Offensive Line and Depth

Really nice thread Ruh! It's funny when I see a thread like this one, which should engender solid discussion and a lot of interest, and then there's not that many who toss in their two cents.
good point, discussion or arguing, I think arguing gets more passion and response

My intuition right meow

Wow, I cant stop laughing on this one! don't know why, but I see a goat meowing, and I bust out laughing

...

Really nice thread Ruh! It's funny when I see a thread like this one, which should engender solid discussion and a lot of interest, and then there's not that many who toss in their two cents.

My intuition right meow is our oline probably (still) constitutes the weakest group on the team. I agree our starters are above average; however we won't know how far above until this Sunday. Has Christ lost a step since last year? Can the left side be dominant both run/pass blocking? Is Randy healthy enough to blaze a trail? Can Heyer last for several games w/o another weird injury?

Unfortunately it looks like if either tackle goes down or our underwhelming center the line will really struggle, as will the offense. That's just a recipe for disaster IMO and one that should have the FO answering some tough questions. How can a team spend $42 mil guaranteed to one player but neglect what was easily the weakest group from the previous season (I know, I know we got Dock back whee-ha)? In fact I really believe our line was the worst in football by the end of the season: slow, small and old (and always creating the shittiest penalty situations). Not sure how much that will have changed this year.

If I had to pick a single backup to take-over, like 53 said it would be Rinehart. Eventually he's got to take that spot anyway. He seems to be pretty healthy. He also seems to like blazing a trail once comfortable w/ the assignment.

I think the only way we made a definite change, is we got younger on our front 5. The backups will get tested, and if they again fail - like last years group did, then we will see another melt down. I am slightly more optimistic about this years group because we don't have any geriatric cases like last year, but our best season will be if we can have an injury free year. Before anyone nay says that, remember that the Giants have had their starters together and healthy for 3 years running. Surely we are due for 1 good year. I also think Zorn learned a huge lesson last year, and will pay more attention to the frontline health then maybe he did last year.

I know Samuels is getting old, and he's getting old pretty fast. He was out a lot last year, but there are two things I'd like to bring up that make me feel OK with the LT position.

I know there's not a solid backup at this point, but 1)Samuels did a rigorous off-season workout plan with some of the other linemen, lost some weight, and has stayed healthy this preseason. 2) I liked Pete Kendall and he seemed like a stand-up guy. But Samuels now has Dock next to him, and Dock's a good upgrade over Kendall. Samuels n Dock had some great chemistry during Dock's first stint,and it might take a little bit of pressure off Samuels with the better guard nex to him.

Just a thought.

Good thread, I wouldnt call this a recent concern unless you consider "recent" last year's second half collapse due to the banged up O-Line and second string playas coming in and playing horrible. GTripp point of basic feeling of weathering injuries to interior line I would completely agree with. First to question Buges ability of judging talent, come on, Buges is one of greatest oline coaches of all time, but he was the coach to those guys end of last season who were getting their asses handed to them weekly. I bet if you asked Buges around draft time "Could you use some 4th, 5th, and 6th round talent to come in and challenge for depth positions along the O-Line?" Buges would have said Hell Yeah. Its not Buges, but the FO in my opinion. I like our inside guys but the tackles are the guys that worry me the most. So at tackle, a quality vet would ease my mind. Bridges wasnt that guy, he had off the field issues when he signed him and his best position was guard not tackle, so him getting cut is not a big deal with me. Mike Williams is simply indefensible. Did everyone see him play? The guy was horrible. Yes having Michael Oher would be awesome and would greatly help the depth at tackle cause Heyer would be a back up. Oher vs Rak is petty at this point and not fair for at least several years. Both guys are impressive. The whole youth vs experience, my take is you need a mix. We actually have it with the starters.

Really nice thread Ruh! It's funny when I see a thread like this one, which should engender solid discussion and a lot of interest, and then there's not that many who toss in their two cents.

My intuition right meow is our oline probably (still) constitutes the weakest group on the team. I agree our starters are above average; however we won't know how far above until this Sunday. Has Christ lost a step since last year? Can the left side be dominant both run/pass blocking? Is Randy healthy enough to blaze a trail? Can Heyer last for several games w/o another weird injury?

Unfortunately it looks like if either tackle goes down or our underwhelming center the line will really struggle, as will the offense. That's just a recipe for disaster IMO and one that should have the FO answering some tough questions. How can a team spend $42 mil guaranteed to one player but neglect what was easily the weakest group from the previous season (I know, I know we got Dock back whee-ha)? In fact I really believe our line was the worst in football by the end of the season: slow, small and old (and always creating the shittiest penalty situations). Not sure how much that will have changed this year.

If I had to pick a single backup to take-over, like 53 said it would be Rinehart. Eventually he's got to take that spot anyway. He seems to be pretty healthy. He also seems to like blazing a trail once comfortable w/ the assignment.

Why isn't your username The Cat? :)

http://www.thewarpath.net/581624-post42.html

I look at it like this:
If we had drafted Oher, then yes our OL situation would have been more secure then it is now. Because we could have gotten rid of Batiste and maybe even mike williams.
But the problem is that we wouldn't have a great young star OLB/DE in Orakpo. I look at it like this, the steelers had an awful OL last year, but a Great defense. They won/got to the Super Bowl, because Defense wins championships, and they won it with one of the worst OL's in super bowl history. I still would have picked Orakpo adding a great pass rusher to an already great Defense making our Defense that much better, than getting a RT to help our OL, which isn't the whole problem of our offense. Now had Orakpo had been selected, then yeah, I wouldn't of hesitated to get Oher. Had they both of been gone, then I would of gotten Alex Mack, because our G/C position is shaky.

Please don't mention Mack. I get a tear in my eye everytime I think about it.

If a starter goes down we're in trouble. None of these guys can play at 1st string level. None! I'll pray for the health of our o-line.

Please don't mention Mack. I get a tear in my eye everytime I think about it.

orakpo will make those tears go away

If a starter goes down we're in trouble. None of these guys can play at 1st string level. None! I'll pray for the health of our o-line.

:funnypost

I agree that we're weak in OL depth, but really? None of these guys can play? Rinehart at least has looked good in the snaps he has gotten.

:funnypost

I agree that we're weak in OL depth, but really? None of these guys can play? Rinehart at least has looked good in the snaps he has gotten.

Rinehart played well with the rest of the first-team o-line. This is the one thing that folks should keep in mind, the entire 2nd string line playing will not look good, but I think one of them playing with the 1st-team should be ok. Since Randy Thomas is probably the most injury prone at this point, I would be ok with Rinehart subbing in (and hopefully that would help with the rest of his development). Now at the tackle position, if we loose Samuels to injury, we'd be screwed no matter who replaced him. But as someone said earlier, I think we are pretty weak at tackle depth.