What was SO wrong about our 2009 Offensive Line?

Thanks for putting up the stats. And I totally agree we were top 5 or at least close last year.

The problem is while the names remained the same, those interior guys were not the same players in camp this year as they were at the start of last season. We can't just assume they would play as well after their injuries.

Smiley didn't seem to recover fully and regain his old strength. He was a very good player preinjury, but if he's now 80% of that player for the rest of his career, he's going to look very very average, especially in light of his salary.

It's the same thing for Grove. When 100% he's a very good center. Not elite, but definitely in the upper-echelon and he wins his assignments very consistently. The problem is he is almost never playing at 100%.

Thomas just never developed and there had to be something there that the organization disliked with him. He's young and could be great with more experience, but he never really locked down the position in the way we all hoped while he was here.

You could say it was poor decision making by the front office to sign highly paid, oft-injured guys in the first place, but I actually feel it's a good thing we recognized the problem and are working on a long term solution. It's going to take time for a young guy like Jerry to develop and for all of the new faces to gel. I have to feel the intention is that we develop and improve now, rather than break down into the injury trainwreck we had towards the end of last year. You'll never dominate the line of scrimmage down the stretch with what we faced last year.

 

Silly man, the answer you seek is simple. Tony Sparano is a former offensive line guru and gets his rocks off continuously fiddling. He's like teenager with a Hustler Mag. Fiddle away.. .. ..

 

So Sparano's fantasy league is the offensive line?

 

As I stated, was it their fault Smiley is hurt ? Is it their fault, Garner broke his foot ? Is it their fault Donald Thomas has the attitude of a sea sponge? I would not consider the C position an " overhaul ' I would phrase it more like, The starter is hurt, we have to get someone in there. Grove has been having owies since camp started, first the leg, then the shoulder.

Even so LG is the same or better talent, RG is the same or better talent, Berger at C, admittedly, a down grade but better then other options that are available. I see nothing that was not replaced that did not needed to be replaced except the C position. Grove, if healthy, will be back.

While Berger is the starting center, yes, there will continue to be failures or breakdown in protection and on running plays. LG and RG positions are good. Like I said, what would you do if your starting center was ailing ? Keep him in there just so some list on the internet still had the same name at C as last years team ? I think not.

 

I agree that we were a top 5 OL last year overall, but I think we were relatively weak in pass pro. (I thought we were the best run OL while heathy). I don't think the plan was to blow up the OL and start over. I think the plan was to keep 4/5 of the line intact and just replace Smiley who had a high salary and whom they didn't trust to stay healthy. I feel that if they could have kept 4/5 ths of the line intact then we wouldn't have had any continuity problems in the preseason. As it was I don't agree that our OL looked that bad this preseason. I thought our run blocking looked dominant with the starters in two of the games and poor in two of the games. I thought our pass pro was improved over last year.

I think Grove was supposed to start and still may but he's been injured on and off all preseason. Thomas regressed as a pass blocker and then was just outplayed by Jerry. I also think that Garner was supposed to remain the primary back-up (or Incognito, whomever didn't start), but that he got injured. I don't think you can blame the team for those things, but for the injuries and Jerry out-playing a regressing Thomas the OL would have remained mostly unchanged.

 

I wrote earlier this preseason I wasn't going to crown them considering that 3/5ths of the unit is new...However, I cant get my mind around anything that doesn't indicate that he feels he has better players, there's no reason to dismantle the group unless your positive you've found better players...

The tinkering stuff to me seems like a reach..lets get some real data before we vilify.

The good thing about this is that Sparano knows he has put his rep on the line, and he didn't flinch...we will have good info to judge him accordingly once the regular season is in full mode....I cannot underestimate this man in this situation...

 

^^^ yes, this ^^^

 

Really? 6 question marks? Does that make it more or less of a question? Anyhow, re working 3 out of 5 positions on the offensive line is as close as you can get to a complete overhaul as you can get without actually releasing and signing all new players.

 

Know what ? It really does not matter IMO what the Oline was rated in 2009, they won a whopping 7 GAMES and LOST 9 GAMES.

Reason enough to find new people. Tell ya what, give me the Miami team with the lowly rated Oline it had in 2008, you know, the team that again, everyone said had crap guards and Satele at center. You know, the team that won 11 games IN THE REGULAR SEASON. Oline ratings mean squat when you lose more games then you win. Sit back and figure that out for a change instead of getting your pantys in a wad that some of your favorite players on the Oline have been replaced because they did not quite play up to par that the coaches thought they should have.

Give me wins, you take the high overall rankings, I take the 2008 Oline that had 11 wins, you take the 2009 that had 7 wins and I take the 2010 Oline. Smiley is not even playing at Jacksonville. I haven;t a clue of why they cut him. Thomas , I went to training camp everyday this year. From what I saw, both current starting guards played lights out compared to what Thomad did in camp and in the games. Good run blocker in SOME games does not equate to an NFL starting guard.

 

I appreciate your passion bro but using the logic that we had an average to poor line in 2008 and won games so give me the same quality line now is broken logic at best.

We had a very good line that maybe needed to replace Smiley due to a chronic injury and ended up replacing 3/5ths of it.

The jury is still out on whether this will be an upgrade or a down grade. If it turns out to be an upgrade then I will be as thrilled as anyone.

 

No problem, I strictly go by wins and losses. I have never cared about what unit is ranked where including the Oline. As long as we win more then 7 dam games this year, it does not matter if you are right or I am right now does it The only place that calls out to me is two fold. Grove, regardless of what people think, is a better center then Berger. Berger is just an experiment from the Dallas days. Garner going down really hurt out OT backup position because the talent difference from the ones OT to the 2s OT is as deep as the Grand Canyon.

I have to say by cutting Proctor now it says Grove is not that far away from being healthy, again. To be honest, I can see them making Incognito the starting center in 2011 but I am getting ahead of myself now. Best of luck to the team, thats all I wish.

 

you don't fix what's not broken...
their energies & monies
could have been spent in more productive ways.
in year three resources are scarce
& should be used on pieces not projects.

 

It just pisses me off that they can't put together a line that they keep together.

I mean it's like this forum screams in pain to not sign Grove and not sign Wilson but they do and they pay for it.

 

Abysmal?

The offensive line was not abysmal. Not great but definitely not abysmal.