Inside The Bills

Bills O-line gets weekly award

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

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.”

Top 3 inside on O-line

Bills GM Buddy Nix said back in 2009 in preparation for the draft that spring they had Eric Wood, Andy Levitre and Kraig Urbik ranked as the top three guards in the class. Now they have all three. So it wasn’t surprising to see them as the three interior linemen on the starting line this morning with Levitre at left guard and Urbik at right. Wood manned center. It wouldn’t be surprising at all if they were the starting interior three linemen come September 11th.

“That could happen that way,” said Bills offensive line coach Joe D’Alessandris. “I know this. Urbik has a bright future, Andy has a bright future and Eric does too. All three of them have some great, great skills and ability. Now the object is stay healthy and let the cream come to the top.”

Wood to line up at center

It came as little surprise but Chan Gailey confirmed that Eric Wood will line up at center and compete with Geoff Hangartner.

Gailey said his job is to put the best players on the field and has some guards that he’s trying to give the opportunity to start.

The Bills first practice is Saturday afternoon.

Wood vs. Suh

In our second installment of the Top 10 Performances of 2010, Bills offensive line coach Joe D’Alessandris helps us out.

He breaks down Eric Wood’s dominant performance against the NFL’s rookie of the year in Ndamukong Suh, and believe me Bills fans you’ll enjoy watching this. There are a couple of instances at the end some plays where Suh is getting visibly frustrated because he’s being taken completely out of the play by Wood. Really an impressive game for Wood.

Wood ready to roll

Bills offensive lineman Eric Wood is eager to get 2011 underway knowing he’s coming into the year fully healthy.

Appearing at a charity event in Louisville he was asked about his 2010 season along with the future for the Bills as well as his current health. He’s been working out at Louisville with fellow alum Jason Spitz, who is an interior lineman for the Packers.

Wood, whose surgically repaired leg really came around in the second half of the season last year, is the next subject in our Top 10 Performances of 2010 on Buffalobills.com. Set to air Thursday is Wood’s dominant performance against NFL Rookie of the Year Ndamukong Suh in Buffalo’s Week 10 win over Detroit when they rushed for over 150 yards.

Bills offensive line coach Joe D’Alessandris breaks down each of the dominant plays in which Wood handles Suh among others. It’s not to be missed and will be available in the Buffalobills.com media center Thursday.

Pass protection rankings

The stat counters and film reviewers at Pro Football Focus have released Part I of their Pass Protection rankings.

They’re going from worst to first and calculated their findings by taking Pressure per play and multiplying it by the average number of pass blockers per play (multiplied by 1,000). Buffalo ranked 20th in the league. Here was their synopsis for the Bills.

20.  Buffalo Bills (1.71)
Improvement from the Bills. Demetrius Bell isn’t even an average left tackle yet, but he was much better than 2009, and Fred Jackson seemed to finally begin to get what picking up the blitz was all about. But players like Cord Howard still get beat far too often, and the interior is all too readily pushed back. That will need to improve. With Ryan Fitzpatrick still at quarterback they at least have a guy who knows how to avoid sacks.

Pressure Per Play Rank: 21^st
Sack % of Pressure Rank: 12^th
Average Number of Blockers Per Play Rank: 19^th

It would seem to me that the PFF folks were unaware that though complementary of Bell they did not realize he was coming off microfracture surgery and did not feel back to 100 percent until after the bye week last season. Cordaro Howard was learning on the fly as an undrafted rookie. The comment about the interior makes one wonder about how the center position might shake out from the 2011 season knowing there will be competition there between Geoff Hangartner and Eric Wood.

Hangartner “ready to go”

Bills starting center Geoff Hangartner practiced fully this week and is not even listed on the team’s injury report.

When asked about him head coach Chan Gailey said that Hangartner is “ready to go.” When asked if that meant that Hangartner would start Sunday against the Jets Gailey again said, ”He’s ready to go.”

In all likelihood Eric Wood will continue to start at center with Hangartner likely serving in a reserve capacity Sunday, but it’s at least possible that Hangartner could be on the field.

Facing Pats then and now

The Patriots are really on a roll winning their last six and blowing most opponents out of the water. But the Bills are more focused on how they’ve improved since the two teams first met in Week 3.

