In the dominant win over the San Francisco 49ers in Week 1, the Panthers defensive line was nothing less than transcendent, pushing around an inexperienced offensive line to only allow 51 yards rushing while picking up four sacks and consistently getting pressure and hits on quarterback Brian Hoyer. The defensive tackle rotation of Star Lotulelei, Kawann Short, Wes Horton, and Kyle Love had their way with center Daniel Kilgore and guards Zane Beadles and Brandon Fusco; while the Panthers were able to dominate up front against San Francisco, they may not be able to have the same results against the Buffalo Bills in Week 2.
The Bills have led the NFL in rushing the past two years and are at the top of the leaderboard after one week this season after rushing for 190 yards against the Jets last Sunday. They return the same starters from last year with Eric Wood returning to join a talented group at center; while the Bills’ offensive line is a strength, there are still some ways that they can be attacked. The Bills rely on LeSean McCoy, one of the best running backs in the NFL, to tote the rock regularly, and once he is into the second level is where he excels. If the Panthers can maintain their gap discipline and hold their lanes, they can make less cutback lanes for ‘Shady’ to slip through; a disciplined line should be able to cut off the big plays that McCoy specializes in. McCoy had 110 yards in Week 1 against the Jets and 70 of them came on four plays. Obviously, those big plays count, but without them McCoy averaged only 2.2 yards per carry.
The matchup on the left side of the line between Richie Incognito and Kawann Short will make a huge impact on the success of the Bills’ offense. Incognito is the best player on the Bills’ line (Pro Football Focus graded him a 79.2 in last week’s game) and he’ll have his hands full with Short, who absolutely abused the Bills young guards last week; when Incognito gets out and pulls, he is one of the best guards in the league. Left tackle Cordy Glenn has been battling a nagging foot injury and was spelled for a third of the snaps against New York by second-round-pick Dion Dawkins, who played a fair amount of guard at Temple. If Dawkins gets reps against the Panthers, defensive coordinator Steve Wilks must recognize the opportunity and send blitzers to help edge rushers Charles Johnson or Julius Peppers to overwhelm the rookie.
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Center Eric Wood returns after missing the latter part of last season with a broken leg at center, where he’s been anchoring the Bills offensive line since he switched from guard in 2011. Wood’s weakness is against power, and if he has to deal with defensive tackle Lotulelei one-on-one, look for Lotulelei to make the same kind of impact in Charlotte as he did last week in San Francisco. While Lotulelei doesn’t fill up the stat sheet (his two tackles, fumble recovery, and a half sack last week are on the high end of what he usually ends the day with), his push off the line and ability to get into the backfield matches up well with Wood. If Wood is able to get out and work in space, he’s better, so look for Wilks to send Lotulelei or Short straight at Wood to occupy the middle blocker.
A place where the Bills may be able to exploit the Bills’ offensive line is at right tackle, where Jordan Mills was uninspiring last year and hasn’t looked much better in training camp or in the preseason after the Bills tried desperately to upgrade right tackle during the offseason but were unable to find a replacement. Rookie tackle Dion Dawkins is on the left side, so Mills will be dealing with Mario Addison all day on the right, and Addison should be able to get penetration to quarterback Tyrod Taylor. Addison must be careful not to overpursue, as Taylor is quick to slip outside the pocket and pick up yardage with his legs.
While the Bills offensive line is a clear strength, they had trouble last week with new Jets athletic edge rusher Kony Ealy, a similar rusher such as Julius Peppers or Addison should be able to have success as well. The way that strength vs. strength matchups are decided are often where NFL games are won and lost, and the Bills offensive line vs. the Panthers defensive line is going to be a doozy. If the Panthers can get the kind of disruption they caused against the 49ers while maintaining their lanes and keeping contain on both LeSean McCoy and quarterback Tyrod Taylor, it will make life a lot easier for the linebackers and secondary.
