dolfancoolio
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- May 22, 2004
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ok lets take a look at last years piece of rubble that was supposedly was our o-line but instead resembled something with the force the likes of an 90 year old man trying to open his bedroom door. we had wade smith at left tackle. he was good for a rookie. but being good for a rookie still means that in reality he wasn't all that great. at left guard we had jamie nails. nails always had ability but struggled a LOT last season because of his ankle injury. At center we had tim ruddy. the fact that no team has picked him up yet proves his dissapointing form last season. so that summates to a fairly weak left side. at right guard we possibly had the worst starter at guard in the league in ed perry. this guy SUCKS. and then we had todd wade at right guard. he was meant to be our saviour at right tackle when we drafted him. he was pretty good however i still think he played a little under what he couldve played yet he made perry look better than what he was. when carey gets some experience in the big league he will be a major upgrade to todd wade and will be a pro bowler. anyways back to last years o-line, that makes for a below average right side. it was a credit to ricky williams that he got however many yards he got. this o-line had no solid rushing lane and had major weaknesses on the interior. Fiedler gets criticised a lot on this board and i must admit im not his greatest fan either. but i think had he had a little more time in the pocket last season he might've thrown about 3 or 4 more TD's and thrown 1 or 2 less int's. He didnt do the best of jobs last year but it is easy to sympthasise with him when he has that line to work with. The line last year gets a weak D from me.
Ok now this year. we have mcmike, chambers, boston and ricky. everyone goes on about how good we will be with these weapons but the fact of the matter is if you have a weak o-line your never gonna be able to get it to these players or in rickys case allow him any room to run. look at kansas city. on offense they are quite similar to us. they have an outstanding running back, a great tight end, some solid receivers and quite frankly an average qb in trent green. now some people might disagree with me but green really isn't that great. then how did he lead his team to 13-3 you ask? i'll tell you how, he had the best damn offensive line in the comp to give him time. The same goes for the success of marc bulger. we have probably equal if not more offensive weapons than kansas city (except for our qb situation- both feeley and fiedler are a bit weaker than green) but we are lacking the offensive line. imagine if we had the o-line the chiefs had where we would have gone last year. we would have had one the best offenses in the league much the same as kansas city did have last year. now you should be able to realise the significance of a good o-line. back to this years o-line and we have an improved smith at left tackle. He will be good this year and i wouldn't be suprised if he made the pro bowl in four or five years or so. Jeno James at left guard is a big upgrade to an injured nails last season. We now have a solid left side. ricky, welcome to jamal lewis territory. at center we have seth mcinney. everyone keeps saying that if he were that good then he wouldve beat out ruddy last season and unfortunately i agree with this. i'm fearing games against new england, denver, san francisco, pittsburgh and buffalo when he comes up against powerful defensive tackles such as traylor, luther ellis, bryant young, casey hampton and pat williams. the center plays a role when running the ball to either side and his pass protection is essential to keeping the defensive tackles from getting to the qb and causing a fumble or injury as the case may be. mcinneys progress will be a major part in the success of our o-line and subsequently our offense. i havent seen much of him so we can only hope and wait. now at right guard we have greg jerman. spielman heres your time to shine!! we need to sign a quality veteran guard whether it be by free agency, by trade or even in exchange for the o-gun who (if we re-sign him) may disallow cap space for the re-signing of chambers and mcmike in the future. If greg jerman stays there i imagine he will be very weak. Pretty much no change here since last season with the crappy ed perry. right tackle will be vernon carey. while he is only a rookie there are big things expected from him. if he can have a wade smith-like or perhaps even better rookie season then we will probably still have a weak right side like last year. we need to sign a quality guard. a good guard will give ricky otions to the left and right side and will give feeley (he will start- trust me) more time to survey the field and get the ball to one of our receiving weapons. with a good right guard we will have an o-line greatly upgraded since last season and we should go 12-4 or 13-3 with our defense with a AFC championship game appearance not out of reach. However, we keep jerman there and feeley will probably get about as much time as fiedler did last year which will be a significant drop-off to the time he got behind phillys outstanding o-line. we will most likely experience a 9-7 or 10-6 season if our o-line is not changed come september. i wouldnt mind putting damien macintosh at right guard when he recovers simply due to his size and experience that he holds over jerman who i have yet to see play but can only expect very little from. however it is essential that we sign a quality veteran guard to fill the void at right guard who can instantly improve our offense and perhaps bring jerman slowly into the game. we also need mcinney to step up and show us he's ligitimate. a lot is resting on this o-line and i see big things for their future, however unless we sign a guard with the talent equivalent to someone like brian waters i can only see us going 10-6 on the back of our defense (which is getting older and cant keep waiting around for our offense to sort itself out) this season and we may scrape into the playoffs this time around but will likely not go any further than the first week. I give this years o-line a solid C and i think in 2 or 3 years time it will be a B+ pushing an A-. And then, and only then will we have a crack at the superbowl. As the great John Madden says "The first and most essential component to an effective offense is the line". i really had to get that off my chest. sorry to write so much but until we attain a quality offensive line i am going to have to sit there come football season and settle for mediocrity from my team for yet another season.
