sounds like they are getting destroyed consistently in practice. Columbo has been playing horribly by all accounts, and Garner hasn't been playing well as RT. So we'll probably end up puting Carey back at RT, which leaves us with a hole at RG, along with a rookie C and our best player Long still out with a knee injury. John Jerry will likely be cut, maybe not even last to the final cut down day. yikes.
we need to sign a solid Vet G ASAP---Brain Waters??

What a mess!! At this rate, Sparano may do well to just resign.

I think our DL has something to do with this. But yea, the OL is a pretty sad result in its 5th year under Sparano’s guidance and development.

If we could play D for 60-minutes we’d be better off.

BNF.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/16/2011 07:53AM by BigNastyFish.

I mean, Columbo was cut from DAL because he SUCKED! He was rated as one of the worst RT in the league. And we sign him right away, name him the starter, and move Carey to Guard? What is the thinking here, other than Sproano knows the guy b/c he's another ex-cowboy? Would any other team have signed Columbo and named him starter the same day?

OmarKelly Omar Kelly
RT @MikeBerardino: Sparano says it's "safe to say today" Marc Colombo will open season as starter at RT

Maybe Sparano knows this season is it for him and this Colombo dude loves pizza. Tony can hang after practice and games with Marc along with some other ex-Cowboys and plan their next extended sojourn together.

Seems logical to me.

BNF.

berkeley223 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> OmarKelly Omar Kelly
> RT @MikeBerardino: Sparano says it's "safe to say
> today" Marc Colombo will open season as starter at
> RT

I think I'm starting to get this. Sparano doesn't actually have confidence in Henne. He just wants to get him injured so he doesn't have to deal with questions about benching him. How best does he do that? Put him behind an extremely porous O-Line and call lots of pass plays. We're certainly headed there!!

Count me among those who are wondering why we're not looking at Waters or Leonard Davis. Waters was a part of the great running games/offenses in KC a good while ago, and they were a great running team last year.

Don't get me wrong, I like Carey and Garner, but there's some really quality folks out there, too.

Hasn't Waters been talking about retirement for the last two or three years?

I also don't understand the Columbo signing but Ireland has final say in personnel.

I don't understand why they would take a guy who plays T better than everyone but Long and move him to G. Did his play drop off that much? How much of that was for overcompensating for poor G play.

Sparano views Garner as a T but he played pretty well at G. Maybe he doesn't have his strength back yet after rehab.

Too many questions at this late stage. Hope we get better reviews in game 2!

.....................................................................................
“I'm here" You're welcome!" - Kenny Powers

I wonder if they will put Incognito back at C and slide Pouncey to Guard?

Richie really seemed to develop into a nasty Center....with such a short off-season...Pouncey may not be ready for a real game.


I could see Carey moving back to RT if Colombo faulters in the next few weeks...but sadly...Tony will likely take to long to make the switch.


This OL should dominate with 3 1st rounders on it. The off-season and OC switch delays things a bit...but if they aren't a force by week 4....Tony is done.

Why do guys on here constantly want to move our young anchor, Pouncey, to Guard???


The guy was drafted to anchor our line for the next 12 years. Not be a pulling Guard.

---------------------

"When you suck long enough, you get a Hickey"

Go back and watch Pouncey play against Atlanta, he looked like a beast Sure a couple rookie mistakes, but he didnt give up any ground, the guy is not getting overpowered.. He is gonna be sick!

Pouncey will have a chance to make a statement right out of the box against Wilfork. If (???) he can hang one-on-one I'll be a believer. But don't be surprised if he’s exposed in that match-up and not stout enough to go solo against the better NT’s right now.

On the other hand, working against Soliai every day is really big bonus and should help the kid develop quite a lot.

BNF, are you saying that if he has a bad game in the very first game, against the best NT in the league....you are writing him off?

---------------------

"When you suck long enough, you get a Hickey"

It's not Pouncey I am worried about. It's Incognito, who is a below average LG because he can't pull, Carey, who has not played G since college, and Colombo, who was awful in 2010.

The guard and RT play is a legitimate concern at this point. What about Nate Garner, he played well at times at guard? But Pouncey is a major upgrade on the interior, imagine the dilema without him.

Aqua&Orange Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> BNF, are you saying that if he has a bad game in
> the very first game, against the best NT in the
> league....you are writing him off?

***
No, I didn’t say that at all. Please read again.

I am not 100% sold on Pouncey as a starting NFL center right out of the box. He may need a year of so to add sufficient bulk in order to hang with the really big dudes. I like the kid’s core athleticism – as I remember from his college days. And I assume he’s a solid character guy etc. But let’s put it this way, he better produce big-time right out of the starting gate for being drafted WAY HIGH in R1 for a C.

I’m just not a big fan of spending top 15 picks on C’s when most all-pros come in the 3rd round or even later. But that’s a different point. Maybe next year we’ll draft a G at #3 in R1.

In a normal year he would have had more practices, meetings, contact with coaches to learn the job.

