(08-01-2024, 12:12 PM)OG-JAGFAN Wrote: [ -> ]The real question will not be answered for a little while longer. It's nice we have all these new players but the million dollar question is the offensive line. We have a new center but it's mostly the same line coming back. Doug fired his offensive line coach so looks like he was the fall guy. Can this line protect Lawrence and can it make a push consistently on 3rd and short and 4th and short. Can this line give Lawrence a consistent 3 seconds or more in the pocket?
I firmly believe a big part of this was that Doug had Baalke going after super "athletic" linemen to carry out an overly complex zone blocking scheme and it bit them in the butt when they couldn't run for 1.5 yards to convert 30 different times. Even the talk on Fortner when drafted was all about how athletic he was. They even conceded right after drafting him he needed some NFL strength and conditioning.
This is why we heard Baalke say "need to get bigger and stronger" 8 times in his postseason presser and why we heard Doug address changing his run scheme twice since February.
Also - we saw 4 or 5 different left guards last year. The guy starting this year only played a few games for us and he played them while nursing an injury. Prior to that injury he was widely considered a very good left guard.
That is the level of play expected from Ezra Cleveland.
So LG and C should be dramatically improved over last year.
Left Tackle was similar in the fact that 3 or 4 guys had starts there. Some consistency from Cam could change that.
(fingers crossed on that one - because I don't trust him)
At RG - Brandon Scherff will now be playing next to an ascending 2nd year RT instead of a rookie and a formidable vet at Center instead of the worst Center in the league. That should help him as well.
All that said -- it is STILL the most concerning position group on this football team and I don't have tons of confidence in what might happen if injuries start piling up. But I DO believe they will be better than the dumpster fire we saw last year.
Leon Searcy said today that if any of the three IOL gets injured, we’re going to have big problems.
(08-01-2024, 03:03 PM)homebiscuit Wrote: [ -> ]Leon Searcy said today that if any of the three IOL gets injured, we’re going to have big problems.
Still waiting for a late arrival.
(08-01-2024, 03:21 PM)flsprtsgod Wrote: [ -> ] (08-01-2024, 03:03 PM)homebiscuit Wrote: [ -> ]Leon Searcy said today that if any of the three IOL gets injured, we’re going to have big problems.
Still waiting for a late arrival.
Yep. Should see some more churning once the preseason games kick off and everybody else makes their rounds. I still think he's going to initiate a trade for somebody for a late day three pick on our end.
(08-01-2024, 06:05 PM)Caldrac Wrote: [ -> ] (08-01-2024, 03:21 PM)flsprtsgod Wrote: [ -> ]Still waiting for a late arrival.
Yep. Should see some more churning once the preseason games kick off and everybody else makes their rounds. I still think he's going to initiate a trade for somebody for a late day three pick on our end.
Yea, Been to two padded practices and agree so far. I heard Leon give the run down too. Well, all I have to say is that is the reason we have coaches. They need to coach em up.... we needed to draft a guard last season, could have gotten Chris Mahogany (round 6)
(08-01-2024, 06:05 PM)Caldrac Wrote: [ -> ] (08-01-2024, 03:21 PM)flsprtsgod Wrote: [ -> ]Still waiting for a late arrival.
Yep. Should see some more churning once the preseason games kick off and everybody else makes their rounds. I still think he's going to initiate a trade for somebody for a late day three pick on our end.
Has Cooper Hodges not looked good? Also, has Javon Foster worked at guard at all?
(08-01-2024, 07:19 PM)Jag149 Wrote: [ -> ] (08-01-2024, 06:05 PM)Caldrac Wrote: [ -> ]Yep. Should see some more churning once the preseason games kick off and everybody else makes their rounds. I still think he's going to initiate a trade for somebody for a late day three pick on our end.
Yea, Been to two padded practices and agree so far. I heard Leon give the run down too. Well, all I have to say is that is the reason we have coaches. They need to coach em up.... we needed to draft a guard last season, could have gotten Chris Mahogany (round 6)
Yeah. Hopefully they can make magic out of lunchmeat out there. We'll see how bad it is soon I guess with the 2nd and 3rd team offense getting snaps against Kansas City.
(08-01-2024, 08:08 PM)JagsFanClubOfMD Wrote: [ -> ] (08-01-2024, 06:05 PM)Caldrac Wrote: [ -> ]Yep. Should see some more churning once the preseason games kick off and everybody else makes their rounds. I still think he's going to initiate a trade for somebody for a late day three pick on our end.
Has Cooper Hodges not looked good? Also, has Javon Foster worked at guard at all?
I couldn't tell you personally. Haven't been able to get out and see any practices this summer. I'll trust Searcy's judgement though. Hopefully Boselli refrains from sugarcoating dog turds this year as well like he normally does on the radio.
(08-01-2024, 03:03 PM)homebiscuit Wrote: [ -> ]Leon Searcy said today that if any of the three IOL gets injured, we’re going to have big problems.
Pretty sure he said Ezra was getting pushed around and Morse didn't look too stout either.
It’s so annoying how our GM will not fix the glaring weakness all fans see clearly. Hopefully he proves us wrong and line is improved, but that is a concerning early report
(08-01-2024, 03:03 PM)homebiscuit Wrote: [ -> ]Leon Searcy said today that if any of the three IOL gets injured, we’re going to have big problems.
