Quote:
Originally Posted by Mattyk72
I dunno, I think it's tough to expect two long term injuries along the line and have enough starting quality depth for that. And I think under the circumstances Fabini, Wade, and Heyer have filled in admirably. There's almost always going to be a dropoff in production when going from a starting OL to a backup, and when you have two key guys out, that only compounds the issue.
If we had managed to pull out some of those very winnable close games and were sitting at 8-5 right now I doubt we would be hearing many complaints regarding the OL depth.
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My point is that with the age and injury history of this particular line, it is not unreasonable to expect two (or even three) long term injuries. Maybe not season enders but ones that require a shuffling. Samuels has a history of injury, Jansen (though playing through stuff) has been injured on an off for a couple of years, same with RT and Rabach. As you get older, you get more brittle - particularly in a place as nasty as the O-line (I'm a former lineman, for play to play contact it is the most physically demanding position).
You say if we pull out close games - no bitching, fair enough. But we lost a couple of those games due to poor line-play. (4th and a foot anyone?). So my response is: where is the talent to step in and get me that extra yard, cause if we had had that than we ARE 8-5 right now.
I understand it is difficult to maintain depth, and I agree that Kendall and Heyer seem like good pickups in the short term (hopefully long term for Heyer). Fabini not so much, Wade I give a pass b/c everyone seemed to like him and say he was better than Jansen. I thought going in that tackle would be okay, but (and this is a big but) we had nothing for the interior (we still dont).
Ask yourself this, going into the season who was going to be the left tackle if
Samuels went done? No plan as far as I can tell. Clearly, we had an "experiment" in Wade to replace Dock. Not a lot of long term planning on the line.
My only real point is that this is an old line - a quality line when fully healthy -and that has to be a consideration when looking at who to aquire and what positions to fill.
blah blah blah - just preaching to the choir I know.