Opposite Week: Bills OL vs Rams

[Twopointtry]

For the first 4 games of the 2026 season, I tried to do detailed game-by-game breakdowns on how the Rams OL has performed. This week, I intend to switch things around and look at how our opponent's OL does against the Rams (albeit still from a Rams POV, because we'll pay way more attention to individual defensive players along the way.)

The first reason I want to do this is to give some perspective. If you only look at your own team, you can sometimes lose sight of how other teams compare. This is the perfect week to look at our opponent, because per ESPN metrics, the Bills enter our game with the 4th best pass block win rate and the 2nd best run block win rate. In other words, Rams vs the Bills showcases 2 of the very best OLs in the NFL, per ESPN's numbers. Hopefully, grading the Bills (by a non-Bills fan, so less built-in bias) will give us a measuring stick to digest some of the numbers we've seen for individual Rams offensive linemen.

Second, the exercise will give us a chance to look at the Rams defense. Lastly, this gives us an excuse to preview what I consider to be a huge game for the Rams.

Let's start with a breakdown of all of the offensive linemen on their roster, including the PS. As you'll see, the Bills have a ton of home-grown talent. They also have continuity, with many of their players having played together for several years. In terms of average salary, the Bills have one of the most expensive OLs in the NFL, 6th highest. Meanwhile the Rams have a relatively cheap OL, 27th in average contract value.

Starters:

Left tackle: Dion Dawkins (jersey 73), 2nd round pick 2017 Bills (63rd overall), 5-time Pro Bowler. 74.8 overall PFF (12th out of 69 OTs), 68.3 pass blocking, 85.5 run blocking (4th best OT), 4th best run block win rate among OTs (ESPN), 16th best pass block win rate. A huge draft steal by the Bills. Average salary just over $20 million.

Left guard: Alec Anderson (70), UDFA 2022 Bills from UCLA. Former-Ram David Edwards was their starter at this spot, but he left in free agency to sign with the Saints (Edwards has a 62.7 PFF grade and an average salary of $15.25 million). Anderson was a backup, playing in jumbo packages and a spot fill-in starter prior to 2026, so this is his first season as a full-time starter. He beat out forme- Ram Austin Corbett for the job. Anderson is on a cheap 1-year $2.5 million contract. He has a 53.5 PFF grade (56th out of 76 guards), 41.3 pass blocking and 57 run blocking.

Center: Connor McGGovern (66) 3rd round pick 2019 Dallas Cowboys. Former Pro Bowler. Signed a lucrative contract this year, $13 million average salary, 61.4 PFF grade, 64.2 pass blocking, 61.6 run blocking, 6th best among IOL in run block win rate (ESPN). He had a lower body injury during the preseason. He was a key FA addition when the Bills added him in 2023.

Right guard: O'Cyrus Torrence (64) 2nd round pick 2023 Bills (59th overall). Lucrative contract this year, $19.1 average salary (notice that he makes almost as much as their LT.) 54.6 PFF grade [Kevin Dotson has a 56.5 grade] 58.4 pass blocking, 56.8 run blocking, 18th best IOL in pass block win rate. Torrence was considered to be an elite guard prospect in his draft class and sometimes was mocked as a 1st round pick. He's a huge and strong player. The Bills list him as 6'5'' tall and 330 pounds. He has a nearly 84'' wingspan, almost an inch longer than Alaric Jackson's wingspan. Yeah, that's right, their RG has a bigger wingspan than our LT.

Right tackle: Spencer Brown (79) 3rd round pick 2021 Bills (93 overall). New contract in 2024, $18 million ave salary, 66.9 PFF (35th OT), 58.6 pass blocking, 73.4 run blocking, 14th among OTs in pass block win rate. Brown is very tall (listed at 6'8'') and bullied opponents at the FCS level.

Reserves:

Austin Corbett, former 2nd round pick, 1-year $1.49 million. Corbett had a good season when he left the Rams to join the Panthers, but he tore his ACL in the final game of that season. He had a season-ending upper body injury in 2024. Rams fans had angst when we lost him in FA, but in hindsight it was a good thing we didn't pay to keep him, because injuries derailed his career.

