Coach Sparano says... "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!"

 

It's hard not to worry when the right side of you line is getting beaten with alarming regularity.

 

At what point should we start to worry? At what point does he expect them to gel? With 3 games left in the season and the team with a losing record? He's acting like he has more time than he really does. He's had 4 years to get this line to "gel". His constant ****ing around with it has it in the mess it is now. He better hope that glue hardens real quick. His job depends on it.

 

He did make a good point, we ran for 160 last week, eh.

 

Right... 2 of the worst offensive line performances ever this preseason. Nothing to see here folks... Don't worry...

 

Well, I can't answer your question as to when the red lights should come on, but he hasn't be tinkering around with the ol since PS began. We've pretty much seen the same guys out there, if anything I wish he'd have done some more moving of guys around as I'm not impressed with either Carey or Colombo's performance so far.

The right side has been playing so poorly, no one has mentioned or is looking at how Ritchie and Pouncey are not exactly setting the world afire at their positions. Heck, we've even been talking about how Murtha has been doing well, you know, the same Murtha who couldn't block grandma last season.

My guess is that Sparano's ability to save his job is the same as it was one minute after he was given the boost to his contract back in January... Probably a trip to the playoffs have to be the mark set, even if we don't go very far. How we are at the 4 game mark or 8 game mark won't matter, barring a complete meltdown of the team, although I don't see that happening at all. The problem is, whether he or Ireland are making that decision, every addition of yet another former Cowgirl is a black mark to fans. So, add Gurode and unless he is the one that makes the OL gel and become all world, Sparano will take the hit from the fans.

I will say that I didn't get to see the game until yesterday afternoon and it was not as gloom and doom as it was made out to be on this forum on the day of the game. The O was moving the ball but couldn't keep the yellow flags in the pockets of the officials long enough to accomplish anything. Up to the last drive for the TD by the bucs before the half, we had an edge on them... There were some changes and subs made on D and they moved down the field, aided by a penalty or two. The worst of the ugly stuff wasn't the OL or Henne or WRs drops or even DBs drops...it was the lack of discipline and the penalties by both teams... Mind you, there was some ugly OL play and some drops, etc but they weren't the worst of our problems. But I digress...

At any rate, Sparano needs to fix the OL and the OL is supposed to be his forte and fans are very disappointed again by the lack of improvement but his season isn't going to end at some magical point (game 4 or whatever) just because we are struggling in the OL at that point still....

 

If Henne starts getting concusions do we start to worry then?

 

Against the Panthers. The Bengals carved them up just as well, if not better, than the Dolphins did.

It's funny. The one time most fans are in support of Sparano making a move is the first time he's standing fast. I guess a leopard can change his spots...

 

Thats pretty much it. Against a bunch of cupcakes theygot 160 yards. Against real competition virtually nothing.

 

I guess I understand they need time to gel, but Colombo/Carey looked pretty awful and I don't think chemistry was the issue.

 

Against Corey Irvin and Sione Fua IIRC? Both guys were terrible at playing with leverage. Guys looked like they were running to the sideline every play because of how much they got turned.

 

Not to worry Colombo is a "closer"

 

Spoken like a guy that is not going to have a job at the end of the season...

You know this would be a good team if they had a half *** decent OL

 

Sorry Tony... have to disagree. Carey, Colombo and Jerry were manhandled all game from what I saw. Looks to me like we have huge issues, and they weren't cohesiveness issues, they just looked lazy, sloppy, and just... flat out bad.

 

Offensive line seemed about average IMO.

 

Unfortunately it wasn't just Carey and Columbo and it wasn't just stunts that got them. A lot of excuses for a woeful display ... I rewatched last night and it was simply awful. There wasn't 4 solid starters out there and I don't care how much coach lies to be frank.

 

5 sacks allowed. Constant Pressure. And 22 yards on 17 carries is FAR from average. It's about as below average as you can get

 

I wouldn't be as concerned if the right side of the line whose strength is considered to be running behind would be consistently creating running lanes and getting pancakes once in a while, but when they are ones getting pancaked themselves at the goal line and the DL are meeting the RB 3 yards deep in the backfield it is a concern.

More like a blocking meltdown than a breakdown.

