Quote:
Originally Posted by Mattyk72
Losing Thomas really hurt the running game this season. You really have to wonder what could have been had our OL been intact and healthy all year.
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First, props to Randy for trying. He is one of my favorites and I hope he comes back strong next year.
Second - given the age of our line, I think that any
expectation that it would be "intact and healthy" all year would be unreasonable.
IMHO - To expect success from our line this year, the staff needed to have quality depth (not pro bowl depth, but solid starter depth) to cover for at least two long term injuries. I do not believe it did. It brought in retreads who have no future here and expected a committment to exellence from them. As has been shown, not gonna happen.
I am not sure whether the problem lays in talent aquisition (i.e. - we want a player but haven't been able to get him), the inability to coach'em up (we got someone with talent but just can't get them up to snuff), or the inability to judge ability (we thought he had talent but, instead, he's just a turnstile with legs). For whatever reason, we have had a number of young lineman through and none have stuck.
I keep harping on it, we have not developed good talent to back up our quality starters. As such, the O-line is and will be (for the forseeable future) the main thing holding this team back. It is unconscienable that THIS staff - which built championships founded in solid line play - failed on this fundamental aspect.