PFF doesn’t give Bills’ offensive line a terrible Week 1 grade
The Buffalo Bills’ offensive line was a tough scene to watch in Week 1.
Penalties and some poor play stood out as the Pittsburgh Steelers got to quarterback Josh Allen routinely despite not blitzing.
But Pro Football Focus surprisingly found some positives.
Following the season-opening weekend, the football analytics folks held the Bills’ offensive line good regard.
One might expect the Buffalo’s O-line to appear near the bottom of PFF’s rankings of offensive lines from Week 1. Heck, at least in the bottom half of the league, right?
You’d actually be wrong. PFF graded the Bills’ offensive line as the 13th best in the NFL last week.
Here’s the breakdown:
Buffalo’s offensive line was overmatched against the Steelers’ pass rush in Week 1. Cameron Heyward, T.J. Watt and Melvin Ingram III all got the better of their blockers multiple times and left three different Bills linemen with sub51.5 PFF pass-blocking grades. Buffalo’s line has lived by the ethos of no weak links, but it means the overall potential of the group is limited, and sometimes the players can be simply overwhelmed.
In the analysis, it’s hard to even find positives on Buffalo’s offensive line. Diving deeper into PFF’s figures, there’s little that’s to look at as well.
Individually, here’s how PFF graded the Bills’ O-line, player-by-player:
Mitch Morse: 60.5
Jon Feliciano: 39.9
Ike Boettger: 53.4
Dion Dawkins: 45.3
Darryl Williams: 58.8
Cody Ford: 64.7
Of all six players that appeared on the line, only Ford did not have a holding penalty vs. the Steelers.
Dawkins had three himself. However, Ford was rotated out with Bottger in the first half, so even his grade has a bit of a damper attached to it.
But if you’re one to trust the fancy stats from PFF, 13th overall isn’t too bad. Especially compared to the eye test.
There could still be hope for the Bills offensive line moving forward.
