GumboBC

Offending line play

Throughout the league, the offensive line play is at an all-time low

I have never seen worse offensive line play in the NFL than I'm seeing this year. I have never seen so many bad offensive lines.

They're getting swarmed, overrun, inundated. Blitzing is coming back into fashion, not only by typical blitz-happy defensive coaches, such as the Eagles' Jim Johnson, but by anyone who smells weakness along the opponents' offensive front. And there are plenty of them.

Miami's offensive line, perhaps the worst in the business, got roughed up by Tennessee in the opener, and things only got worse the following week against Cincinnati. The Bengals, whose defense got hammered by both the Jets and Ravens, looked like positive monsters against those Dolphin linemen. And so did the Steelers last weekend.

Carolina's line couldn't handle the Green Bay blitz, and the Packers aren't known as a wildly blitzing team. Washington's defensive coach, Gregg Williams, always was considered a sound fundamentalist, but not a guy who pulled out all the stops on his rush. During the three-year period in which he was Buffalo's head coach the Bills' cumulative sack total was below the league average. But this year when he faced the Bucs in the opener, he took a look at that Tampa Bay offensive line, which had been restructured and revamped for the umpteenth time, and sent people in from all angles.

Read More