Lloyd Cushenberry, former 3rd round pick, 1-year $1.4 million. Cush was something of a draft-crush among Rams fans. He had an uneven start to his NFL career, playing poorly at first, seeming to rebound to become a good player, then injuries plagued his career. Similar to Corbett, in hindsight it is probably good that we didn't draft him.

Jude Bowry, 4th round 2026 Bills from Boston College.

Ar'maj Reed-Adams, 7th round 2026 Bills from Texas A&M.

Tylan Grable, 6th round 2024, Bills. I vaguely remember him from that draft. I think I sometimes drafted him in the late rounds in simulators.

Practice squad: Chase Lundt, 6th round 2025 Bills. They only have 1 OL on their PS.

Notice how even though their OL as a group has great ESPN metrics and they have multiple high-salary starters, only 1 out of their 5 starters has an overall PFF grade of at least 70 and none of them have a grade of at least 75. If you go back to our historically good OLs with Whitworth, Havenstein and company, our OL would have blown their 2026 OL out of the water with our grades and metrics. The Bills are good, but they are "mortal", this isn't one of those juggernaut OLs like the Saints, Raiders, Eagles, Colts, Cowboys, etc. have had at times where it feels like they have like 3 or 4 All-Pro guys and their best backup might be better than your best starter. Not going to be easy, but the Rams have a chance to make some plays on defense and get to Allen. Let's go, get after it. Time to protect the house.

 

[Karate61]

Torrence was considered to be an elite guard prospect in his draft class and sometimes was mocked as a 1st round pick. He's a huge and strong player. The Bills list him as 6'5'' tall and 330 pounds. He has a nearly 84'' wingspan, almost an inch longer than Alaric Jackson's wingspan. Yeah, that's right, their RG has a bigger wingspan than our LT.

So I am curious if you know why wingspan with lineman is an "advantage" vs. a "disadvantage"?

In my experience with martial arts, I learned that tall oppenents with a long wingspan have a huge weakness if you get inside and close to them. With their long arms when you are close they cannot push off well, having to significantly bend their arms to try and get their hands in a position to push off.

Seems like a defender getting a quick bull rush inside, then the defender pushing off or swimming around the blocker, would frequently give the defender an advantage over a blocker with a wide wingspan.

 

[RamWoodie]

I would say given the mobility of Allen those numbers can be "somewhat skewed". Not to say the Bills Oline is not good though.

Monday night is coming...

 

[Twopointtry]

So I am curious if you know why wingspan with lineman is an "advantage" vs. a "disadvantage"?

In my experience with martial arts, I learned that tall oppenents with a long wingspan have a huge weakness if you get inside and close to them. With their long arms when you are close they cannot push off well, having to significantly bend their arms to try and get their hands in a position to push off.

Seems like a defender getting a quick bull rush inside, then the defender pushing off or swimming around the blocker, would frequently give the defender an advantage over a blocker with a wide wingspan.

Very good points. I think Aaron Donald probably agrees with you.

Maybe someone should do a study to see if there is any correlation between length and success in the pros for each OL position.

There are many different pass rush techniques, so every opponent can be different. Sometimes the DL will push the arms of the OL up by the bottom of the elbows. I was watching an EDGE rusher the other day and he has an interesting variation on the Robert Quinn and AD's cross chop move. Instead of chopping down on the OL's arms, he grabs one of their arms and pulls the OL towards him, using their weight to sling shot himself by their shoulder. So, kind of like you mention, being tall with long arms might make that move more effective vs trying it against an OL who was shorter and had shorter arms.

I think that length in general is an advantage, similar to how being tall in basketball is normally good, but I'd rather have an OL with quick hands than one with long arms. A really quick player can be a better rebounder in basketball than a tall player. Maybe there is a "goldilocks" middle ground that is the ideal wingspan. I feel that way when it comes to height. I generally don't like OTs who are as tall as Spencer Brown. I think an NFL OT should be about 6'3'' to 6'5'' tall.

 

[Steve808]

So I am curious if you know why wingspan with lineman is an "advantage" vs. a "disadvantage"?

In my experience with martial arts, I learned that tall oppenents with a long wingspan have a huge weakness if you get inside and close to them. With their long arms when you are close they cannot push off well, having to significantly bend their arms to try and get their hands in a position to push off.

Seems like a defender getting a quick bull rush inside, then the defender pushing off or swimming around the blocker, would frequently give the defender an advantage over a blocker with a wide wingspan.

