Do we have a valid O-line coach replacement?
 

I hear a lot that our O-line will not be the same and there is concern about it after losing Kromer. This concerns me! And I will not sweep anything under the rug for next year compared to last season. Losing a coach and LT in the same offseason isnt exactly good. And I'm worried Brees is going to be a bit off his 2011 numbers because of this. It wasnt Bushrod that we lost that I'm concerned about its Kromer.

Re: Do we have a valid O-line coach replacement?
 

We have Brett Ingalls, who was promoted from being the running backs coach the past 4 years...

He has more experience than Kromer, I'm not really worried...

Re: Do we have a valid O-line coach replacement?
 

We went all the way to the NFC Championship game without Kromer. It will be a change, but no reason to automatically assume the run is over. Kromer was himself promoted from the running backs coach the same way, so there's no reason to assume it should not work out well.

Re: Do we have a valid O-line coach replacement?
 

I am more worried about losing Kromer than anything else this season. Even the defense. Kromer was one hell of a coach and made all pro players out of later round picks. He kept them so they protected Drew enough to be one of the least sacked QB's in the league and continued to do so swapping out major players every year at position where continuity is vital. I think losing Kromer is going to be a much bigger problem than people think. Add the fact we need to replace a solid tackle and we could have major problems.

Re: Do we have a valid O-line coach replacement?
 

I'm in total agreement.

Re: Do we have a valid O-line coach replacement?
 

He's not the O-line coach that developed Evans and Nicks. Kromer coached to O-line in 2009, 10, 11 and 12.

Doug Marrone was the coach that developed Nicks, Evans, and Goodwin.

Re: Do we have a valid O-line coach replacement?
 

Losing Kromer was a setback for sure, but it seemed the franchise was willing to see it happen, since they didn't pursue a new contract with him - at least nothing about it was leaked to the media - before his contract was up. This leads me to believe that they think they will be alright with Ingalls, and his resume certainly does seem quite impressive at a quick glance. Now, I have wondered about Kromer's role in the player development aspect in other threads before, and I'm not convinced that he was the "rainmaker" behind the good performances the Saints have gotten out of some of the lower drafted players, which is what Danno already alluded to. As a matter of fact, I think there's plenty to improve when it comes to, for example, the O-line blocking for the running game, and that aspect certainly fell under Kromer's responsibility.

So, it might not be all doom and gloom! ;-)

:bng:

Re: Do we have a valid O-line coach replacement?
 

Nicks was under Marrone for 1 year, Kromer had him the rest of the time so I would say Kromer was at least as responsible for developing Nicks as Marrone was. Kromer has also been good plugging in players like Del a Puente and probably had something to do with getting Grubbs here.

Re: Do we have a valid O-line coach replacement?
 

I don't think he had much to do with acquiring Grubbs, but he did a fine job with DLP for sure.

I don't think this staff would bring in an O-line coach thats gonna be a downgrade. I have doubts about anyone they bring in on the defensive side, but these cats know offense and know it well.

From what I've read about Ingalls, he looks every bit the O-line coach Kromer was.

Just look at the dude, he's got O-Line written all over him.:p

http://nbcprofootballtalk.files.word...alls.jpg?w=250

Re: Do we have a valid O-line coach replacement?
 

I only see a Saint's logo! ;-)