This applies to Noah as well. Flo was a guy who it seems formed a lifelong opinion about you after his first meeting. If you didn't make a great first impression, he'd defer to someone else who was better. Even if you have a much higher upside.
I'm blanking on which draft class was which at the moment. Did Flores have any real success developing any of the young players?
That entire draft class was raw. Grier went for homeruns hoping in two years he would have three studs. It's taken longer than anticipated but we're seeing the results under a new head coach and staff. Minus Noah I who they gave up on
Cautious optimism about the young players on the OL. I'm more than happy to be proven wrong about the state of the OL. Let's see how things look after a month or so.
This was my Perception as well, Hunt, Lam and Williams played well, while Eich and Jackson played poorly. Lucky we were getting rid if the ball quickly and Tua scrambled well to make up for Eich and Jackson's poor play.
If Tua can consistently get the ball out the way he did in week 1, this line is "good enough". I can't believe I'm saying that but I do actually believe it. Defenses just aren't getting enough time to really get to him and even when they do, his footwork climbing the pocket looks great.
Nobody's talking about it but this OL has given up 1 sack through three games. For all of the superlatives that I'm hearing, in a game of Something, Nothing, or Everything, this is definitely something and really close to everything.
A lot of this is on McDaniel and Tua. Tua has such a fast release and we have such a potent passing attack it makes it real hard to get pressure. There are many plays where even an open lane to the QB isn’t enough to get a sack. This is not something a merely “average” QB can consistently do. Oh, and the great passing game is opening up the running game too. This team was built right: first get your QB and WRs, then fill in the rest on offense. It’s like Grier and McDaniel are following a stats based strategy. On defense, prioritize passing defense first, then the rest.. same thing.
Two years ago, Tua was completing nearly 70% of his passes but because the line was a sieve, his YPA was 6.5. Some of us were saying he had to get rid of it quickly so his YPA was obviously going to be low. Others said that was an excuse not to criticize him. There was a graph in one of the other threads that showed that he had a high YPA while getting the ball out ridiculously quickly. He kept the quick trigger but managed to process downfield targets. McDaniel has to be given credit for scheming to his strengths but Tua has to get credit for what we're seeing him do. It defies conventional logic.
Haven’t been in this thread for a while. No doubt whatsoever, I have been one of BIGGEST critics of the offensive line. No one has banged the OL drum more than me but I gotta say, I’m VERY impressed with what I’ve seen this far. Only 1 sack allowed in 3 games. I think Tua’s been hurried what, 2 or 3 times? They’ve open huge running lanes for the running backs. I was skeptical of the hire of the OL coach but whatever he’s done, it’s been a SIGNIFICANT improvement with the SAME personnel than what we saw last year. Looks like our house’s “foundation”’has definitely been shores up and I couldn’t be happier.
Just hope Connor's injury isn't serious but he went down without contact which is worrying. Terron comes back and we absolutely wrecked them over the left tackle. The first TD pass Tua had about 4 seconds to throw and no one was anywhere near him. Butch Barry might be a genius.
You appreciate it even more when you see the quality of offensive line play across the league. Its at an all time low.
Definitely helped by quick fire Tua, but Barry has to be the key to the success of the OL this year, doesn’t he? Especially given nearly identical personnel….
I agree that he has to be given a lot of the credit. He was flamed when the announcement was made but clearly McDaniel knew he has something to bring to the table.
It's like political polls. The headline for three different polls might suggest that one candidate has a lead over another but by different percentages. If you look at them closely, you'll find that one poll asked who (between two candidates) pollees were more likely to vote for, another might ask whether they Strongly Support/Somewhat Support/No Opinion/Somewhat Oppose/Strongly Oppose the candidates, and a third might question likely voters who they would vote for if the election was held that day. Each poll is set up differently and asks a different set of questions and it's likely all are accurate but the disparate methodologies yield different results. It's only when you dig into what was asked that you can tell what the results actually say. But to read the headlines, you're led to believe something that's conditionally true, even if you're not aware that's the case. All you know is what they tell you.
I'm reminded of Paul Soliai's first year as a Miami Dolphin after he was drafted. He did not have a good year, at all. But then, the following year, the Dolphins got a DL coach. All of a sudden, he did a 180.
Sometimes, it takes a coach to figure out how to utilize a player's particular set of skills in order for that player to scratch his potential. I've long believed that half the draft busts in the league happen because players got drafted by the wrong teams to be developed (or not) by the wrong coaches.
This is especially true with QBs. Sure, some were legit busts because they weren’t good enough to succeed at the highest level, some were too immature, but some were just dealt a bad hand by where they were drafted. And then there was JaMarcus Russell, lol.
Pretty clear after today that the OL success had more to do with scheme and Tua getting rid of the ball so quickly. My question is what do we do with Armstead after this season? He just can’t stay on the field. I think OT needs to be a top priority again this draft.
Armstead is a FANTASTIC player but like you said, he can’t stay on the field. He’s too injury prone. We need a Richmond Webb, Keith Simms and Jeff Dellenbach
To be fair, how many games has he played at center? The center is the signal caller for the line, and probably isn’t an easy job if you’re not used to it. This teams’ refusal to draft or sign a true center is baffling to me.
That’s on Grier and McD, not having a center on the roster, not even to back up their mistakenly converted center.
