Josh Allen’s protection upfront has been a bit up-and-down through four games, and now they will be tasked to take on a tough Rams team that has a defensive line that can get after the quarterback, whether they have Myles Garrett and/or Aaron Donald or not.
Buffalo's offensive line featured one change heading into this season as Alec Anderson was named the team's starting left guard. David Edwards left for free agency and signed with the New Orleans Saints. Anderson and Austin Corbett had battled it out during camp, but Anderson came away with the job.
Luckily, Anderson had playing experience on the offensive line in Buffalo the last few seasons so there was some continuity.
Bills' offensive line has continuity (but has been inconsistent in 2026)
At the same time, this unit hasn't looked the best through the first four games. They are still one of the better units across the league, but Gordon McGuinness from Pro Football Focus (PFF) had them drop two spots in a recent power rankings going into Week 5. McGuinness has the Bills still in the Top 10, but they dropped two spots from No. 6 to No. 8.
"The strength of this Bills offensive line remains at the tackle spots, with Dion Dawkins and Spencer Brown the two highest-graded players in the group at 74.8 and 66.9, respectively. The interior has given Buffalo some issues, though, with both Alec Anderson and O’Cyrus Torrence earning PFF grades below 60.0. All three players on the interior have a higher negatively graded play rate than positively graded play rate as run-blockers, while the tackles have a higher positively graded play rate." said McGuinness.
This is a bit surprising to see this considering that Dawkins has had some issues this season with penalties. In addition, his pass protection has not been super great. Spencer Brown has been the better tackle, but's also had some struggles himself.
In the interior at the guards with Anderson and Torrence, seeing these grades should not have Bills fans feeling great. It is interesting that their run-blocking grades are this low considering that James Cook currently ranks 3rd in the league in rushing yards (421 yards) and he's averaging 6 yards per carry, which ranks 2nd in the league. However, there is inconsistency that has hurt the Bills upfront, especially against the Texans in Week 1 and then in Week 4 against the Patriots.
Bills have tough tests coming up in the trenches
On Monday night, the Bills will take on a Rams defense that has plenty of playmakers in the trenches, and there is a possibility that Aaron Donald will be back from his back injury that made him miss Week 4. Then six days later, the Bills will take on the Raiders who have been a major shock in terms of how they have performed defensively (for the better).
Then after their bye week in Week 7, the Bills will take on the Ravens, Vikings, and Jets in consecutive weeks. This is a brutal stretch the Bills are going to be entering, without question. Hopefully the offensive line is up for the challenge, because they pretty much have no choice but to go forward.
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