Is anyone making excuses for the offensive line?

[Lords of Scythia]

It's preseason.

Yes, with three years of statistical data in the rear view and tonight looked like another collision. I just can't see how this line will magically improve.

Well played, though.

There's a lot of room for improvement. Unger got all the TC time at center last year, which is now going to the younger guys, we've got a bunch of rookies, and young o-line guys who are still adjusting to switching positions from defense. These guys were position-shifted because of their incredible quickness, and could awesome in the ZBS. We're gonna see the line improve every game this season, and it will be amazing to watch. The high end of how good they could be is still to be detirmined. They'll get better just from playing together, which they have not done much at this point. Have faith, brother, Drink the damn kool-aid.

 

[Scottemojo]

I was at Sweezy's first pro game. He got abused.

And yet, 3 years and change later, he is a damn good player.

Patience, all.

 

[Lords of Scythia]

I hope they find a way to get these to guys to become mediocre pass blockers.

And what a massive upgrade that would be.

ha ha

 

[Lords of Scythia]

http://www.hawkblogger.com/2015/02/the-misunderstood-seahawks-offensive.html

This is a decent article that still applies (with the subtraction of Unger).

Some of it is Russ, and I'll never dispute that... But the numbers were worse than I thought.

I love Tom Cable... I don't want to lose Tom Cable. But with that toughness comes a line that will likely never perform in the top half of teams in pass pro.

I guess this is one of those things that isn't worth discussing because it's stagnant and won't change - you only hope it doesn't get worse, and you hope your QB can withstand it.

Cable's continued development of cheap prospects like Sweezy, Nowak, and Milton is why we have enough money available to have an elite defense while paying Russell the 2nd most money in the league.

Yes, you're absolutely right--he also gives us added draft value when we get starting o-line players in the seventh round (Sweeze). And since the team decided to go cheap on the o-line, Cable does these things out of necessity. Cable is a genius. WIthout Cable, no top rushing team in the NFL, no back-to-back SBs, no trophy. ALL HAIL THE CABLE.

 

[kf3339]

Sometimes I watch our OL play and wonder if Cable truly has any idea how to teach Pass Blocking at all. Run blocking no. But pass blocking?

 

[Anthony!]

I'm not going to excuse the offensive line as such but Cable's come in for some unfair criticism. He's not had a lot to work with over the past three seasons, his highest draft pick in that span, Justin Britt, is effectively a 4/5th round talent they reached for because they didn't have a pick in the 3rd. We just traded away his best (albeit gimpy) O-lineman for a new toy and are asking him to pull rabbits out of hats in the search for his replacement; with a career utility-man and a DT convert heading up the current competition.

Meanwhile, one of his success stories, Sweezy, could be gone next year with Glowinski likely being groomed into that role. God knows how we'll try and replace Okung should he leave. It just doesn't seem like a model for long-term success.

To think Evan Mathis is still out there. I'd swap him straight up for Cary Williams.

What amazes me is how some are willing to defend the guy in charge of the oline to no end but hang the QB or RB out to dry.

 

[Anthony!]

I'm tired of the blame RW line of reasoning. Anyone watching tonight can see it was obvious it was the line. I also keep hearing we only use low draft picks but this isn't true either. Two of the starters are first or second round picks.

Now at times can Wilson hold on too long? Sure 80% of the time it's the line and I know it's heretical to question Cable 5 years in but it's hard not to.

And I know we are all overreacting to one preseason game but it's what we do lol.

Wilson is at the top of the list of holding the ball too long. If you know your line sucks then you probably want to get the ball out quicker. This is what year 3 of having a bad Oline, or should I say pass blocking since we are one of the top rushing teams in the league.

That said you are assuming there is some place to throw the ball, another problem that you are forgetting. Wilson holding the ball long is a by product of our big play mentality on offense, It takes time for those types of plays to happen.

 

[Anthony!]

We also have to look at our roster.

We have so much money invested in other places, its just natural that certain areas of the team are going to be weaker.

Its apparent (duh) that the o-line is that place for us.

