Quick Question

[SF Dolphin Fan]

After the debacle in London, I couldn't stop thinking about the offensive line.

So here's my question. If Miami had a top 10 offensive line, would the team be having the issues they are experiencing on offense? Not trying to necessarily find an easy fix, but I think this is a fair question.

Thoughts?

 

[Namor]

They would be better off....but,we have more problems than just the OL...again..year after year.

 

[miamiron]

Everything emanates from the trenches
having an offensive line that could open running lanes plus give a QB time to throw
would indeed be a God send to this 8 pt a game offense

 

[Daytona Fin]

Cutler's passes are way off the mark, almost every time. Can't move the chains if the receivers can't touch the ball. Out of the many issues on offense, I think that is our biggest obstacle right now.

 

[fansinceGWilson]

Cutler's passes are way off the mark, almost every time. Can't move the chains if the receivers can't touch the ball. Out of the many issues on offense, I think that is our biggest obstacle right now.

Cutler was 20 of 28 yesterday. Not all his passes were on target, but clearly his passes weren't "WAY off the mark." [emphasis mine] And they obviously touched 20 of them.
That said, a top OL would help, but this team is FLAT. Uninspired. At least the O is. And even top OLs can't do much consistently with 8-9 in the box. To me, Miami needs to make the D pay for loading the box. The players are on the field. Cutler has had success deep. I see this O doing nothing until the D respects the pass and this won't happen with slants and 5 yard outs.

 

[Daytona Fin]

Cutler was 20 of 28 yesterday. Not all his passes were on target, but clearly his passes weren't "WAY off the mark." [emphasis mine] And they obviously touched 20 of them.
That said, a top OL would help, but this team is FLAT. Uninspired. At least the O is. And even top OLs can't do much consistently with 8-9 in the box. To me, Miami needs to make the D pay for loading the box. The players are on the field. Cutler has had success deep. I see this O doing nothing until the D respects the pass and this won't happen with slants and 5 yard outs.

I wasn't referring to 5 yard passes and below/ behind scrimmage, which he had about 30+ the first two weeks. I haven't seen the pass charts from yesterday yet but I am sure they are similar.

 

[royalshank]

Cutler's unwillingness to stand in and take a shot while making a play is a problem. Never a problem for RT or Matt Moore. I doubt the players are playing for Cuttysuck

 

[Dolph N.Fan]

A top 10 line right now... Miami is at least 2-1 and not shutout by New Orleans.

 

[claytonduper]

The line is the issue. If Jay Ajaji was able to hit the hole cleanly then I may be more favorable. There is NO way our line is comfortable with Pouncey not practicing with the team, and having a new QB and learning his nuances.

 

[<O>]

After the debacle in London, I couldn't stop thinking about the offensive line.

So here's my question. If Miami had a top 10 offensive line, would the team be having the issues they are experiencing on offense? Not trying to necessarily find an easy fix, but I think this is a fair question.

Thoughts?

How much better is a top-10 offensive line than this one?

Does anybody know?

The question in the OP presumes that there is a great deal of variation among the offensive lines in the league, whereas it could be the case that they don't vary nearly as much.

Is anybody studying the rest of the league's lines with enough rigor to know?

 

[josephreese]

I'm not sure how much it would change the 1-2 record, but the question got me thinking. Usually when I think about the OL getting better I'm think in tactical terms of execution on a play-by-play basis. Now I'm thinking, if we had a better OL, how much would that affect strategic decisions around game planing and play calling? And the natural follow-up is to wonder whether those changes would have resulted in something better than 1-2. Put another way, if Gase knew that pass plays could be extended by 0.25 seconds, would he call different plays that might be more effective? I suspect these things don't exist in a vacuum, and at any rate we can never know with certainty. It's all just silly mind-games, but hey, we're fans and that's what we do :-)