After the 2018 season the Buffalo Bills almost entirely blew up their offense. When the dust settled there were a lot of new faces. Interestingly enough, there were two just at right tackle alone. Rookie Cody Ford and veteran Ty Nsekhe split reps when healthy in what became an intriguing season-long story—a battle of potential ceiling vs. high floor all season. Let’s take a look at one half of this position.
Play 1
Note: There’s no way to write this without comparing to the “other guy” and, as such, treat the trio of articles as companion pieces. For the GIFs, they focus on two common games (New York Giants, Houston Texans) and one solo game each (Washington, Dallas Cowboys).
I think the GIF handles this well. The initial block gives this play the lane it needed. But, according to legend, if you listen closely to the wind, you can still hear Ty Nsekhe blocking this guy to this day.
Play 2
I know I’ve highlighted this before but Ty Nsekhe’s swat is just insane. There’s not always a way to work this into a play but holy ****.
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Play 3
Offensive linemen are typically among the tallest on the field but, at 6’8,” Ty Nsekhe is tall even for this group. For a position where the mantra is “low man wins”—that can be problematic. He sets his arm and shoulder in a manner to overcome it on this play. Technique is even more important at his height. At 330 lbs, let’s call his size a double-edged sword.
Play 4
I like Nsekhe’s right-hand usage here to create space to make sure he can turn back and get into a good stance on the move. A good indication of how well a person has learned a skill is to ask them to do it in an atypical way. Nsekhe justifies a lot of the buzz surrounding his name with this play.
Play 5
Transitioning from block to block is a crucial ability. Nsekhe knows that No. 20 (Frank Gore) has No. 20 (Landon Collins) so he helps out against Matthew Ioannidis. Jonathan Bostic tries to scoot by and is rudely greeted by his former teammate Nsekhe.
Play 6
And the legend continues. Nsekhe understands the play call and allows the first man to go by. Getting to the second level he blocks his man into oblivion.
Play 7
Ty Nsekhe had a little help and this wasn’t the prettiest block, but it held long enough to work. Without the help this might have exposed a flaw in Nsekhe’s game. He can struggle to keep up with faster players. Nsekhe’s long arms often help out, but if you’re around those you’re around Nsekhe. Stunts in particular seemed to be problematic for Nsekhe.
Play 8
Against a smaller player, the difficulty of getting low is usually not an issue for Nsekhe. Against the 347-lb D.J. Reader though, it can become a major issue. Between this play and the last there’s a solid argument for Nsekhe being a flawed player.
Play 9
Let’s end on a high note. This is a very good block.
P.S. Don’t pay any attention to what’s going on in the bottom right corner of the clip toward the end.
Summary
This is the eye-test portion of the great right-tackle battle of 2019 and you’re looking at my hand-selected winner of the competition. Ty Nsekhe isn’t a perfect player but the worst thing I can say about him is that it kinda sucks he was injured this year. Josh Allen was better protected with the long reach of Nsekhe protecting his right side. More power and better technique than Ford currently possesses has made it a pretty clear cut competition most of the way.