Buffalo Rumblings
The Buffalo Bills hosted the New York Giants in Preseason Week 1 and came away with a scoreboard loss, but an analysis victory. With no significant injuries from the game, the Bills were able to see some new faces in action including fourth-round pick, defensive tackle Deone Walker.
Please note that the All-22 was only available for select plays, which makes for a bit tougher time evaluating players on the line. Here’s one play of Walker’s I was able to get — and notice the highlighted swim move. First and foremost the move helps him get through the line and disrupt the pass. Second and less foremost, notice how the angle makes it easy for us to see what’s up.
I’ve seen a good deal of enthusiasm for Walker on social media but I’ll warn readers now that I may temper that a bit. Plays like this are a good reason why. There’s nothing horrific going on, but Walker allows himself to be turned which eliminates any chance at getting into the play.
Back to the positives, Walker times his lean well to pop his shoulder into the chest of his opponent and gain some leverage. Walker forced this pass to come out quickly which disrupted the timing and trajectory.
While it was easier for Walker to disrupt the play with it naturally coming closer than we saw in Play 2, this is more what you’d want to see. Walker initiates contact with the right arm, then swats down to gain the advantage while on the move. On this play, it’s Walker doing the turning and he’s able to help clog the lane as a result. I imagine many of you will enjoy how he finishes the block.
Walker is squared up with his opponent, but when he sees the direction of the run, he disengages with his right hand. The down and around movement functions similar to a rip technique and Walker is able to shed the tackle and get involved in the play.
Every preseason conclusion should be taken with a grain of salt and Deone Walker is no exception. He flashed potential with hand-fighting skill and good use of physics and leverage. There were also some ho-hum plays. The big caveat is naturally quality of competition.
Against starters in a game where film study and game planning take center stage (aka “regular-season games”), the phrase “you win some, you lose some” is what you expect. Starters vs. starters should be back and forth. When you’re not game planning and not up against starters, “you win some, you lose some” isn’t a death knell by any means. That said, I would consider it an “incomplete” grade. With Walker, he’s shown some good things, now we just need to see those as the...
