I see very erratic Offensive line play from a couple of its members. Winters must be a nephew to someone in the organization, because at this point he is our biggest liability. He is average at run blocking, and his pass blocking really stinks. It's like he has concrete shoes on, and his hand technique is really terrible. Colon seems to be a penalty magnet. Giacomini seems to be doing a decent job, and Brick and Mangold are starting to decline a little bit as age is creeping up on them. Our defensive line is awesome top to bottom, but we don't get near the flags for holding that we should. I can't count how many times I've seen opposing offensive linemen have their arms around our "Sons" to keep them from getting to the play. I've seen some of our guys jerseys stretched completely out, yet the zebras don't fling the flag. What does everyone think?
I don't know why, but we have not had good LG play since Alan Faneca. Since then we have had: Vlad Ducasse Matt Slauson (Meh.) Brian Winters.
He was getting worked by Jared Allen a little bit in the 4th, but Brick appears to be back to form, maybe not an elite LT, but a very very good LT.
I'm not sure what great, you see. His opponent wasn't that great against Oakland. Tuck isn't what he use to be, and Woodley moved from standing up to playing with his hand on the ground. Jones and Daniels neither one were dominated by Brick. Allen made some plays, but Brick did play his best game of the season against him. Allen isn't what he use to be either. I was just stating that Brick isn't getting better, but I'm sure he is declining. Age alone if nothing else. He never was that great at run blocking anyway. Just saying
Winters is awful, I have not seen any improvement from him in terms of his footwork and his ability eo excecute zone run plays and power run plays. We really need to pick an OG with our 2 or 3rd round pick next year, or play Dakota Doizer and see what we have in him. Willie Colon is still a penalty waiting to happen; he looked good against Oakland, but was crap against Green Bay. I need to rewatch the MNF game, before I comment on his performance three days ago. But from what I remember he was crap yet again.Brick was pitching a shut out for most of the game on monday, and for the most part has been rock solid and excellent in the run game. Overall: We have a in inconsistent, indisciplined bunch, that has been pretty pedestrian. I'd give them a C plus grade through three games.
Winters is pretty bad. He's also young. I remember a lot of us complaining about the bad play of Brandon Moore when he got converted and wasn't very good. People trashed Slauson before, and were listing him as a key injury when we faced the Bears, because Chicago has gotten good production out of him. Hard to say, but I don't have high hopes for Winters. It's not proof that he can't improve, since he already has. Willie Colon is absolutely horrid. He's easily as bad as Winters, and he is a veteran. Which is probably the reason why he didn't get the calls that Winters does. But Willie sucks balls. Aboushi should come in for Colon, not Winters.
Does everyone agree that our D-line is not getting the calls they deserve? I've DVR'ed each game and re-watched them twice. I'm seeing hold after hold to keep our guys from busting up plays in the backfield, and getting to the Qb before he gets rid of it. Maybe I'm being biased but like I said, I've seen many, and I mean many, holds with no flag. We would have a bunch of sacks already, and many more drops for loses, if the refs would simply watch, and make the call. Agree? Or is it me?
Colon, at least, will tackle his man before he let's his QB get blown up. Winters sometimes whifs so bad he can't even do that. But then Colon has all those aggravating pre-snap penalties. It's a tough call between who I would have Aboushi replace. I think I would replace Winters because Aboushi is not the road grader you want on the right side.
offensive holding is no longer a flag. defensive holding has to be called on every pass play. Did you miss the latest Goodell memo?
I might be but the decision is strictly based on liking Aboushi on the left vs the right. Winters could be moved to the right but not quite sure how much of an improvement that would be.
Agree on Winters, he has been terrible last year, and is terrible again this year. I think we might need to put in Aboushi or Dozier instead of him sooner rather than later, because much like Ducasse, he isn't showing any improvement. This might also be a good time to trade some non-essential player(s) for a decent veteran guard if they can find a team. There have been lots of injuries, so some team might be despearate for something we have and can spare. I am kinda torn on Colon. The penalties are annoying as hell, but with that said, I don't recall any plays where a guy just blew by him and messed up a play, as say with Winters. As bad as penalties can be, letting a guy run by you is even worse, because it makes Geno jumpy, and Geno is not good jumpy. Also, I've read that like almost 50% of our running plays (in the 2nd best running game in the league right now) come between Mangold and Colon, so I think he's good in the running game. So to me, replacing Winters is a much higher priority. Mangold has been great this year. PFF ranks him as the 2nd best center in the game right now, not a single pressure given up. Brick started out really strong in the Bears game, then Allen had his way with him late. Still all in all, he's still playing at a decent level. If a guy beats him (or Giaconmini for that matter), it's when those speedy ends run around them and upfield. I can live with those because Geno can often step up in the pocket to avoid them. Winters, on the other hand, usually gets beat inside, and then theres a guy bull rushing Geno up the middle, and that tends to really mess us up. The D-Line has been amazing. Prior to this season, the thing I wanted the most out of the Sons was for Richardson to develop more of a pass rushing presence. He has done exactly that, and has been very active rushing the passer. It's not translating into a ton of sacks yet, but he's getting QB hits, pressures, hurries, etc. The benefits from this to our defense cannot be overstated. The full sack Wilkerson got on Cutler, he was unblocked. When they showed the replay, I saw Richardson being double teamed on that play. Richardson's emergence in pass rushing should elevate both his, Wilkerson's and LB's games, as offenses just won't be able to block everyone and will have to pick their poison. In a typical 3-4 defense, the linemen are just big dudes who occupy space and blockers. Now we got 2 out of the 3 who can pressure the QB, and then you got 2 outside linebackers rushing, and possibly another inside speed demon (Davis) who might drop in. And that's why we are currently tied for first in sacks. I just hope Richardson and the rest of them can keep it up. As far as holding, couldnt agree more. It's getting ridiculous, and if I was Rex Ryan, I would get that out there. Write a letter to the NFL, send tapes, make sure ESPN gets copies. This stuff needs to come out. There was a play in the Chicago game where Richardson beat his guy and was about to sack Cutler (for what would have been his 2nd sack), when the blocker just held him so he couldnt chase Cutler down. Cutler then passed the ball and Richardson ran after the receiver, but halfway in, he turned to the official while still running and was yelling at him. It was funny. Wilkerson also mentioned being held all the time without calls when he got ejected. I don't know why the NFL is so deadset on screwing the defense, the defense is the equalizer, any team can build a great defense, whereas you have to win the quarterback lotto to build a great offense. Plus good defensive teams will pretty much own offenses no matter what, I don't expect these rules to punish Seattle, they are gonna punish other less talented teams.
There was a blatant one on Richardson on Monday night that I was screaming through the TV about. Would've easily been a sack.
I actually think, for the most part, we have generally won the battles on both sides of the line of scrimmage over the first 3 games. Our major issues have been ineptitude at certain skill positions and inconsistency at quarterback.
Well we have spent a few recent picks at the guard position and at the moment winters is the only starter, and barely one at that......think about it - we draft 2 guys high in 2006 and that's it. Imagine if we spent high picks on the OL like we have on corners and DL. It would be a freakin "brick" wall in front of smith
