Lack of Oline acquisitions is puzzling

[Ad Hawk]

If the o-line has become so unimportant, why do we cough up so much money to Mr. Okung???
It appears that there is a hole in the new theory, eh?

The one hole is left tackle, which will always be a premium position.

Well, except for when Bailey or McQuiston were in... sigh.

 

[CodeWarrior]

If the thinking is that there's a dearth of talent then sinking additional money in to the OLine is wasteful. It's just forcing the issue for players that simply aren't out there. Classic PC/JS; refusing to join the logjam.

Or, you know, you could always draft Jason Smith second overall :lol:

 

[Sgt. Largent]

If the o-line has become so unimportant, why do we cough up so much money to Mr. Okung???
It appears that there is a hole in the new theory, eh?

Because contrary to the Okung haters, he's actually a top 10 LT.........and those aren't easy to find.

Pete and John have never shied away from paying players that they think are worth it, they're just not going to spend millions on average lineman if they think they can develop their own for much cheaper.

 

[hawk45]

Many conference champions since 2007 have had mediocre to bad offensive lines. Packers, Steelers, Cardinals, Seattle twice. The Colts line was revealed as terrible once Peyton went elsewhere. The Cowboys' line has been consistently great for years. Look how much good it's done them.

As far as '05, Mike Holmgren ran a system that was highly dependent on the offensive line, to a somewhat outstanding degree. Few systems are like that. Seahawks fans assumed that their exception was the rule because all we had to listen to in those days was ignoramuses like Steve Kelley and Jerry Brewer. Also, that offensive line was the best football has ever seen.

Here's how it boils down: a great QB or RB can make their line look good. The reverse is not possible unless your OL is like 2005 Seattle's.

Dallas's OL was a centerpiece of their dynastic era with Aikman and Smith. In their current incarnation their struggles have a lot to do with a choke-tastic Romo and Jerry's foibles. Pointing out that the team has a good OL seems somewhat of a non sequitur. No one is claiming a good OL is the *only* necessary ingredient.

I don't see Hawk fans overemphasizing the importance of OL in reaction to 05, I see Hawk fans that have witnessed some crappy lines the last few years (injuries playing a huge part) and have seen how our offense is DOA with them. Which works when the defense plays historically great and you have RW and Lynch, as long as everyone gets healthy for the playoffs. But getting healthy for the playoffs has been extraordinarily lucky these last few years.

You can survive a mediocre OL if and only if you have players uniquely suited to overcome that. The Packers (Rodgers all-world and mobile), the Steelers (Big Ben is like Russ at extending plays for different reasons), and the Seahawks with Russ and Lynch. But that's a far cry from saying the importance of OL is overhyped.

And as we're about to find out when Lynch leaves, he's one of maybe 3 backs in the league that could make hay behind this line, and RW is one of the few QBs. The requirement is more than just "great QB or RB", it's "great QB or RB uniquely suited to survive a mediocre line."

It doesn't prove that OL is unimportant when you require one-of-a-kind players to make a mediocre line work. That said, we have those players for the moment so hopefully we continue to make it work.

 

[hawknation2015]

If the o-line has become so unimportant, why do we cough up so much money to Mr. Okung???
It appears that there is a hole in the new theory, eh?

The one hole is left tackle, which will always be a premium position.

Well, except for when Bailey or McQuiston were in... sigh.

It will be very interesting to see whether they re-sign Okung, whose injury history will perhaps dampen the enthusiasm for him on the market next year. In 2014, Joe Staley signed for just $7.4 million average over six years. Jared Veldheer signed for only $7.1 million average over five years. Then again, Trent Williams just signed an insane deal -- $13.2 million per year over five years.

It's hard to tell where the market will be . . . if he agrees to an extension for close to the Staley/Veldheer rate, then the team would certainly agree to that. He is pretty valuable for us, despite the penalties and injuries. I am betting he is looking for closer to $10 million APY.

If he signs elsewhere for HUGE money, then we would probably have to move Gilliam back to LT, Britt or Poole would probably play RT, Glowinski would fit in at RG if Sweezy is not re-signed, and Sokoli or Britt would play LG.

LT Gilliam, Bailey
LG Sokoli, Bailey
C Nowak, Lewis
RG Glowinski, Perciak
RT Britt, Poole

Or

LT Gilliam, Bailey
LG Britt, Sokoli
C Nowak, Lewis
RG Perciak, Sokoli
RT Glowinski, Poole

Or

LT Gilliam, Bailey
LG Britt, Sokoli
C Nowak, Lewis
RG Glowinski, Perciak
RT Poole, Bailey

Or

LT Gilliam, Bailey
LG Britt, Bailey
C Nowak, Lewis
RG Glowinski, Perciak
RT Sokoli, Poole

Unfortunately, we have not drafted much at the OT position, with Terry Poole viewed as more of a guard and Garrett Scott never suiting up due to a heart condition. OT will hopefully be a position of focus for us in the next draft.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

? LT is a hole? Okung is one of the better LT in football.

 

[hawknation2015]

? LT is a hole? Okung is one of the better LT in football.

I assume he was referring to backup LT, which is once again manned by Alvin Bailey. You always want to have a solid backup at LT when your starter is injury prone.

 

[drdiags]

I'm confused about the whole fooling yourself thing. Since you, hopefully, know exactly what you're thinking, it's pretty much a lost cause to try to fool yourself..

I was fooling myself when I thought being nice to you was a good thing ... :sarcasm_off:

:thirishdrinkers:

 

[rastahawk]

You could argue against the notion of having a need and not addressing it sufficiently. But then looking at our most recent past it suddenly does not surprise me. If you recall we went into the 2012 season with Russell Wilson and Matt Flynn as our quarterback tandem. Both unproven. We were swept aside as an afterthought in the NFC West because all the so called experts crucified us for not addressing the quarterback position adequately. We all know how that turned out. This front office likes to roll the dice. And when they are wrong they make adjustments and move on from their mistakes. Both excited and nervous to see how this o-line works out.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

Aah, ok, my bad. If that's the case, big drop off to Bailey. Ugh

 

[Pandion Haliaetus]

The NFL might have done the Seahawks a huge favor by bookending the Rams games to start and end the season.

The O-Line faces off against the best Dline in the on Sunday, a big test for the Seahawks trench men.

But after that game, the Oline will have 16 weeks to galvanize and progress before facing the best Dline in the NFL again Wk 17 and the Seahawks can see how much progress those guys made over that time before the Post-Season. Health withstanding, knock on wood.

Not only that, with Rams having the deepest and de facto best Dline rotation, Seahawks potentially have one of the best DLines in the NFL as well, top 10 for sure with the potential and deep rotation to be 2nd to 5th best. Bringing the LBers into the mix, Seahawks could have potentially the best defensive front 7 in the league.

So the Oline gets to compare and contrast thier growth Wk 1 and Wk 17 but they also get to practice against one of the best defenses in the NFL in between. I think each game theyll just get better and better. Health withstanding, knock on wood.

The first half of the season is probably going to be ugly for the Oline, but they will face no greater test than that first game against the Rams and arguably the guys they'll get to practice against day in and day out. We've only seen a month of progress.


3, 4, 5 months in it could be a different story. By season's end they could have polished that raw potential and gain the needed acculmative experience to be a very solid, perhaps above average unit. Again, health withstanding, knock on wood.

 

[seabowl]

I was the original OP for this thread. Any of you that blasted me for my comments have a different opinion now?

 

[hawknation2015]

I was the original OP for this thread. Any of you that blasted me for my comments have a different opinion now?

The offensive line play was not nearly as bad as 1) Bevell's play choices and 2) the play at strong safety.

 

[LoneHawkFan]

I was the original OP for this thread. Any of you that blasted me for my comments have a different opinion now?

The offensive line play was not nearly as bad as 1) Bevell's play choices and 2) the play at strong safety.

Why do you reckon we only ran shotgun today?

Not ONE play under center in the 2nd half. Eliminates ALL play-action at the very least.

 

[hawknation2015]

I was the original OP for this thread. Any of you that blasted me for my comments have a different opinion now?

The offensive line play was not nearly as bad as 1) Bevell's play choices and 2) the play at strong safety.

Why do you reckon we only ran shotgun today?

Not ONE play under center in the 2nd half. Eliminates ALL play-action at the very least.

Because we were playing against the most aggressive, athletic, and deep defensive line in the league.

Yet we are still not giving the ball to Marshawn on first and second downs to keep them honest, especially in the red zone, nor getting the ball to Graham outside to draw defenders out of the box. That's on Bevell, not the offensive line, which did its best to hold things together while facing the toughest task of the season in the very first game.

 

[seabowl]

I was the original OP for this thread. Any of you that blasted me for my comments have a different opinion now?

The offensive line play was not nearly as bad as 1) Bevell's play choices and 2) the play at strong safety.

Why do you reckon we only ran shotgun today?

Not ONE play under center in the 2nd half. Eliminates ALL play-action at the very least.

Because we were playing against the most aggressive, athletic, and deep defensive line in the league.

Yet we are still not giving the ball to Marshawn on first and second downs, especially in the red zone, nor getting the ball to Graham outside. That's on Bevell, not the offensive line, which did its best to hold things together while facing the toughest task of the season in the very first game.

Nowak, Gilliam, Briit were all terrible today. Without the unique talents of Lynch and Wilson we would not have scored any on O. The OP was right on the money.

 

[massari]

They seem to think money is better spent on journeyman Cary Williams rather than a pro bowl OL or a couple solid OL vets.

They're the experts though.

 

[hawknation2015]

Nowak, Gilliam, Briit were all terrible today. Without the unique talents of Lynch and Wilson we would not have scored any on O. The OP was right on the money.

To be fair, Sweezy was worse than all three combined. And Okung was not great either.

That's what was expected against that defensive front. They could have made up for by using Marshawn to give them shorter 3rd downs and getting the ball to Graham on play actions. It was a failure of play calling today.

 

[seabowl]

Nowak, Gilliam, Briit were all terrible today. Without the unique talents of Lynch and Wilson we would not have scored any on O. The OP was right on the money.

To be fair, Sweezy was worse than all three combined. And Okung was not great either.

That's what was expected against that defensive front. They could have made up for by using Marshawn to give them shorter 3rd downs and getting the ball to Graham on play actions. It was a failure of play calling today.

I agree the play calling sucked but the DL of the Rams was blowing up our OL all day. We need to find a veteran that has the ability to block and not blow assignments.

 

[CovingtonHawk]

Not signing mathis is haunting the Oline.


Did you see how much he improved Denver's line?

Their Oline had been worse than Seattle's.