IMO. Wingspan can be an advantage for certain things but not for up close and personal contact at times.

 

[gogoat1]

The vast majority of times longs arms are a big advantage in sports. O linemen with long arms and quick feet get PAID. Same thing with edge rushers. Big advantage for DBs. How many times did Randy Moss snatch balls DBs could not get too ?
Boxers, its always in the tale of the tape.... reach advantage. Basketball.... a real advantage.
Pro sports guys like Donald and Mike Tyson dominating are not the norm. They have to find ways to get inside leverage on the men in front of them.
I was a big Tyson fan. But what did he do against Lenox Lewis ? Nothing but get hit. To get in range short fighters have to take chances of getting hit. That said, Tyson IMO went down when he stopped moving his head all over the place and became a target.
Its been said. If 2 guys are equal but one is bigger, you take the size advantage.
Don't let the short guy get close or you might have a problem. But they have to get close.

 

[Twopointtry]

Dion Dawkins pass blocking

Going to take a long time for me to watch all the plays, so I'm going to break it up one player at a time and do pass and runs separately.

Dawkins was very impressive. His Pro Bowl resume is warranted; he's a very good player. Put on a clinic vs the Rams. Most of the game Josaiah Stewart went against him and Stewart ended up with a 48.1 PFF grade. Some of the traits that make Dawkins so good is he's very explosive and smooth out of his stance with an outstanding 1st kick step, but he's also very balanced with great COD relative to his large size and heavy frame. When experts talk about "dancing bear" linemen, he could be the dictionary definition. The 2nd thing that was extremely impressive is his corrective hands and feet. Almost impossible to beat him in hand fights. He replaces his hands immediately. Great timing and hand-eye coordination. Keeps his base wide with elite contact balance. If we're comparing Alaric Jackson to Dawkins, there is simply no comparison IMO. Dawkins is way ahead of Jackson, on a different talent tier.

I thought that Aaron Donald had an excellent game. I was worried that he didn't play as well the last time out, but after resting his injury, he was more effective and impactful. One reason Dawkins ends up with such a good grade vs the Rams is he handled AD one-vs-one. That says something.

In July of this year, PFF ranked Alaric Jackson as the 13th best OT in the NFL, while Dawkins was only 27th. Meanwhile, B/R in August ranked Jackson 29th, while Dawkins was 8th. ESPN did a poll of NFL coaches and execs and Dawkins was an honorable mention but outside of the top 10, while Jackson didn't get a single vote from any of the respondents. I don't think PFF knows what they're talking about. Are they blind?

During the pregame show, ESPN talked about teams wanting to force Josh Allen to go to the left instead of being able to extend plays outside of the pocket to the right. Seemed to me that the Rams did this but went too far with the strategy, getting burned by multiple QB runs going left. Dawkins was one of the reason the Rams got exposed in this fashion.

+8 net score, 7 positively graded plays, zero negatively graded plays.

Notable plays:

1. Stoned Donald's inside move.

2. Josaiah Stewart drives Dawkins back into the lap of Allen. I still gave Dawkins a positive grade on that play, because what happens is Stewart pushes LT's outside hand away but LT repositions it inside and locks up Stewart by grabbing his chest, opening up the left edge for a long QB scramble. I felt that even though LT gets pushed back, he's in control of the defender, preventing Stewart from getting to the QB or containing the QB, so it was a win for the offense.

3. Zero grade on another long QB run. On this play, the TE Jackson Hawes stays in to block. Stewart gets sandwiched between the TE and the LT, opening up the left corner for Allen. This is an example of what I mean by the Rams strategy backfiring. To contain the QB, Stewart needs to keep leverage on the football, but by getting sucked inside of the TE, all it does is roll out the red carpet for the QB to run to the outside.

4. No impact on his grade, but on a screen pass to the RB that resulted in a huge gain, Dawkins is arguably holding Landman. It was one of 3 questionable Bills blocks on that play that maybe were penalties.

5. Nice swipe move by Stewart on long 3rd down, but immediate hand replacement by LT into chest of OLB stuffs the pass rush move.