The center is the QB of the OL and makes the calls on blocking assignments. As a rookie with too little training his focus is on all of that stuff, and his snapping and technique are suffering.

If he can't get into the rhythm soon enough, we may have to make the switch until next year.

Incognito with several years as an NFL starter under his belt took several games to do a good job as a center. Pouncey is going to need some time...which he isn't going to get.

Hope he is able to be ready. I don't doubt the ability. But if he needs more time, we can't sacrifice a regular season game.

Crowder52 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The guard and RT play is a legitimate concern at
> this point. What about Nate Garner, he played well
> at times at guard? But Pouncey is a major upgrade
> on the interior, imagine the dilema without him.


Garner was weak as a run blocker in 2009, but good in pass protection. That was a big reason why he shared time with Donald Thomas, who was awful in pass protection but a good run blocker. He seems like a better fit at RT.

I watched the play of the starting offensive line extensively on NFL.com repeatedly. One thing that really stood out was how ineffective Vernon Carey was. Colombo didn't seem to do too badly though. If Carey was doing what he was told then I am unimpressed by the blocking scheme. For instance, on runs between the left tackle and guard, Carey would block down on his man and push him down the line so that Carey and the defender essentially filled the whole. That might work well for a cut back run, but the backs were heading straight into the hole(or lack thereof). I am a basketball coach so I don't claim to know the rhyme or reason, but it doesn't seem right to me.

Hhhmmm. Not one comment on my prior post. Well I took a look at the Patriot offensive line tonight. Awesome. They seem to get away with a lot of holds, but the blocking scheme is impressive. On one play they sent Gronkowski in motion and he stopped behind the right tackle. The right guard allowed Gerald McCoy to freely go past him so the guard could block the linebacker. Gronkowski plowed McCoy away as he shot throw and this enabled Green-Ellis to get a big run.

With an offensive line like theirs and Brady it is no wonder they are so good. I hope Cam Wake takes Brady out in that first game.

the Pats do have a good OL ( since they arean't wasting and trading picks trying to find a QB they can acquire talent)....that said though...they get preferrential treatment from the League or refs.

The refs let the Pats OL hold because Brady is a league super-star.

Remember the Pats 'undefeated' regular season? I went through the play by play of every game.

The Pats OL did not get called for holding at all in the last 12 games. 12 games with no holding penalties!!!! That's BS.

I hope Soliai, JT and Cam Wake all crush him at the same time in a 'Brady Bunch' sack.

Colombo gave up more sacks than Long and Carey combined last year it is sick that we evenbrought this guy in.I wish folks would stop talking about how ineffective Carey is until we get someone better than him. The guy does his job better than most in the league. Now at guard he is pretty stiff, now we have two stiff guards that cannot pull! Tell me after 4 years we are still having problems finding guards! Sporano has to go.

colombo was horrible last year. he's the reason romo got hurt. they used a top 10 pick in the draft to replace him and cut him as soon as they could. he is a turnstile on pass D. yet we sign him on day 1 and name him our starter. what am I missing?

This is the area of the team that may be the most hurt by the offseason lockout situation.

The oline simply needs reps and more reps.

With the current shortened offseason, it's not unreasonable to expect this part of the team to need the first quarter of the season to get up to speed.

The coaches will have to compensate for weakness w/ gameplanning. Unfortunately, that doesn't really help our QB situation.

No Colombo will not improve w/ reps. Incognito and Carey will not all of sudden improve on their pulling skills. It just will not happen. These are known shortcomings that should have been accounted for.

What the hell happened to Jerry? Was that all hype last year or has this guy just completely fell off the face of the Earth?

Jerry is a total bust. He will be cut for sure. Other than Long, which anyone could tell would be a great player and better be as the #1 overall pick in the draft (jury still out on Pouncy), the FO has missed big time on every OL they drafted or brought in. And Sproano is supposed to be an OL coach. What's really bad about Jerry is they coached him for a week in the SR bowl and still got it so wrong. It's pretty clear that the FO doesn't know what it's doing when it comes to the OL. `

berkeley223 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Jerry is a total bust. He will be cut for sure.
> Other than Long, which anyone could tell would be
> a great player and better be as the #1 overall
> pick in the draft (jury still out on Pouncy), the
> FO has missed big time on every OL they drafted or
> brought in. And Sproano is supposed to be an OL
> coach. What's really bad about Jerry is they
> coached him for a week in the SR bowl and still
> got it so wrong. It's pretty clear that the FO
> doesn't know what it's doing when it comes to the
> OL. `

I really think this coaching staff has no idea how to develop talent, at least on the O-Line. Donald Thomas looked like a pro-bowler when he was drafted...but he never progressed from a raw talent. The list goes on: Murphy, Jerry, etc..

Sign a damn LG and move carey back to tackle and Incog to RG.

Not sure what is wrong with Ohara...must be something or he'd be signed by now.

.....................................................................................
“I'm here" You're welcome!" - Kenny Powers