JAXwithanX
Waterboy
• Those famous members of the Oakland staff aren't the only high-profile coaches charged with rebuilding an offensive line. Former Green Bay coach Mike Sherman, now the assistant head coach in Houston, is being asked to fix a unit that has surrendered a mind-boggling 57.3 sacks per season in the franchise's first four seasons of existence. The Texans twice have led the NFL in sacks allowed, giving up 76 in 2002 and then 68 in 2005. Sherman brought along former Packers center Mike Flanagan to anchor the line. But the rest of the unit is in flux. Former starting center Steve McKinney, who played mostly at left guard in '05, will move to right guard, a position he has never played. Chester Pitts will move inside to left guard from his left tackle post. The right tackle again figures to be Todd Wade, but he has never lived up to the $10 million signing bonus the Texans paid him as an unrestricted free agent in 2004, and could be challenged by veteran Zach Wiegert or even rookie third-rounder Eric Winston.
The most intriguing spot, though, is the key left tackle position. It appears that Sherman will allow three-year veteran Seth Wand and third-round choice Charles Spencer to vie for the No. 1 job there. Wand has flopped in his previous shots as a starter. Spencer was forced to play left tackle at the University of Pittsburgh last season, but most teams projected him as a guard in the NFL, a spot at which he seemed more natural. But Sherman feels that if Spencer can control his weight, he's got good enough feet and a polished enough blocking base to be an effective left tackle. One veteran offensive line coach with another team recently opined that Spencer had the strongest punch-out, the maneuver that is typically the initial upper-body move used in pass blocking, he has ever encountered. So perhaps Sherman is on to something with the Pitt rookie.
Thought it may help clear up what we are planning to do with the pieces of line we have.