Our "O" Line
 

Is their anyone -- other than the ONE guy here that proclaimed it -- that thinks our O Line "excells" or even comes close?

C'mon fella's, lets hear you blame their performance today on Brooks. Maybe Deuce just sucks too eh?

[Edited on 19/12/2004 by saintfan]

Our "O" Line
 

Our O-line is obviously poor.

I am sure no other non-rookie QB could have coped :o

Our "O" Line
 

I wait with apprehension.

AB usually pads his stats in the 4th quarter. I wonder how he will doi it today. :rollinglaugh:

Our "O" Line
 

So, b/c I said that our O-line \"excelled\" at run blocking in week 2 that means that I believe it now, huh? Does AB back out of protection?

Is there anyone here - except the ONE guy who proclaimed it - still believe that this coaching staff is the right one?

Our "O" Line
 

How bad is Spencer Folau? I mean he was horrible when he was playing guard against a not so good DL... then we put him against one of the best pass rushers in the league... Wow he is horrible... Is Stinchcomb really that bad we cant give him a shot?

I know AB has no pocket presence, but Folau needs to at least touch his man... Why do we step up when the rush is getting pushed inside? Why dont we scramble more like we did on 4th and 12? Did anyone hear that the reason AB doesnt scramble is cause the defensive players are faster than him? Hmm... I think thats BS more like he is scared... just my opinion... all kinda interesting things...

Our "O" Line
 

I missed the game again, of course, stuck watching the Packers/Jaguars game up here in Birmingham, but I saw that Wayne Gandy left the game in the first quarter with an injury. Does anyone know what happened to him? In addition, who replaced him and how did they look?

As for T.O. - I dunno how much his injury will help anyone they potentially will face in the playoffs. As Philly has already clinched their division & home field advantage, looks like Owens will have as much as four weeks to recover. I think he\'s only got an ankle sprain, so he\'ll probably be back in time for Philly\'s first playoff game.

And, regarding Aaron Brooks - yeah, looks like he shut my big mouth for me this week! But hey, that\'s just fine. If he can keep managing the game and stepping up to lead the team (as he did today), I\'ll be happy to eat all my harsh words.

Our "O" Line
 

Our O-line is the worst in the NFL, IMO.

I\'d take anyt O-line in the league and swap straight-up.

Now if some folks want to say Brooks make the O-line wosre than what it is ... well... you\'re entitled to your opinion... I think most resonable people would disagree with that, though.

What I\'m interested in is what blocking scheme Haslett and co can come up with to help the O-line out. I think we\'re gonna have to go primarily with 2 tightend/2back set.

I\'d really like to hear some opinions on our O-line and how we can fix it.

Our "O" Line
 

Our problem, IMO, starts with the tackles. Our line \"excelled\" in the run game and was up and down in pass blocking last year - which makes sense b/c most of our runs are straight up the middle behind (last year) that nasty group of Bentley, Fontenot, and Holland. I thought that Gandy was a bad choice at LT when we signed him. He played fairly well last year mainly b/c he got away with holding on pretty much every passing down.

Most of our heat seems to come from the corners, which shows why the Roaf and Turley moves hurt so much. The other problem is either Brooks or McCarthy, I\'m not sure which. Either McCarthy is so dumb as to continue to call 7-step drops when facing one of the best pass rushes in the league (last night) or week in and week out despite our poor pass blocking, OR AB simply drops back into harms way. AB seems to constantly be backing out of his protection and into harms way. This is how he \"makes the line worse.\" B/c tackles try to lead DEs in a looping arch around behind the QB, forming the pocket. When AB drops 8+ yards deep, he drops directly into that line and gets into trouble. AB needs to shorten his drop and McCarthy needs to call more quick throws. Who knows, maybe AB has those options and is too bad at reading defenses or simply to dumb to get it. Maybe McCarthy is just a dolt and stubborn and can\'t figure out to call plays with three or five step drops.

Our problems, IMO, considering the line are: (in no particular order)

1. Slow center/QB exchanges
2. Bad Tackle play
3. Bad blocking TEs
4. Slow and deep drop from AB
5. Bad play calling

Again, it makes me wonder if McCarthy doesn\'t believe that AB can identify, read, and make the quick throw - how can you keep calling 7 step drops against TB?? Maybe McCarthy is a total nimrod, but I have my doubts. Poor blocking schemes probably effects the protection too - Bentley may be having problems IDing the blitz or stunts, etc. and calling the right protection in his first year back at center.

Our "O" Line
 

McCarthy must disagree, since the final TD was a designed one-step drop the O line was praying they didn\'t put it.

If you\'re watching the same game I watched yesterday and you can find ANY way to defend the performance of the O line -- by blaming McCarthy OR Brooks or the Grinch -- well then...

Gimme three more of those little dots.

