oldhawkfan
Well-known member
I know that there are discussions in various threads about the ineptness of this team on Sunday. Some are blaming the defense. Some are blaming the offense. And some typically are calling for Pete’s head.
I’d like to use this space to discuss the tackle position. Losing not one but both starting tackles in a game and roughly at the same time is devastating. Until they went down, the offense was functioning well. Think about driving a sports car. Or hell any car for that matter. You can be tooling down the road at 75-80 mph with no problems. All of a sudden you get a flat and replace the flat with a spare. Back in the day, cars used to come with a fully functioning regular size tire that was essentially like the one that went flat. Now a days, cars come with space saver spares. They aren’t meant to go down the highway at 75-80 mph just like the regular tires. They are meant to get you to a place where a regular tire can be put back on.
This is what happened Sunday. Except that they didn’t lose one tire (tackle) they lost two. The backup tackles are just that, backups. It happens. All the good ones are starting for other teams. Maybe there are a few starting caliber backups sprinkled throughout the league, but it sure doesn’t look like Curhan or Forsyth fall into that category.
So here we were in the second half of the game with two space savers doing the best they could to keep from heading into the ditch. Maybe they did the best they could and kept it out of the ditch, but that car is currently sitting on the side of the road with folks walking around it wondering if the regular original tires can be fixed, replaced with an old worn out hopefully functional one (Jason Peters), or just hope that maybe these two might be able to get up to 75mph.
Maybe if only one went out, there would be some functionality. Two? Both at the tackle position? Tackle is a hard position to fill out on the roster. Looking for two once the season starts? Yikes.
We don’t know how long the starters will be out. Cross has turf toe. That’s caused other guys to miss weeks. Lucas has a weird undiagnosed knee as far as what we’ve been told.
LT and RT. Not a 4th or 5th WR. Not some guys who contribute mostly on special teams. The starting tackles. In football, everything starts up front. The tackles protect the QB.
I’d like to use this space to discuss the tackle position. Losing not one but both starting tackles in a game and roughly at the same time is devastating. Until they went down, the offense was functioning well. Think about driving a sports car. Or hell any car for that matter. You can be tooling down the road at 75-80 mph with no problems. All of a sudden you get a flat and replace the flat with a spare. Back in the day, cars used to come with a fully functioning regular size tire that was essentially like the one that went flat. Now a days, cars come with space saver spares. They aren’t meant to go down the highway at 75-80 mph just like the regular tires. They are meant to get you to a place where a regular tire can be put back on.
This is what happened Sunday. Except that they didn’t lose one tire (tackle) they lost two. The backup tackles are just that, backups. It happens. All the good ones are starting for other teams. Maybe there are a few starting caliber backups sprinkled throughout the league, but it sure doesn’t look like Curhan or Forsyth fall into that category.
So here we were in the second half of the game with two space savers doing the best they could to keep from heading into the ditch. Maybe they did the best they could and kept it out of the ditch, but that car is currently sitting on the side of the road with folks walking around it wondering if the regular original tires can be fixed, replaced with an old worn out hopefully functional one (Jason Peters), or just hope that maybe these two might be able to get up to 75mph.
Maybe if only one went out, there would be some functionality. Two? Both at the tackle position? Tackle is a hard position to fill out on the roster. Looking for two once the season starts? Yikes.
We don’t know how long the starters will be out. Cross has turf toe. That’s caused other guys to miss weeks. Lucas has a weird undiagnosed knee as far as what we’ve been told.
LT and RT. Not a 4th or 5th WR. Not some guys who contribute mostly on special teams. The starting tackles. In football, everything starts up front. The tackles protect the QB.