DETROIT — While Josh Allen was off playing superhero, likely cementing his hold on his first-ever MVP award, while James Cook and the running backs put up a collective 285 yards from scrimmage with three touchdowns, while six different receivers and tight ends caught a pass en route to a 48-42 victory, there, the Bills offensive line stood, pitching as close to a perfect game as possible.
And they did it in the home barn of the vaunted Lions offensive line, a unit many consider one of, if not the best unit in the league, no less.
“Our team runs through them. They control the line of scrimmage. They’re the tone-setters. We can’t do what we do without them,” tight end Dawson Knox said. “They’re the blood of this team. They keep us going.”
It’s hard to argue against the point with a showing like they had against the Lions. Before the Bills went into run-out-the-clock mode, the offense averaged nearly nine yards per play. The Lions didn’t register a single sack on the evening. They managed only five pressures against the Bills on 34 dropbacks. The Bills offensive line erased the Lions and, on top of it, bowled them over in the running game.
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The group consisting of left tackle Dion Dawkins, left guard David Edwards, center Connor McGovern, right guard O’Cyrus Torrence and right tackle Spencer Brown has only one missed start this season among them. It’s a group described by teammates as the “loudest personalities.”
But while the Bills registered their eighth straight game of scoring at least 30 points, the offensive line remains firmly under the radar throughout the NFL.
Why is that?
“I don’t know. Maybe we’re ugly, and no one wants to look at us,” Brown said. “It’s not something we worry about. It’s not like, ‘Let’s come out here and get some media coverage on the boys.’ It’s not what it is. That’s part of playing offensive line. You do the dirty work. You do what you’re asked, and you go on about your day and hope your team wins. So that’s all I care about.”
“I think it’s just because we do our job and we don’t expect praise for it,” sixth offensive lineman Alec Anderson said. “It’s just kind of like you’re doing what you’re supposed to do.”
Backup offensive tackle Ryan Van Demark made a spot start against the Chiefs in Week 11 and also got some time at right tackle against the Lions after Brown suffered some neck spasms. Van Demark overheard the conversation with Anderson and wanted to chime in.
“It’s the character of the men in the room,” Van Demark loudly said.
There was at least one dissenting opinion, but it almost drove the point home even more.
“I don’t think we do [go under the radar],” Edwards said. “I think that we’ve got great running backs. We’ve got the best quarterback in this league. And it’s really all of us together making it work. So, you know, our recognition is our offense’s recognition. Really, the credit’s got to go to Josh and the backs, the guys that really make it go for us and make us look good.”
Spoken like a true offensive lineman.
But while Edwards quickly pushed the credit elsewhere, his partner to his left every week said the quiet part out loud.
“I think it’s the market, I really do. I think just because we’re in Buffalo, they only push us as far as they want,” Dawkins said. “I ain’t trying to start no beef or nothing like that, but we’re the best line in the country. We show it every week. I’m the best left tackle in the world. You know, I feel like I have the best guard in the world next to me. On the opposite side, I’ve got the best young guard, Cybo [Torrence]. Spencer has become one of the better tackles in this league.”
“We don’t ever get that credit that we really deserve,” Dawkins continued. “But, like, I wish I could say, ‘Who cares?’ Because I care! You know, I care. I want to be stamped as that best left tackle, because that’s what I am.”
Bills pick up 31 yards on 4th and 2!
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Dawkins has become the star of the offensive line show for those who watch them intently enough. Now 30 years old, Dawkins has adopted a work smarter, not harder strategy this season and has depended less on his athleticism to win. He even has a signature move to use the opponent’s momentum against them and rip them down to the ground chest first.
He had one of his more memorable ones last week, getting an instant pass-blocking win by forcing impressive Rams rookie Jared Verse to do a front flip. The move goes by a few different names depending on who you ask, but Dawkins has his own name for it — the Ice Pick.
“Because it’s mine, and I’m the best at it,” Dawkins said.
“He is so technically sound,” Edwards said. “Let’s think about what it is to play left tackle in this league. Who you have to go against. The responsibility of that position. His ability to take premier rushers and put them on their face is unlike anything I’ve ever seen in my life.”
“I got a little highlight tape coming to show the world,” Dawkins added. “I’ll be my own billboard since people ain’t trying to pay attention to what’s really going on. But I say it with humbleness, and I say it with respect. I’ve been playing for eight years. It’s a matter of time that I get what I deserve because, you know, it’s the truth.”
But Dawkins is the anomaly of a group that likes to let their play do the talking. The Bills offensive line has been the engine of the entire offensive environment.
And they were more than a little ticked off that their running game didn’t go how they wanted it to in Los Angeles. They wouldn’t let what happened against the Rams happen versus a Lions defensive line, even though the Lions had four rotational pieces returning from injury for the game.
“Coach McDermott puts a huge emphasis on the line of scrimmage,” Edwards said. “So coming off of last week where we didn’t really run the football well, effectively, not a lot of times, not a lot of opportunities. It was a real point of emphasis for us to be able to run the football because it opens up so much more stuff.”
And with that enhanced attention, the Bills were borderline maniacal on offense. Only two of the 11 drives in which the Bills tried to put points on the board ended without at least a field goal attempt. And one was merely because they ran out of time at the end of the first half.
The Bills know that Allen is playing the best football of his career, with the likely league accolades to follow. But the offensive line remains in the shadows, looking to make their mark every week without ever getting the limelight.
“Every game is a statement game to really prove who’s the better team, and who’s the better line,” Dawkins said. “I say it with humbleness. The Buffalo Bills are a special, special group. And I think everybody on this team is playing at the top of their game.”
(Top photo: Kimberly P. Mitchell / Imagn Images)