6. There's a key play where Allen extends out of the pocket to his left, then dumps the ball ahead to the RB, Ty Johnson, who rumbles down the field for a huge gain. On this play, the RB is lined up as a wingback next to the LT and chips Stewart. Clean COD by Dawkins smothers Stewart's inside move. Donald is looping around and an unintended benefit of Dawkins's block is the bodies momentarily get in AD's way, keeping him from getting to the QB. This is another good example of the Rams not properly containing Allen. If Stewart stays outside instead of trying to go inside, Donald would have come 100% clean to the QB and maybe gets a sack on that down. Just like the OL needing to work together, the DL has to work together and on this play what the EDGE rusher was trying to do didn't mesh well with what Donald was trying to do. Instead of a big play for the Rams, it became a big play for the Bills.

7. Third down play, Stewart from a 2-point stance tries to convert speed-to-power but LT absorbs it and re-anchors, allowing Allen to scramble and the Bills eventually score a TD on that drive.

8. No impact on his pass blocking grade, but Dawkins made a great block vs Tyler Davis on Ray Davis's screen pass chunk play that set up a key 4th quarter TD, one of the key moments in the game. Dawkins also has good size for QB sneak plays.

9. Late in the 4th quarter, a long scramble by Allen on a 3rd&5 is another key play. Stewart and Donald work a twist. Great awareness by Dawkins, Donald pushes LT's hand away, but Dawkins replaces his hands inside and while on the move maintains a nice wide base, keeping AD from beating him.

10. Stewart tries a dipsy-do feint, but Dawkins is having none of it and stuffs the rush.

11. 2-minute warning in 4th quarter. Stewart at the LOS drops into coverage. Donald vs Dawkins. Good 1st punch by LT, Donald tries outside rip move with inside spin counter and kind of gets inside LT a little but not clean to the QB as LT recovers, resulting in long QB scramble. I gave Dawkins a zero grade on this rep. IMO, 2 outstanding players going at it. Microcosm of the game itself, because it was a great pass rush move by Donald that would have smoked most opponents but in the end the Bills win this play with a big gain and Dawkins doing enough to keep the QB clean helped to make it work.

12. In overtime there is a pass to Shakir for a huge gain. Byron Young is aligned wide, outside of the TE. Great timing by LT to meet the speed rush and give the QB time and space to make the throw.

 

[Twopointtry]

Alec Anderson pass blocking

I knew nothing about this player prior to the Rams game. He was a 3-star recruit from Fontana, CA and was the starting RT at UCLA in 2021.

He has good length and a nice frame. He's athletic and has range for screens and to move around but he isn't as strong and powerfully built as guys like Avila and Dotson. Coming out of college, he measured 6'5 1/8'' tall, with 33 1/4'' arms and an 81 1/4'' wingspan. For comparison, Avila was 6'3 1/2'' tall with 33'' arms and a 78'' wingspan.

His inexperience shows up sometimes. His footwork is sometimes poor and he doesn't maintain proper depth in relationship with the other OL. Over the course of the game, I counted about 4 or 5 plays that I'd characterize as "Dude, you're hanging on by a thread. Making me nervous" because his technique and his hand accuracy are sloppy, but I gave him zero grades on all of those plays, because technically he won his block, he stopped the defender, it just looked awkward and ugly. One play, Kobie Turner's helmet ends up buried into Anderson's chest and Anderson is hugging Turner's helmet.

Overall, he was surprisingly effective. I was expecting him to be terrible. He's a former UDFA and inexperienced as a starter. Some plays his assignment wasn't so challenging (some of our DTs aren't great pass rushers). He plays too upright and sometimes bends at the waist. Since his COG can get too high, it hinders his movement as a help blocker, so he's not as good as Avila at this task. He has quick hands and decent twitch. Disruptive initial punch.

+1 net score, 2 positively graded plays, 1 negatively graded play.

Notable plays:

1. Anderson smothers the DT's rush, torques him and plants the DT into the ground. Know who it was? Aaron Donald. Another play, Anderson swallows up the DT's bull rush attempt, then flings the DT to the ground. Who was the DT? Kobie Turner. On 2-point conversion play he winds the hand fight vs the DT. Against who? Aaron Donald.

2. Poor anticipation and technique vs twist left his center hanging out to dry.

3. Nice drive blocks to create a surge on QB sneaks, Allen goes behind him.

4. Late in the 4th quarter, the Bills get a key long pass to Shakir. On this play, the Bills chip block Bailey with a TE, then pull Anderson around the RT to block Bailey. We used to do that with Saffold. This allows the rest of the OL to slide towards Aaron Donald and creates a better matchup for Anderson.

