alright so, there isn't a sub-forum for big dumb questions...but uh...here is mine.
What exactly are the differences of the positions on the offensive line?
I know the gameplay of football pretty well, I know that basically they keep everybody from pounding the quarte...well, they're supposed to keep everybody from pounding the qb and rb and all the b's. but it seems like there is a big difference between LT and RT and it's just never been explained to me before.
http://forums.houstontexans.com/showthread.php?t=20478
Left tackles you're looking for big men who are quick and athletic enough to drop their hips, pop, while moving thier feet ....quick enough not to loose thier balance or spacing when going against elite speed pass rushers. Most guys cannot do this , this is why they are at a premium in the NFL. A lot of guys try to make up for lack of tallent by bending tyheir waiste, instead of dropping their buts, moving thier feet, and they lose their ballance. Because they are athletic enought to do this...they get well paid. Simple supply and demand. Look for the 5.0 forty tackles at the end of the month at the combine..and watch thier cone speed drill times and their arm length. And most importantly...the bench press. Upper body strength got Seth Wand. You get a guy who does all of that very well...you might have an OLT canidate. After Joe Thomas and Levi Brown...every one has warts. Including Brown.
Jon Runyan is a good standard at RT.. Steady, road grader...nasty and smart. He doen't have the skill set to play on the left, but he is a prety fair pro. He doesn't get beat very often.
Center: What made Titan's center Kevin Mawae such a devistating center when he he was with the Jets was his ablity to get out in front on space plays like on screens , sweeps and counters. A guy that is quick enough to snap the ball and then lead a play is pretty special athlete. Not special enough for LT...whether it's height or arm length...what ever...but occasionally you'll see a prospect come down the pike with a superb skill set Like Nick Mangold, last year and someone will take him late in the first round of the draft. The fact that it doesn't happen very often says a lot about the centers with this skill set to be a pulling center. When you get one it puts a lot of things back into the coach's playbook. A good center set up the gaurds and can disengauge from a combo block and get into the second level. NFL poetry in motion...at least to me is watching th G/C work their combo blocks. When they start snaping off runs of twelve or more yards, need to quick watching where the ball is going and start watching the beaties work...it means they are workin' it and workin' it very well. Kinda like what the Bears did to the Saint's in their championship game on that 7 play 65 yard all run TD drive.
I think for their tallent levels we got a couple of good gaurds. Pitts and Weary aren't going any where. Pitts was fast enough to cover OLT, but he wasn't quick enough . Nor did he have that pop and drop your hips, move your feet quickness of an elite OLT. But he does have the straight out speed to get in front of traps and counters and be very effective.
Our current line features one fifty pick...Pitts. And two mid 60's picks in Weary and Winston. This organization has never spent a high day one pick on an offensive lineman in five years.
