Om Field: Breaking Down the Lines (Pt. 1)

What's remarkable is how many linemen they have drafted that, as far as I can remember, practically never saw the field since 1999

Derek Smith, Michael Moore, Del Cowsette, Mario Monds, Reggie Coleman, Greg Scott, Mark Wilson, Jim Molinaro (just to name some)

Granted, some of these are later round picks but I guess the fact that lately our late round picks are playing more is testament to slight improvements in scouting. Maybe?

Okay, I understand wht you are saying but I cannot help but feel that the blog is negative and typical of the types of things you read about a 1-4 team , in that it is onesided and blinkered .

I admitt the point that yes the Skins have been terrible at developing talent and bringing though our own guys compared to other teams in the same division, but equally you have to consider there is a reason for that and that reason is change .

Marty, Spurrier, Gibbs and Zorn have all had one thing in common, they have all on paper at least had a very servicable offensive line equipped with a top 5-10 LOT in Samuels good gaurds and at least workable ROT and C . None have come in and had to start rebuilding the line .

Equally most of these coaches have changed some of the possitional coaches and the blocking schemes . It is hard to develop anything anything if you are constantly changing the water .

I fully appreciate that Gibbs has failed the team in that he did nothing to build the depth at any possition squandering picks to win now, but he is the only coach that has been in the possition to build depth .

All the rest have only been in the possition to build for a maximum of 2 seasons .

I also have to question the timing, as I often do, of the post . Where was your insight in March, or September, or October . The issues of bringing through new guys were the same then as now, the diffence is we were running though teams and pass blocking quite well .

Depth is an issue given the injuries , it would be great to have Jake long in the wings waiting to jump in but how many teams really have that ? You can point to people like Winston Justice in Philly who was quite well rated comming out of the draft but has looked BAD in his early outings . When our depth was called upon in December last year the line stepped up, and that line included journy men and UDFA you dismiss in your post .

What is as important if not more so than depth is the system and the blocking schemes, some of which may be too complex and have our offensive linemen thinking rather too much than actually doing .. if the system is no good then no matter who you bring in you will strugle .

I actually think that having an injured Samuels out of the line will benifit the team asd they will absolutly know what they have at LT every play .


What your post does do for me at is this is possibly the most compelling case to have a GM to be able to oversea the ship in times of turmoil .

Okay, I understand wht you are saying but I cannot help but feel that the blog is negative and typical of the types of things you read about a 1-4 team , in that it is onesided and blinkered .
Not sure how one could spin the current state of the lines and the Redskins disinclination to address them in the draft for the last decade as anything but negative, brother. I could pin a smiley face on the numbers, maybe, but Redskins fans are too wise to get over on that easy. :)

As to it being "typical" of what you see in 1-4 runs, or "onesided and blinkered," well ... I'm writing about one specific topic I see as seriously deficient. I've written about lots of other things, too--many of them positive (it's actually kind of refreshing to be accused of being a hater for change). This time I happen to be writing about this negative one. I hope you're not suggesting that every time someone drills down to assess what they view as a specific problem area with hard facts and numbers, they have to be sure to balance it out by finding something good to throw in there for "balance?"

That would suck for me, because I'm already accused on a regular basis of being too wordy.

What your post does do for me at is this is possibly the most compelling case to have a GM to be able to oversea the ship in times of turmoil .
We have one. He just happens to be one long on record as not believing in drafting linemen high in the draft.

Om I am not attacking you personally, please don't take it as that .

I maybe seeing this in the wrong light . I am comming at it from a totally analytical point of view .

I understand your point .. IT is appauling how the team has handled the depth on the lines, but there are reasons and for the most part your article is drawing comparisons with other teams in our division but the comparisons are not on the whole valid .

The other point I wanted to add is I am not sure it is as important as where you draft or who you draft but what is important is who actually starts . The Giants have drafted many more linemen than we have yet the only guy they drafted on day 1 ( and i still call 3rd round picks day 1- stupid TV) is Chriss Snee . The rest are UDFA, low round picks and journey men, yet thier offensive line is one of the best driving that running game they have . The thing about that is it possibly shows how poor the Giants are drafting linemen given the number of picks and the number of actual home grown starters , it would be spun that way has the stats been revesed .

What would be intersting it to look at the guys we could have had like in 2005 insted of picking up Rogers we could have had Jaamal Brown, Logan Mankins, Alex Barron or Erazmus James of the Viki...oh wait .. but you get my point . You could also look at who we could have had and the holes it would make on the roster had we used our day 1 picks on back up line men .

As for Viny not taking the linemen early from 2004-2007 Gibbs has had last say on player acquisition 2001 it was Marty 2000 Vinny ran the show and we got Samuels , Vinny C has never to my understanding held the actual title of general manager . It may be scmantics but you cannot call a guy out for the decisions he didn't make .

Finally I do like some of your blog reports but I would just like someone ... anyone ....who writes about the Skins to either be balanced or if not that to be honest ..

Om I am not attacking you personally, please don't take it as that .

I maybe seeing this in the wrong light . I am comming at it from a totally analytical point of view .

I understand your point .. IT is appauling how the team has handled the depth on the lines, but there are reasons and for the most part your article is drawing comparisons with other teams in our division but the comparisons are not on the whole valid .

The other point I wanted to add is I am not sure it is as important as where you draft or who you draft but what is important is who actually starts . The Giants have drafted many more linemen than we have yet the only guy they drafted on day 1 ( and i still call 3rd round picks day 1- stupid TV) is Chriss Snee . The rest are UDFA, low round picks and journey men, yet thier offensive line is one of the best driving that running game they have . The thing about that is it possibly shows how poor the Giants are drafting linemen given the number of picks and the number of actual home grown starters , it would be spun that way has the stats been revesed .

What would be intersting it to look at the guys we could have had like in 2005 insted of picking up Rogers we could have had Jaamal Brown, Logan Mankins, Alex Barron or Erazmus James of the Viki...oh wait .. but you get my point . You could also look at who we could have had and the holes it would make on the roster had we used our day 1 picks on back up line men .

As for Viny not taking the linemen early from 2004-2007 Gibbs has had last say on player acquisition 2001 it was Marty 2000 Vinny ran the show and we got Samuels , Vinny C has never to my understanding held the actual title of general manager . It may be scmantics but you cannot call a guy out for the decisions he didn't make .

Finally I do like some of your blog reports but I would just like someone ... anyone who writes about the Skins to either be balanced or if not that to be honest ..
Not sure exactly how you reconcile the two bolded comments, my friend.

As to your specific comment about the Giants not drafting linemen on day one other than Snee, I'm not sure where that came from either.

2007 - NT Jay Alford (3rd)
2006 - DE Matthias Kiwanuka (1st)
2005 - DE Justin Tuck (3)
2004 - OG Chris Snee (2)
2003 - DT William Joseph (1), DE Osi Umenyura (2)
2002 - OT Jeff Hatch (3)
2000 - DT Cornelius Griffin (2)
1999 - OT Luke Petitgout (1)

End of the day, though, you did say:

"IT is appauling how the team has handled the depth on the lines"

... so considering that's exactly where I started as well, perhaps we're just dancing in the dark here.