Bills head coach Doug Marrone was questioned by the media about it more than once over the past few weeks. With the offensive line struggling to win battles consistently at the line of scrimmage, Marrone is now exploring the option of making a change up front with Kraig Urbik the most likely insertion into the starting lineup at left guard.
"He may. He may," said Marrone of Urbik when asked if he'll start at left guard on Sunday in place of rookie Cyril Richardson. "We're trying to get better. We're looking at a couple of options."
"Every week I'm preparing like I'm the starter," said Urbik. "Being a backup they trust us every game day you could be one play away from starting so I prepare every week like I'm going to be starting and I'm going to be ready."
After the run game production again fell below expectations last week and the offense surrendered six sacks Marrone promised he would look at everything that was going on up front with his offensive line. Urbik is probably the best card that Marrone has to play when it comes to making personnel changes up front. The veteran lineman has started each of the past three seasons for the Bills, mostly at right guard and has 44 career starts in a Buffalo uniform.
"He's got to be ready to step up and go," said Marrone of Urbik. "If he gets the call on Sunday I'm sure he'll be ready to go."
The hope is Urbik can help to stabilize Buffalo's interior alongside Eric Wood. The Bills have surrendered 13 sacks the last three games and up next is a defensive front littered with former first-round draft picks in the Jets. New York comes into Sunday's game with the eighth-ranked run defense and the fourth-most sacks in the league (20).
"It's one of the best D-lines in the league right now," Urbik said. "They generate a lot of pressure and it's the Jets. They do different blitzes every series so we're going to have to be on our game and do extra film work this week."
To his credit Urbik did not want to revisit the circumstances that led to his role of backup linemen the first seven weeks of the season. He's focused on helping the line tighten up and execute more consistently.
"I definitely want to be out there all the time," he said. "Obviously this year has been a little different, but I'm just looking forward to getting out there this week."