Ok now this year. we have mcmike, chambers, boston and ricky. everyone goes on about how good we will be with these weapons but the fact of the matter is if you have a weak o-line your never gonna be able to get it to these players or in rickys case allow him any room to run. look at kansas city. on offense they are quite similar to us. they have an outstanding running back, a great tight end, some solid receivers and quite frankly an average qb in trent green. now some people might disagree with me but green really isn't that great. then how did he lead his team to 13-3 you ask? i'll tell you how, he had the best damn offensive line in the comp to give him time. The same goes for the success of marc bulger. we have probably equal if not more offensive weapons than kansas city (except for our qb situation- both feeley and fiedler are a bit weaker than green) but we are lacking the offensive line. imagine if we had the o-line the chiefs had where we would have gone last year. we would have had one the best offenses in the league much the same as kansas city did have last year. now you should be able to realise the significance of a good o-line. back to this years o-line and we have an improved smith at left tackle. He will be good this year and i wouldn't be suprised if he made the pro bowl in four or five years or so. Jeno James at left guard is a big upgrade to an injured nails last season. We now have a solid left side. ricky, welcome to jamal lewis territory. at center we have seth mcinney. everyone keeps saying that if he were that good then he wouldve beat out ruddy last season and unfortunately i agree with this. i'm fearing games against new england, denver, san francisco, pittsburgh and buffalo when he comes up against powerful defensive tackles such as traylor, luther ellis, bryant young, casey hampton and pat williams. the center plays a role when running the ball to either side and his pass protection is essential to keeping the defensive tackles from getting to the qb and causing a fumble or injury as the case may be. mcinneys progress will be a major part in the success of our o-line and subsequently our offense. i havent seen much of him so we can only hope and wait. now at right guard we have greg jerman. spielman heres your time to shine!! we need to sign a quality veteran guard whether it be by free agency, by trade or even in exchange for the o-gun who (if we re-sign him) may disallow cap space for the re-signing of chambers and mcmike in the future. If greg jerman stays there i imagine he will be very weak. Pretty much no change here since last season with the crappy ed perry. right tackle will be vernon carey. while he is only a rookie there are big things expected from him. if he can have a wade smith-like or perhaps even better rookie season then we will probably still have a weak right side like last year. we need to sign a quality guard. a good guard will give ricky otions to the left and right side and will give feeley (he will start- trust me) more time to survey the field and get the ball to one of our receiving weapons. with a good right guard we will have an o-line greatly upgraded since last season and we should go 12-4 or 13-3 with our defense with a AFC championship game appearance not out of reach. However, we keep jerman there and feeley will probably get about as much time as fiedler did last year which will be a significant drop-off to the time he got behind phillys outstanding o-line. we will most likely experience a 9-7 or 10-6 season if our o-line is not changed come september. i wouldnt mind putting damien macintosh at right guard when he recovers simply due to his size and experience that he holds over jerman who i have yet to see play but can only expect very little from. however it is essential that we sign a quality veteran guard to fill the void at right guard who can instantly improve our offense and perhaps bring jerman slowly into the game. we also need mcinney to step up and show us he's ligitimate. a lot is resting on this o-line and i see big things for their future, however unless we sign a guard with the talent equivalent to someone like brian waters i can only see us going 10-6 on the back of our defense (which is getting older and cant keep waiting around for our offense to sort itself out) this season and we may scrape into the playoffs this time around but will likely not go any further than the first week. I give this years o-line a solid C and i think in 2 or 3 years time it will be a B+ pushing an A-. And then, and only then will we have a crack at the superbowl. As the great John Madden says "The first and most essential component to an effective offense is the line". i really had to get that off my chest. sorry to write so much but until we attain a quality offensive line i am going to have to sit there come football season and settle for mediocrity from my team for yet another season.
