Why guards, centers going earlier
Tags: 2012 NFL draft, Andy Levitre, Eric Wood, Offensive line
The last few years in the NFL draft there have been more and more interior linemen drafted sooner rather than later, when it used to always be the offensive tackles that came off the board first. While tackles still go high, prospects like Buffalo’s Eric Wood (1st round) and Andy Levitre (2nd round) have gone in the first two rounds, and this year’s class offers some similar type prospects.
ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper was recently asked why interior linemen are becoming more and more prevalent in the early rounds, and Kiper feels it’s not just based on talent alone.
“I think it’s because of the defensive tackles and the ability to get that push. This year the one player is (Stanford guard David) DeCastro. Fundamentally, technically, everything about him is top notch. Only knock is he’s a pure guard. You can’t hold that against him when you rate him though and he’s 12th on my board. Somewhere in that top 15.
“Cordy Glenn at Georgia is another kid that’s intriguing because he played left tackle this year and held up very well, played guard in the past and could be a right tackle in the NFL. Then of course Peter Konz, the junior center from Wisconsin, but his only issue is durability. Missed multiple games each of the last three seasons with injuries, but with his size and coming out of the Wisconsin program that’s developed a lot of good O-linemen you think of him early to mid-second round.”
Talent is still the top determining factor, but defensive play has probably played a role. Either way it again appears as though there are a healthy number of interior linemen that will be selected on the first two days of the draft.
AFC East player rankings
Tags: AFC East, Andy Levitre, Brian Moorman, C.J. Spiller, Eric Wood, Marcell Dareus, Ryan Fitzpatrick
ESPN AFC East blogger James Walker is listing his top 40 players in the division. So far he’s counted down from 40 to 21 and there are a handful of Bills players on the list.
Here’s the rundown of who has appeared on the AFC East Top 40 player list from the Bills.
Below is where the Bills are currently ranked from 21-40:
- No. 38 P Brian Moorman
- No. 32 RB C.J. Spiller
- No. 29 QB Ryan Fitzpatrick
- No. 27 C Eric Wood
- No. 25 DT Marcell Dareus
- No. 23 OL Andy Levitre
Healing time for Wood
Tags: Eric Wood
Bills center Eric Wood, who had surgery last week to repair a torn ACL in his right leg, was at One Bills Drive Tuesday.
Wood came in on crutches as his right leg was immobilized, but said everything went well in surgery.
“Everything turned out good,” said Wood.
Now the long road to recovery begins. Wood will do nothing on the leg for a number of weeks to allow the ligament repair to heal before beginning his lengthy rehab process.
Wood not playing, but tuned in
Eric Wood might be on injured reserve, but he is locked in for today’s division tilt with the Dolphins.
Here was one of his latest posts on his twitter account.
Matching opponent’s physicality
The Bills face another physical defensive front this week in the Dolphins. The Jets came into Buffalo a few weeks ago and by Chan Gailey’s own assessment post-game “out-physicaled” the Bills. So how do the Bills regroup and match the physical play of Miami Sunday?
“You have to match that with your heart,” said Gailey. ”You can’t change your brawn in midseason so you match it with your heart. Our guys have to understand they’re going to be in a fight and it’s going to be a physical game, and we’ve got to go block them. It’s not easy because they are a big, strong front and they can bring some edge pass rush too. It’ll be a challenge for us to run the ball this week.”
Miami is ranked 10th in the league against the run, and minus their most physical lineman in Eric Wood, the task will be no easier.
Wood calls surgery successful
Tags: Eric Wood
Bills C Eric Wood, who suffered a torn ACL in last Sunday’s game and is now on I-R, had successful surgery today (Thursday).
Wood posted the following message on his twitter account.
Wood having surgery today
Tags: Eric Wood
Bills C Eric Wood wasn’t sure on Monday as to just when he would have surgery to repair his torn ACL suffered in last Sunday’s game against the Cowboys. Obviously he was informed not long after as he announced he was having surgery today (Thursday).
@EWood70 Surgery is today. Long road to recovery to follow…
Wood said he would be shooting for training camp for a return, which would be about eight months removed from today’s surgery. Typically, most players return to the field 7-9 months after ACL surgery.
Bills weighing personnel options
Bills head coach Chan Gailey will have two vacant roster spots as Eric Wood and Chris White are placed on injured reserve.