 

Vernon Carey is just too slow to play guard. They are trying to hang on to something that is over....... meaning Big Vern's career.

 

I guess we're not supposed to worry until we lose some real games. And even then, we shouldn't worry because they will have time to get it together. Really the only time to worry is when we're mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, and then what's in the past is in the past, so why worry about it?

 

But Tony looks to be in the best shape of his career. :shifty:

 

How many pressures did we give up, and what is the league avearge?

 

Well said coach. :shifty:

 

I don't see the necessity of seeking refuge in unfindable or at the very least very hard to find statistics when anyone could watch the game, see that Chad Henne and Brandon Marshall were playing with their hair on fire, and the offense still only scored 10 points through 3 quarters.

That's pacing for 13 points in a game, a pitiful offensive showing, and yet you can't look at Henne and say hey you stunk in that game. And of course, Brandon Marshall was more than pulling his own weight between that highlight reel long touchdown and all the pass interference calls he was drawing. Sure, he turned the ball over, but Henne very nearly turned the ball over in his own end zone with that fumble...they both did so much good it's hard to fault them on the few miscues.

That really points to other parts of the offense, the ground game and the pressure. Both are exposed to line play.

 

Why should Sparano say anything different?

 

You could also point to the play calling.

 

I understand playing Devils Advocate but you are doing it for the sake of doing it. You are arguing the O-line looked average while the over whelming consensus is they were awful. If you are arguing against the majority it's up to you to provide evidence to the contrary.

 

Really? Why?

 

I need to answer that?

Here's an example I'll use. If 100 people are looking up and saying the sky is blue and 1 person walks up and says it's pink who should have to explain themselves? The 100 or the 1?

 

If the 100 cannot prove that the sky is blue, then the only difference is 100 is wrong instead of 1.

 

No, I'm not arguing for the sake of doing it. I'm saying that there are very few teams in this league that can block consistently well when you're running a spread offense. There is a reason that every time you see the Patriots or Colts lose, people are blaming their protection.

Do I think Vernon Carey played poorly? Yes. Do I think Incognito is a good pulling guard? No. But if you go through every offensive line in the league, you'll find plenty of warts.

 

You could indeed...but everyone seems to be so gaga over the new scheme and everything, you wonder if that's really it either.

Bottom line though is despite people having individual things to be real excited about, the first string offense played the 1st quarter of the Falcons game, the 1st half of the Panthers game, and the 1st, 2nd and 3rd quarters of the Bucs game...and scored I believe 27 points in those 6 quarters. That paces out to about an 18 point full game showing. That's not good enough. So, we'll have to see if they do better.

 

Meanwhile Bryant McKinnie in shape enough to start at LT for the Ravens. But Marc Colombo was still the better choice? :rolleyes:

 

I tend to try and take nothing from the preseason, good or bad. I've been burned too many times.

But the stuff you can take, IMO, is physical. It just doesn't seem like Carey and Colombo can physically play those positions at a high enough level to be effective. And that's not going to change by gelling, or scheme or whatever else you throw out there. When you don't have it, you don't have it.

 

Exactly. Why hasn't this been addressed except with the ineffectual Marc Colombo? McKinnie was out there until just last week; even now, there are unsigned players which could be better than the disaster we saw on the right side of the line Saturday. Why the stubborn refusal to sign anyone but someone as bad or worse than our worst O-Lineman?

 

I don't think it has to be an either/or thing. If you're going to run a spread offense, your protection is going to look bad at one point or another. Protection wasn't great, but it was good enough against Carolina. It wasn't good enough against TB. I would tend to guess that the OC is going to recognize who the OL can handle, and when they can't he'll call plays accordingly.

I definitely agree. The offense, despite the change in style, hasn't been much more effective than it was last year.

 

What I find funny is even in touchdown drives, they are almost exactly the same as last season. Long drives with a few medium plays.

 

I mean, I think the offense will be better than last year. The way Bush has played, he looks like an upgrade at RB. I think the OL will be a little better than it was last year as well. The WRs and QB should be better just bc of experience. But I don't necessarily see the offense making a giant leap. I think they'll be around the league average. I think if the defense plays well enough we have a legit shot at the playoffs.