Could somebody explain RB's 6.5 per carry and the ample time our QB's have had to throw since DC went down and tell me exactly why OL should be a priority for this draft?
Make your case now juniors or shut your pieholes.
I'm tired of your platitudes and cliches that "It all starts with the OL" or "Our line is mediocre or sucks"
Back it up with evidence because I don't think you little paraquats have any to support your cases.
Who needs to be replaced and if you say our LT give me a name of a guy we have a shot of getting who is going to be better right away than DMac or Alabi.
Most of you have screamed your Mary heads off about Chambers yet would rather draft an OL in the first round even if the lineman has a lower grade than the WR. Quite a contradiction but I'm sure you have strong reasons for not wanting to upgrade the skill position players we use.
"Our Line Sucks" now refers to the garbage you lemmings call your football knowledge.
First off, you can use a few lessons in public discourse. But that's OK; it doesn't take a classical rhetorician to hang out on an Internet board, and you're obviously, despite your limitations in written English ("paraquat" is an herbicide, FYI), trying to do the "shock jock" thing. So, to the merits:
Perhaps you've noticed through your hubris that this team is scoring an average of 15 points a game, despite the alleged 6.5 yards a carry. Yet another case of lies,damned lies and statistics. This dismal performance is the result of not being able to mount any sustained drives. Something always seems to go wrong, and the drive bogs down. This, in turn, is the result of inconsistent line play, which manifests itself as follows:
1. The "wall" effect, meaning when the running back slams into a pile of his own blockers, who have been unable to get any "push" on the defense in order to give the RB any room in which to make his moves.
2. The "turnstile" effect, which results in a QB sack or the RB being met by a defender in the backfield immediately after the handoff. This occurs as a result of someone going unblocked, or an OLineman being unable to hold a block for sufficient time.
3. The "hurry" effect, when the QB cannot wait for a route to develop downfield, because he is about to have his head taken off. He therefore throws inaccurately or ill-advisedly, resulting in an incompletion or a pick. It also takes the long ball out of the game. I don't know where you're getting the "ample time" thing; I've seen Joey hurry many, many throws. Maybe you haven't been watching the same games that the rest of us have been watching. You know, the ones with lots of three and outs.
4. The penalty. You know about those false starts and holds. They often happen because the Olineman can't handle the defender legally, so he gets caught holding, or he's overwhelmed, so he makes a mental mistake.
5. The need to keep backs and tight ends in as blockers to help the OLine do its job, which reduces the number of available targets in the short passing game.
6. Inability to complete secondary blocking assignments downfield, caused by lack of athleticism and resulting in shorter runs.
If you have not seen this pattern in this year's Dolphins offense, I question either your eyesight, or your perception, or your ability to reason inductively from an effect back to its cause.
If you have watched teams such as the Miami Dolphins in the early seventies, I'm sure you have observed that the offense seemed to be able to do whatever it wanted, regardless of whether or not the opposing defense knew what was coming. The Dolphin sweep was an excellent example of this. It was made possible by perfect execution on the part of an athletic offensive line.
Yes, some games have been good. But more have been bad. And as much as I hate to agree with LeBatard, players aren't good because they're consistent. They're consistent because they're good. We have inconsistent line play. Therefore, our linemen are not good. QED.
I do not have at my fingertips a list of offensive line prospects to suggest to you; I'm too busy at my day job. Perhaps you, in your omniscience, would favor us with your list of what personnel is available to correct symptoms (1) through (6) above, which no reasonable student of the game would deny are bedeviling our offense.
This, my young friend, is what it feels like to have someone talk down to you. Use the experience to your benefit; you'll make more friends, on and off this board, and be much more persuasive. In the words of Circuit Judge Gisela Cardonne, you can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar.
I rest.
