Bills Tactics Easily Solved by Line Stability
The great fear from Buffalo's win over the Bears is a template has been established for stopping Justin Fields from running.
The Bills had limited Fields to 11 yards, a season low.
Matt Eberflus wanted nothing to do with such talk Monday when asked about it.
"Nope, no," Eberflus said. "We've seen pretty much everything, but they just executed well."
Of course Eberflus would say this, but the truth was Buffalo did try some different tactics from other teams. However, as Eberflus said, the Bears had seen it before. It was just something they hadn't seen extensively for a while and it hadn't really worked much against this Bears backfield in other games.
Left tackle Braxton Jones pointed out the Bills' use of a mesh charge, the ends gradually slanting in toward Fields to force his hand. Atlanta had done this and a few other teams. There were some differences in the way Buffalo did it.
"I mean the biggest thing obviously I'm seeing is mesh charge so the D-ends are slanting inside and bringing the (line)backer over top, but then they're blitzing off of that as well," Jones said. "So that was the biggest thing I saw.
"I mean, I'm no offensive coordinator or anything like that but obviously some of that. They did get us, I feel like, on some of those safety pressures. And we've got to be a little bit better when we do have movement and stuff like that."
Basically, the Bears line got confused by the look because of the safeties blitzing besides the regular mesh charge they had seen in the past. Presnap movement from the defense added to the confusion over assignments.
"Even myself I just think I've got to execute better when stuff does start moving around but mostly they game-planned just like we game-plan," Jones said. "We knew some of that stuff was coming. We've just as a unit we're just one off and we've got to be a little bit better."
The line was "one off," and part of it has to do with the Bills' personnel. The Bears need to be worried about these same tactics in the future if the opponent has defensive personnel as good as Buffalo. Otherwise, they've seen this before from weaker opponents.
The real problem beneath all of this was and has been the way the Bears line has had to deal with different personnel doing the blocking.
Saturday represented the ninth starting line change and this one was extra special. They not only threw Larry Borom in as replacement left guard for Cody Whitehair, which he hadn't played in the past, but they also had the added twist of right guard backup Michael Schofield being knocked out of the game.
Little-used South African native Dieter Eiselen came in when Schofield left but the Bears were without Schofield for only seven plays. However, Eiselen played 28 snaps as they got him time in place of Borom, too.
What they didn't do was get Alex Leatherwood time at guard. He was in for only one play of offense.
Eberflus dismissed this as a "rotation," but it was a rotation that didn't include Leatherwood at guard. Eiselen is a lifetime practice squad player. The rotation didn't include rookie seventh-round pick Ja'Tyre Carter, either, and he has actually been on the Bears 53-man roster all year.
It would seem they've decided Leatherwood's time at tackle in two games showed he's either not ready or won't work out, after they signed him as a waiver-wire pickup. Then again, an offseason of practicing with the offense could change all of this. Leatherwood did arrive when the season began and then didn't play right away because of a bout with mono.
What this all added up to was more switching around of players responsible for blocking the run and pass and confusion. Borom hadn't been on the left side of the line since his rookie year, when he played some left tackle.
Jones tried to discount the changes as a problem initially but then had to admit it all adds to confusion.
"I wouldn't say it's more difficult," he said. "I mean, I guess for anybody it's more difficult, obviously.
"But it just kind of shows to you how you've got to go out there and perform no matter what each week, whoever it is, if it's Larry Borom, Dieter or Cody (Whitehair). I think it's just a testament to your group in going out and performing, and a testament to those guys. I mean, Larry, he hasn't played guard or anything like that. Dude stepped in there and I think we did a pretty good job."
A pretty good job against the Bills defense didn't get the job done. It doesn't mean this would be the case against other defenses with lesser personnel, and certainly the Bears have seen all of these types of tactics to stop Fields over the past six or seven weeks.
What would be good for the line would be some stability of personnel. This is more the result of injuries and misfortune more than anything.
This line has had to cope. The Bears have to hope the line they bring on the field to start next season not only has upgraded talent but time together to build communication lines between players.
Then the best tactics from good personnel like the Bills have will be less likely to work.
Charting Bears Offensive Line Change
| Game, Opponent | Left Tackle | Left Guard | Center | Right Guard | Right Tackle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Game 1, 49ers | Braxton Jones | Cody Whitehair | Sam Mustipher | Teven Jenkins | Larry Borom |
Game 3, Texans | Jones | Whitehair | Mustipher | Lucas Patrick | Borom |
Game 5, Vikings | Jones | Patrick | Mustipher | Jenkins | Borom |
Game 7, Patriots | Jones | Michael Schofield | Patrick | Jenkins | Borom |
Game 8, Cowboys | Jones | Schofield | Mustipher | Jenkins | Riley Reiff |
Game 9, Dolphins | Jones | Whitehair | Mustipher | Jenkins | Reiff |
Game 10, Lions | Jones | Whitehair | Mustipher | Schofield | Reiff |
Game 12, Jets | Jones | Whitehair | Mustipher | Jenkins | Reiff |
Game 16, Bills | Jones | Borom | Mustipher | Schofield | Reiff |
Game 17, Lions | Jones | ? | Mustipher | ? | ? |
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