On the Bills OL, he is the weakest link (at least until Spencer Brown got hurt and they had to use a backup at RT) but he's probably "good enough" for what the Bills need. Since they spent so much money at the other OL positions, he's doing fine relative to his salary level. On paper, you would have thought he'd earn many negatively graded plays on that side of the ledger, but instead it was a relatively clean game. Far from a work of art and if we played the Bills again next week, I'm not confident that he could repeat the performance, but he was okay. I'm curious to see how he'll grade out on the running plays.

 

[Twopointtry]

Connor McGovern pass blocking

McGovern is an example of how "good draft picks" don't always help the team that drafts the player. For a variety of reasons, McGovern wasn't a full-time starter for the Dallas Cowboys until his 4th NFL season. He missed his entire rookie season due to injury.

Rodger Saffold left the Rams in FA to join the Titans. He played 3 years out of his 4-year deal with the Titans, because as his performance declined, his salary wasn't matching his production, so he became a cap casualty. After leaving the Titans, Saffold played one year with the Bills. McGovern replaced Saffold as a starting guard for the Bills. The following year, the Bills released Mitch Morse and McGovern slid over to center. Adding McGovern in FA was a key addition for the Bills.

Against the Rams, McGovern showed excellent football IQ and on-field awareness. He's a prototypical veteran NFL center, the glue that holds together the rest of the OL. Very good size. Elite independent hands. A big contrast with the Rams and our struggles vs DL games is McGovern was outstanding vs twists. Very impressive how his eyes with split-second precision know where to look and how he maintains proper depth.

Dominated the Rams in hand fights. I love Kobie Turner, I think he's a great player. The tape don't lie, so give credit where credit is due. McGovern dominated Turner in the game on pass plays. McGovern was one of the key performers in the contest. Poona Ford, Turner, Ty Hamilton, Fiske, didn't matter who he faced, McGovern stuffed everything. Range to move outside of the RT. Very smooth out of his stance.

+8 net score, 7 positive plays, zero negative plays.

Notable plays:

1. No impact on his grade, because we're only including pass pro reps, but he had the critical block on Byron Young at the POA on a huge gain on a RB screen pass.

2. Allen is a great QB but there were about 3 plays where I thought the QB "wasted" excellent blocks by McGovern. The center bought extra time for the QB but Allen didn't take advantage of it.

3. Quick left hand strike vs Turner, then immediately withdraws both of his hands so when Turner unleashes club move it whiffs, then C immediate 2 hand punch. Turner's 2nd club attempt is followed by C clamping onto DT and "wins the rep", then when Allen decides to escape the pocket and rolls out to the side, C feels the DT moving and lets go so that he doesn't get called for holding. What a fantastic quick hand fight, a combination of mental chess match moves and martial arts or wrestling hand eye coordination.

4. On 3rd down late in 4th quarter, 3 quick succession hits vs Lake and Turner smother the twist and open door for QB scramble up the middle for huge gain. At 2 minute warning, early hand strike vs Turner than stuffs Fiske to open space for QB scramble. Textbook perfect vs Turner and Fiske twist on big pass play to Shakir. Outstanding vs Donald and Turner twist right at POA on critical QB scramble late in OT.

We haven't gotten to the right side of the OL and maybe those guys didn't do as well, but both Dawkins and McGovern were rock solid. The numbers are shocking. I've reviewed 3 linemen and only gave out a single negatively graded play from all 3, combined. A total net score of +17 for the 3 players combined. The closest Rams performance would be from the Niners game, where I gave our LT, LG and C a combined +12 score. The right side of our OL both had negative scores from that game. Against the Eagles, our LT, LG and C combined for a +6 net score, with 11 negative plays.

 

[Twopointtry]

Sorry, I messed up. Anderson actually had a +2 net score. I forgot to include one of his positive plays. So, the 3 players combined would have a +18 net score.

 

[Twopointtry]

O'Cyrus Torrence pass blocking

And then we hit a wall. So much for the great pass blocking by the Bills OL. I thought that Torrence was hot garbage vs the Rams. This isn't due to any personal bias against him stemming from Torrence getting into a fight with Donald during the game.

