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Is The OL Ready??.....

BLITZKRIEG

BLITZKRIEG

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That's all I want to know...

In all honesty, the off-season changes that were made up front have not impressed me at all. I was expecting much better play once Hadnot was moved to the C position, and thus far we've looked far worse than I expected in both run / pass protection....

The running game, if you can call it that, looks horrible. We haven't been able to run the ball against anyone this pre-season, and the lanes haven't been there either. There has simply been no room, and we've been relying on the passing game to open up the run as a result...

These guys are going to have to change that around, because there comes the time when we're going to need to be able to lay back on our running game in order to close out our opponents on a weekly basis....

Maybe it just needs more time together, but here we are a week from opening night, and the starting OL is still "sputtering along", without showing any significant improvement in the run / pass protection department{s}. In fact, as much as it pains me to say it, it looks worse than it was a year ago....

So I ask you, a week from opening night, is the OL ready???...

PHINZ RULE!!!!
 
truthfully? no their probably not ready for pittsburghs front seven, but to be fair, most teams in the NFL aren't. We're gonna have to block probably the toughest front seven we face all season on opening night. It's probably not gonna be pretty, but hopefully we can make some plays through the air to back them off a little, and earn some respect both through the air, and on the ground. Its gonna be whether or not we can execute. However, straight up D Vs O, the steelers will eat us a live, therefore we're going to depend on schemes
 
I think they will be as ready as they could be for a week 1 game. We just have to hope the passing game is on that night, so it makes running that much easier.
 
If anything sinks Miami's playoff chances, it's the oline because the play of the oline determines the fate of a team's entire offense. The injuries to McKinney and Toledo sure didn't help, but there's a general lack of speed and athleticism, at least among the starters. James seems to be the only guy that's played well. I think Hadnot is a much better guard than he is a center.

I'm afraid that those Fins fans who laughed at the Jets for taking a tackle and center with their 2 first rounders in the 2006 draft will be wishing that the Fins had had that opportunity by the end of the season.
 
Bandit said:
If anything sinks Miami's playoff chances, it's the oline because the play of the oline determines the fate of a team's entire offense. The injuries to McKinney and Toledo sure didn't help, but there's a general lack of speed and athleticism, at least among the starters. James seems to be the only guy that's played well. I think Hadnot is a much better guard than he is a center.

I'm afraid that those Fins fans who laughed at the Jets for taking a tackle and center with their 2 first rounders in the 2006 draft will be wishing that the Fins had had that opportunity by the end of the season.
Click to expand...
I remember a certain OL that looked mediocre last season for a while before coming together and improving.
 
What I don't understand, is why Houck decided to move the interior of the OL around, and change everything. Didn't we have some solid progress late last year with the players we already had in place?, and aren't those players still on the current roster??...

I'm still scratching my head wondering why Hadnot was moved to C in the first place. He was playing great at RG last year, and now that he's playing C, both positions seem weakened by the shuffle. I myself am worried, and I don't like the looks of what I've seen thus far. Brown / Culpepper / and the entire offense revolves around this unit, so I hope they're up to it. Time will tell....

PHINZ RULE!!!!
 
BLITZKRIEG said:
What I don't understand, is why Houck decided to move the interior of the OL around, and change everything. Didn't we have some solid progress late last year with the players we already had in place?, and aren't those players still on the current roster??...

I'm still scratching my head wondering why Hadnot was moved to C in the first place. He was playing great at RG last year, and now that he's playing C, both positions seem weakened by the shuffle. I myself am worried, and I don't like the looks of what I've seen thus far. Brown / Culpepper / and the entire offense revolves around this unit, so I hope they're up to it. Time will tell....

PHINZ RULE!!!!
Click to expand...

The only thing I can think of is that HH thinks that Hadnot has more upside at Center than Mckinney. Mckinney did provide good depth everywhere on the interior b-4 he got hurt. Maybe HH really felt Toledo was going to be a stud RG sooner rather than later.
 
BLITZKRIEG said:
That's all I want to know...

In all honesty, the off-season changes that were made up front have not impressed me at all. I was expecting much better play once Hadnot was moved to the C position, and thus far we've looked far worse than I expected in both run / pass protection....

