Bills Mailbag: What has caused the offensive line's regression?

Mark Coughlin asks: Last offseason, the Bills’ brain trust upgraded the talent and depth of the defensive line. Surely, this offseason we need to make a similar investment in the offensive line and running back. We’re getting no production from the running backs and it’s clear we’ve gone from top dog in the AFC to just one of a group at the top of the conference. What say you?

The Polish Therapist asks: I regularly hear Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane talk about how important "the trenches" are, but the investment in the trenches seems to be lacking on one side. We have unreal depth on the defensive line, but we can't even put together five guys on the offensive line that can produce an even mediocre run block. Is McDermott guilty of hoarding D-line studs while ignoring the problems on the O-line? Can Beane/McDermott effectively evaluate O-line talent (Cody Ford appears to be a huge whiff)?

Jay: There’s a lot to unpack on what’s gone wrong with the offensive line. Dion Dawkins testing positive for Covid, which then put him in the hospital, has clearly had an impact on his performance. The Bills re-signed Daryl Williams after he had a solid 2020 season, but he’s regressed. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why. Jon Feliciano re-signed as well, but he’s always been what he is – an average starter – and he is currently on injured reserve with a calf strain.

Yes, the selection of Cody Ford in the second round in 2019 is looking like a whiff.

I would not say the team ignored the offensive line while building the defensive line, though, considering Williams and Feliciano were re-signed and Beane used a third-round draft pick on Spencer Brown.

As constructed, the line is underperforming, but it’s important to remember it’s never been stocked with Pro Bowlers, either. If you were to rank the offensive lines in the league last year, the Bills would probably fall somewhere in the middle. Josh Allen’s elusiveness covers up a lot of their flaws.

mjpulka asks: In your opinion, is the Bills’ problem running the ball primarily the responsibility of the offensive line or running backs? Now, don't cop out by saying both!

Jay: I’ll relay what coach Sean McDermott said Monday after losing to Jacksonville: “It's hard to do anything without line play. Everything goes through the line on both sides of the ball, and particularly on the offensive side of the ball.”

I agree. If we’re assigning blame for the run game’s failures, the majority of it rests with the offensive line. There is nothing any running back can do if there is a defender in his face as soon as he gets the ball.

Now, that’s not to completely absolve Devin Singletary and Zack Moss. They have a job to do, too, and too often this season, they haven’t done it well. As McDermott went on to say: “It's never just one position, as you're saying, `Hey, what was the issue?' It's more than that. It's more than one player. We have to do a better job overall offensively, of putting our players in position, and the players have to execute.”

That’s accurate on all counts.

Al Runkel asks: When you are a good team and one of the top scoring offenses in the league, you don’t make excuses. The past two games, though, I’ve seen terrible officiating. Last week was just atrocious. From what I saw on TV: Josh Allen taunting Josh Allen after the sack; Cole Beasley giving himself up, laying prone on the ground and a defensive back jumping on top of him; the Jaguars’ right tackle having countless false starts, holding, blocking in the back on passing situations when facing Jerry Hughes. None of these were called. Obviously, coaches and players can’t bad-mouth the officiating, but I haven’t read anything on this, either. Do you have any thoughts?

Jay: In a word, it was embarrassing. The inability of the officiating crew to accurately communicate even who a penalty was called on at times was a rough look for the NFL. Ultimately, though, I left that game feeling the same way I do about the officials in almost every game. There were calls that they missed, but more often than not, those equal out. McDermott frequently talks about controlling what is controllable. Officiating is not one of those things. What is, however, is how the Bills play. That’s why things like pre-snap penalties and personal fouls are unacceptable. The Bills can control moving before the ball is snapped or getting into a shoving match after the whistle that draws a flag. Cutting those things out should be the team’s focus, not worrying about whether a certain call went its way.

Chuck Zernentsch asks: How can a defensive lineman be called for holding on a running play? Obviously, the referees seem to be out of sync when it comes to identifying offending players. There certainly was no unnecessary roughness on No. 54 on the punt return. This is perhaps the worst referee work I've seen. Almost seems like the fix is on to keep the game close.

Jay: Not surprisingly, this question came in during the Jacksonville game. I agree – seeing Star Lotulelei get called for a defensive holding penalty on a Jacksonville run play might be the first time I’ve ever seen that flag. I won’t take it to the level of the “fix being in,” though. Why would the NFL want to keep a random Week 9 between Buffalo and Jacksonville close?

Ed Helinski asks: If and when the Bills get a running game going this season, it still looks as if they will continue to live and die by the passing game. What are your vibes about Gabriel Davis and where does he fit into the passing game the rest of the season? And do you think he's being underutilized so far this season?

Brenda Alesii asks: What the heck has happened to Gabriel Davis?

Jay: Two simple things have happened to Gabriel Davis: Emmanuel Sanders and Dawson Knox. The Bills identified Sanders as being an upgrade to John Brown as the No. 2 receiver (or No. 3, depending on how you view slot receiver Cole Beasley), and General Manager Brandon Beane was right on the money about that. Sanders has been terrific, both on the field and, by all accounts, in the locker room. I’ve mentioned before what a joy he is to talk to each week, and the perspective he brings being a 12th-year veteran. He’s also producing, with 28 catches for 478 yards and four touchdowns.

