Offensive Line - Overrated

L

leroy3d

Active Member
I see a pattern, that when the stakes are high, our offensive line struggles. When our offensive line needs to perform in tight situations, we fold. Not only do we fold during our losses, we under perform even when we win. We have the 76th ranked rushing offense in the nation. Although we average 4.2 yards per carry, I believe we are inconsistent, long gains due to Stanzi's great play action ability, and short gains when teams know when we are going to run (we have the 37th ranked passing offense in the nation). Coker is not the answer. Our offensive line needs to improve, they struggle mightily with consistency, pass and run blocking, and I think it is across the board in terms of the players. Prior to the season we all thought the o-line was going to be our weakness. We rushed well in the start of the season playing weaker teams and we thought our o-line was solid. I don't put the Ohio State loss on Stanzi, the guy had absolutely no time in any of the games we lost during our last drive or two, when the chips were down and the opposing d-line stepped it up. On the other hand, the opposing teams o-line give their quarterback all the time in the world. This post is just my 2 cents, nothing more.

PS When I say our 0-line is overrated, it is in relation to everyone putting blame on our defense on our losses and even critical of them on our tight wins. If our o-line was even 2/3rd's the talent of our d-line we would have 2 more wins this season.
 
Last edited:
leroy3d said:
I see a pattern, that when the stakes are high, our offensive line struggles. When our offensive line needs to perform in tight situations, we fold. Not only do we fold during our losses, we under perform even when we win. We have the 76th ranked rushing offense in the nation. Although we average 4.2 yards per carry, I believe we are inconsistent, long gains due to Stanzi's great play action ability, and short gains when teams know when we are going to run (we have the 37th ranked passing offense in the nation). Coker is not the answer. Our offensive line needs to improve, they struggle mightily with consistency, pass and run blocking, and I think it is across the board in terms of the players. Prior to the season we all thought the o-line was going to be our weakness. We rushed well in the start of the season playing weaker teams and we thought our o-line was solid. I don't put the Ohio State loss on Stanzi, the guy had absolutely no time in any of the games we lost during our last drive or two, when the chips were down and the opposing d-line stepped it up. On the other hand, the opposing teams o-line give their quarterback all the time in the world. This post is just my 2 cents, nothing more.
Click to expand...

Our offensive line struggles here and there, but they were pretty solid this year. The rushing stat is simply a lack of speed at the RB position - nothing more.
 
I would have never in my life time have even thought that the answer was our lack of speed at the running back position. That is an easy fix, all we need to do is see where the other 75 teams that have better rushing stats and see where they are recruiting their speedy backs.
 
I don't know about the term over rated. I don't think I ever remember hearing that they were rated high to begin with. I would say they have under performed during the 4th quarter, as has the entire team. The OLINE was a question mark coming into the season and had we not suffered all the injuries they would have exceeded most of our expectations.
 
Overall I think the O line has done a great job this year (given the fact that this was probably the biggest question mark coming into the season) - they've given Stanzi time in the pocket and who could have predicted we'd be hurting for bodies at the RB position. If Jewel would of stayed healthy and/or BW hadn't gone AWOL I think our rushing attack would have been much much better.

I'll even go as far as to say the O line has done better this year than last year.
 
This is a serious question. We have excellent OL individuals from time-to-time, but when was the last truly great OL? 2002?

Edit: I seem to remember the 2003 line being able to impose its will, but not really since then. Good, but not great.
 
This is a same old story. I have never figured why Ferentz gets credit for 'great' offensive lines..... we almost always under perform up front. When have we ever lead the league in rushing? Have we ever been above 5th in the B10?
 
KF stepped out in the fall camp and said that Gettis could be as good as any o-lineman in the league,but then Gettis gets hurt and misses most of the season. Then his raw fill-in Nolan McMillan,did a decent job as he learned the position,and was coming on,then he got hurt. I really think that losing these guys have hurt the line the last month. Now, expectations were not that high for this group and when healthy,they did a good job,and exceeded expectations,so I am not going to bust on them.
I think you can go to every single unit on this team and point to some flaws,including the coaching staff. These losses were truly ''team'' losses,to me,not a single unit mal-functioning. I think the o-line should be a strength next year, barring injuries.
 
Bluzmn said:
This is a serious question. We have excellent OL individuals from time-to-time, but when was the last truly great OL? 2002?

Edit: I seem to remember the 2003 line being able to impose its will, but not really since then. Good, but not great.
Click to expand...

Outside of Gallery the 2003 line was a real work in progress. Undersized first year players such as Brian Ferentz, Mike Elgin, and Mike Jones were just getting their feet wet that year.
 
McNutt7gets6 said:
Overall I think the O line has done a great job this year (given the fact that this was probably the biggest question mark coming into the season) - they've given Stanzi time in the pocket and who could have predicted we'd be hurting for bodies at the RB position. If Jewel would of stayed healthy and/or BW hadn't gone AWOL I think our rushing attack would have been much much better.

I'll even go as far as to say the O line has done better this year than last year.
Click to expand...

I'd agree, for the most part. Stanzi has had PLENTY of time this year in the pocket. Yeah, late game drives he hasn't had as much, but that's b/c we have our backs to the wall and the D has the advantage. Our plays are generally slow developing and the D knows this. This is why EVERYONE blitzes us in those situations, and we generally have no answer for it.
 
JHHawk said:
KF stepped out in the fall camp and said that Gettis could be as good as any o-lineman in the league,but then Gettis gets hurt and misses most of the season. Then his raw fill-in Nolan McMillan,did a decent job as he learned the position,and was coming on,then he got hurt.
Click to expand...

Gettis and Mac look like they will be good linemen. Josh Koeppel is not big enough to play guard and it showed yesterday. If not for Cody Hundertmark quitting the team he would be playing at that spot, I wonder if he regrets leaving?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Share this page

Top