Anyone Else Worried About Our OL?

[fenderbender123]

I'm not worried about it. It might not be very good, but that's the area of the team we've decided to go cheap with, and I think it's the right move.

 

[Lords of Scythia]

I'm not worried. I've seen this before. It's part of the cycle.

It's pointless to worry about an offensive line in front of Russell Wilson. Russell loves improvisation. He loves being in the moment and running around and reversing his field to extend a play. He loves holding out for a better option or corresponding improvisation from a receiver. Russell is so much fun to watch. But he does make life hard on offensive linemen. We've seen this before in Seattle with Jim Zorn. And outside of Seattle, we recall the amazing play of the great Fran Tarkenton. We've also witnessed that these unique offenses typically make linemen go wanting for something more conventional in the way of an offense.

Now days we have observed an ongoing trickle of linemen departing for more conventional opportunities. Opportunities that offer starting jobs. This years departure include Okung to Denver, Sweezy to Tampa Bay and Bailey to Cleveland.

It's not easy keeping Russell Wilson stocked with linemen. But, it is a challenge they have committed to address. For this fan, how they go about doing that is instructive and fun to watch.

It'[s the other way around--his o-lines are hard on Wilson. If he has good ones, he stays in the pocket.

 

[Hawks46]

I worry about the OL every year since the 2005 team. That said, I'll take the to OP's points in order.

Losing our best two OLmen isn't that big of a deal. Sweezy really wasn't all that great, and was poor in pass protection. We lost Okung for a half of a season every year anyways.

LT never having played at that spot. I'm going optimistic here. It's a good point, but we saw the progression at RT with Gilliam last year, and it's a good assumption he'll start out at a higher level than he did last year, and build off of that. He's also better suited athletically to LT, as he'll face more speed rushers than power rushers on that side, and he fared well against them last year.

Moving Ifedi inside to Guard is a non issue. Many teams do this as a matter of course, either to start a rookie's career, or when they don't make it at Tackle, and slide inside to Guard to provide value for the pick. Ifedi was looked at as a bit raw and needing to work on some technique. Know who else was uber athletic, raw coming out of college and needed to work on his technique ? Justin Britt. I think Cable is trying to learn from that mistake.

Center is a legitimate concern, although we have Hunt and Lewis in reserve. Lewis is a proven commidity, and we'll turn to him if Britt washes out. We can expect that level out of the Center position at least. Britt is athletically superior to anyone we've had at Center in a long time. If he can master the line calls and protections, we'll be in good shape there, as he'll run block better than anyone we've had in the last decade, and Centers get help in pass pro.

Glowinski is also a legit concern, as he hasn't proven it on the field yet. Having Odiambho (or however you can spell it) in reserve is better depth than we've had there that I can remember. Glow still has to prove it though.

Not too concerned about Webb not playing a down for us. He's a veteran and has played in the ZBS at lot. Problem is, he's just not very good. This and LG are my two biggest question marks.

Vannett is a true 3 down blocking TE. We'll see that this year.

Jammer said it best in that I'm more worried about these guys' continuity, or lack thereof. The coaching staff recognizes this, and although there will still be positional battles, it looks like they're going to try to keep this line up all through TC to gain some chemistry and continuity, but it's still the biggest concern. I'm not worried about individual positions as much as how it all fits together.

 

[ZagHawk]

The funny thing is since 2012 the O Line has been a weakness, and yet year after year they keep taking away from it.

:sarcasm_on: It's a good thing the Seahawks don't play the Rams early again this season.. :sarcasm_off:

 

[Mojambo]

I've reached a level of zen with that unit. It'll be what it'll be.

Russell will wizard his way, and the defense will get us home. We'll be good.

 

[KiwiHawk]

The funny thing is since 2012 the O Line has been a weakness, and yet year after year they keep taking away from it.

:sarcasm_on: It's a good thing the Seahawks don't play the Rams early again this season.. :sarcasm_off:

And oddly enough we're the most successful franchise over that period. It's like they have a clue what they're doing or something.

I'm glad for this thread - it's so much more insightful than the other 23 threads on the same exact topic.

 

[kearly]

Like Tical, I'm more worried about Wilson not trusting the line more than I worry about the line itself. Pete will scheme things to help the OL more just like at the end of last year.

 

[KiwiHawk]

Like Tical, I'm more worried about Wilson not trusting the line more than I worry about the line itself. Pete will scheme things to help the OL more just like at the end of last year.

