Guard positions need addressing in Buffalo

By Connor Byrne  |   Friday, January 12, 2007  |  Comments( 22 )

Buffalo Bills
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When the NFL offseason begins in earnest in fewer than two months, the Buffalo Bills will have plenty of areas that need patching up. One could make the argument that the team's interior offensive line is the place of greatest concern, even though other offensive positions and the middle of the defense are in dire need of addressing.

Nonetheless, it's no secret that Buffalo's offensive line struggled this past season. That's evidenced by quarterback J.P. Losman being sacked a mind-boggling 47 times.

Along with the fact that the Bills' quarterback couldn't stay upright was inept run blocking. Running back Willis McGahee is little more than an average ball carrier at this point in his career, but he can't be blamed for every struggle in the ground game.

It's true the Bills' offensive tackles, Jason Peters and Terrance Pennington, aren't yet great run blockers, but both are promising players capable of being bookends in Buffalo for quite some time.

Unfortunately for the Bills, the same can't be said about their guard and center positions. The team is likely stuck with center Melvin Fowler, who signed a somewhat expensive contract last March during the free agency period. Aside from being an OK player, he has an excellent relationship with Losman.

Left guard Mike Gandy also gets along well with Losman, and he showed improvement in 2006 after making a bye-week shift from left tackle. Guard is the 27-year-old Gandy's natural position, in fact. The Notre Dame graduate still allowed a whopping 12½ sacks last year, meaning the soon-to-be unrestricted free agent probably won't generate a great deal of interest on the open market.

If the Bills want to re-sign Gandy to a cheap contract, they probably can. However, unless the team is signing the 6-foot-4, 310-pounder to a low-paying deal as a versatile reserve, the two sides should probably part ways.

Buffalo's other starting guard, right-side man Duke Preston, is a lot less experienced than Gandy. The two-year man took over for 33-year-old veteran Chris Villarial (likely to be released) and gave up a pair of sacks this past year, starting in eight games. At the same time, though, Preston doesn't yet have the makings of a starting-caliber player.

Buffalo, which improved from 5-11 to 7-9 in '06, is running low on time to experiment on the O-line. The team has been rebuilding since the new millennium dawned; it doesn't need to be bogged down further by a neophyte like Preston who still has too much to learn in run and pass blocking.

Ultimately, the Bills are left with three etched-in-stone starters on their O-line for next year: Peters, Pennington and Fowler. Whether in free agency or the draft, upgrades are necessary at both guard positions.

The most attractive free agent guard is Cincinnati's Eric Steinbach, but the 26-year-old may end up commanding too much of a bonus-laden contract for the Bills to truly entertain signing him.

Regardless of which players Buffalo brings in, it's time for the offensive line to become an above-average unit. There aren't any more excuses for it to be a lesser group yet again.

cbyrne@realfootball365.com.

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CommentsComments: 22  |  Sign Up  View all comments
No.1
Steve		05:48 AM
01/12/2007
I think you are jumping the gun by calling Pennington a bookend tackle. He started half a season and had a tremendous amount of...
No.2
Jim		07:28 AM
01/12/2007
As the staff likes Gandy, he's young and he played for Jauron in Chicago I would expect them to keep him. We will probably all...
No.3
Mike Kimmel		09:35 AM
01/12/2007
I do think Guard is our weakest position on the line, although I sure wish we could see Nick Mangold at center (we could have...
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