Quote:I agree with everything you've written.  

 

That said, there are a lot of ways to reduce sacks without doing anything about the offensive line. 

 

1) Adding Ivory to pair with Yeldon.   The threat of the run will force the opposing defense to stay home.  If DEs like JJ Watt want to beat the OT around the edge, the result will be that they simply run themselves out of the play, thank you very much. 

 

2) Get a better defense so we don't fall behind so often and are forced to throw to catch up.  If we're behind by 10 points in the 4th quarter, Blake is a sitting duck.  

 

3) Tight end.   With a year in the system and good health, Julius Thomas can become that all-important safety valve. 

 

Let's face it, when the only really strong area of the team is the downfield passing attack, we are going to give up a lot of sacks.   Sacks are really a fault of the entire team, both offense and defense.   Strengthening any area of the team spills over into other areas and strengthens them as well.   So, ironically, spending our entire draft on defense should reduce the number of sacks we take on offense.  

 

The thing is, I don't remember Blake getting clobbered like Blaine Gabbert did.  Maybe my memory is failing me, but it seems like Gabbert got beat up much worse than Blake has been. 

I touched on many of these points in the original post, but in light of your input, more elaboration is needed.

 

Your point about the defense keeping us in games and out of obvious passing situations is spot on.  If the defense is not giving up 28 ppg, that reduces the pressure to keep up with the opposing offenses by passing every down.  Heaven forbid if the defense starts forcing turnovers and giving us leads, we could pound the rock more. 

 

There were signs late last year that Thomas was becoming that safety blanket Bortles needs.  I can recall several key 3rd down instances where Bortles would move and hit Thomas for a first down to continue drives.  With a full year in the offense for both Thomas and Bortles (and for that matter all of the receivers and most of the linemen), the reads and keys should become second nature and a lot faster and more reliable.  That should reduce the number of sacks.

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