Wilson doesn't need to trust the line - he needs to trust himself to make tight throws and his receivers to make plays. Then he can release it earlier and have no OL issues.

 

[Hawks46]

My big fall back this year is looking at last year. We went to a quicker, more rhythmic passing attack and it worked well. Wilson has proven he can do it at a high level, the WRs we have mesh up well athletically with that system, and they drafted RBs that can catch well out of the backfield. So if the OL sucks, we'll be better prepared for it and won't have to struggle for half of a year before we switch up.

I also think that Pete has realized that this type of passing attack can still mesh up well with a bruising rushing attack. Pete's typically liked to pound the ball, get the LBers and Safeties to creep up, then hit them deep over the top. We can still do this, but the quicker passing attack also works well and adds another level to our offense.

 

[RiverDog]

I worry about the OL every year since the 2005 team. That said, I'll take the to OP's points in order.

Losing our best two OLmen isn't that big of a deal. Sweezy really wasn't all that great, and was poor in pass protection. We lost Okung for a half of a season every year anyways.

It isn't so much that we've lost a lot of quality. What we've lost is continuity. With Okung and Sweezy gone, we have now lost all 5 of our starters of our SB 48 championship OL of just two years ago.

LT never having played at that spot. I'm going optimistic here. It's a good point, but we saw the progression at RT with Gilliam last year, and it's a good assumption he'll start out at a higher level than he did last year, and build off of that. He's also better suited athletically to LT, as he'll face more speed rushers than power rushers on that side, and he fared well against them last year.

LT is the toughest position to play along the OL, and it's a tough move even for an experienced vet. I can recall the disaster when Sean Locklear moved from RT to LT. At best, he's going to have a learning curve switching sides.

Moving Ifedi inside to Guard is a non issue. Many teams do this as a matter of course, either to start a rookie's career, or when they don't make it at Tackle, and slide inside to Guard to provide value for the pick. Ifedi was looked at as a bit raw and needing to work on some technique. Know who else was uber athletic, raw coming out of college and needed to work on his technique ? Justin Britt. I think Cable is trying to learn from that mistake.

It seems like we draft a lot of OT's with high draft picks that end up playing a year or less at tackle then we throw in the towel on them and move them to guard...Carpenter, Britt, and now Ifedi. I guess that in itself isn't a huge issue except that neither Carpenter nor Britt blew the socks off people at guard, either. I'm just worried that this is the same nightmare repeating itself.

Center is a legitimate concern, although we have Hunt and Lewis in reserve. Lewis is a proven commidity, and we'll turn to him if Britt washes out. We can expect that level out of the Center position at least. Britt is athletically superior to anyone we've had at Center in a long time. If he can master the line calls and protections, we'll be in good shape there, as he'll run block better than anyone we've had in the last decade, and Centers get help in pass pro.

Center is the position that has the longest learning curve. It was a disaster last season when we put in a newbie that hadn't played the position, and now we're talking about another experiment by moving Britt over there. I just hope that it doesn't take us 9 games and virtually conceding the division before we go to Plan B.

Glowinski is also a legit concern, as he hasn't proven it on the field yet. Having Odiambho (or however you can spell it) in reserve is better depth than we've had there that I can remember. Glow still has to prove it though.

I'm actually not as concerned about Glow as you are. He didn't play too badly last year.

Not too concerned about Webb not playing a down for us. He's a veteran and has played in the ZBS at lot. Problem is, he's just not very good. This and LG are my two biggest question marks.

Vannett is a true 3 down blocking TE. We'll see that this year.

Jammer said it best in that I'm more worried about these guys' continuity, or lack thereof. The coaching staff recognizes this, and although there will still be positional battles, it looks like they're going to try to keep this line up all through TC to gain some chemistry and continuity, but it's still the biggest concern. I'm not worried about individual positions as much as how it all fits together.

I'm worried about both, ie quality and continuity. I don't see ANY potential Pro Bowlers, and none of those guys were starters for us last year, at least not starters at their expected position. It seems like Pete is asking a lot of Russell to play behind this rag-tag group. We spend the lowest amount BY FAR of any team in the NFL on the OL, and as the saying goes, you get what you pay for.

We didn't realize it at the time, but in retrospect, it was that slow start in our first 9 games that killed our best chance of getting back to the SB. It's no coincidence that in our three SB appearances, we won HFA on all those occasions. We need to start the season strong.