Torrence is a huge guy. He has intimidating length and his long arms can ensnare pass rushers like a net. He's heavy, so trying to run directly into him can be like trying to ram into a cement post. Some linemen have recovery athleticism, but Torrence doesn't need to have great quickness. His sheer size allows him to salvage blocks even when his technique is poor.

The negative part is he's almost too tall for his position. He struggles with leverage, because his center of gravity is too high. Gets walked backwards to the QB, because defenders get under his pads. He has slow hands and feet and struggles to stay square on blocks. His base can narrow or he crosses his feet. He has below average awareness. Slow scanning. Despite being so big, he's a poor drive blocker, limiting his value on Allen's QB sneaks. Maybe that's why Allen went to the left instead of going to the right.

Torrence has a very expensive contract. He gets paid like he's an OT. Is he really worth the money?

-9 net score, zero positive plays, 9 negative plays.

I guess he's the Kevin Dotson of the Bills. Maybe he'll have a fantastic run blocking grade when we get to that part of the game. I wasn't impressed with his pass blocking skills.

Notable plays:

1. Aaron Donald bull rushed him backwards, then Torrence finished AD to the ground. Maybe Bills fans would have given their RG a positive grade on that play, but I felt it deserved a negative grade, because AD pushes him so far back that the QB has no room to step up, the pocket is caved in.

2. Fell asleep vs COD move by Byron Young.

3. He made Braden Fiske look like a pretty good player. Passive hands and poor footwork vs twist allowed Fiske to knife between RT and RG to generate penetration. Against a twist by Fiske and Byron Young, RG turns his hips too far, so when he sees Young coming, he tries to spin around and ends up with his back to Young. That's just embarrassing.

4. Fiske has 31'' arms. Torrence has nearly 34'' arms, nearly 3'' longer. So, how is it that Fiske can get into Torrence's chest off the snap? What good are long arms if you don't use your hands properly?

5. Remember how Anderson and McGovern have good range to pull around the OT for pass blocks? The Bills tried to do this with Torrence. He whiffed vs Omar Speights.

6. Silly Kam Kinchens moved too early, telegraphing to the Bills the safety blitz pre-snap. The offense identifies him and they know what's coming. After the snap, Byron Young gets into RG's chest, because Torrence is late to punch, then even though the OL knows that Kinchens is blitzing, RG doesn't get square to the S, so QB is flushed from the pocket. When you know presnap how you need to move and still can't execute it properly, that is an ugly rep.

7. It is the 4th quarter and the game is tied. Young is about to beat Torrence on a twist. RG grabs Young and pulls him down to the ground. IMO, this should have been a holding penalty and would have been a critical flag. Might have resulted in the Rams having an excellent opportunity to win the game in regulation.

8. Late in overtime, poor footwork against Donald, very lucky that the center does such a great job on Turner or this play likely results in a critical sack on Allen.

James Cook was almost the goat for the Bills due to his fumbles but after watching the passing plays, I feel that Torrence was flirting with being a goat himself with his shaky pass blocking. Allen's scrambling talent and the other OL being good helped hide Torrence's flaws.

 

[Twopointtry]

Spencer Brown and Tylan Grable pass blocking

If the left side of the Bills OL was good in pass pro for Allen, the right side of their OL was an unmitigated disaster. If Brown hadn't gotten injured, probably wouldn't have been so bad, but when they were forced to insert their backup RT things got ugly. Byron Young repeatedly destroyed Grable. The problem was that every single time, Josh Allen put on his Superman cape and converted what should have been sacks into QB scrambles for big yardage. One of the best "plays" for the Bills was allowing Grable to be beaten in pass protection.

Brown is surprisingly light on feet for such a large player. He uses his length well and has quick hands but he bends at the waist and his footwork can be undisciplined and chaotic. I don't have much else to say, because he exited the game in the middle of the 2nd quarter.

Grable is a poor man's Joe Noteboom. He's athletic and ran very fast downfield on Ty Johnson's long screen pass but his technique is wild and his anchor is shaky. The bottom fell out for Grable the deeper we got in the game, culminating in an avalanche of -2 graded plays. Good illustration of why it can be bad for an NFL team to have to use backups on the OL. If it weren't for Allen's individual talent, that single injury to the RT likely would have torpedoed any hope the Bills had for winning the game. What can you do? The game illustrates the value of an MVP level QB in the NFL. Knock on wood, maybe someday we'll be able to talk about Ty Simpson pulling Houdini acts and turning would-be sacks into big scramble plays.