Knox, meanwhile, has become a player opposing defenses have to worry about, racking up five touchdowns in the first six weeks before suffering a broken hand. It looks as if he’ll be able to return to the lineup against the Jets, which probably isn’t good news for Davis’ playing time.

There is still a role for Davis on this offense, but it’s clear at this point that’s only when the team goes to its four-wide receiver sets.

Gary Elsom asks: Have the Bills, and Josh Allen in particular, spent too much time doing commercials and reading their press clippings? Maybe we don’t have our franchise quarterback after all.

Jay: There are, potentially, more than $250 million reasons why the Bills do have their franchise quarterback. Allen’s contract extension shows the team is all in with him, which, given his level of play in 2020 makes sense. Now, as for the idea that the team might have been too busy reading their press clippings – No. 1, I’m flattered. No. 2, I’m not totally convinced something like that didn’t happen against Jacksonville.

McDermott has spent all season talking about how the NFL is a one-week-at-a-time league, and that if the Bills didn’t prepare the same way each week, something like what happened against the Jaguars could happen. It was jarring to hear team leaders Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer say in their post-game news conference the team wasn’t ready to play. To me, that indicates the possibility the Bills overlooked the Jaguars. Perhaps they thought just showing up would be enough. Clearly, it wasn’t. Now they have to show they’ve learned that lesson.

Kevin Hartnett asks: After the Jacksonville debacle, I saw/heard at least one Bills player state, "We weren't ready to play." The same line may have been heard the previous week after the Miami game, or at least it could have been. So, after a gut-wrenching loss to Tennessee and a bye week, our Bills haven't been ready to play for two consecutive games? Do you believe players when they say this? Or is it a quick cop-out in the media room to evade further questions?

Jay: Of course I believe them. That would be a very strange thing to lie about, since it makes them look bad. If anything, admitting to not being ready to play invites more questions from the media. Namely, why? I’m not sure I’d say the Bills weren’t ready to play against Miami. At some point, we do have to give the other team some credit, and the Dolphins showed Thursday night against the Ravens that they have some talented players on defense.

It’s not easy to blow out a divisional opponent twice in a season – the loaded Patriots teams didn’t even always do that against the drought-era Bills. Another concerning thing to come out of the loss to the Jaguars, though, was hearing a Jacksonville player say it felt like the Bills “lacked energy.” If you believe it’s at least partially on a coaching staff to have a team ready, that’s an indictment of the job McDermott did leading up to Week 9.

Ed in Tonawanda asks: Horrible game plan. Equally poor coaching. Terrible offensive line. Not a Super Bowl contender. What needs to change?

William Moebs asks: Are these Bills a serious Super Bowl contender with a run game that is basically nonexistent? My view is the offensive line is the problem. Do you agree?

Jay: The Bills still have all of their goals in front of them, starting with the AFC East. They’ll need some help for the No. 1 seed in the conference, especially with the Titans holding the head-to-head tiebreaker.

All that is down the road, though. Allow me to take the cliché road for a second here, but the Bills truly just need to focus on getting right this week against the Jets. The AFC is wide open, and while damaging, the loss to the Jaguars doesn’t have to be crippling.

It’s hard to call anyone in the AFC right now a true “Super Bowl” contender. The Titans might be the closest, but they have lost Derrick Henry, and we’ll have to see if they can overcome that long term. The Ravens lost to the Dolphins on Thursday. The Chiefs still don’t look like the Chiefs. Right now, I wouldn’t say the Bills look like a Super Bowl contender, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have time to change my mind.

Dave Fiegl asks: Is there any possible way to find some aggression in the play calling when they get into the red zone? The runs just don't work, yet get called every time. Then, a screen pass that doesn't work, then a throw short of the goal line, and the inevitable field goal. It's depressing how often that sequence happens. Attack the end zone, right?

Jay: The red zone is an area where the run game’s failures really hurt. With space limited, it becomes more difficult to throw the ball. Take, for example, first-and-goal from the Jaguars’ 3-yard line last week. Dawkins and left guard Ike Boettger don’t execute, and Moss goes nowhere. In those situations, you want a butt-kicking offensive line that can plow forward to allow the running back to get his nose over the goal line. The Bills don’t have anything close to that right now – making short-yardage situations painful to watch.

I don’t have near the level of expertise needed to second-guess every trip inside the red zone, but it’s clearly one area where a better running game would help. Without one, it’s on offensive coordinator Brian Daboll to scheme up ways to be successful with what his players do well. Undoubtedly, it’s an area that has to improve.

Thanks for all the questions this week. As a reminder, I make every effort to answer every question I get, so if you didn’t see yours in this week … check back next Sunday. Questions can be submitted via email to jskurski@buffnews.com or on Twitter, @JaySkurski.