 

[Jville]

I'm not worried. I've seen this before. It's part of the cycle.

It's pointless to worry about an offensive line in front of Russell Wilson. Russell loves improvisation. He loves being in the moment and running around and reversing his field to extend a play. He loves holding out for a better option or corresponding improvisation from a receiver. Russell is so much fun to watch. But he does make life hard on offensive linemen. We've seen this before in Seattle with Jim Zorn. And outside of Seattle, we recall the amazing play of the great Fran Tarkenton. We've also witnessed that these unique offenses typically make linemen go wanting for something more conventional in the way of an offense.

Now days we have observed an ongoing trickle of linemen departing for more conventional opportunities. Opportunities that offer starting jobs. This years departure include Okung to Denver, Sweezy to Tampa Bay and Bailey to Cleveland.

It's not easy keeping Russell Wilson stocked with linemen. But, it is a challenge they have committed to address. For this fan, how they go about doing that is instructive and fun to watch.

It'[s the other way around--his o-lines are hard on Wilson. If he has good ones, he stays in the pocket.

Russell Wilson is still maturing.

" .... Wilson leaves the pocket too much.

Seahawks coaches have been pretty honest in pointing out when this has been an issue. As recently as the first half of last season, they noted that some of the offensive line problems were on Wilson for not trusting his eyes and holding on to the football." - Sheil Kapadia >>> [urltargetblank]http://espn.go.com/blog/seattle-seahawks/post/_/id/20644/russell-wilson-versus-andrew-luck-breaking-down-numbers[/urltargetblank]

 

[MizzouHawkGal]

I worry about the OL every year since the 2005 team. That said, I'll take the to OP's points in order.

Losing our best two OLmen isn't that big of a deal. Sweezy really wasn't all that great, and was poor in pass protection. We lost Okung for a half of a season every year anyways.

It isn't so much that we've lost a lot of quality. What we've lost is continuity. With Okung and Sweezy gone, we have now lost all 5 of our starters of our SB 48 championship OL of just two years ago.

LT never having played at that spot. I'm going optimistic here. It's a good point, but we saw the progression at RT with Gilliam last year, and it's a good assumption he'll start out at a higher level than he did last year, and build off of that. He's also better suited athletically to LT, as he'll face more speed rushers than power rushers on that side, and he fared well against them last year.

LT is the toughest position to play along the OL, and it's a tough move even for an experienced vet. I can recall the disaster when Sean Locklear moved from RT to LT. At best, he's going to have a learning curve switching sides.

Moving Ifedi inside to Guard is a non issue. Many teams do this as a matter of course, either to start a rookie's career, or when they don't make it at Tackle, and slide inside to Guard to provide value for the pick. Ifedi was looked at as a bit raw and needing to work on some technique. Know who else was uber athletic, raw coming out of college and needed to work on his technique ? Justin Britt. I think Cable is trying to learn from that mistake.

It seems like we draft a lot of OT's with high draft picks that end up playing a year or less at tackle then we throw in the towel on them and move them to guard...Carpenter, Britt, and now Ifedi. I guess that in itself isn't a huge issue except that neither Carpenter nor Britt blew the socks off people at guard, either. I'm just worried that this is the same nightmare repeating itself.

Center is a legitimate concern, although we have Hunt and Lewis in reserve. Lewis is a proven commidity, and we'll turn to him if Britt washes out. We can expect that level out of the Center position at least. Britt is athletically superior to anyone we've had at Center in a long time. If he can master the line calls and protections, we'll be in good shape there, as he'll run block better than anyone we've had in the last decade, and Centers get help in pass pro.

Center is the position that has the longest learning curve. It was a disaster last season when we put in a newbie that hadn't played the position, and now we're talking about another experiment by moving Britt over there. I just hope that it doesn't take us 9 games and virtually conceding the division before we go to Plan B.

Glowinski is also a legit concern, as he hasn't proven it on the field yet. Having Odiambho (or however you can spell it) in reserve is better depth than we've had there that I can remember. Glow still has to prove it though.

I'm actually not as concerned about Glow as you are. He didn't play too badly last year.

Not too concerned about Webb not playing a down for us. He's a veteran and has played in the ZBS at lot. Problem is, he's just not very good. This and LG are my two biggest question marks.

Vannett is a true 3 down blocking TE. We'll see that this year.