Brown -1 net score, zero positive plays, one negative play.

Grable -11 net score, 1 positive play, 8 negative play.

Notable plays:

1. Young got Brown airborne in the middle of a pass rush, winning to the inside, but Kobie Turner beats Torrence to the outside. This results in Young and Turner colliding with each other just as they were trying to get into the same gap. Bills show that it is better to be lucky than good.

2. The only positive play I gave Grable was when he tricked Byron Young to try a chop by flashing his hands early the pulling them away, then his punch stuffed Young's outside rush.

3. Ridiculously bad 1st step by Grable, obliterated at the apex by Young but Allen erases the sack and scrambles. Mental error by Grable turns Turner 100% loose to QB, but Allen escapes and turns it into a huge gain on the scramble. Critical 3rd down in 4th quarter, Grable again destroyed by Young, another Allen scramble. Immediately after the snap, Grable is badly beaten by Young, but Allen converts it into a nice scramble.

4. Depth so bad by Grable that he tries to use his rear end to block Turner.

5. There is a key scramble by Allen at the 2-minute warning. I'd like to see this play from a different camera angle, because it looks to me like Grable is holding Young.

 

[Twopointtry]

Dawkins and Anderson run blocking

I watched both of these linemen together. The left side of the Bills OL might have been very good pass blocking, but they were toilet paper soft as run blockers. Not impressed. Dawkins has a very high run blocking grade on the season from PFF. Ummm... why? He is very passive, lacking aggression and power. Lethargic as a pull blocker, Almost disinterested going to the 2nd level. I consider Alaric Jackson to be a pretty average run blocker, but Jackson is a better run blocker than Dawkins showed vs the Rams.

Seemed to me that when Dawkins was in a 2-point stance prior to the snap, there's a tell that tips off the defense whether it is a run play or a pass play. I wonder if the Rams ever noticed this. One play, Dawkins had his hand to Turner's face. Maybe should have been penalized.

Anderson is a positional, wall-off run blocker. He doesn't have good leg drive and doesn't generate any movement. He isn't a good combo blocker. He gets shed and isn't very technical.

Dawkins: zero net score, 1 positive play, 1 negative play. Buried Fiske once.
Anderson: -4 net score, 1 positive play, 5 negative plays. Poona Ford got him a couple times. Aaron Donald beat him with a quick move and stacked him another play. I gave him a positive grade for taking Kobie Turner to the ground.

 

[Twopointtry]

McGovern run blocking

Zero net score. 5 positive plays, 5 negative plays.

There was a strange play where I wonder if the Bills had confusion regarding the play call, because the way the C blocked the DT didn't look like it fit the run. Right after the play, the C turns towards the QB as if he's asking what happened.

McGovern is only an average combo blocker, doesn't generate movement on solo blocks, isn't very powerful or explosive and has average range. The contrast in 2nd level range shows the value of Coleman Shelton, because there is a play where McGovern simply isn't fast enough to get to the landmark to cut off Landman, so the ILB stuffs the RB. I bet Shelton would have gotten to that block.

On the positive side, McGovern has good size to hold his ground and anchor, he did a nice job sustaining vs an Aaron Donald swim move and he split his showdowns against Poona Ford. Tyler Davis beat him once with a nice move. Landman shed him once at the 2nd level.

Overall, I think he was better than Dawkins and Anderson and acquitted himself well vs Donald and Turner, but he didn't do anything too impressive.

 

[Twopointtry]

Torrence and Brown/Grable run blocking

The RG and RT for the Bills are big, strong road graders. Torrence is huge, making it easy for him to hold the POA but he isn't very athletic to move in tight quarters or going to the 2nd level and he isn't as good going laterally. Grable is very quick and explosive to the 2nd level, but he has sloppy hands and since he's the backup, made mental errors. One play he was confused which player he was supposed to block and went to the wrong defender at the 2nd level.

Aaron Donald beat both the RG and RT multiple times with quickness but a couple other plays they bullied Donald, because he's an undersized player. I think that our TEs are better run blockers as a group than their TEs. A mediocre TE block was partly at fault for one of Cook's fumbles.