How the Bills will fill the two roster spots is going to be debated by the coaching staff and personnel department with a move or two likely on Tuesday. Gailey did indicate that with a couple of offensive linemen set to return an additional offensive lineman is unlikely.
“We’re getting ready to meet and talk about that. We’ve got a couple of different ways we can go,” said Gailey. “If we get Demetrius (Bell)back it probably doesn’t (necessitate a move). I think we’ll be okay if we get Demetrius back because we’ve got three guards that we can go play with. I think we’ll be okay if we get Demetrius back. If he comes back this week and it becomes a bigger problem than we thought, which we don’t anticipate, then maybe we have to (make a move).”
White’s spot could be filled with another linebacker, but one is currently not on Buffalo’s practice squad.
Wood not only torn ACL victim
Eric Wood was just one of two Bills players that fell victim to a torn ACL for the Bills on Sunday.
The other Bills player was rookie LB Chris White, who sustained the same injury while covering a punt in the third quarter. He had to be carted from the field. Chan Gailey said White will obviously have surgery just like Wood.
Wood confirms out for the year
Tags: Eric Wood
Appearing in the Bills locker room on crutches Eric Wood confirmed his season is over.
Wood suffered a torn ACL. More on Buffalobills.com later today.
Report: Wood out for season
Tags: Eric Wood
According to ESPN NFL reporter Adam Schefter, Eric Wood is out for the season.
Here’s what Schefter tweeted early this afternoon.
Midseason All-Pro for Fred & Wood
Bills RB Fred Jackson and C Eric Wood have both been selected for the Pro Football Weekly Midseason All-Pro team. Here is the team they’ve chosen.
Those players with asterisks were unanimous selections for the Midseason All-Pro team.
Offense
QB Aaron Rodgers/Packers*
RB Adrian Peterson/Vikings
RB Fred Jackson/Bills
FB Vonta Leach/Ravens*
WR Steve Smith/Panthers
WR Calvin Johnson/Lions*
TE Jimmy Graham/Saints*
C Eric Wood/Bills
OG Mike Iupati/49ers
OG Davin Joseph/Buccaneers
OT Andrew Whitworth/Bengals
OT Todd Herremans/Eagles
Defense
DE Jason Babin/Eagles*
DE Jared Allen/Vikings
DT Sione Pouha/Jets
DT Haloti Ngata/Ravens*
OLB DeMarcus Ware/Cowboys*
OLB LaMarr Woodley/Steelers
ILB NaVorro Bowman/49ers
ILB David Harris/Jets
CB Darrelle Revis/Jets*
CB Corey Webster/Giants
S Troy Polamalu/Steelers
S Ed Reed/Ravens*
Specialists
PK Mason Crosby/Packers
P Andy Lee/49ers
PR Patrick Peterson/Cardinals
KR Joe McKnight/Jets
Head coach
Jim Harbaugh/49ers
What Fitz did came as surprise
Even the best personnel minds in the NFL could not have accurately predicted what the Bills would get from Ryan Fitzpatrick once he stepped into the starting lineup in Week 3 of 2010. Even Bills GM Buddy Nix.
Appearing on the FAN 590 in Toronto earlier this week, Nix was asked if he expected Fitzpatrick to do what he did last year once he was inserted into the starting lineup at New England last September.
“No, I didn’t,” he said. ”Watching Ryan as a backup through the spring, OTAs and camp you always said, ‘Wow, who made that throw?’ And normally it was number 14. So we knew there was a chance for him to do it, and we wanted to give him that opportunity early and I’m glad we did because it moved us ahead. If we went through the (2010) year and then tried to give it to him then it would’ve been a learning curve this year. So I think it put us a little bit ahead. I’m not saying we knew this all along, but we were somewhat forced into it with him being the best we had and then as Chan and George Cortez worked with him he took to it and got better and better.”
And in 2011 he obviously took another step, a step his teammates clearly notice.
“He did a great job coming in and he’s kind of a risk taker at times,” said Eric Wood. ”But as we’ve all seen he’s evolved into a pretty efficient passer.”