“We played them tough the first game this year and we played them tough both games last year,” said Eric Wood. ”We’ve been close, it’s about finishing. I think we’ve gotten a taste of how to win this year and a lot of younger guys have learned what it takes maybe to get over that hump at the end of a game. We kind of just got to carry it into this game as well.”

There are few that finish better than Tom Brady, but the Bills have built up some nice momentum themselves over the past month and a half having won four of their last six.

“They are well-coached, they make very little mistakes and everybody is out there doing their job,” said Fred Jackson. ”It’s hard to get sacks on them or create turnovers and things like that. If you’re not taking care of the ball, and taking care of Tom (Brady), he’s going to find a way to win the football game. That’s one of the things they do.

“So, we on offense have to score points whenever we got the opportunity. I think it’s just going to be a good challenge, but we feel like we are a different team than when we played them the first time. Hopefully we can go out there and make some plays against them.”

Hangartner may dress

Bills starting center Geoff Hangartner may dress for Sunday’s game.

Hangartner practiced for a second straight day Friday doing a little more than he did the day before. Head coach Chan Gailey said there’s a chance he’ll be active for Sunday’s game against the Patriots.

“We’re going to list him as questionable, but I don’t know if we’ll activate him or not,” said Gailey. “We’ll see.”

Eric Wood is going to start at center on Sunday regardless of whether Hangartner dresses for the game or not. If he does dress it’s expected that Hangartner would serve in a backup role.

High marks for Wood at C

The Bills coaching staff was pleased with Eric Wood’s performance at center last week against the Browns in his first NFL start in the pivot. Apparently the stat crunchers at ProFootballFocus approved as well.

Wood got high marks from the PFF game review staff. Here’s what they wrote about him.

Eric Wood (+3.1) returned to center, his college position at Louisville, and looked impressive there shifting inside from guard. In his prior 20 starts at right guard, he had only bettered his grade from Sunday as center once, a grade of +3.8 against the Bears in Week 9 this season in Toronto. Wood’s performance against Ahtyba Rubin was very impressive, controlling and moving Rubin both laterally and vertically within the box to create space for Fred Jackson and the Bills’ interior running game.

Wood’s play not a surprise

Bills OL Eric Wood played center for the first time in two seasons Sunday and performed admirably against a pair of respectable nose tackles in Ahtyba Rubin and Shaun Rogers. But his play was fully anticipated to be that good by Buffalo’s coaching staff.

“Eric did a nice job. He handled things well,” said Chan Gailey. ”I think people were somewhat surprised by that, but we weren’t at all. We fully expected him to go in there and be able to do what he did. That was a nose man that had played pretty well against some people in the past. I thought it was a positive the way he was able to go fill in and play.”

As for starting center Geoff Hangartner, he’s still on the mend, but won’t play in Miami Sunday.

“He’s better,” Gailey said. ”He won’t be ready this week. It’s going to be close really the rest of the year on him, but he’s getting better.”

Bills center depth chart

Most everyone knows that Eric Wood will be starting at center Sunday against the Browns in place of the injured Geoff Hangartner. But after seeing the Bills go through three centers last week, here are the backups to Wood should something else happen at that spot this week.

Head coach Chan Gailey told Buffalobills.com what the contingency plans are should, God forbid, something happen to Wood in the game.

“Andy Levitre would go in there (next),” said Gailey. ”Rinehart would be third, but you’ve got to have three as we learned last week. You’ve got to have three.”

Levitre stepped in to play the final two series at center last week in Minnesota after both Geoff Hangartner and Kraig Urbik went down with knee injuries. So for Sunday’s game Levitre will be the backup with Rinehart the third stringer.

Rinehart, who was a tackle in college, is pleased with the way he’s adapted to the pivot.

“It’s come along better than I anticipated it would, so that’s encouraging,” Rinehart told Buffalobills.com. “I got started on it last week, and now I’ve got another week under my belt should the unexpected happen.”

Rinehart knows the line calls well having been with the team since mid-October when he was added to the team’s practice squad.

Wood to man center

Bills head coach Chan Gailey confirmed what was anticipated Wednesday that Eric Wood will man the center position Sunday for the Bills.

