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A few comments from a "Distant" fan

B

Bill's/TexanFan

Practice Squad
Pay attention Vinny. Kudos to coach Capers, his staff and players for a great win in Kansas City. We've all heard what a tough place KC can be for a road team but the Texan's played through that and came away with a W!

Since I'm not able to see as much of our Texan's as I'd like (living in my area) so I'd like to hear some opinions on what's wrong with our OL. Before the season started I felt this area would be much improved. With Wand, Pitts, McKinney, Wiegert and Wade coming over from Miami left to right on the line I thought Carr would have the time he needed to throw. But clearly this has not been the case..... who's not doing the job and are there any changes we can make?
 
Pitts has struggled and I am not sure why. He moved to his natural position and it should have been an easier transfer.

Steve (McKinney) got worked in several plays Sunday but he has as always given a solid performance.

Possibly the complex blocking schemes that have been implemented have not come as easy as they had hoped.

We must do better. We have given up 10 sacks so far.
 
Most of the pressure appears to be coming from the inside as opposed to the outside. The tackles have played better than the guards thus far, and Wade has played better than Wand too. I'm not sure if Pitts is overwhelmed with the size and strength of the DTs, but it seems he played well at LT and should be even better at LG. Weigert had the elbow injury, and he played very well for us last year. I can only think his struggles come from the time he missed in the preseason and training camp. McKinney didn't play that well yesterday, but he generally does a pretty good job for us. Wand got a couple holding penalties yesterday, and he allowed some pressure to get to Carr. That simply cannot continue to happen if they want a chance to win more games. He's generally looked pretty good at LT, but it seemed as if the whole O-Line never showed up to the game until that last drive when we scored the GW FG. I just hope the heart we saw in yesterday's game will be a common sight for the next 13 games.
 
Everyone keeps saying that guard is Pitts' "natural position", but this is the first time he has ever played guard. It will take him some time to adjust. Weary and Washington didn't get the job done filling in for Wiegert. McKinney routinely gets manhandled by decent DT's.

The offensive line definitely had a bad day, but at least the Texans came out of KC with a win. Just imagine how bad it would be to have 0-3 around your neck like the Chiefs do.
 
Pitts' size is why everyone refers to Guard as his natural position. The surprise is due to his good performance during the preseason, and the way he played LT the past two years.
 
Nobody has been more critical about the offensive line than me.

Having said that, it takes a long time for players on the offensive line to jell cohesively as a unit. Coming to their defense, it should be noted that this is the first season that Wand, Weigert, Pitts, McKinney. and Wade are playing together at their respective positions, and learning entire new blocking scheme on top of it.

I realize that I need to be more patient. I am confident that patience will be rewarded.
 
Marcus said:
Nobody has been more critical about the offensive line than me.

Having said that, it takes a long time for players on the offensive line to jell cohesively as a unit. Coming to their defense, it should be noted that this is the first season that Wand, Weigert, Pitts, McKinney. and Wade are playing together at their respective positions, and learning entire new blocking scheme on top of it.

I realize that I need to be more patient. I am confident that patience will be rewarded.
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I couldn't agree with you more,I believe the best is yet to come,we are going to improve more this season,and next season the rest of the league better pay attention to the films they watch on us,if we end up this year at 8-8 i will be more than happy,but next year should bring us into the playoffs,remember we should do well in the draft this off seson and have a depth chart to cover big injuries.
 
Bill's/TexanFan said:
Pay attention Vinny. Kudos to coach Capers, his staff and players for a great win in Kansas City. We've all heard what a tough place KC can be for a road team but the Texan's played through that and came away with a W!

Since I'm not able to see as much of our Texan's as I'd like (living in my area) so I'd like to hear some opinions on what's wrong with our OL. Before the season started I felt this area would be much improved. With Wand, Pitts, McKinney, Wiegert and Wade coming over from Miami left to right on the line I thought Carr would have the time he needed to throw. But clearly this has not been the case..... who's not doing the job and are there any changes we can make?
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Since you picked me out of the lineup I will tell you that I tend to watch the game (recording) on Tuesdays and really look at the players more closely then (Monday night is for Monday night football). When I watch games live I don't try to pick the guys apart too much because I enjoy the game itself and it becomes a blur. That said it is hard to watch a game and figure out who busted an assignment. I know you will read tons of blame and finger pointing in message boards but I tend to take all that with the obligatory grain. I form my opinions over several games and frankly, other than a physical whipping I have not totally formed my thoughts on exactly who is productive and who is not on the line yet. Perhaps I will get closer this week when I review the telecast. Watching the game on TV or in real time (live) gives fans a real limited window as to what is really going on and to be honest, I don't know how most of the fans form their quick opinions (other than the obvious answer...it has to do with a knee). I form my takes over several games because I don't have the luxury of game film. That is much different than a TV telecast, but I do think one can form a good, solid opinion over several games if you observe closely. I do know we had breakdowns and I will likely form hard opinions as the games unfold and we get deeper into the season. That said, most people who I respect around here more or less understand that our line would suffer early on with our new scheme and will likely be better at the end of the year than they are at the start of the year. A team starting 3 offensive linemen at new positions plus featuring a new blocking scheme on top of that will tend to struggle. Stick around and you will eventually know what I think. I'm not shy once I reach some conclusions. I’m not sure about what I am looking at right now.

Should we make changes? I don’t know. I do know this…

I think we need to upgrade our Center. Big, physical interior tackles hammer us hard and collapse the middle of the line as a 3 year constant. I think Wand will break down at times since he is a first time starter. Weigert plays well when he is not hurt. Washington has lead feet as his replacement and is a better Center than Guard. Wade has trouble in space, but it looks like he will be a good one once he is comfortable. Our best lineman is Chester Pitts, but he is playing Guard for the first time ever and he didn’t have much football experience before he came here (he never played in high school). Pitts is the last guy I’m worried about.

There ya go.
 
I'd have to agree that if there is one person on the offensive line that is not "pulling his weight" so to speak, it would have to be Steve McKinney. Which surprises me a little bit, in that previous years, I regarded him to be . . . I don't know what, but at least not a weakness. But this season, I don't if he's hurt, or he's not as strong, or what. It could be that I wasn't paying that much attention.

But with the pressure coming from the interior rather then the outside, (which has surprised me) I'm starting to pay attention now, and what I'm seeing is disturbing. McKinney was outright manhandled yesterday, and I'm sure that won't go unnoticed by Oakland when they look at the film.
 
BornOrange said:
Everyone keeps saying that guard is Pitts' "natural position.
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At some point you have to wonder if the "natural position" for some of our Offensive Lineman is laying flat on their backs after getting run over! Come on guys, we've got to do better.
 
I thank everyone for their take on our OL issues. One guy I've always been somewhat concerned with is C Steve McKinney. When he played at G with the Colts he seemed real solid and I thought that was his best position. When he switched to C when we signed him I wondered how he'd do. Today's best centers seem to be the 6'-3" 300 plus pound guys with the strong upper body and solid base. The Buffalo Bill's have a center in Trey Teague who's build very much like McKinney and he too seems to have difficulty with the larger DT's like a Ted Washington or Casey Hampton. As for the left side of the line I expected Ward to have a learning curve but I thought Pitts would take to the LG position like a duck does to water.
I guess what concerns me is that Kansas City is not known for having a great DL so I didn't expect the heat we apparently got yesterday.
 
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