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State of the offensive line

True story DS but, what fun would it be to talk about waiting 4-5 months to have an opinion? For me. on paper Cog, Jerry, and Clabo are better than what we have for this year but, on potential, gotta go with what we now have.
 
For me the key thing right now before they start playing is that there's a greater sense of balance across the OL in as far as movement and scheme fit - versus last year where... well... not so much!

In addition to that, the positional coach is a more experience NFL OL coach - not saying Turner was bad, but with the new guy having come from the system that Alex Gibbs put in is a big plus in my eyes.

However - it must translate on the field if we are to go anywhere with this offense.
 
Pat-London said:
For me the key thing right now before they start playing is that there's a greater sense of balance across the OL in as far as movement and scheme fit - versus last year where... well... not so much!

In addition to that, the positional coach is a more experience NFL OL coach - not saying Turner was bad, but with the new guy having come from the system that Alex Gibbs put in is a big plus in my eyes.

However - it must translate on the field if we are to go anywhere with this offense.
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Last year, the balance was the interior was good in pass protect, and the OT's were not, with Clabo improving the last 9 games, and everyone sucking on the run. This year, its Pouncey and Albert, with a LOT of hope.
 
Take a step back for a moment.

1. Two rookie starters on the offensive line.
2. A free agent guard whose weakness was pass protection.
3. A left tackle who misses an average of 4 or 5 games per year.

Take the mile high view of that. Pretend it's the Jets that have that situation and we were about to face them and we're bringing guys like Cameron Wake, Jared Odrick, Randy Starks and Dion Jordan to the game. Everyone here would be all over it talking about how our pass rushers are going to bury Geno Smith alive.
 
ckparrothead said:
Take a step back for a moment.

1. Two rookie starters on the offensive line.
2. A free agent guard whose weakness was pass protection.
3. A left tackle who misses an average of 4 or 5 games per year.

Take the mile high view of that. Pretend it's the Jets that have that situation and we were about to face them and we're bringing guys like Cameron Wake, Jared Odrick, Randy Starks and Dion Jordan to the game. Everyone here would be all over it talking about how our pass rushers are going to bury Geno Smith alive.
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It's the rose colored glasses. I think people see potential, hope for the best, don't dare imagine the worst. Besides, it's the offseason. Anyone could win the next SB.
 
Its about 50M dollars better then last year. Also improved our RB pass blocking and TE pass blocking with lynch. Definetly better then last year. Turner and James are very good pass blockers. Forget about Shelley for now. Dallas thomas will probably start or a signed FA guard that lowers their price demands.
 
KTOWNFINFAN said:
AT WHAT?? Not attacking teammates, maybe, but if you are speaking of playing OG that comment is laughable. Shelly Smith graded out worse at pass blocking than any guard on our team from last year, even worse than Dallas Thomas. Smith was not brought in to start unless Hickey is the beneficiary of a Ryan Tannehill life insurance policy.

OP starts off talking about how our OL is going to be better at protecting the QB then tries to prove it by telling how good our new OGs can pull?? They best learn to pass block or all they are going to be pulling is the stretcher with their QB on it.

Our LT got a lot better, just by default, our RT last year started out bad and turned into a solid player by the end of the year, I see James following that exact path, I can call that a wash. The center is still the same guy, but both guard positions are at best huge question marks. John Jerry would be a significant upgrade to what we have now and he wasn't much.

If we roll with what we have now and don't bring in someone off the street, we will still be in the top 5 in the league in sacks. If Shelly finds his way into the starting lineup we will surpass last seasons sack total.
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5k vcash says Miami will have less than 50 sacks. wanna jump in on that?
 
ckparrothead said:
Take a step back for a moment.

1. Two rookie starters on the offensive line.
2. A free agent guard whose weakness was pass protection.
3. A left tackle who misses an average of 4 or 5 games per year.

Take the mile high view of that. Pretend it's the Jets that have that situation and we were about to face them and we're bringing guys like Cameron Wake, Jared Odrick, Randy Starks and Dion Jordan to the game. Everyone here would be all over it talking about how our pass rushers are going to bury Geno Smith alive.
Click to expand...

I have no idea what the state of the Jets line is, or the Patriots. I know the Bills drafted a tackle only because it was a name linked to us. Basically the state of the other teams o-line means almost zilch to me. Now if James is terrible and Albert gets hurt maybe they perk up a little but I highly doubt any Jets fans are marking off a win based on the state of our line at this point in the season.

On the other hand I know I would have been giddy if they would have used the 18th pick on James. And when the Bills traded up I was praying they took Mathews.
 
Albert will be an improvement everything else is a huge question mark
 
In theory, our OL should be better but that all revolves around Ju'Wuan James and a combo of Jason Fox,Billy Turner, Sam Brenner, Shelly Smith, and Dallas Thomas being ready to step in and play. It also revolves around chemistry and how the team reacts a new OL coach and new system.

But again, in theory we are in a better position than we were last year.
 
The team will also be asking more of the offensive line. If Miami really intends to structure its offense similar to Philadelphia's then that means more pressure on the line to hold and keep a clean pocket. More play-action passes (which means holding onto the football longer). More deep passes (which means holding onto the football longer). More crossing patterns (which means holding onto the football longer). Nick Foles' average time elapsed until his pass attempt was the highest in the NFL last year at 2.88 seconds. Tannehill's was only 2.44 seconds. Foles held the ball 2.6 seconds or longer on over 60 percent of his passes (which was highest in the league). Tannehill only did so 40% of his passes which was more like 80th percentile.

If this offense really is changing to what Lazor experienced in Philadelphia then it's going to really test the extent to which Miami managed to improve the offensive line, and it's going to put Tannehill's handling of pressure to the test as well.
 
It is going to be interesting to watch develop...

I think the talent is better overall....that doesn't mean they will play better, but the potential to be better is there.

Another factor I take into account is the "fit" of the lineman to the offensive scheme ...last season, most of the lineman were a very poor fit to the ZBS, this year it looks like all 5 starters are (at the very least) good overall fits.

A lot of this will deal with how well they are coached up and how well they can adjust to the scheme and NFL speed (for the rookies)...I think by mid-season they will better, but we may have to experience some growing pains to get to that point.
 
We are definitely going to have some growing pains, but I believe we are better overall. We have players that actually fit our scheme, we have less distractions, and our coaches got to hand pick their players.
 
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