“That’s the way we’re going right now,” said Gailey. “Coming out he was one of the best centers in the nation. It’ll be an easy transition for him. Making all the calls will be a little different, but he’s handled it before.”

Gailey said they’ve kept Wood up to speed in practice every week regarding the center position.

Wood meanwhile is excited about the opportunity to get back in the pivot.

“I’m looking forward to the opportunity,” said Wood. “Obviously losing Geoff hurts the O-line, but I’m going to step in and do the best I can to replace him up front for the time that he’s going to miss.”

Wood is confident playing center will all come back to him through the practice week. We’ll have more on this story on the home page of Buffalobills.com and in our media lounge in our Wednesday Bills Roundup report later this afternoon.

2 Bills out for Sunday

Bills head coach Chan Gailey declared two of his injured players out for Sunday’s game.

Shawn Nelson (migraines) will miss a second straight game due to his unyielding migraine headaches.

“He’s still struggling,” said Gailey.

Nelson had some episodes with migraines as a rookie as well in 2009.

Eric Wood (ankle) will not play for a second straight week after getting rolled up on a running play in Week 11.

Terrence McGee (knee) is listed as doubtful. If he doesn’t play he’ll miss his seventh game this season with a recurring nerve problem in his leg. Gailey said that team physicians have run a battery of tests in an effort to nail down what’s causing the periodic numbness.

Wood’s status

Bills RG Eric Wood missed last week’s game after suffering a sprained knee at Cincinnati. He did not practice Wednesday and head coach Chan Gailey provided an outlook for the offensive lineman regarding Sunday’s game.

“Eric, it will be touch and go on him this week,” Gailey said. “We’ll see what we can get out of him later in the week and see if he’s going to be able to go or not.”

Kraig Urbik would make his second straight start at right guard Sunday if Wood is not ready to play.

Wood won’t practice

Bills RG Eric Wood left last week’s game after getting rolled up on a run play against the Bengals. Head coach Chan Gailey outlined his status for Sunday’s game.

“He’ll miss practice today, probably tomorrow,” said Gailey. ”We’ll see if we can get him back on the field Friday, but he’s questionable.”

If Wood cannot play on Sunday, Kraig Urbik is expected to start in his place.

Eric Wood injury update

The news was good considering what could have been on Eric Wood, who left Sunday’s game with a leg injury. Head coach Chan Gailey provided an update Monday.

When asked if Wood had a chance to be back in the lineup on Sunday, Gailey offered the following.

“It’ll be close on him,” said Gailey. ”He may not make it this week. We’ll just have to see. He just got banged up on the same leg. It’s kind of a sprain, bruise all that.”

Initially it appeared as though it was his right leg that got rolled up on the play in the Cincinnati game Sunday, but Gailey said it was his surgically repaired leg from last offseason. Kraig Urbik stepped in for Wood Sunday and would presumable start in his place this week if Wood is unable to go.

Knowing how careful they’ve been in handling Wood’s return from that long offseason rehabilitation, it wouldn’t be surprising if they gave him a week to recover. And if Urbik starts he’ll be motivated since the Steelers waived him earlier this season.

Wood injury update

More good news in addition to the Bills victory Sunday over the Bengals. Eric Wood’s knee injury is not considered a major one.

“I don’t think (it’s serious),” said head coach Chan Gailey. “He could have gone back in a pinch. But we didn’t put him back in.”

Wood will be re-evaluated on Monday.

Wood heading home Sunday

RG Eric Wood will be heading to his hometown of Cincinnati this weekend with his Bills teammates as they face the Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium. Wood is naturally looking forward to his first opportunity to play in his hometown as a professional.

“I’m excited to go home,” Wood told Buffalobills.com. ”I’m happy that I’ve been able to progress this year. Going home is going to be fun because Cincinnati has a pretty sound defense. I’m not sure how they rank numbers-wise, but they’re very physical in the front seven, so we’ll have our work cut out for us just like we did last week. It’ll be fun though because I’m going to have a lot of friends and family there and it’ll be a nice homecoming.”

Wood isn’t sure just how big the support contingent will be, but he is sure they’ll all be wearing Bills colors Sunday.