. dot
. dot
. dot

Our "O" Line
 

If Folau is a better LT than Jonathan Stinchcomb then I\'m sad to say Stichcomb is way more of a bust than Sullivan. I was feeling embarrassed for Spencer. It reminded me of the Turley LT experiment. Hopefully Stinchcomb was just inactive and Folau was forced to play out of position, therby looking completely lost.

It was the worst O-line play I\'ve witnessed in years. Gator got me thinking. With such a pathetic O-line, Stecker may be a better fit for us right now due to his jitter-bug abilities, which are apparently necessary with this O-line to avoid being tackled 5 yards behind the line. In fact, I\'m tempted to say Michael Lewis may have more success with that imitation of an O-line.

I\'m afraid that O-lineman has now moved up the needs list substantially.

Our "O" Line
 

You are 100% dead on. What I find strange is that Spencer Folau did a credible job at Right Tackle one year when Riley was suspended then couldn\'t get it away from Spencer. I\'m also with WhoDat about Wayne Gandy. He is past his prime and is also ailing in the legs (at 36 who wouldn\'t be at that position). What I fail to understand is why didn\'t they move Riley to LT and play Spencer at RT. What else has happened is that we pissed away Naole, Turley, and Roaf (3 first rounders) for what we have now. Says what great player talent evaluation staff we have, doesn\'t it.

Our "O" Line
 

Dude, go watch the film. Do you have it? I\'ll send you a tape if not. I read the same article you did and it suggested McCarthy called ONE such play all game. I\'ll bet you $10,000 right now that the majority, even the vast majority, of passing plays involved AB dropping back more than 3 steps, whether by design or not. Wanna bet?

Our "O" Line
 

Maybe you should watch the film and see if you can tell me how that line excelles again. Maybe you can blame all 7 sacks on Brooks, but I don\'t. I don\'t think most would, but you...you\'ll blame him for the chick that sang the anthem before the game being slightly off key. LOL

Our "O" Line
 

No one on this board disagrees with the fact that the line is simply awful.

At present we have to wonder whether the line is fixable by retaining the skill position players we have.

It seems me that the best move is to trade Brooks and pick up a quality run blocking LT in the offseason, make a big push for RT Ryan Diem from Indy in free agency and have more of a run oriented attack with Deuce.

Our "O" Line
 

There you go with the \"trade Brooks\" thingy again. One would believe that you are not enamored with Fumbles the Clown. Dare I be wrong in this assumption? If you watched the Indy slaughter of Baltimore (I watched parts of it), I could have stood back there and thrown the ball without worry of being touched(and I\'m 60). While I share the sentiment that Brooks (aka, Fumbles the Clown) is one of the more mediocre QB\'s in the league, you can\'t throw the ball with 3 people draped on you like christmas tinsel on a tree.

I still say that Hazlett, Big or Baby Mule erred in getting rid of Naole, Turley, & Roaf (locker room cancer and all) Could be that Fumbles is the cancer, not those three guys. :exclam:

Our "O" Line
 

A classic skirt and skew job Saintfan. Congrats.

Let\'s review shall we?

Whodat lists FIVE reasons the line is playing poorly. ONE of those things is the continued and consistent tendency of deep drops by our QB (see that\'s a problem when you have a line that can\'t block and Tackles that can\'t deal with faster more athletic DEs). Did I blame Brooks? NO!!! I said it could be him, it could be McCarthy, that I wasn\'t sure, but I guess it\'s a combination thereof...

Saintfan cites ONE play all game where McCarthy called a short drop - note that it worked well too, further supporting my point that deep drops are problematic and that short drops with a quick release will help the o-line and Brooks. He does this for what purpose other than an attempt to prove me wrong?

I challenge him to show more than one play suggesting my comments are inaccurate.

He doesn\'t even address it, he replies with \"Maybe you can blame all 7 sacks on Brooks, but I don\'t. I don\'t think most would, but you...you\'ll blame him for the chick that sang the anthem before the game being slightly off key. LOL\"

Interesting, considering if his point is that the line play is poor, and I am giving 5 reasons why the line is, in fact, playing poorly,and most of my comments deal with the line and the O coordinator, that he would focus on Aaron Brooks. Obsess much? What exactly are you trying to prove Saintfan? The line is playing poorly? I already agreed and gave reasons. You disagree with my reasons? Why don\'t you suggest why you think the line isn\'t playing well then? Can\'t come up with the ideas on your own? We all know you\'re great at slinging sarcasm and criticism at others - but what exactly are you criticizing in my last two posts in this thread other than me??

You\'re suggesting that I\'m blaming Brooks entirely for the line\'s poor play. I\'m doing nothing of the sort - though AB\'s play IS a factor. To use your analogy, you\'d blame the girls who sang the national anthem for AB\'s backwards passes before you\'d blame him, wouldn\'t you?

[Edited on 20/12/2004 by WhoDat]