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Offensive Line Rankings

tacoman_j

tacoman_j

Waterboy
We have an average line, but here is what an outsider thinks about the line in the future year.

Texans Offensive Line
Projected Starting Lineup: C-Steve McKinney; G-Chester Pitts; G-Fred Weary; T-Seth Wand; T-Todd Wade
Key Backups: G Zach Wiegert; C/G Todd Washington; G Milford Brown
The Texans offensive line is progressing nicely and could be considered a top-twelve unit by this season's end. Great size, good run blocking ability and youthful enthusiasm abound within this unit. This group will never be excellent in pass protection, but they should be able to open gaping holes for RB Domanick Davis and the running game to exploit. Guard Chester Pitts has great size and has started every game for the club over the last few seasons. He has made giant strides in each of those three years. He is a premier drive blocker who can knock defenders back with consistency. Veteran tackle Todd Wade and veteran center Steve McKinney are the leaders of this unit and bring both consistency and experience to the table. If young players such as guard Pitts, guard Fred Weary, and tackle Seth Wand can continue to grow as players, the sky is the limit for the Texans running game in 2005 and beyond.

http://forums.footballguys.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=157344
 
It seems that we sacrifice athleticism for bulk in our line. Even the free agents that we bring in are over 320 pounds. Lightbody is huge and that Smith guy is 343. Smith should translate into a guard. I really hope that Weary doesn't make team so we can free up a spot for new blood.
 
Haha if our line is rated with NE's then this guy doesnt know what he is talking about. We are below the below average section. I love optimism, but not stupidity. They may play well this year, but going off of last year, no way are we considered "average."
 
tacoman_j said:
The Texans offensive line is progressing nicely and could be considered a top-twelve unit by this season's end.
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Hardy, Har, Har!!!!!
This group will never be excellent in pass protection,.......
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got that observation right.
........and veteran center Steve McKinney...........bring....... consistency.......
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consistently pitiful!!!

Hopefully he's right and I'm wrong. :embarrass
 
I don't know. We have talent on the line. Not only that, but we were a good rushing team during the second half of last season. Pair those things with the Justice story concerning Palmer's protection schemes and perhaps it will be an above average line.
 
I don't think this guy ever watched a game of real Texans in his life. Maybe he's getting his opinion of players from Madden? (probably Madden 2004)


It was good for a laugh though.
 
i personally think the line can be ok...just need to watch out for the injury bug...if wade or wand go down carr's screwed
 
in reguards to the article..

as Smokey says in the movie Friday.. (to paraphrase).."It's puff puff give, you messing up the rotation"
 
I've been posting that our line is better than most here claim it is for a while. Other than Center I'm pretty good to go with our line.
 
Agreed. Our line isnt THAT bad. It's just the performance level had underachieved its talent level. We could be much worse (think of last year Miami or SF).
 
Not sure a lot of you guys are giving room for improvement.

How can you experts predict when a player will turn the corner? Good or bad.

I think we will see marked improvement as it just seems logical being the second year in the new blocking system along with the maturation of the younger guys.

In addition, our running game also got a lot better when Moran Norris returned from his injury early in the year and he is a great lead blocker for DD and Morency.

At least give us a chance and why rip an analysis if it is positive for your team until you at least see the results. Geez.
 
Vinny said:
I've been posting that our line is better than most here claim it is for a while. Other than Center I'm pretty good to go with our line.
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That's fine & many hope and/or believe they can improve. But they have to prove it on the field & they didn't do that last season. There may be a plethora of reasons as to why they underachieved. Some call those excuses.

And that's fine, too. But the excuses are over. When the line performs effectively with consistency, then they'll deserve the rankings and accolades. Not now. You can point to improvement due to experience on the left side, healed injuries on the right, schematic adjustments…all of that may lead to a “better” line. “Will be better” or “should be better”, but not “is better” or “was better”. Because last year’s line was one of the worst in the league. To suggest otherwise is just wrong.
 
all due respect to vinny i'm not as confident in our line and i think to say that we have a pretty good line is fair to say as long as every starter stays healthy...because let's look at our depth:

at tackle we have a bunch of UDFA's and gerrick jones...spears has not re-signed yet and may not resign before the season starts...if wand or wade were to be injuried for a long period of time we would have to shuffle the line...moving wiegert or pitts to that tackles position and then shuffling guards in to fill in for the other player

at guard we have m. brown who has looked slow when he has been on the field...although he does have some starting experience i've just never seen anything from him to show me that he can start in this league...weary...a dissapointment being a 3rd round guard in the 2002 draft...i think casserly was expecting him to push for one of the starting positions by now and he simply hasn't done it...always seems to be the one guy who is in the worst shape and is easily man handled by bigger DT's...the rest of the guys are evans who is gaining experience in NFLE and johnson a UDFA

at center is where i believe we have the most depth...washington is a proven verteran in the league who could start with little change to the effectiveness of the overall line...hodgden our fifth round draft choice this year appears to have all the skills needed to succeed in this league if given time to hit the weights and learn the calls...i expect hodgden to make the team this year and push for playing time if any of the interior starters goes down

all that being said if let's say at one time we have wiegert and wade hurt you would probably see a line like this:

wand hodgden mckinney weary pitts
 
Vinny said:
I've been posting that our line is better than most here claim it is for a while. Other than Center I'm pretty good to go with our line.
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What has our offensive line done to give you this confidence? Last year you were hesitant to jump on the Carr bandwagon, citing that he has never done anything. Now after a decent year you seem to have some confidence in him. On the other hand you seem to have confidence in the O-line despite three terrible years. Last year you said they just needed to gel. Well these guys got worse in pass protection as the year went on. This does not indicate gelling. Insert Dr. Scholl's joke.

I am assuming that these "timing" routes that we are working on are designed to be quick, short passes. If so, this is not a move that shows confidence in the O-line.

I hope these guys are good next year, but they have done nothing to make me confident in their abilities.
 
wags said:
What has our offensive line done to give you this confidence? Last year you were hesitant to jump on the Carr bandwagon, citing that he has never done anything. Now after a decent year you seem to have some confidence in him. On the other hand you seem to have confidence in the O-line despite three terrible years. Last year you said they just needed to gel. Well these guys got worse in pass protection as the year went on. This does not indicate gelling. Insert Dr. Scholl's joke.

I am assuming that these "timing" routes that we are working on are designed to be quick, short passes. If so, this is not a move that shows confidence in the O-line.

I hope these guys are good next year, but they have done nothing to make me confident in their abilities.
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Individually, if you look at our line, there is talent and promise almost everywhere. The conundrum is that it did not materialize on the field last year. However, it is believed by some of us and has now been reported by Richard Justice, that at least some of the struggles protecting Carr has to do with the protection schemes that Palmer has utilized and is not primarily a result of a lack of OL talent.

The obvious example of this is Seth Wand. I've been nothing but impressed with him since his rookie year during the preseason. Going into last season, the concern was that he may not have the strength to be successful run blocking. However, he and Pitts were very good run blocking last year. However, he did give up 12 sacks. I believe that happened because Palmer left him isolated on passing situations going up against guys like Freeney... He should have had at least some chipping help- if not a guard sliding to help against Freeney. Even Jonathan Ogden was unable to handle Freeney by himself.

Some also believe that our TE packages give a lot away and that having Joppru healthy will improve our ability to disguise and block on passing plays.

So, with youth, talent, and playing experience on the line this year... and with some of these issues being addressed there is at least good reason for optimism. And some of us, such as Vinny and myself, believe these guys can be a very good OLine.
 
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