This Is A 10 Win Team If The Ol Could Even Play Mediocre

[JahnDho]

I hold the FO accountable for not shoring up the Oline depth. Losing Sitton should not have been a surprise. He’s been injury prone. He missed time early in his career and missed 2 games each in 2016 and 2017. Research shows age 32/ 11th season is the beginning of the end for linemen (health and ability). And Kilgore was a career journeyman with injury history too. It’s just one of the many reasons I defended my case for an 8-8 season. They had to know that RT wasn’t very good without an above avg line throughout his career, right?!??

 

[Jay131866]

How could they have invested more? His very first pick was an LT and he's brought in a bunch of veterans. By doing that, the team now has an average o-line. And even if we built this all-time awesome offensive line (at the expense of other very important positions, such as LB, he's still face pressure every game. It's unavoidable and all it takes is a couple of dumbass throws under pressure like that helmet bonker to turn a game.

If a QB can't succeed with an average o-line, particularly in today's NFL, perhaps he's the problem.

Up until this past off-season, they did not invest crap into the oline really. Tunsil fell in their laps, otherwise we may not even have a starting caliber LT on the roster today. They have refused to spend $ on elite lineman in FA year over year, choosing instead to overpay for expensive positions. Imagine if they never signed Suh and instead signed 2 top tier lineman in FA that year how much better our team would be.

When they finally signed a G in Sitton this year I was actually optimistic about the season. Which proved correct bc they were 3-0 when the line was healthy. I agree its a problem if a QB cant succeed under pressure bc its unavoidable. But if thats the best option you have at QB (and likely will be next year also), why not build a team to his strengths?

 

[LDaniel7]

I completely agree with you brother. The OL was they key to our season, and losing Sitton hurts a lot. Losing Kilgore is problematic, at least until Brendel returns. But the complete breakdown of all 5 positions is shockingly bad news. Tunsil, concussion … so we're assuming he'll return, but those things are ***ulative and for a trench battling position where headslaps are common … it's scary. Ju'Wuan James has a history of small injuries, and he's had some terrible play until he was replaced, but do we even know why he was replaced? I'm assuming it was an undisclosed injury. Jesse Davis has done a pretty good job so far honestly. He has been very good in the run game, with occasional breakdowns, and be OK (above our mediocrity standard) at pass protection. I've been pleased with him so far. Larsen has been poor in replacement of Sitton … and honestly I expected better from Larsen. Swanson doesn't look up to the task of replacing Kilgore, even discounting the bad snap … he just isn't mobile enough for our ZBS and gets beaten quite a lot.

It's like our starting OL, over the span of a short time, just disappeared … and the replacements simply aren't good enough.

With a mediocre OL, you make a great point … our RB's are pretty good and can do the job. Our WR's are good and deep, and can make the plays, move the chains and provide chunk yardage and explosive plays. Our QB can play good football and lead us to potent offense. But without holes opened for RB's, we do not have a consistent run game, can't wear out the defense, don't push the safety out of the box, and don't provide any incentive for pass rushers to not pin their ears back. Without pass protection, Tannehill doesn't have time to wait on deeper routes, which means safeties can creep up, CB's can play tight coverage without fear of getting beat deep, and our explosive plays nearly disappear. It all falls apart if we lose the battle in the trenches. We need to find a way to win with smoke and mirrors … and you can only do that so many times.

Extremely well said, Digital.

And it should be easy for people to see... emotional Tanny-haters aside, lol.

Good stuff tho. Excellent write up.

LD