Torrence: zero net score, 2 positive plays, 2 negative plays.

Brown: +1 net score, 1 positive play, zero negative plays.

Grable: -1 net score, 2 positive plays, 3 negative plays. On a TD run by Cook, Grable appears to commit a blatant holding penalty on Landman, but it isn't flagged.

 

[Faceplant]

All I know is that it didn't look like the Rams got any pressure with 4.....like, at all.

 

[Jacobarch]

All I know is that it didn't look like the Rams got any pressure with 4.....like, at all.

They did. But allen just took off running.

 

[Twopointtry]

I'm not going to do numerical grades, but some thoughts about the Rams pass blocking:

Matthew Stafford: I normally wouldn't include the QB in the pass protection grading, but I thought he did a really nice job making the OL look better by handling plays where he was pressured, so I'd give him multiple positive graded reps. He threw the ball so quickly early in the game that the defense had no time to generate a pass rush. He's not a scrambler like Allen, but he still limited the damage when pass blocks were missed. I think his PFF grade was too harsh and not a fair reflection of his overall performance.

Clown show: Warren McClendon and Kevin Dotson. Be glad we're not doing number grades, because I bet their scores would have been nightmarishly bad in this game. These 2 guys need to get their act together. One play, they have chip help from the TE but still manage to make an absolute mess of a basic twist. Dotson fell completely asleep another time vs a stunt and almost caused an INT by Stafford. Throughout the game both the RT and RG looked incompetent. Not good.

Not much better: Alaric Jackson. I have no idea why PFF gave him such a high grade this week. Were they watching a completely different game? He started out well in the 1st half and was doing a good job but then it was like he felt sorry for McClendon and Dotson and tried to make them look better by being even worse to try to make the Rams lose the game. On very critical plays in crunch time, Jackson tried to blow it for the Rams, including the very last pass where Kyren Williams broke open just as Stafford was trying to throw.

Random question: Why is Tutu Atwell on the team? That guy can't run a route to save his life. Why is he on the field? Okay, he's fast. That's it. He doesn't know how to get open.

Welcome back: I keep saying it. An underrated player in our blocking scheme is Colby Parkinson. His ability to solo pass block resulted in multiple plays where the OT (Jackson or McClendon) only had to block down vs a DT, then Parkinson took on the EDGE. One play, we tried to use Davis Allen in this manner and he was trash, earning a -2 grade from me on the rep. Parkinson doing this job allowed us to use Allen in a different way on other plays, like when he blocked in space on a screen and Allen did a great job on that play, much better suited for his athleticism and movement skills vs trying to block at the LOS. I like Allen as a type of "help" blocker where he comes in motion across the formation but he doesn't have enough anchor to be the doorstop.

Block of the day nominee: Kyren Williams vs a LB blitz.

 

[LARAMSinFeb.]

All I know is that it didn't look like the Rams got any pressure with 4.....like, at all.

I feel like they were aggressive instead of trying to contain, and kept getting burned. I also think Shula failed to adjust to that. I think we should've made Allen beat us with his arm, and would've had better results (enough to win).

 

[Twopointtry]

Dotson and McClendon at least partially redeemed themselves with some good run blocks.

Dotson is a better run blocker than Avila.

Parkinson did good work in the run game.

McVay took the blame for being conservative on the 3rd&5 run play right before the blocked FG but do you know who appears to mess up this play? Davante Adams. He goes to the wrong defender, resulting in his CB being unblocked to the RB, while both he and Whittington end up trying to block the same defender and since Whit has him, Adams blocks nobody on this play. Since the QB hands it off and the RB has the ball, this means that there are 8 Rams trying to block 11 Bill defenders (the entire D is in the box) on that snap. If DA blocks the outside CB, maybe Williams would have bounced the run outside and since all the Bills are condensed right at the LOS, this play conceivably would have resulted in a TD for the Rams. There is nobody left deep if the RB breaks containment. I've called out DA's poor run blocking before and maybe you've thought "Well, it doesn't really matter in the big picture. He gets so many receiving yards, Who cares if we get a couple less yards every now and then?" Sometimes, it matters. There are no small things in the NFL. Every tiny piece can be the difference between winning and losing.