Mind you, I'm not blaming the O-line exclusively for our offensive problems in the last 5 games. Playcalling and mis-use of personnel (Leon comes to mind) had a big hand in it. And Favre is obviously far from blameless. Under pressure, instead of just throwing the ball away, he often tried to force the ball into high-risk coverage. Nine INTs in five games (the five most important games of our season) is inexcusable, especially after he and Mangini already had their "blackjack" talk about taking hits on 20. But I'm saying that I'm uncomfortable with our O-line to the extent that, if I'm the new coach, I'd want to sit down and watch all 5 of those games real closely. There's got to be some answers there as to how we can make the O-line even better. Then if you want to start Clemens, at least he'd have a fighting chance to show his stuff behind decent protection, which is likely the first time for that since he arrived here.
After watching all of the playoff games I don't see where we are a top team in terms of personal. All of our speed and explossion on O comes out of a part time player. We lack a power running game, a good QB or WR and our D is slow both up front and in the defensive backfield. I don't see the Eagles, Baltimore, Pittsburgh or even the Cardinals type of personal anywhere on our team. Over rated.
Those are some good points. The O-line was very inconsistent down the stretch and down right awful in the Seattle game. I think part of the reason was the screwy playcalling down the stretch. Much like other skill players, the Ol needs to get into a rythym. This Ol feeded off the running game all year long.It rose the rest of their game to another level. Down the stretch, the RG was clearly not a priority schematically. I believe that had a big effect on them. Their timing seemed off and it certainly showed. I'm not making excuses..it's just the feeling I get. A change in overall philosophy and Favre's exit should go a long way in fixing this This OL has a ton of talent..and another offseason together to gain cohesion will make things that much better. I will say though, that if one of those stud OT's in this draft..we may want to make the selection, slide Woody inside and release Moore....
They weren't "bad", but if we're going to compare to the teams winning in the post season....... But the notorious B.I.G.G.S. summed it up well. Team speed & tenacity is one thing glaringly missing on this team.
That's what I'm looking for... some answers. This O-line had great successes early on... the Miami game even. Remember in the earlier games (up to 8-3)? We were scoring on almost every opening drive.... and usually 7 points too. Something changed later on. I definitely think the playcalling got much worse and that broke up the rythm. Risk-taking calls and off-the-wall "trick" calls born of too much confidence and then, in the end stretch, too little confidence! Maybe some minor tweaking is the answer and definitely a change in offensive schemes, player usage and playcalling.