If we were to put the money into the line that was needed to make it a force, then we couldnt pay monster money to Russ, Wags, etc.

There is only so much coaching up one can do.

Dude they have had 3+ years to fix the oline and instead they spent there time on the defense and invested very little in the offense.

 

[Scottemojo]

We also have to look at our roster.

We have so much money invested in other places, its just natural that certain areas of the team are going to be weaker.

Its apparent (duh) that the o-line is that place for us.

If we were to put the money into the line that was needed to make it a force, then we couldnt pay monster money to Russ, Wags, etc.

There is only so much coaching up one can do.

Dude they have had 3+ years to fix the oline and instead they spent there time on the defense and invested very little in the offense.

88 mil in the QB is a big investment. As is getting 88 at TE.

 

[Anthony!]

Dude they have had 3+ years to fix the oline and instead they spent there time on the defense and invested very little in the offense.

88 mil in the QB is a big investment. As is getting 88 at TE.

thats great last I checked we are talking oline here not QB or TE. Up until they signed Wilson and got Graham they had spent over 66 mil on defense and barley 30 on offense.

 

[hawkfan68]

While Sweezy has improved from where he first started, he still whiffs on quite a number of plays during a game. He looks really good on the Seahawks OL but how would he look on teams with a decent OL? I don't believe he'd be a top player on those teams. The Seahawk OL is pretty weak and can make average lineman look pretty good. Watching the run game like last night makes me appreciate what Lynch does to make the OL look better than it is.

It seems that Cable is above criticism on here. Who other than Sweezy has gotten better under his coaching? The Seahawk run game is much different (worse) when Lynch is not in there than when he is. If Cable has the OL playing good then they would still be adequate without Lynch running behind them. Turbin, Michael, or whoever would still be getting good runs behind the OL. Look at the 2001-05 Seahawk OL. Even when Alexander went out, Seahawks didn't miss a beat behind that line.

 

[SeaChase]

I'm tired of the blame RW line of reasoning. Anyone watching tonight can see it was obvious it was the line. I also keep hearing we only use low draft picks but this isn't true either. Two of the starters are first or second round picks.

Now at times can Wilson hold on too long? Sure 80% of the time it's the line and I know it's heretical to question Cable 5 years in but it's hard not to.

And I know we are all overreacting to one preseason game but it's what we do lol.

Wilson is at the top of the list of holding the ball too long. If you know your line sucks then you probably want to get the ball out quicker. This is what year 3 of having a bad Oline, or should I say pass blocking since we are one of the top rushing teams in the league.

That said you are assuming there is some place to throw the ball, another problem that you are forgetting. Wilson holding the ball long is a by product of our big play mentality on offense, It takes time for those types of plays to happen.

I don't have a big play mentality. I have a get the ball out quick mentality since the line has sucked for a while. A quick toss to your recently acquired TE who's 6'8 might help since the WR's are never open.

 

[TeamoftheCentury]

A 7th round flyer on La'el Collins would have looked pretty good right now seeing what we saw last night from the OL.

Absolutely. It made NO SENSE to not draft this kid. With the way they trade away picks anyway and with the speculation that he had nothing to do with the incident, it was a safe bet low risk - Astronomical HIGH Reward proposition. Were all teams forbidden from drafting him / something of a league PR decision? Sheesh. 1st round draft grade, 6'-5", 322 mauler added to already the best OLine in the league... for next to nothing. Meanwhile... looks what we's got.

http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2015/8/14/9 ... irst-round

 

[Anthony!]

I'm tired of the blame RW line of reasoning. Anyone watching tonight can see it was obvious it was the line. I also keep hearing we only use low draft picks but this isn't true either. Two of the starters are first or second round picks.

Now at times can Wilson hold on too long? Sure 80% of the time it's the line and I know it's heretical to question Cable 5 years in but it's hard not to.

And I know we are all overreacting to one preseason game but it's what we do lol.

Wilson is at the top of the list of holding the ball too long. If you know your line sucks then you probably want to get the ball out quicker. This is what year 3 of having a bad Oline, or should I say pass blocking since we are one of the top rushing teams in the league.