The running game, if you can call it that, looks horrible. We haven't been able to run the ball against anyone this pre-season, and the lanes haven't been there either. There has simply been no room, and we've been relying on the passing game to open up the run as a result...

These guys are going to have to change that around, because there comes the time when we're going to need to be able to lay back on our running game in order to close out our opponents on a weekly basis....

Maybe it just needs more time together, but here we are a week from opening night, and the starting OL is still "sputtering along", without showing any significant improvement in the run / pass protection department{s}. In fact, as much as it pains me to say it, it looks worse than it was a year ago....

So I ask you, a week from opening night, is the OL ready???...

PHINZ RULE!!!!
Click to expand...

however, our passing game looks great. The protection for the passing game has been good. The oline has switched around a little and may do more of it. I am concerned and it is our weakest spot on the team, but Houck will tune these guys in and will adjust. We went up against very good defenses minus St louis. The starting Oline has not had enough time in together IMO, but at the same time, you dont want guys getting hurt. I do believe with Joe Berger getting hurt, that that has dampened things a bit. This is the only way I see your point. This offseason has been phenomenal IMO - the OL.

The one guy I wanted to draft at 16 was Nick Mangold. No one wanted that, but it would have done wonders for our OL for years to come. Like Richmond Webb did. But no, we have to draft a S because it is a need and Jason Allen is a sure thing. Nick Mangold was the sure thing to me. Too late for that now.
 
BLITZKRIEG said:
What I don't understand, is why Houck decided to move the interior of the OL around, and change everything. Didn't we have some solid progress late last year with the players we already had in place?, and aren't those players still on the current roster??...

I'm still scratching my head wondering why Hadnot was moved to C in the first place. He was playing great at RG last year, and now that he's playing C, both positions seem weakened by the shuffle. I myself am worried, and I don't like the looks of what I've seen thus far. Brown / Culpepper / and the entire offense revolves around this unit, so I hope they're up to it. Time will tell....

PHINZ RULE!!!!
Click to expand...

He was forced move Hadnot to center because of injuries. Some even feel that Hadnot is our best center anyways.
 
I was thinking about this last night and probably will get lambasted for it, but does the OL HAVE to be that good? Think about this: Ronnie is a bruising, pounding type of back and we have one of the deepest DL's in football. If our defense can keep the score low then over the course of a game opposing DL's will wear down having to tackle him and eventually we should be able to grind it out. Of course, that falls apart when we face other DL's that have depth that rivals ours.
 
Saban4prez said:
truthfully? no their probably not ready for pittsburghs front seven, but to be fair, most teams in the NFL aren't. We're gonna have to block probably the toughest front seven we face all season on opening night. It's probably not gonna be pretty, but hopefully we can make some plays through the air to back them off a little, and earn some respect both through the air, and on the ground. Its gonna be whether or not we can execute. However, straight up D Vs O, the steelers will eat us a live, therefore we're going to depend on schemes
Click to expand...
Actually I think it's better for us to play the Steelers than the Panthers, Jags, etc. Facing a 3-4 Defense our RBs shouldn't be forced to dance around defensive players before the LOS. Although Rex never played Center vs. a 3-4, he should feel more comforable with a man in front of him than most Centers because of his years as a Guard. A 3-4 is more diffcult to handle in passing situations. But firstly we did very well there so far; secondly our Oline should have seen almost everything because of regulary playing our Defense.
I don't see us dominating in the run blocking, but at least here is no Jenkins, so we should look better than against the Panthers. At least that is what I hope.
 
i think we'll be fine... we can change up the play calling to counter an aggressive Dline.. and the intangables... Like Cul-pep.. It's not like they're going to be teeing off on Frerotte back there!
 
our run blocking has been pathetic. the pass protection has been decent. but here's the thing. we could alleviate the pressure on the o line in the running game if mularky wasn't so deliberate in his play calling. imo, with our current line, we have to come out passing from 3 wr sets and spread the D out a little bit then we can start running from the same spread formations. but mularky is such an idiot he'll come out running spread sets then think to himself ok we backed em off now let's break out the i form big cuz they're expecting the pass. well, when the other team sees 2 wrs come off the field and theyre replaced by a TE and a FB, they make personnel changes to. you guys just wait. we will be cursing mike after 1 week.
 
I think we'll take a look at some backup centers after cuts on Saturday. There should be a few decent ones floating around.
 
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