FinSaint

Almost all of the QB pressure came from the edges and that is mainly on the tackles, both of whom were subpar. Interior of the line was much better, although DLP had some problems now and again.

I was when it happened, and I still am, completely OK with Nicks going to Tampoon Bay because they were able to bring in Grubbs - haven't yet seen anything to change my mind about that.

Oh, and Jimmy Graham had couple of nice pass protection blocks during the game, so he has been improving on that quite a lot from when he first came into the league, since he couldn't block for s#it back then.

"I'm not bashing people, I'm bashing their opinions because in my opinion their opinion is wrong" - Danno

burningmetal

I remember saying after the draft that I was upset that the Saints took Akiem Hicks instead of Bobbie Massie, whom I believe is absolutely first round talent, and had proved it in the SEC. I never found out exactly why he fell that far, but knowing he had that kind of potential I thought he would have been well worth any risk considering it was the 3rd round.

I got a loud response from the vast majority of that thread telling me in various words that I was crazy to think we needed an offensive tackle more than we needed help on defense. I tried like hell to make my point that our OT's were not good at all, and that we are either constantly having to chip with TE's or Drew is having to run for his life and make plays on his own.

That point was continuously met with this line: "We have the best offense in the league and Brees gets sacked about 20 times a year, but we can't stop anybody on defense... Yeah we really need an OT". I explained how we had already signed Hawthorne, Lofton and Bunkley to help the middle of our defense, and so I thought the weakest position left on the team was OT. I pointed out how even though we set all those records we always get man handled on the edges when we play against top 5 defenses.

Yesterday proved how easily a well oiled machine can look like a box of rusty nails when you don't give your quarterback time to see the field, much less make an accurate pass. Massie might never be any good. But the same can be said of Hicks. The draft is a game of chance, and you have to take chances on the positions you need help the most.

If I had a nickel for every time I heard that, the NFL would fine and suspend me.

burningmetal

With all that said, I was equally disgusted with every position yesterday. I can't remember being more disappointed in a team. But those tackles were particularly bad, and with the offense struggling like that, I think it took the wind out of everyone's collective sail. There's no excuse for it, but let's hope they regroup and find a way to mask those problems once more.

lee909

The worry is that with Brees eating up so much cap room the money isn't there to get better players.Its always going to be either a young player just drafted or cast offs from elsewhere and trying to find a system to keep Brees safe.
I'm not dating we shouldn't have paid him but it will cost is elsewhere.

FinSaint

And they seem willing to allow for some edge pressure, as long as the interior of the line holds up and allows Brees to step up to make a pass.

Because of that it's very logical that they are paying their guard pair the big bucks because they are the ones keeping that interior from not collapsing on Brees.

Buhsrod will more than likely be gone after this season, he has a cap hit of $6.75M this year and if he is looking anywhere near that figure for his next contract... he might as well start looking around the league for someone foolish enough to pay him that, because I think someone might be willing to pay him that based on the fact that he has been a part of this offense and this O-line.

Strief is ok as a backup, but shouldn't really be starting. But like lee909 said, it's about balancing out who you would like to have on your team and who you can afford to have on your team.

I do hope that they'll use next year's 1st round pick to draft a stud of a LT, and if there's a certain player they like very much for that position - I wouldn't necessarily be against them trading up to get him or trading down if he can be had at a lower pick. I'd be willing to see them use couple of picks to get a stud of an LT if that is what it requires.

"I'm not bashing people, I'm bashing their opinions because in my opinion their opinion is wrong" - Danno

Joker

What's up with the guy from USC Charles Brown, can he play better than what we have now. I've always thought that Bushrod was not a left tackle and wouldn't want him protecting my 100 million dollar QB's blind side. Paid a kings ransom for Bree's the least you can do is protect him and let him earn that big money, on the other hand had to pay a lot to get him sacrifices will have to be made somewhere just not on the O Line.
As I was reminded by a friend it's just the first game, they have time to get it fixed no worries as of now but after week 3 or 4 I would start to get worried.

Looking back at that pitiful performance it was a team effort, penalties,dropped passes,fumbles,blown assignments on the defense all the way around so it's not just the offensive line although a good left tackle wouldn't be bad.

dizzle88

Charles brown was the reason brees got sacked 5 times vs rams last season, hard to believe but he's worse than bushrod

FinSaint

He has had all of those injuries, which have really hampered his development process, and because of that he probably will never be starter material in the league.

He is the backup for Bushrod in the depth chart, and he did play LT with the second string O-line during the preseason - with Marcel Jones as the RT - but I didn't personally see anything spectacular out of him in those games.

He was drafted mainly because he supposedly had great movement off the line with really quick and precise foot work and with good long hands, but it might be that all of those injuries have left their mark on his movement skills for good.

"I'm not bashing people, I'm bashing their opinions because in my opinion their opinion is wrong" - Danno

SaintsBro

I always felt like what happened was, Jamaal Brown went down in '09, obviously unexpectedly, and Bushrod jumped in. I know I was panicking, back at that time. And the coaches were kinda like, winging it and flying by the seat of the pants. But it was sorta working. And then, it became a classic case of "hey, we won a Super Bowl with this thing" syndrome. So then it's like, OK, that's how we roll now -- Bushrod is now THE guy, never mind that it looks kinda sloppy and funky out there, never mind that teams with big guys like the Cowboys and Redskins can totally manhandle us on Bushrod's side, never mind that he's not a Pro Bowler or that Drew is looking jittery back there, when he used to look so smooth and fluid. Never mind all that, look away from it, look over here at the shiny object -- we just passed for eight zillion yards! Jimmy Graham! Sproles! Too many weapons! and all that jazz.

And then for a while, a lot of people (myself included) were like, "we have these TWO GREAT ALL PRO GUARDS, NICKS AND EVANS, we don't even need a left tackle out there" and then eventually, the fans and maybe even the coaches wind up in La-La Land, and reality starts to set in, about that left tackle slot. The temporary, stopgap, seat-of-the-pants, duct-tape and spit solution, Bushrod and Strief, has become the "new normal" out there.

I believe it's actually quite Payton-esque, in a way. To me, that's always kinda been sorta his temperament, or how he rolls. Like, short attention span man -- what's this, OK, stick a band aid on it, problem solved, everybody keep rolling -- he's on to the next thing. I'm thinking if we had been 8-8 or 9-7 in '09, no way Bushrod would still be here, probably Strief too.

Rugby Saint II

So, you're saying our tackles aren't as good as we need them to be. The problem is if we draft a tackle then we don't have that draft pick to use on our pathetic defense. Spags definitely needs ALL the draft picks because the talent on D is subpar.
I'm a little concerned about de la Puenta. I'm wondering if Nicks helped him more than we realized?