Pro Bowl names similar
Tags: 2012 Pro Bowl, Andy Levitre, Eric Wood, Fred Jackson, George Wilson, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Stevie Johnson
While we profiled some of Buffalo’s legitimate Pro Bowl candidates for the AFC squad this season, so too apparently did the folks at ProFootballFocus. They did the AFC and NFC, but a lot of their candidates included the same Bills we had on our list.
The PFF analysts had Eric Wood, Andy Levitre, Stevie Johnson and Fred Jackson like we did. On defense they also had Jairus Byrd, who is having a good season. We had George Wilson. Even though they didn’t name Ryan Fitzpatrick, they did mention him and how a lot of PFF staffers were shocked he wasn’t listed.
Wood laments never knowing Hull
Bills center Eric Wood when asked if he knew Kent Hull lamented the fact that he never met the Bills Wall of Famer, who passed at age 50 on Tuesday.
“Sad for his family and friends,” said Wood. “Personally I didn’t get a chance to meet Kent and I’m upset I didn’t. Wil Wolford is a good friend of mine and I know Jim Kelly well now and they both consider him their best friend. I’ve heard so much about him, his wife Kay and what good people they are. He set the standard around here for interior O-linemen. And I guess this always happens, but I never really appreciated him and did the research on how good a player he was until now.”
Merriman and Wood updates
Shawne Merriman did not practice Wednesday and neither did starting center Eric Wood. Here’s why.
Merriman has a shoulder injury while Wood has an ankle injury. Both players were seen lifting weight during a portion of practice in the team’s weight room, so the injuries are not believed to be serious. The status for both players with respect to Sunday’s game will be provided on Friday afternoon.
Don’t sleep on RB Bush
Oakland #2 running back Michael Bush is often overlooked by fans because Darren McFadden is the lead back and one of the fastest players in the league. But Buffalo is not sleeping on the big, but athletic back at all.
One player in Buffalo’s locker room that is very familiar with Michael Bush is Eric Wood, who blocked for Bush at Louisville. Wood warns not to assume Bush isn’t athletic because he’s 6’1″ and a burly 245.
“Michael is talented,” Wood said. ”At Louisville he probably could’ve played any position for us and he’s developed into a really good running back. He’s powerful, he’s quick, he’s smart, he’s a former quarterback. He’s got good vision and he combines all of that to make him a pretty good football player.”
“He came to Louisville to play quarterback and it didn’t work out,” said Kirk Morrison, who was teammates with Bush and McFadden in Oakland. “Brian Brohm ended up being the quarterback there and he went to running back. He was up for the Heisman going into his senior year before he broke his foot. So I know the kind of backs that they have over there. They’re like brothers and they take both carries and they don’t have an ego about it at all. They both go out there and get the job done.”
Bills O-line gets weekly award
Tags: Andy Levitre, Demetrius Bell, Eric Wood, John Madden
Buffalo’s offensive line has received John Madden’s Week 1 award for Madden Protectors of the Week.
Each week the Hall of Fame head coach and broadcaster selects an offensive line that in his opinion turned in a dominant performance. With Ryan Fitzpatrick sacked just once en route to a four-touchdown day, Madden chose Buffalo’s front five for the award in Week 1, putting them in early contention for the year end Madden Protectors award.
“Sunday afternoon the Bills offensive line played as a cohesive unit, controlling the line of scrimmage and paving the way for their key offensive players to do what they do best, score touchdowns,” said the Pro Football Hall of Fame. “This offensive line has established a core group of guys with Wood, Levitre and Bell.”
Troup had good 1-on-1 day
Tags: 1-on-1's, 2011 Bills Training Camp, Eric Wood, Torell Troup
There’s always a period in practice where the offensive linemen and defensive linemen have 1-on-1 pass rush drills. Torell Troup has been faring well in these drills so far.
Troup’s offseason workout regimen has been well documented. He added nine pounds of lean muscle and “tightened up the cage” as his core strength is significantly better. It’s been showing on the practice field.
The battles between Troup and Eric Wood have been fun to watch. A good number of them end in a stalemate, but they go back and forth with each of them winning their fair share of the battles. Last season that wasn’t always the case for Troup. It’s evident that he’s much stronger.
“I’ve worked hard all offseason,” said Troup. ”I took maybe two weeks off at the end of last season and got right back to work. I’m looking forward to hit some people and take on some double teams in the preseason.”
