guys in Meredith, Howard, Wang, Urbik, and Wrotto that they couldn’t play for entire games without hurting the team. So they used a rotation.

This front office needs to draft a top tier OT this April. No more journey men or late round draft picks should be protecting our QB. We need a guy in the top 3 rounds that can hold down a tackle position for the next decade. No more messing around in the trenches on either side of the ball. It’s time to get BIG and MEAN.

by bruuuuce_02 on Dec 9, 2010 12:22 PM EST reply actions