For the Bills, Finding the Right Offensive Line Coach Will be Crucial
Quality offensive line coaches are so hard to find in the NFL that their careers often put those of left-handed pitchers in Major League Baseball to shame.
And because the Bills suddenly find themselves in need of another one after Bobby Johnson followed Brian Daboll to the New York Giants to do the same job for them, they need to identify and then recruit the best candidate.
In the NFL, that can be the equivalent of splitting the atom.
Consider the case of the Philadelphia Eagles, who have had five head coaches since 1998 but only three offensive line coaches, including Jeff Stoutland, who was hired by Chip Kelly, stayed on with Doug Pederson and remains with Nick Sirianni.
You have someone that is proven, you don't get rid of him. And when someone like that becomes available, you go after him full metal jacket.
So what exactly does this have to do with the Bills? Read on. We'll get to it.
Stoutland's predecessor in Philadelphia, the late Howard Mudd, co-authored a book, The View From The O-Line, and was outspoken in his criticism of vertical pass-blocking sets, which is the preferred technique of many offensive line coaches, despite the fact that most tackles don't have the athletic ability to execute them against the league's elite edge rushers.
When Mudd, who passed away in 2020, was still living, he had a website that served ostensibly as therapy for his frustration with watching offensive tackles across the league fail because they are consistently required to quickly retreat to a spot, creating extra space before any contact with the pass rusher.
He was critical of the NFL for faulty development of offensive linemen, which he believed was because of a lack of qualified offensive line coaches.
We here at Bills Central agree.
But you've all been patiently waiting for a connection to the Bills, and here it is:
The only other offensive line coach the Eagles had in this millennium is Juan Castillo, who worked on the same staff with McDermott for more than a decade and who incredibly succeeded the fired McDermott as defensive coordinator in 2011. That radical coaching switch was a big part of the demise of coach Andy Reid in Philadelphia. But that's another story for another day.
The point is, Castillo remained a respected offensive line coach even after being fired himself as defensive coordinator midway through the following season. He was so respected that McDermott actually went after him to be his first offensive line coach with the Bills in 2017.
The marriage didn't work, and McDermott replaced Castillo with Johnson after just two seasons.
That turned out to be a necessary move when you look at the way the offensive line has developed since that change was made.
Castillo was/is a heavy proponent of the vertical sets that Mudd disdained his whole life. Castillo believes that, depending on the play, vertical sets had to be called and executed.
Mudd believed in a more aggressive approach that's starting to take hold with a small but perhaps growing sector in the league. Linemen are encouraged to initiate contact with the pass rusher (jump sets) rather than beating them to a spot and waiting for them, which almost always favors the defense.
In an essay titled "A Better Way to Block Von Miller" on his now-defunct website, Mudd explained himself.
"Time and space is the pass rusher's friend and the blocker's enemy," he wrote. "But the vertical set concedes both to the defense. Why would you give players like Miller and [Demarcus] Ware so much room to operate? All you're doing is giving them time to get a head of steam and a large area in which to apply moves that make life miserable for the quarterback.
"I have long advocated an aggressive pass set that closes the ground between the O-lineman and the pass rusher. The blocker engages more quickly at a point closer to the line of scrimmage, taking the advantage of time and space away from the defense. By engaging the defensive end sooner, the blocker has a better chance to neutralize and control the rusher. The aggressive set also gives the O-lineman the better opportunity to use his natural levers to block with better technique to stay with his man."
Hiring an offensive line coach who is not locked in to one way and will allow his athletes to be more aggressive will be crucial for McDermott.
Probably even more crucial than finding the right offensive play-caller, which the Bills believe they did by promoting Ken Dorsey to offensive coordinator this week.
They have to protect Josh Allen, their $258 million quarterback, by whatever means necessary. That means an offensive line coach who won't put his players in situations they can't win.
Those coaches remain the hardest to find in this sport today.
Nick Fierro is the publisher of Bills Central. Check out the latest Bills news at www.si.com/nfl/bills and follow Fierro on Twitter at @NickFierro. Email to Nicky300@aol.com.
