Crowell leading Bills’ defense

By Connor Byrne  |   Wednesday, November 07, 2007  |  Comments( 58 )

 Buffalo Bills
After the Buffalo Bills waved goodbye to accomplished veterans Takeo Spikes and London Fletcher in the offseason, it seemed as if the team's linebacking corps didn't have an identity. The Bills hadn't yet drafted Paul Posluszny (whose rookie season ended in Week 3 because of a broken forearm), so their three-man LB group consisted of Angelo...
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CommentsComments: 58
 No.1
Ron		 09:32 AM
11/07/2007
Crowell has bee the one constant in the LB unit. Ellison and Poz both have missed significant time so he's the one guy left standing. While Crowell is to Briggs in Buffalo's Tampa 2 can we really say that DiG is to Urlacher? #### I posted this last night so I doubt many people saw it: Drive 1 went for a touchdown, not a bad way to start a game. Losman had a couple of really pretty passes to Evans on the drive. Drive 2 was killed by not-so-pretty Losman passes. His 1st down pass led Royal out of bounds and his 3rd down rainbow was Losman's way of flirting with the bench. He literally had 5 seconds to decide to throw the ball away--as in out of bounds, not to an unoccupied area in the field of play. Drive 3 was killed by Losman's INT. It was a bad pass and Losman had 4 full seconds to think about it before letting it go. Drive 4 ended with a field goal and was killed by Walker. On the last 1st down he tried to cut the DE who didn't even break stride until he dropped Lynch for a 4 yard loss. Drive 5 ended in another field goal. Buffalo simply ran out of time to take shots at the end zone so they took the points right before the half ended. Drive 6 ended in yet another field goal and it was killed when Evans tried to pick up the 1st down by holding the ball out in front of him. The DB was perpendicular to Evans so if he had just tried to power through he may well have made the line to gain. Drive 7 was the last field goal and was killed by Reed. Losman threw a dart and the ball went through Reed's hands. Drive 8 was also killed by Reed when he couldn't handle another Losman pass. It may have been grazed by a DB but the ball hit him right in the midsection. Drive 9 ended when Lynch threw a TD. Drive 10 ended when Lynch ran 50+ yards for a TD. #### Scoring on 70% of drives was a great improvement for the offense. It was not, however, a dominant performance in terms of the offensive line. Fowler, Butler and Peters all had more good running plays against the Ravens than they did against the much weaker Bengals. Now, the line provided Losman with plenty of protection. While no one had any good pass plays (i.e. flattening a lineman, creating a passing lane, etc.) the only downright bad pass play was committed by Walker (pass 36). That is important because Buffalo can't consistently overcome negative plays. #### Peters had 3 good run plays (19, 23, 26), 26 decent ones, 3 bad ones (3, 5, 32), and no killed plays. He had 38 decent pass plays. For the season his numbers are 30 good run plays, 153 decent ones, and 15 bad ones which gives him a midseason grade of 76.5%. He has 5 good pass plays, 197 decent ones, and 11 bad ones which gives him a midseason grade of 74.4%. Peters has killed 5 run plays, 3.5 pass plays, and 5.5 drives. Those don't seem to be Pro Bowl numbers, no matter how often the TV commentators babble about Peters being an elite tackle. #### Dock had 5 good run plays (15, 19, 23, 26, 27), 25 decent ones, 2 bad ones (1, 3), and 1 killed play (1). He had no good pass plays, 38 decent ones, no bad ones and no killed plays. For the mid-season his numbers are 30 good run plays, 158 decent ones, and 10 bad ones for an average of 77.0%. He has 4 good pass plays, 196 decent ones and 13 bad ones which comes out to 74.3%. He has killed 3 run plays, 2.5 pass plays, and 2 drives. You can argue the huge contract but you can't argue that he's been a big upgrade over Reyes/Gandy. #### Fowler had no good running plays, 28 decent ones, 4 bad ones (5, 11, 16, 23) and no killed plays. He had no good pass plays, 38 decent ones, no bad ones and no killed plays. For the mid-season, Fowler has 15 good run plays, 145 decent ones, and a team leading 38 bad ones which comes out to a line-low 72.7%. He has 4 good pass plays, 196 decent ones, and 13 bad ones which comes out to 74.2%. He has killed 9 run plays, 4 pass plays and 4.5 drives. Fowler has struggled mightily with virtually every DT he has faced. He doesn't often get much push and, too often, finds himself in the backfield. He is clearly the weakest link on the line. #### Butler had 4 good run plays (10, 11, 15, 19), 26 decent ones, 2 bad ones (20, 23), and no killed plays. He had no good pass plays, 38 decent ones, no good ones and no killed plays. For the mid-season he has 33 good run plays, 143 decent ones, and 11 bad ones which comes out to a line-leading 77.4%. He has 7 good pass plays, 173 decent ones, and 14 bad ones which comes out to 74.3%. He has killed 2 run plays and 3 pass plays along with 1 drive. Butler, who few have heard of outside of Buffalo, has been an enormous upgrade over Preston. He's got plenty of room for improvement but he has been Buffalo's best lineman in terms of run blocking (He has more good plays than Dock despite not getting as many snaps due to an injury in the Cowboys game.) and is at least as decent as the others when pass blocking. #### Walker had 5 good run plays (9, 10, 15, 16, 22), 25 decent ones, 1 bad one (12) and 1 killed play (12--and man, it was ugly). He had no good pass plays, 36 decent ones, 1 bad play (36) and no killed plays. For the mid-season he has 22 good run plays, 162 decent ones, and 13 bad ones which comes out to 75.9%. He had 5 good pass plays, 200 decent ones, and 7 bad ones which comes out to 74.8%. Walker was helped on 34 of 212 (16%) of snaps. That is far better than I had dared to hope at the start of the year. My guess then was that the RBs and/or TEs would be taking up permanent residence in the backfield to help Walker and that hasn't been the case. Walker has killed 7 run plays, 4 pass plays and 2.5 drives. #### The summary is (run grade/pass grade): Peters 76.5%, 74.4% 8.5 killed plays, 5.5 killed drives; Dock 77%/74.3%, 5.5 killed plays, 2 killed drives; Fowler 72.7%, 74.2%, 13 killed plays, 4.5 killed drives; Butler 77.4%/74.3%, 5 killed plays, 1 killed drive; Walker 75.9%, 74.8%, 11 killed plays, 2.5 killed drives. Taken as a whole, they average 75.9% on running plays, 74.4% on pass plays, have combined to kill 43 of 411 (10.5%) total offensive plays, and 15.5 of 70 (22%) of offensive drives. (REMEMBER, THESE NUMBERS DON'T INCLUDE THE DENVER GAME.) The line does seem to have improved over last year but it's not yet dominating anyone. As a whole, they're doing just a smidge better than not embarrassing themselves--Fowler is definitely dragging down the average. They played relatively mistake free against the Bengals (2 killed plays out of 70 [2.8%] and no crippling penalties) and put together 7 solid drives. They should have a chance to do that again in Miami before the true test (Patriots) for the line (and Losman and the defense) rolls into town for the Sunday night game.
 No.2
frank drury		 10:04 AM
11/07/2007
Ron, I admire your dedication to the Bills. You should seriously consider becoming a statistician or accountant because you are a freak with numbers. Thanks for the stats. PS, I hope you also make time to spend with your loved ones rather than review film all day.
 No.3
Dickie		 10:06 AM
11/07/2007
What in the hell does any of that long @ss post have to do with Crowell? This is about Crowell not the line and Dockery...come on dude that post is longer then the article...get a life
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