Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Bills' guard competition decisively over in days

BY DAN BEGNOCHE

One week ago, coach Doug Marrone opened up the left guard position to most deserving candidate, creating a two-man showdown between Doug Legursky and Colin Brown.

And just like the preseason, the decision didn't take long.

The team officially announced Brown's release Tuesday, putting an end to the team's by-committee game plan and essentially naming Legursky the starter.

While Legursky's promotion doesn't come as much of a shock given Brown's performance, the somewhat sudden release of the 28-year-old was a tad unexpected. Brown's inefficiencies seemed to come in his execution and not his knowledge of the playbook, a factor that seemed to, at the very least, call for a demotion and not a pink slip.

He had taken the lion's share of the snaps at left guard since his promotion following Legursky's knee injury this past summer, where Brown seemed to have solidified a back-up roster spot even before having to take over the starter responsibilities.

Marrone was clearly more frustrated with Brown's play than he led on, saying Monday the lineman "has struggled before" but refused to elaborate until talking to the two (or in this case, firing one of them).

Marrone said Legursky "did a nice job" in the team's eventual loss to the Bengals, which resulted in 27-year-old receiving 83 percent of the snaps.

Buffalo filled Brown's void with the signing of guard Bryant Browning and the promotion of Mark Asper from the practice squad. Guard Antoine McClain was claimed off waivers last week to add further depth to the position.

Legursky allowed two QB hurries Sunday in his 58 snaps taken, while Brown surrendered a sack and a hurry in his 12 snaps. Brown leaves the team with 20 percent of the cumulative sacks and 32 percent of the QB hits on his shoulders.

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