I'm a firm believer that you build a team from the line out on both sides of the ball. Dallas' offense is a great example of this. They have a gold-plated offensive line and it doesn't even matter who is running behind it (even Darren Mcfadden had 1000 yards behind it last year). Dak Prescott is a 3rd round rookie but he looks like an MVP candidate behind that line. Derek Carr fell in the draft because when he got hit and pressured too much he crumbled, but Oakland protects him well now and he's a beast. The same goes for Defense, if you get after the QB and stop the run with your line, your secondary is going to get more picks and wont need to cover nearly as long. A team with highly paid skill positions and no o or d lines is setting those players up for failure. Draft a top 5 QB and put him behind a swiss cheese o-line, you get Blake Bortles, David Carr, Tim Couch, Carson Palmer in Oakland, Blaine Gabbert, Sam Bradford and maybe Andrew Luck now. Not saying all of these guys would have worked out but in some of these cases, with better O-line play on other teams, they have been at least passable. On the other hand, have a gold plated offensive line and stick a decent QB back there, and you often get results like Prescott, Wilson, or even Tom Brady. Behind an excellent line, qbs can actually develop into the kind of players that can succeed even without a great line.
Quote:Can you name a team in the salary cap era that has successfully built a team around their oline that won consistently for a long period of time? I think the current Bengals are probably the closest a team has come to that. If a peak of 4 winning seasons and no playoff wins is your idea of success then sure you can build around an oline.
The Colts have certainly addressed their oline, too. In the Luck era they have spent first round picks on Castanzo and Kelly, second round picks on Mewhort and Ijalana, and third rounders on Thornton and Holmes. They also gave big money to Gosder Cherilus. They just missed on all of it except Mewhort and Kelly.
New England comes to mind. Matt Light, Logan Mankins, Dan Koppen, those kinda guys anchored that line for years. Maybe not the entire line but the Patriots have protected Brady pretty well. What about the late 90s jaguars with Boselli and Searcy, good lord, they controlled the edge for years. Also the Seahawks behind the left side of that line with Walter Jones and Hutchinson---run left, run left, run left haha, Matt Hasselbeck actually looked good for a while thanks to them.
Quote:New England comes to mind. Matt Light, Logan Mankins, Dan Koppen, those kinda guys anchored that line for years. Maybe not the entire line but the Patriots have protected Brady pretty well. What about the late 90s jaguars with Boselli and Searcy, good lord, they controlled the edge for years. Also the Seahawks behind the left side of that line with Walter Jones and Hutchinson---run left, run left, run left haha, Matt Hasselbeck actually looked good for a while thanks to them.
I think you actually hit the nail on the head to support my argument with Seattle. They had the best oline in football from 2001 to 2005 when they had Jones and Hutch together, and lost two wild card games and lost a super bowl. Great oline, great running back, great defense, and purgatory level QB and you maybe get a few quick playoff exits and if the stars align just perfect maybe you become an outlier team that makes a deep run without a true franchise QB.
Now they have their franchise QB but maybe the worst oline in the sport and they have made the playoffs every year with two super bowl appearances and a super bowl win and no slowing down in sight as long as Wilson doesn't get killed.
Quote:I think you actually hit the nail on the head to support my argument with Seattle. They had the best oline in football from 2001 to 2005 when they had Jones and Hutch together, and lost two wild card games and lost a super bowl. Great oline, great running back, great defense, and purgatory level QB and you maybe get a few quick playoff exits and if the stars align just perfect maybe you become an outlier team that makes a deep run without a true franchise QB.
Now they have their franchise QB but maybe the worst oline in the sport and they have made the playoffs every year with two super bowl appearances and a super bowl win and no slowing down in sight as long as Wilson doesn't get killed.
Them not paying their oline (amongst other positions) is such a huge part of why they can keep all of their elite talent. Theyre paying the oline pennies and have way more udfa than anyone else in the league iirc.
Quote:Perhaps he is a UK Jags fan?
I was not saying they were wrong, just that I enjoy it with an S.
Quote:I was not saying they were wrong, just that I enjoy it with an S.
Almost 100 percent someone with the nick of git r done is NOT from the UK.
Quote:I think you actually hit the nail on the head to support my argument with Seattle. They had the best oline in football from 2001 to 2005 when they had Jones and Hutch together, and lost two wild card games and lost a super bowl. Great oline, great running back, great defense, and purgatory level QB and you maybe get a few quick playoff exits and if the stars align just perfect maybe you become an outlier team that makes a deep run without a true franchise QB.
Now they have their franchise QB but maybe the worst oline in the sport and they have made the playoffs every year with two super bowl appearances and a super bowl win and no slowing down in sight as long as Wilson doesn't get killed.
Once you have that franchise QB you dont need the o-line as much. When Peytons offensive line went crappy for a bit he was already established and just got rid of the ball faster. Making the playoffs and getting knocked off isn't bad at all. Only 1 team wins it all, but being in the playoffs at least has you in contention, gives you a chance to put a few wins together.