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State of the O-line

The O-line is this team's "Achilles heel" just like it was early last season before Duane Brown came back. And, even after he came back there were times XSF, Allen, and Clark were getting manhandled by the opposition. If DB keeps holding out this line will be very thin depth wise. Other than Mancz the rest are just 2 developmental Rookies and a JAG (at best). This is DB's leverage. The question is, who's going to "blink" 1st? DB or management?
 
EVOLVIST said:
I'm really surprised that Mantz couldn't grab a starting guard spot. I mean, he can't be worse than Allen, can he?
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You have to be powerful at OG. This is not Mancz strong suit and why I think they should move Martin to OG and Mancz to C. Along with moving Allen to the bench. I expect the OL to look alot like it did early last season.
 
steelbtexan said:
You have to be powerful at OG. This is not Mancz strong suit and why I think they should move Martin to OG and Mancz to C. Along with moving Allen to the bench. I expect the OL to look alot like it did early last season.
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I agree in general but I'd move XSF's ass to the bench.
 
IDEXAN said:
And Saints rookie OT Ryan Ramczyk as C&D warned those who wanted him the guy is already having injury issues in NOLA.
And I dunno how Garrett Bolles is doing, another risky rook OT prospect, it just wasn't a good year for drafting offensive tackles. Ricky probably played it right in terms of his strategy for drafting tackles went this year with Davenport.
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Per ourlads.com depth charts, 5 rookie OL will start opening week. That's 3% of the starting OL. Of the 5, 3 will start due to injury or sudden retirement. 30 OL made opening day rosters, with the Texans having 2 (Davenport & Fuller).

Almost certainly, there will be additional rookies starting at OL over the course of the season. Possibly even one of the Texans' rookies. But, the numbers seem to indicate the lack of affection the NFL has for this OL draft class. And that may be as much about the skill set of the rookies than their physical talent. Schools that have a higher run/pass ratio like Alabama, Ohio State, and Wisconsin are seeing their OL start sooner. Will OL (especially those in pass happy offenses) be downgraded due to their learning curve? We'll see if 2017 is an anomaly or the start of a trend.
 
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JB said:
I think it should be Allen at LG, Mancz at C and Martin at RG....

then we only have sucky Tackles and if Lamm surprises and Giacomini is healthy we might have something
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Agree, especially with Allen being returned to his natural position at LG.
 
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Bolles is starting LT for Broncos Monday night against Chargers. He most likely gets assigned Joey Bossa if not Melvin Engram.

Dion Dawkins may start LT if Cordy Glenn cannot play. Or at least play meaningful snaps to take pressure of nagging ankle injury Glenn has had all pre season.

Just my view only but Duane clearly has leverage, quality LT's don't grow on trees so if you've already invested in a proven commodity, reach agreement & move along.
 
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beerlover said:
Bolles is starting LT for Broncos Monday night against Chargers. He most likely gets assigned Joey Bossa if not Melvin Engram.

Dion Dawkins may start LT if Cordy Glenn cannot play. Or at least play meaningful snaps to take pressure of nagging ankle injury Glenn has had all pre season.

Just my view only but Duane clearly has leverage, quality LT's don't grow on trees but when you have one you pay him and move along to other matters.
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I dont know how Bolles will do Monday night, but Bolles is going to be very good in a couple of yrs when he gets some experience. I think the lack of talent in last yrs OL class was greatly overstated by scouts/draft experts. Bolles will be very good. Ramczyck will be the best of all of the OT's if he can stay healthy. I cant understand why Robinson fell like he did. At worst he's a 10 yr starter at RT.

Now if the experts say the draft lacked depth I would agree, but these guys are going to be above avg OL. IMHO What do these OL have in common? Like Lucky said they all come from colleges that run some form of pro style offenses.
 
Not only did the line get punked at the LOS they allowed defenders to take cheap shots and rock both QBs and nobody did **** about it. Bunch of Poof's up front.
 
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Shouldn't be a surprise. Some of us have been screaming for ol help for YEARS.

I hate to say I told you so, so I wont. I dont have to because you just watched the same game i did.
 
If this was the best we can expect from the o-line it is going to be a long, ugly season. The repeated neglect of the o-line over the last several years is a travesty. After watching todays game, I feel like this could very well be a sub .500 team. Hopefully that is not the case and they can patch something better together up front with the pieces we have.

The one bright spot is Watson looked good especially considering the lack of protection and the lack of weapons since everyone is on the injured list or heading that way. I was really impressed how quickly Watson got the ball out and eluded the rush. He made some good throws on the run. I have been a Savage supporter, but have come to the conclusion it is time to start the Watson era.
 
Texas Jake said:
If this was the best we can expect from the o-line it is going to be a long, ugly season. The repeated neglect of the o-line over the last several years is a travesty. After watching todays game, I feel like this could very well be a sub .500 team. Hopefully that is not the case and they can patch something better together up front with the pieces we have.

The one bright spot is Watson looked good especially considering the lack of protection and the lack of weapons since everyone is on the injured list or heading that way. I was really impressed how quickly Watson got the ball out and eluded the rush. He made some good throws on the run. I have been a Savage supporter, but have come to the conclusion it is time to start the Watson era.
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They drafted XSF and Martin pretty high. They haven't necessarily neglected the OL in past years, just made poor personnel choices between draft picks, letting players walk and signing FAs. XSF is a total bust, imo. Martin needs time to see where he is. Jeff Allen appears to be a disaste, even when he was healthy for 1 or 2 quarters as a Texan. RT is the glaring area of neglect that has me baffled.
 