That said you are assuming there is some place to throw the ball, another problem that you are forgetting. Wilson holding the ball long is a by product of our big play mentality on offense, It takes time for those types of plays to happen.

I don't have a big play mentality. I have a get the ball out quick mentality since the line has sucked for a while. A quick toss to your recently acquired TE who's 6'8 might help since the WR's are never open.

assuming that TE is in the game, out on a route and also is not double teamed again a lot of assumptions. Oh by the way if it is 3rd and 18 throwing a 5 yards pass to your TE just so you can get the ball out does not help much does it. Now if you want to argue that there should be some short hot routes for when the line breaks down, which is a lot, I agree but that is on Bevell.

 

[Basis4day]

I want them to commit to five starters as soon as possible. No more tinkering. The same players need to play together consistantly. In the regular season, they show signs of progress for about two games. Then someone gets hurt and everything gets thrown out of whack. This has the same effect.

 

[AgentDib]

Were all teams forbidden from drafting him / something of a league PR decision? Sheesh. 1st round draft grade, 6'-5", 322 mauler added to already the best OLine in the league... for next to nothing. Meanwhile... looks what we's got.

Collins was adamant about not reporting to a team that drafted him on day 3. And while he wasn't a suspect, he was a person of interest at the time. Finally, the Seahawks already took a pretty big PR hit to draft Clark. It's pretty obvious why we didn't draft Colins in the 7th.

 

[Chawker]

Please don't take this the wrong way, I thought our OL performance was sub par at best, but lets take this with some perspective. A young OL and a very good bronco's defence ranked ?5th? overall last season. Miller and Ray yes, we got beat. but they have film and can show them the mistakes that were made, its a process.

My starting OL week1
LT Okung
LG Glowenski
C Lewis
RG Britt
RT Poole
ok grab your rocks and let the stoning begin. lol

 

[AgentDib]

My starting OL week1
LT Okung
LG Glowenski
C Lewis
RG Britt
RT Poole
ok grab your rocks and let the stoning begin. lol

Full marks for boldness but my guess is only 1 of those positions (LT Okung) will be correct week 1.

 

[hawknation2015]

Please don't take this the wrong way, I thought our OL performance was sub par at best, but lets take this with some perspective. A young OL and a very good bronco's defence ranked ?5th? overall last season. Miller and Ray yes, we got beat. but they have film and can show them the mistakes that were made, its a process.

My starting OL week1
LT Okung
LG Glowenski
C Lewis
RG Britt
RT Poole
ok grab your rocks and let the stoning begin. lol

Poole was going against 3rd and 4th string guys, and he still allowed more pressures than anyone.

 

[sutz]

Well, I'll offer a couple of "excuses"...

1. Denver was playing a 3-4, which is traditionally a difficult D to handle if one is not experienced. We certainly lack that on our O-line. With a 3-4, the D can rush 4 and it won't be obvious where they are coming from pre-snap. With basically rookie centers and guards, there is a lack of experience making the blocking calls. Hell, even a vet center is challenged by a good 3-4 scheme. Throw in a few zone blitzes and the O-line starts seeing ghosts. They don't know where anybody is coming from.

2. Denver has a new D-coord, who is breaking in a new 3-4 scheme and was probably playing much more aggressively than most teams play in the pre-season. We saw a lot of stuff that one might not normally expect in Game 1 of pre. I think he's trying to get his guys up to speed ASAP, and we got the results of it.

Frankly, it was a supreme learning experience moment, if the team approaches it right. Yes, Cable seems to suck and teaching pass blocking techniques, but our guys need to work together as a unit for a few games before they will be anything more than barely adequate.

Oh and our run blocking was nothing to write home to mom about, either. Without our running game purring to generate that extra half step on pass plays, we're in trouble. The 3-4 has it's own unique troubles in the run game, too.

It's probably a good thing we saw the Broncs this early. It didn't cost us anything for the lessons in how to handle the 3-4. This should help us against the Lambs when we get there. Hopefully it is enough when added to how we do in the next 3 pracitice games.