Jammer said it best in that I'm more worried about these guys' continuity, or lack thereof. The coaching staff recognizes this, and although there will still be positional battles, it looks like they're going to try to keep this line up all through TC to gain some chemistry and continuity, but it's still the biggest concern. I'm not worried about individual positions as much as how it all fits together.

I'm worried about both, ie quality and continuity. I don't see ANY potential Pro Bowlers, and none of those guys were starters for us last year, at least not starters at their expected position. It seems like Pete is asking a lot of Russell to play behind this rag-tag group. We spend the lowest amount BY FAR of any team in the NFL on the OL, and as the saying goes, you get what you pay for.

We didn't realize it at the time, but in retrospect, it was that slow start in our first 9 games that killed our best chance of getting back to the SB. It's no coincidence that in our three SB appearances, we won HFA on all those occasions. We need to start the season strong.

RiverDog, could you use a less harsh color for your responses say like blue, green or yellow?

 

[Sports Hernia]

Yes, I'm always worried about the o-line.

 

[Lords of Scythia]

I worry about the OL every year since the 2005 team. That said, I'll take the to OP's points in order.

Losing our best two OLmen isn't that big of a deal. Sweezy really wasn't all that great, and was poor in pass protection. We lost Okung for a half of a season every year anyways.

It isn't so much that we've lost a lot of quality. What we've lost is continuity. With Okung and Sweezy gone, we have now lost all 5 of our starters of our SB 48 championship OL of just two years ago.

LT never having played at that spot. I'm going optimistic here. It's a good point, but we saw the progression at RT with Gilliam last year, and it's a good assumption he'll start out at a higher level than he did last year, and build off of that. He's also better suited athletically to LT, as he'll face more speed rushers than power rushers on that side, and he fared well against them last year.

LT is the toughest position to play along the OL, and it's a tough move even for an experienced vet. I can recall the disaster when Sean Locklear moved from RT to LT. At best, he's going to have a learning curve switching sides.

Moving Ifedi inside to Guard is a non issue. Many teams do this as a matter of course, either to start a rookie's career, or when they don't make it at Tackle, and slide inside to Guard to provide value for the pick. Ifedi was looked at as a bit raw and needing to work on some technique. Know who else was uber athletic, raw coming out of college and needed to work on his technique ? Justin Britt. I think Cable is trying to learn from that mistake.

It seems like we draft a lot of OT's with high draft picks that end up playing a year or less at tackle then we throw in the towel on them and move them to guard...Carpenter, Britt, and now Ifedi. I guess that in itself isn't a huge issue except that neither Carpenter nor Britt blew the socks off people at guard, either. I'm just worried that this is the same nightmare repeating itself.

Center is a legitimate concern, although we have Hunt and Lewis in reserve. Lewis is a proven commidity, and we'll turn to him if Britt washes out. We can expect that level out of the Center position at least. Britt is athletically superior to anyone we've had at Center in a long time. If he can master the line calls and protections, we'll be in good shape there, as he'll run block better than anyone we've had in the last decade, and Centers get help in pass pro.

Center is the position that has the longest learning curve. It was a disaster last season when we put in a newbie that hadn't played the position, and now we're talking about another experiment by moving Britt over there. I just hope that it doesn't take us 9 games and virtually conceding the division before we go to Plan B.

Glowinski is also a legit concern, as he hasn't proven it on the field yet. Having Odiambho (or however you can spell it) in reserve is better depth than we've had there that I can remember. Glow still has to prove it though.

I'm actually not as concerned about Glow as you are. He didn't play too badly last year.

Not too concerned about Webb not playing a down for us. He's a veteran and has played in the ZBS at lot. Problem is, he's just not very good. This and LG are my two biggest question marks.

Vannett is a true 3 down blocking TE. We'll see that this year.

Jammer said it best in that I'm more worried about these guys' continuity, or lack thereof. The coaching staff recognizes this, and although there will still be positional battles, it looks like they're going to try to keep this line up all through TC to gain some chemistry and continuity, but it's still the biggest concern. I'm not worried about individual positions as much as how it all fits together.

I'm worried about both, ie quality and continuity. I don't see ANY potential Pro Bowlers, and none of those guys were starters for us last year, at least not starters at their expected position. It seems like Pete is asking a lot of Russell to play behind this rag-tag group. We spend the lowest amount BY FAR of any team in the NFL on the OL, and as the saying goes, you get what you pay for.

We didn't realize it at the time, but in retrospect, it was that slow start in our first 9 games that killed our best chance of getting back to the SB. It's no coincidence that in our three SB appearances, we won HFA on all those occasions. We need to start the season strong.

