(10-09-2023, 06:25 PM)NYC4jags Wrote:

(10-09-2023, 04:04 PM)carp8dm Wrote: I'm not sure who was praising the O-Line...  But Sherff and Fortner played better last year than they have so far this year.  Especially the last few weeks.  Fortner is regressing, and Scherff is like a zombie out there.  I remember week 1 against the clots, Scherff had his ankle rolled on and was out for a quarter or so.  But there isn't ever any mention that he's not at 100%...   I don't know if he's hobbled or what, but the dude is not getting it done out there right now.  As for Fortner?  pshhhh.  He's just been disappointing.  You'd think he'd be making progress from last year and not going backwards.  

Maybe it's time to look at holding Phil Rauscher accountable and finding his replacement.

The praising came at a few different points last year when Fortner was getting flowers for not giving up sacks even though he was giving up pressures and whiffing run blocks. Folks were locked onto little tweets from PFF and compliments from pundits who didn't watch film or work for the org. 

Scherff has rebounded nicely after rolling the ankle week one. He's not a problem right now except a few bad run fits. 

Fortner really wasn't good last year, but he protected for a tiny bit longer than he is currently. Let guys thru but not quite as quickly. I feel confident saying this as I rewatched 7 games from last season just focused on LG and C. He screwed up a lot in that film. But he was a rookie - so I tried to be patient about it. Patience is running thin now. 

You're right that he's regressed. I wonder if his health is a factor?  He was on the injury report prior to week one I think. Nicked up in a preseason game maybe.

I'm not going to deny that I may have a bias against Scherff...  There was a highlight from the Houston Game where Scherff just watched as a stunting linebacker just crossed right infront of him and Scherff didn't even notice it.  Since then, I've been pretty down on the guy.  Maybe he's not a zombie?  But I don't know.  That G-C-G combo we have to rely on right now isn't very inspiring.

With that said, I didn't think Harrison's performance was as bad as the PFF grade he was given yesterday.  I didn't notice pressure coming from the Right Tackle so much.  And I've already mentioned that one of Cam's "mistakes" was really a self sack by Lawrence for bailing out of the pocket instead of climbing it or just going with his first deep read.  

I mean, these are all just opinions.  Though I think I was sober enough at 9:30 to 1PM to remember enough.  

I'll admit one thing though.  This O-Line is not nearly as good as it was last year.  Trevor is releasing throws early.  But I think the plan should be that we throw on 1st to get a few yards early, and then we can grind down the defense on 2nd and 3rd.  Running on 1st has been killing our drives.  I'd rather we go west coast offense and get ETN into space on 1st, and then let Kirk, Engram, and Ridley stretch the field wide and deep, respectively.  

Then you can come back to ETN on 2nd down after we've picked up 4 to 5 yards.  Or the 1st down.  And then we're at the 40 instead of the 20, and a run up the middle could be more dangerous.  Down, distance, and field position are all important.  The first 4 weeks of this season, the play calling seemed like they didn't care.  It was going to be shotgun, ETN between the guards...  

Maybe they are doing this to mess with the better teams later in the season?  I mean?  Maybe that's what they are doing?  Could it be they are telegraphing plays early so they can catch better teams off guard later in the season?

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