Bills’ Posluszny should get to do one more thing well

By Anthony Bialy  |   Tuesday, February 24, 2009  |  Comments( 89 )

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Paul Posluszny is just raring to go, and someone needs to open the garage first. The Buffalo Bills middle linebacker enjoyed a promising 2008, emerging as a player who faces a bright and lengthy future, but he still owns one aspect that remains untapped. Namely, the Penn State man still hasn't recorded a sack in 19 career games, and it’s an area where he could start helping without doing anything other than being himself.

On top of his 110 tackles last season, the linebacker kept some plays from ever getting to the tackle stage: he defended six passes and intercepted another, a good indication that he’s involving himself in attacking the target portion of the aerial game. But he could occasionally chip at the foundation, too, by hitting the quarterback instead of batting away or grabbing the football.

Getting Posluszny his first sack requires both change and risk. Even if they’re not pure Cover 2 ideologues, the Bills tend to be allergic to blitzing, as they prefer the Tampa mindset where they’re not going to send any more than four guys at the quarterback. It wasn’t always the case, but Buffalo kept linebackers from crossing the line of scrimmage relatively frequently in 2008.

While the advantage is of course that there are more defenders swarming slightly downfield, an odd blitz could show off another of their middle linebacker’s talents. Specifically, Posluszny is capable of displaying many dimensions, including quarterback pursuit; it would be great to see him use that as-yet oft-latent ability. He had nine sacks at Penn State while playing all three linebacker positions at various times, and this team could employ him more astutely as an attacker without much change at all.

It seemed the staff didn’t time it well even when it did use him as a blitzer. Defensive coordinator Perry Fewell should reward his stay-at-home linebacker by letting him bolt out of his small portion of territory both more frequently and shrewdly. Having him follow defensive tackle Marcus Stroud’s path of mayhem even occasionally would be advantageous for this defense; it would be an improvement over the way Posluszny has been used in his first 19 games as a Bill.

On a related note, it’s also fair to note that Posluszny was more than a rookie last season but not by much: 2008’s opener was only his fourth NFL game. While his two preseasons mean he was still ahead of true first-year players, the fact remains that he’s still barely past the early part of his career’s earliest portion.

Even with his fine work so far, the 24-year-old could still be adjusting to pro football’s demands, meaning his coaches may have refrained from constantly dispatching him aggressively. But the time to start using him more in that manner is next game.

The team is currently searching for pass rushers at the combine, and yet they shouldn’t forget one underutilized resource they already own. It wouldn’t be about changing their premier linebacker's play; instead, it’s about exploiting one of Posluszny's currently undeveloped talents, namely the ability to rush right up the middle on a semi-regular basis. Think of him as an angry sprinter in shoulder pads dashing in a lane cleared by a defensive tackle.
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CommentsComments: 89  |  Sign Up  View all comments
No.1
Alan		10:30 AM
02/24/2009
I scimmed through the article and from what i read i have to say that i agree w/ AB, which doesn't happen often. I think that...
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No.2
ddd		11:06 AM
02/24/2009
I think the expectations of Poz were too high. Remember all the hype about Penn State LB's, the comparison to Shane Conlan, and...
No.3
11:24 AM
02/24/2009
The unfortunate truth is the Bills see their linebackers are run stoppers and pass defenders, not pass rushers. I guess that's...
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