DocBar said:
They drafted XSF and Martin pretty high. They haven't necessarily neglected the OL in past years, just made poor personnel choices between draft picks, letting players walk and signing FAs. XSF is a total bust, imo. Martin needs time to see where he is. Jeff Allen appears to be a disaste, even when he was healthy for 1 or 2 quarters as a Texan. RT is the glaring area of neglect that has me baffled.
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Yes, to say they have done nothing is incorrect, but when they have it has been largely ineffective, for the most part. I would argue that there hasn't been the emphasis to fix the o-line that there should be. As many others on this board have stated, you win the war in the trenches. The closest we are coming to winning in the trenches is seeing the majority of our o-line face down in a ditch.
 
Texas Jake said:
Yes, to say they have done nothing is incorrect, but when they have it has been largely ineffective, for the most part. I would argue that there hasn't been the emphasis to fix the o-line that there should be. As many others on this board have stated, you win the war in the trenches. The closest we are coming to winning in the trenches is seeing the majority of our o-line face down in a ditch.
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There were a couple people who wanted to forgo QB in this draft and go OL early and often - I said after the Aints game that their idea had a lot of merit .... today ugh.
I'm almost to the point where I'd rather keep sending Savage out there to get battered and bruised rather than Watson .... cause I don't want him HWWNBM'd - Ruined.
Cause this OL looks worse than the one that allowed that record 72 sacks "protecting" HHWNBM .... This sh!t is awful.


I said somewhere upthread I woulda benched XSF , today he showed us why .... that was one of the worst games I can recall by a guard. He was probably the worst of the bunch and the rest of them did their fair share of sucking.

It did appear that the playcalling changed significantly when Watson came in - it was all quick stuff with no long drop backs or plays that took time to develop and they still got heat on the QB ..... ugh.
 
DocBar said:
They drafted XSF and Martin pretty high. They haven't necessarily neglected the OL in past years, just made poor personnel choices between draft picks, letting players walk and signing FAs. XSF is a total bust, imo. Martin needs time to see where he is. Jeff Allen appears to be a disaste, even when he was healthy for 1 or 2 quarters as a Texan. RT is the glaring area of neglect that has me baffled.
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I'm sorry DocBar, I have to go with neglect on this one. In 3 years they draft only 2 O-linemen (XSF and Martin) while letting Brandon Brooks and Jones go in FA. Then when the draft is weak at the O-line position they take a 4th rounder and a 7th rounder (Davenport and Fuller) that are developmental at best. On top of that they won't come to terms with their best OT (Brown) and have probably lost their RT (Newton) forever. A team cannot sustain these kinds of losses on their O-line and expect it to be good enough by filling in with UDFA's and washed up journeymen scrubs that probably couldn't make another team. I guess what I'm saying is, if I, and others on this MB, can see this then why couldn't they (BOB, RS, and whoever else makes personnel decisions) see it?

I said it before in another post, the O-line is the "Achilles heel" for this team. And now it looks like they've taken an arrow right in the heel with the Jags doing their best "Paris" imitation! If they don't get Brown back here soon this whole season could go down the drain. If they can get him back quickly enough and if Watson starts to develop I still think they have a chance to win the division. But, if Brown continues to hold out, forget it. They'll be lucky to win 6 games. Watson will only be able to do so much with his mobility to cover up that line.
 
JB said:
I've known they were turds for years now
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Rick has pics of McNair engaging in homosexual acts .... and XSF has some of OB with Sandusky.

Bout the only reason I can think of that Tricky Rick hasn't been fired and XSF isn't cut and out of the league. Both of them suck at what they are employed to do.
 
steelbtexan said:
I thought Lamm had improved enough to be a starting OT in the NFL.

He's not even serviceable and thinking he can become serviceable is delusional.
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I think he might be better suited on the right side ..... He wasn't bad at all during preseason but damn today was abysmal.

IF they can get Brown back , bench XSF and run with Brown , Mancz , Martin , Allen and Lamm .... that's their top 5 OL (Sad aint it?) , maybe they can approach respectability.

Really the OL spots didn't offer much in free agency .... I don't think I'd have spent a ton of money there either , would have tried to fix it in the draft directly after selecting Watson I'd have been looking at OL.
 
I would have signed Wagner in FA and drafted Robinson. Ran with Savage this year and drafted the qb of the future in 2018 after the ol was in place. Said as much at the time. I just hope Watson doesn't become damaged goods. What Ricky has done to this kid really isn't fair to Watson.
 
steelbtexan said:
I would have signed Wagner in FA and drafted Robinson. Ran with Savage this year and drafted the qb of the future in 2018 after the ol was in place. Said as much at the time. I just hope Watson doesn't become damaged goods. What Ricky has done to this kid really isn't fair to Watson.
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After today watching Savage that would left us with no QB so we would have had high picks at all 7 rounds plus a 3rd and two 6s. I still think at some point Watson is a QB but this moment I wish we had our picks back.
 
ObsiWan...I'm voting this the post of the season!!!! You have correctly and properly given this OL its new nickname:

Pittsburgh had the Steel Curtain (Defense), the Redskins had the Hogs (Offense) and the Texans have the...

"FAINTING GOATS"
 
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