For Carolina Panthers offensive tackles, Bills represent a challenge

Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera has known Buffalo Bills coach Rex Ryan for three decades. And for the third time in as many seasons, the Panthers will face Bills pass rushers Mario Williams and Jerry Hughes.

But for as much as Carolina knows about the opponents and their coach, there’s a great deal of uncertainty on how Buffalo’s pass rush will attack Carolina’s offensive tackles Friday when the teams meet in their first exhibition.

“They can do anything and when that happens you’re kind of guessing as coaches,” Rivera said of facing the Bills under Ryan, in his first year coaching the Bills. “It’s hard to see the game. Unless you hit it right on, anything could happen. Guys could be running around free. Your quarterback might not get time. Your running backs may not get time to run.

“It’s going to be tough, especially on the offensive line, trying to handle it. I expect Rex to be as aggressive as he normally is. I really do.”

Some of Friday night’s biggest challenges will fall on Carolina offensive tackles Michael Oher and Mike Remmers. If only for a quarter, they’ll be trying to contain two of the most formidable pass rushers in the league.

Just how good is Buffalo’s pass rush? The Bills led the NFL last year with 54 sacks and finished fourth in total defense – and Ryan fired the defensive coordinator with eyes on being No. 1 in the league.

That task starts with Williams and Hughes, who last year combined for 24 sacks. Hughes will mostly be matched up against left tackle Oher, and Remmers will get Williams on the right side.

But with Ryan, you can never be sure. His defenses regularly change their looks. One play they could have three linemen and the next it can be four. There are unconventional blitzes, and linemen can frequently drop back into pass coverage.

“Playing Rex Ryan in the past and those defenses, there are multiple looks, blitzes, a lot of confusing situations and things like that,” Oher said. “But I think with the preparation and the time we spend on going over multiple fronts, I think if we just be patient and go through our fundamentals and (identify) the right people, we’ll be fine.”

Last year the Panthers played Buffalo in the first exhibition and only saw Williams and Hughes for about 15 snaps. Two years ago in Week 2 of the regular season, Williams terrorized the Panthers offensive line for 4 1/2 sacks – mostly against right tackle Byron Bell.

Now Ryan, hired in January and one of the best defensive minds in the NFL, has two of the best pass rushers in the league at his disposal. And the Panthers have no tape on those two under Ryan.

“We’re going to have in our arsenal the ability to do anything,” Ryan told Buffalo media members in January. “As an opponent, you’ve got to prepare for everything because, if not, I’m going to find out what you’re not prepared for and I’ll attack you appropriately. That’s how we play defense.”

Rivera is looking for consistency from his tackles. Can they hold up under pressure, give Cam Newton time to throw and create decent running lanes for the running backs?

“I think the biggest thing first on the one-on-one situations is just be consistent,” Rivera said. “They’ve got to be able to hold these guys out for 2 1/2 seconds to throw. The next thing is the line has to be able to handle the different styles of pressure.”

Oher has held up well at left tackle during the first two weeks of training camp after a poor performance in the first day in pads. A quiet day is a good day for Oher, he’s said, and he’s had several quiet days recently.

“You can tell he’s played a lot of games,” said tight end Greg Olsen, who regularly lines up beside Oher along the line. “We said that back in OTAs. Some guys just get it. It’s hard to coach every possibility in this league and some guys just get it. They know how to react. And he has a lot of experience that he can draw on, on top of his physical tools.”

Remmers has seemingly picked up where he left off in January, two months after he took over the right tackle position following an injury to Nate Chandler. Remmers, 6-foot-5, 305 pounds, was steady for the Panthers in their undefeated December run that sent them to the playoffs.

His specialty is pass protection.

“But I also like to consider myself a high-energy, high-effort guy,” he said. “It might not be the prettiest block but I’m going to give it my all every single time.”

A couple of series and about a dozen snaps Friday will be too small a sample size to predict the success or failure of these Panthers tackles. But the test Oher and Remmers face will offer at least a glimmer into what they’ve done well so far this preseason and what needs work before the Sept. 13 opener at Jacksonville.

“It’s a little bit tougher than obviously a full-fledged game, but there’s points of emphasis going into these things that you look for and kind of harp on and I think that’s what we’ll do going into this game,” center Ryan Kalil said.

“We’ve been doing some good stuff so far this training camp, but a lot of that is in controlled situations. I’m looking forward to seeing how that goes live and unscripted and being able to adapt and seeing things move around. That all changes when you play on Sundays.”

This story was originally published August 13, 2015 at 7:31 PM with the headline "For Carolina Panthers offensive tackles, Bills represent a challenge."