Is Sparano micromanaging the line too much?

[Finsfalife]

good post, yes I agree....line did a great job last year, if smiley was too badly injured to be counted on and grove is being outplayed, but cmon give the same group of guys the majority of the snaps together. I get its preaseason and I get hes an expert, just feel like a little out thinking oneself on this. Im not about the doom and gloom and im sure well be fine, just think it benefits everyone to make a decision after 5 practices and address issues as poor play occurs.

 

[ciscoholgate]

The thing that concerns me the most is none of the guys fighting for the LG and C position have played well enough to win it outright. Competition is always healthy and I think we have three of five starters set in stone, so Sporano shuffling the lineup does not concern me too much.

Grove versus Berger is the biggest battle. I think Berger wins the battle, but it doesn't matter to me either way. They both have their strengths and Berger played just as well as Grove last year when he had to fill in for the often injured Grove.

I think Incognito wins the battle over Donald Thomas for the LG spot. They like Ingocnito's mean streak and they are both below par in pass blocking, so they will start Incognito.

I think our starting OL will look like this week 1 (barring injuries):

LT - Jake Long LG - Richie Incognito C - Joe Berger RG - John Jerry RT - Vernon Carey

 

[MisiDressing]

The thing that concerns me the most is none of the guys fighting for the LG and C position have played well enough to win it outright. Competition is always healthy and I think we have three of five starters set in stone, so Sporano shuffling the lineup does not concern me too much.

Grove versus Berger is the biggest battle. I think Berger wins the battle, but it doesn't matter to me either way. They both have their strengths and Berger played just as well as Grove last year when he had to fill in for the often injured Grove.

I think Incognito wins the battle over Donald Thomas for the LG spot. They like Ingocnito's mean streak and they are both below par in pass blocking, so they will start Incognito.

I think our starting OL will look like this week 1 (barring injuries):

LT - Jake Long LG - Richie Incognito C - Joe Berger RG - John Jerry RT - Vernon Carey

You may be right on the starting OL but that will be a big waste of money to have Grove on the bench.

Sometimes I don't get our FO. They give huge contracts to injury prone OL veterans (Smiley, Grove) and then want to dump them when they prove injury prone. Hellll-llllooooo!!!

Smiley should been kept b/c it's nice to have him at least for the games when he's healthy. FWIW, i think we should've kept Justin Smiley and Jason Taylor for this season (and then drafted Terrence Cody in round 2 and Mike Williams of Syracuse in round 3) instead of dumping Smiley/Taylor and having to start rookies now.

An Odrick/Cody DL with Starks/Langford/Soliai rotating would've been nasty.

But the point is that dumping Smiley/Taylor forced our hand in the draft with Misi/Jerry

 

[ciscoholgate]

You may be right on the starting OL but that will be a big waste of money to have Grove on the bench.

Sometimes I don't get our FO. They give huge contracts to injury prone OL veterans (Smiley, Grove) and then want to dump them when they prove injury prone. Hellll-llllooooo!!!

Smiley should been kept b/c it's nice to have him at least for the games when he's healthy. FWIW, i think we should've kept Justin Smiley and Jason Taylor for this season (and then drafted Terrence Cody in round 2 and Mike Williams of Syracuse in round 3) instead of dumping Smiley/Taylor and having to start rookies now.

An Odrick/Cody DL with Starks/Langford/Soliai rotating would've been nasty.

But the point is that dumping Smiley/Taylor forced our hand in the draft with Misi/Jerry

They will try to trade Grove if he is not the starter. Or else they will more than likely cut him if they can't move him. They would not want to pay that much money to Grove if he is sitting on the bench.

I suspect this is why Hartline has seen a lot of reps with the 1st team, to see if he could play if he was the backup Center.

 

[MisiDressing]

They will try to trade Grove if he is not the starter. Or else they will more than likely cut him if they can't move him. They would not want to pay that much money to Grove if he is sitting on the bench.

I suspect this is why Hartline has seen a lot of reps with the 1st team, to see if he could play if he was the backup Center.

I think we're too thin to trade Grove. And Berger is okay but hopefully Grove is better when healthy. It's just a knee bruise and maybe they just want to give Berger a lot of 1st team reps b/c they knowhe could end up playing a lot IF Grove went down. Starting OL could be....

Jake Long
Randy Thomas (He is a legit talent if he can get in shape by week 1)
Jake Grove
John Jerry
Vernon Carey

That's a good looking OL.

 

[Captain Lou]

Our line was great last year, we cut Smiley who I think was instrumental in Jake Long's development, but wasn't too worried about, and now it looks like Grove won't be starting.

This makes me nervous, Grove was stellar last year, actually better than stellar, now we're putting Berger in his place? Doesn't his performance last year count for anything?

Alot of what makes O-Lines great is continuity, which helps them with their communication; I feel like Sparano is a little too demanding of the lineman especially in Training Camp...We're talking about practice! (c) A. Iverson

Didn't we sign Grove because of his strength? Which helps us deal w/ Wilfork's and Jenkins' of the NFL. It seems like Berger isn't as strong as Grove, so wtf? Maybe Berger looks better in practice because he's dealing with a smaller, quicker NT in Starks.

Am I the only one worried about the micromanagement, and want Sparano to decide on a cot damn starting o-line already!?

I think you're being microcritical. Preseason means absolutely nothing. Once the regular season starts you'll realixe like every year. All this speculation means nothing!

 

[PhinsPhan11]

I don't think he is.

 

[MP-Omnis]

They will try to trade Grove if he is not the starter. Or else they will more than likely cut him if they can't move him. They would not want to pay that much money to Grove if he is sitting on the bench.

I suspect this is why Hartline has seen a lot of reps with the 1st team, to see if he could play if he was the backup Center.

Bingo.

 

[MP-Omnis]

Vontae is elite when he turns his head around.

 

[FinsAreLife]

At this point i dont think so. I really think he's trying to find the best combo and this is simply how he needs to do it.

 

[BobDole]

Our line was great last year, we cut Smiley who I think was instrumental in Jake Long's development, but wasn't too worried about, and now it looks like Grove won't be starting.

This makes me nervous, Grove was stellar last year, actually better than stellar, now we're putting Berger in his place? Doesn't his performance last year count for anything?

Alot of what makes O-Lines great is continuity, which helps them with their communication; I feel like Sparano is a little too demanding of the lineman especially in Training Camp...We're talking about practice! (c) A. Iverson

Didn't we sign Grove because of his strength? Which helps us deal w/ Wilfork's and Jenkins' of the NFL. It seems like Berger isn't as strong as Grove, so wtf? Maybe Berger looks better in practice because he's dealing with a smaller, quicker NT in Starks.

Am I the only one worried about the micromanagement, and want Sparano to decide on a cot damn starting o-line already!?

signing these injury prone vets to these ludicrous contracts is the problem. smiley, grove, incognito, and r. thomas are all stupid signings. if they can't stay on the field, it doesn't matter how good they are. then we get this constant shuffling every year - replacing the old injury prone vets with the new injury prone vets - and the line looks like crap the first few games b/c it needs time to gel.

long - d. thomas - berger - jerry - carey. then leave it the hell alone.