Getting the first round playoff bye is MASSIVE. Without getting one of the top two seeds, your chances are pretty screwed.

GO!!HAWKS!!!!!

 

[Schadie001]

Not worried. After last year it couldn't be any worse, we aren't going to lose the fluke games we did last year again.

 

[Attyla the Hawk]

Not worried.

Also, cohesion != continuity.

Regarding continuity. We've made criticizing Sweezy a cottage industry in the last two years. By most accounts locally, this OL was a dumpster fire.

So why are we talking about continuity. Why continue to keep the exact players we roast and pillory every monday. If you want to get better -- don't keep at market rate the players you deem insufficient.

Seems too many fans mistake continuity for cohesion. Keeping bad players for the sake of continuity seems very Ruskellish. We would be continuous all right.

Continuously bad.

 

[AgentDib]

O-Line is a pretty good place to start if you're looking for things to be particularly worried about. Lots of upside but also a lot of room for problems to occur. The line is very young and none of the training camp starters have all that much regular season experience at the positions they will be playing. We look to be aiming for versatility on our bench but it won't be that deep with talent and health is going to be as important as ever for the unit.

Really though you should be concerned about everything. We may be one of the favorites but the odds are still 10 to 1 against us for a reason.

The last couple years have averaged one player being sent to the IR for every regular season game and there are a handful of positions where our depth is a significant drop off in talent. Can Boykin win NFL games? What if Haush gets hurt and our season comes down to a critical Jon Ryan field goal?

What if our defense regresses? I'm sure many of us remember the historically good '92 defense that slid all the way to the 23rd ranked defense the next season. The current Seahawks defense has already had longer run of dominance than that version did, and than many "great" defenses have had.

We also have a couple of dozen guys who will be ERFA/RFA/UFA next offseason. Will that be a distraction? For that matter, the contract talks for PC and JS could be going poorly and they could be halfway out the door thinking about their next opportunities.

Perhaps the biggest area of concern is that our stadium will soon be hitting the troublesome age of 15. Have we been keeping up with our insurance payments on it? Do we let it get a learner's permit and subsidize a safe starter car? Are we on the hook for paying college tuition in just a couple of years?

 

[mrt144]

Not worried.

Also, cohesion != continuity.

Regarding continuity. We've made criticizing Sweezy a cottage industry in the last two years. By most accounts locally, this OL was a dumpster fire.

So why are we talking about continuity. Why continue to keep the exact players we roast and pillory every monday. If you want to get better -- don't keep at market rate the players you deem insufficient.

Seems too many fans mistake continuity for cohesion. Keeping bad players for the sake of continuity seems very Ruskellish. We would be continuous all right.

Continuously bad.

Continuity develops naturally when you have talented players on O line that you deem worth keeping. Have we had that really?

 

[Hasselbeck]

It will literally make or break our season

 

[Seahawkfan80]

O-Line is a pretty good place to start if you're looking for things to be particularly worried about. Lots of upside but also a lot of room for problems to occur. The line is very young and none of the training camp starters have all that much regular season experience at the positions they will be playing. We look to be aiming for versatility on our bench but it won't be that deep with talent and health is going to be as important as ever for the unit.

Really though you should be concerned about everything. We may be one of the favorites but the odds are still 10 to 1 against us for a reason.

The last couple years have averaged one player being sent to the IR for every regular season game and there are a handful of positions where our depth is a significant drop off in talent. Can Boykin win NFL games? What if Haush gets hurt and our season comes down to a critical Jon Ryan field goal?

What if our defense regresses? I'm sure many of us remember the historically good '92 defense that slid all the way to the 23rd ranked defense the next season. The current Seahawks defense has already had longer run of dominance than that version did, and than many "great" defenses have had.

We also have a couple of dozen guys who will be ERFA/RFA/UFA next offseason. Will that be a distraction? For that matter, the contract talks for PC and JS could be going poorly and they could be halfway out the door thinking about their next opportunities.

Perhaps the biggest area of concern is that our stadium will soon be hitting the troublesome age of 15. Have we been keeping up with our insurance payments on it? Do we let it get a learner's permit and subsidize a safe starter car? Are we on the hook for paying college tuition in just a couple of years?

But we put new Toyota tires on it....and put some new speakers in...and a new bar.....I think it will be ok. LOL :2thumbs: