Cable's O-Lines late season progression.

Do stats back the felling that Seattle's O-Lines have gotten better later in the season. It fells like later in the season and playoffs or offensive line struggles seems to go away.

The Hawks OLines are seemingly the way they are at the beginning of each season (needing significant work) and here there are now 3 new players at their respective positions. I fully expect Britt to significantly improve with more reps and have been encouraged by the development of both Nowak and Gilliam. They are far from being good and only presently occasionally adequate in both passport as RW is pressured more quickly than he should be or what is regularly to be expected, however the number of times they get the protections right seem to be increasing.

The run blocking is showing progress.

The OLine will get better as the season goes on as long as they can stay somewhat healthy.

In interviews, Cable has said it can take a couple of weeks for the O-Line to gel and really run his ZBS efficiently.
He specifically says this happens each season, and is hindered by injuries.

Considering the injury history early in the season over the past few seasons, not sure how reliable any analysis would be.

Basis4day":dpffq64t said:

In interviews, Cable has said it can take a couple of weeks for the O-Line to gel and really run his ZBS efficiently.
He specifically says this happens each season, and is hindered by injuries.

Click to expand...

The line seemingly gets blown up physically and our guys get pushed back! Like they don't have the power and leverage to hold the line. Is that really "gelling" issue??

I remember listening to Brock and Salk and Brock was stating that last year with Carpenter, Carps physical strength was an asset to the interior not being pushed back. Maybe our run block has suffered since our road grading guard is no longer on the team. Carp was always a better run blocker than a pass blocker and maybe his size and strength is missing in our current setup?

So the question comes back, is the run game suffering because of a "gel" issue or is it much more than that?

Think about it!

TheLegendOfBoom":2jx9vxs5 said:

Basis4day":2jx9vxs5 said:

In interviews, Cable has said it can take a couple of weeks for the O-Line to gel and really run his ZBS efficiently.
He specifically says this happens each season, and is hindered by injuries.

Click to expand...

The line seemingly gets blown up physically and our guys get pushed back! Like they don't have the power and leverage to hold the line. Is that really "gelling" issue??

I remember listening to Brock and Salk and Brock was stating that last year with Carpenter, Carps physical strength was an asset to the interior not being pushed back. Maybe our run block has suffered since our road grading guard is no longer on the team. Carp was always a better run blocker than a pass blocker and maybe his size and strength of missing in our current setup?

So the question comes back, is the run game suffering because of a "gel" issue or is it much more than that?

Think about it!

Click to expand...

The offensive line has improved in every game this season. Britt is not as big as Carpenter, but he is more powerful and explosive. He just needs more time to learn his new position at left guard, which he has only been playing for a little over a month. Nowak has shown the steadiest improvement, going back to the preseason. He was knocking the stuffing out of those young Chicago NTs. Monday night will provide another big challenge for Britt and Nowak as they face Detroit's Haloti Ngata, who has been limited by a shoulder injury.

jammerhawk":2q2s4o6r said:

The Hawks OLines are seemingly the way they are at the beginning of each season (needing significant work) and here there are now 3 new players at their respective positions. I fully expect Britt to significantly improve with more reps and have been encouraged by the development of both Nowak and Gilliam. They are far from being good and only presently occasionally adequate in both passport as RW is pressured more quickly than he should be or what is regularly to be expected, however the number of times they get the protections right seem to be increasing.

The run blocking is showing progress.

The OLine will get better as the season goes on as long as they can stay somewhat healthy.

Click to expand...

This.
They've taken a step back in run blocking, imo, but their pass protection has gotten a lot better. I'm optimistic that they'll keep improving in both areas. Nowak played great against the Bears. Gilliam is inconsistent but has some dominating plays that suggests a great player once he puts it all together. Britt is still learning the position. Sweezy has his head scratching plays, but is generally a terror at the guard position and still just a 4th year olinemen.

I think part of the idea that this Online sucks will come from the pressure plays given up by the tight ends. If you include that position as part of the eval on the Oline then I'd have a different opinion.

I don't buy it. This OL is below average at best. Even with measurable improvement the ceiling is average, and I'm not convinced we'll see improvement. With that being said, OL is the common thread from top to bottom in the NFL. Do GB and NE have top shelf OLs? If not, the are surely "above average," for sure.

Even though SEA has Lynch, Wilson, Graham, and Co., without at least an average OL, it won't matter. Perhaps Pete & JS took the "build a good enough OL" a step too far, but I hope I'm wrong.

We just have to be patient. I see improvement. Hopefully they will continue to work with the strength conditioning coach, work on their foot work, and continue to blossom. They're all we have.

idahohawk":mebr20ar said:

I don't buy it. This OL is below average at best. Even with measurable improvement the ceiling is average, and I'm not convinced we'll see improvement. With that being said, OL is the common thread from top to bottom in the NFL. Do GB and NE have top shelf OLs? If not, the are surely "above average," for sure.

Even though SEA has Lynch, Wilson, Graham, and Co., without at least an average OL, it won't matter. Perhaps Pete & JS took the "build a good enough OL" a step too far, but I hope I'm wrong.

Click to expand...

Of course this line is below average. It is made up of a 1st rounder, a 2nd rounder, 2 converted defensive players and an undrafted TE. Even at that I think this offensive line will end up better than last years. We did lose Unger and it sucks but he played 6 games for us last year, we won without him and I'm blown away by how people are suddenly in love with what was the most underachieving lineman in a long time in Carpenter. I do think Carpenter got better last year but would anyone have wanted to possibly sacrifice a player like Bobby Wagner to keep him? We would have overpaid for him like we would have the year before with Breno and McQuistan! I think they are doing things the right way and it might even get worse next year when Okung and Sweezy are ready for contracts.

What really blows me away is when I see someone suggest we trade a 1st and a 3rd on a different thread to trade for Martellus Bennet (and no one calls him out) so we would have a blocking TE (and to possible make Michael happy) when those choices could be used for linemen in the future. Then there is the trade for Forte comments, posters want all these players with fairly high contracts but then want to complain about why we have no linemen.

The one that really gets me now is the trade Jimmy Graham for a lineman comments. The guy has I think 14 catches in 3 games and 2 TD's and that is without utilizing him in one game. In any available trade for a lineman we would lose and lose bad.

The line is below average, but I'm optimistic that if they can all remain healthy for once, they will be able to rise to, and hold, at the level of mediocre. If we can get to consistently mediocre, minus the stretches where we are terrorized when injuries happen, I think we can win with that and will consider that a Cable success.

Those years of Okung, Carp, and Unger all vying to be the first-injured (or all at once) were just as bad if not worse to me in terms of frustration during the season. Obviously the outcome was still good because we got healthy during the playoffs.

One thing I heard on the radio about oline play being terrible all over the league.

The spread offense in college... NO OLINEMAN knows how to move forward. In the spread they are always moving backwards or side to side.

Which makes our recent trend of moving D players to oline make a little more sense.

Just something that I thought was interesting.

I guess I will be the one to say it. The "competition" philosophy is what is hurting us in regards to the O-line. The players need to be on the same page to start the season and can not be while they are constantly shuffling their lineup in camp and the preseason to determine who will win each position. I do like our athletes now better than any time with Carroll as our coach, but not allowing them to become a cohesive unit during camp and into the preseason is a mistake.

One thing seemed obvious to me after the GB game;

our young, new oline has a long way to progress in the "hold but don't get flagged" department.

GB line seems to have it worked out quite nicely. Like other skills, it takes time to develop.