inFINSible
Don't believe everything you think.
I was reading a recent article in SI while waiting for the dentist today and found it quite interesting and a little troubling.
The article was about offensive lineman and offensive lines. Namely, what makes a great line and what kind of players make great lineman.
First of all to be a great lineman, you have to be very smart and quick thinking, especially the player making the line calls. With out getting into great detail about what it is they have to know, I'll suffice to say, no player on the team that isn't called a quarterback has to do more presnap reads than the lineman. So, being smart is almost as important as being big and strong. (As Kyle Turley said," If you are big and strong, AND dumb...You're a defensive lineman" or, as he likes to call them, a "geranium"
)
Second, to be a great offensive line you have to excellent communication between lineman, often times the non-verbal variety. In other words, you have to know what the guy next to you is going to do. This is the most important aspect of a good offensive line, and continuity is the only way to acheive this.
the article was written at the time when KC was 11-1 and had a dominating offensive line. Perhaps the best in the league. The article goes on to point out that it was no coincidence that they had been togther for 28 straight games. Most in the league.
That being said, the conclusion that I drew from the article is that even if we get a couple of new lineman, It will probably still take time for them to become a cohesive unit, no matter how talented the players we plug in. Continuity can only be sought through repetition, so there are going to be growing pains any way we go. Whether those growing pains last three games six games or ten games, is anybodys' guess.
Tampa Bay had very poor lineplay in the beginning of their SB season and they obviously got things clicking before the seasons end which means that it's entirely possible that just plugging in some new players may eventually be the ticket but, there's also the possibility that it's going to take more than just that.
I know this is common knowlegde to most people in here and I'm not trying to insult anybody's intelligence by acting like I just discovered the key to it all but, this article sort of drove the point home for me and I thought somebody else might get the same thing out of it that I did.
Did anyone else read the article I'm talking about?
Does anybody have any examples of a team that had an awful line one year and turned it around the next year by just adding a player or two?
The article was about offensive lineman and offensive lines. Namely, what makes a great line and what kind of players make great lineman.
First of all to be a great lineman, you have to be very smart and quick thinking, especially the player making the line calls. With out getting into great detail about what it is they have to know, I'll suffice to say, no player on the team that isn't called a quarterback has to do more presnap reads than the lineman. So, being smart is almost as important as being big and strong. (As Kyle Turley said," If you are big and strong, AND dumb...You're a defensive lineman" or, as he likes to call them, a "geranium"
)Second, to be a great offensive line you have to excellent communication between lineman, often times the non-verbal variety. In other words, you have to know what the guy next to you is going to do. This is the most important aspect of a good offensive line, and continuity is the only way to acheive this.
the article was written at the time when KC was 11-1 and had a dominating offensive line. Perhaps the best in the league. The article goes on to point out that it was no coincidence that they had been togther for 28 straight games. Most in the league.
That being said, the conclusion that I drew from the article is that even if we get a couple of new lineman, It will probably still take time for them to become a cohesive unit, no matter how talented the players we plug in. Continuity can only be sought through repetition, so there are going to be growing pains any way we go. Whether those growing pains last three games six games or ten games, is anybodys' guess.
Tampa Bay had very poor lineplay in the beginning of their SB season and they obviously got things clicking before the seasons end which means that it's entirely possible that just plugging in some new players may eventually be the ticket but, there's also the possibility that it's going to take more than just that.
I know this is common knowlegde to most people in here and I'm not trying to insult anybody's intelligence by acting like I just discovered the key to it all but, this article sort of drove the point home for me and I thought somebody else might get the same thing out of it that I did.
Did anyone else read the article I'm talking about?
Does anybody have any examples of a team that had an awful line one year and turned it around the next year by just adding a player or two?