I was told there would be a tugboat
(08-01-2024, 07:19 PM)Jag149 Wrote: [ -> ] (08-01-2024, 06:05 PM)Caldrac Wrote: [ -> ]Yep. Should see some more churning once the preseason games kick off and everybody else makes their rounds. I still think he's going to initiate a trade for somebody for a late day three pick on our end.
Yea, Been to two padded practices and agree so far. I heard Leon give the run down too. Well, all I have to say is that is the reason we have coaches. They need to coach em up.... we needed to draft a guard last season, could have gotten Chris Mahogany (round 6)
There's a whole laundry list of coulda gots. Hopefully next year's class is just as deep, but I certainly doubt it.
(08-01-2024, 11:07 PM)Caldrac Wrote: [ -> ] (08-01-2024, 10:39 PM)rfc17 Wrote: [ -> ]Pretty sure he said Ezra was getting pushed around and Morse didn't look too stout either.
That's encouraging. LOL.
Yes, lol.
What do Doug and Trent see that we don't see? I don't get it. I guess Rome wasn't built in a day.
Let's hope it's because we have a dominant defensive line. Someone said Maason Smith is looking pretty good, and Davon Hamilton is back to full strength.
It's still just the first couple days guys.
(08-01-2024, 08:36 PM)Caldrac Wrote: [ -> ] (08-01-2024, 08:08 PM)JagsFanClubOfMD Wrote: [ -> ]Has Cooper Hodges not looked good? Also, has Javon Foster worked at guard at all?
I couldn't tell you personally. Haven't been able to get out and see any practices this summer. I'll trust Searcy's judgement though. Hopefully Boselli refrains from sugarcoating dog turds this year as well like he normally does on the radio.
Boselli didnt hold back last year on the oline.
I realize that things can change once the season begins, but it appears Baalke messed up big-time again with this past draft. I wanted them to trade up in round 2 for Powers-Johnson who dropped for no good reason. They could have given up one of their 4th's and landed a future pro-bowl interior lineman. Instead, they got a defensive tackle who is all-world athletically but has not done much since his injury. Even had they stayed put in round 2, Zack Frazier was another great prospect they could have had. Of course, they added insult to injury by passing on guys like McCormick, Bortolini, Haynes and Mahogany later on in the draft. If Lawrence doesn't have time to throw again this season, we can expect similar results to the 2nd half of 2023 and more injuries to our "savior" who was supposed to lead us to multiple playoff seasons and a possible Super Bowl. If the line doesn't look better by the start of this season, Baalke should be fired for malpractice.
(08-02-2024, 11:39 AM)jaglou53 Wrote: [ -> ]I realize that things can change once the season begins, but it appears Baalke messed up big-time again with this past draft. I wanted them to trade up in round 2 for Powers-Johnson who dropped for no good reason. They could have given up one of their 4th's and landed a future pro-bowl interior lineman. Instead, they got a defensive tackle who is all-world athletically but has not done much since his injury. Even had they stayed put in round 2, Zack Frazier was another great prospect they could have had. Of course, they added insult to injury by passing on guys like McCormick, Bortolini, Haynes and Mahogany later on in the draft. If Lawrence doesn't have time to throw again this season, we can expect similar results to the 2nd half of 2023 and more injuries to our "savior" who was supposed to lead us to multiple playoff seasons and a possible Super Bowl. If the line doesn't look better by the start of this season, Baalke should be fired for malpractice.
Can we at least actually watch them play before we decide they suck? Did you guys learn nothing last week about how stupid all the whiners were about Lawrence?
(08-02-2024, 12:13 PM)flsprtsgod Wrote: [ -> ] (08-02-2024, 11:39 AM)jaglou53 Wrote: [ -> ]I realize that things can change once the season begins, but it appears Baalke messed up big-time again with this past draft. I wanted them to trade up in round 2 for Powers-Johnson who dropped for no good reason. They could have given up one of their 4th's and landed a future pro-bowl interior lineman. Instead, they got a defensive tackle who is all-world athletically but has not done much since his injury. Even had they stayed put in round 2, Zack Frazier was another great prospect they could have had. Of course, they added insult to injury by passing on guys like McCormick, Bortolini, Haynes and Mahogany later on in the draft. If Lawrence doesn't have time to throw again this season, we can expect similar results to the 2nd half of 2023 and more injuries to our "savior" who was supposed to lead us to multiple playoff seasons and a possible Super Bowl. If the line doesn't look better by the start of this season, Baalke should be fired for malpractice.
Can we at least actually watch them play before we decide they suck? Did you guys learn nothing last week about how stupid all the whiners were about Lawrence?
You're thinking about the whole team and Jaglou is just thinking about the offense.
But I think Jaglou is right.
I would rather the Jags go 8-9 this year, losing a bunch of shootouts, if it meant that Lawrence had plenty of time to throw and was putting up league-leading numbers for this season. I'd be happy.
Then fix the defense next year.
Maybe it's silly but it's how I feel.
But with Lawrence locked in until 2030 it doesn't really matter either way. If the line isn't fixed this year we get more chances to fix it for Lawrence later.