Is anyone else concerned about the Offensive Line?

TwoCentPlain

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And the defense being totally putrid cost them even more games! Oops sorry sometimes I post stuff that makes sense no offense intended

The offense gifted Atlanta around 21-24 points. The offense gifted Arizona probably around 18 points. The offense could only put up 3 points in the second half against an average Rams' defense. How many points did Dak and Elliott gift Seattle?

Fumbling, interceptions, dropped passes, failed 3rd downs all contributed to the defense being asked to do too much and out there way too long.

Yeah, the defense was not good last year but the offense did not help them out. Especially not in the Atl, Sea, and LA games early in the season. Defense fell apart in Cleveland and then Dak got hurt and the players lost all heart and gave it the good old college try but they were basically tuned out and just looking to end the season.
 

CowboysLegend365

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Yes,
This has and remains the central foundational unit to this team's success.
REGARDLESS of defense.
This team will go as this offensive line goes. I share in your concern as my multiple previous posts would attest to the impact of losing Smith, Collins or both would put this team in a further downward spiral.

I think Philbin is a decent coach however
I still believe in higher pedigreed backups than this current depth chart shows.

Not a big believer in the whole Knight, Steele or Nseshke experiment regardless of their experience gained or being coached up.

MOST backup players are backups for a reason. I do not believe the offense will function well at all if either OT goes down for any extended time. Same as it failed last year with backups. No change imo.

My .02.

I am 100% with you on this. People are saying the team viewed Slater as a guard but he has shown great ability to be a tackle as well.

If (or when) one of the OT’s go down— he could have slid outside. Martin has been reluctant to do so.

But again our defense was that bad— so I understand it.
 

starfan1

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Ty Nsekhe is a veteran swing Tackle. For 4 years he was the swing Tackle and occasional starter with the Skins. Their OL coach was Bill Callahan which means that Nsekhe has been really well coached.
- He was the swing Tackle the past 2 seasons with the Bills.

Tyron's probability of staying healthy might be better this season that in the past 3 or 4 years because Doctor's recommend the surgery 3 or 4 years ago but he just got it last season.

They can manage without 1 of either Tyron or La'el. Losing both last season and losing their veteran swing Tackle for multiple games made it really difficult to work around.

Knight held up better than expected at LT considering that he had practiced at OG and RT primarily before the 2020 season.

Steele actually had a couple of good games. It was a tribute to his raw abilities that he could even start NFL games as a rookie UDFA.

On the interior, Connor Williams is a much better player than most fans believe. Last season was difficult because the positions on both side of him were revolving doors with many snaps played by inexperienced players.

Connor McGovern held up OK at OG considering he had zero previous NFL snaps.

Biadasz remained as the starter for 1 game when Looney returned from injury, but then Biadasz ended up injured after that game.

Draft pick OT Josh Ball might be the steal of the draft. He was solid as a redshirt freshman at Florida State in 2017 and dominant at Marshall.
- He was available later in the draft due to the Domestic Violence issue but that was in 2017 and he has not had any issues since.
- Will McClay did an extensive investigation into his background including having the Cowboys legal teams review his history.
- At Marshall he played with mean streak and liked to make defensive players fully aware that he was bigger than them.
- That mentality worked out well for small college OT Erik Williams.

At the point that Dak got injured, the Cowboys were leading the league in offense and were 300 yards ahead of the 2nd place team in that category.
- They managed that with the majority of the OT snaps being played by a rookie UDFA and 2nd year UDFA.

Meanwhile the Cowboys are coming off the worst year in team history on defense and there are only 3 or 4 positions where we know who will be the starter.
I prefer optimism over pessimism so I approve this post ! Lol like I matter
 

jnday

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And the defense being totally putrid cost them even more games! Oops sorry sometimes I post stuff that makes sense no offense intended
If the defense had been the topic of discussion, I am sure plenty of posters would have made their opinions known. Everybody knows the defense has been horrible, but I assumed that the other 10+ threads about the defensive problems would be the place for me to post about those problems.
 
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CouchCoach

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Yes, after outstanding picks on the OL, the Cowboys have so far struck out with hope still held out for McGovern. So now the hopes ride on Ball.

The Cowboys are drop dead center on 1st round OL, after that? Not so much.

Anyone buying the son's spin that Big Smitty, Collins and Martin will be better than ever was shopping in the first place. Think those 3 will play all 17 this season?
 

kskboys

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Ty Nsekhe is a veteran swing Tackle. For 4 years he was the swing Tackle and occasional starter with the Skins. Their OL coach was Bill Callahan which means that Nsekhe has been really well coached.
- He was the swing Tackle the past 2 seasons with the Bills.

Tyron's probability of staying healthy might be better this season that in the past 3 or 4 years because Doctor's recommend the surgery 3 or 4 years ago but he just got it last season.

They can manage without 1 of either Tyron or La'el. Losing both last season and losing their veteran swing Tackle for multiple games made it really difficult to work around.

Knight held up better than expected at LT considering that he had practiced at OG and RT primarily before the 2020 season.

Steele actually had a couple of good games. It was a tribute to his raw abilities that he could even start NFL games as a rookie UDFA.

On the interior, Connor Williams is a much better player than most fans believe. Last season was difficult because the positions on both side of him were revolving doors with many snaps played by inexperienced players.

Connor McGovern held up OK at OG considering he had zero previous NFL snaps.

Biadasz remained as the starter for 1 game when Looney returned from injury, but then Biadasz ended up injured after that game.

Draft pick OT Josh Ball might be the steal of the draft. He was solid as a redshirt freshman at Florida State in 2017 and dominant at Marshall.
- He was available later in the draft due to the Domestic Violence issue but that was in 2017 and he has not had any issues since.
- Will McClay did an extensive investigation into his background including having the Cowboys legal teams review his history.
- At Marshall he played with mean streak and liked to make defensive players fully aware that he was bigger than them.
- That mentality worked out well for small college OT Erik Williams.

At the point that Dak got injured, the Cowboys were leading the league in offense and were 300 yards ahead of the 2nd place team in that category.
- They managed that with the majority of the OT snaps being played by a rookie UDFA and 2nd year UDFA.

Meanwhile the Cowboys are coming off the worst year in team history on defense and there are only 3 or 4 positions where we know who will be the starter.
That's what I was thinking. We got some guys coming around. Not only that, but Connor Williams was a highly regarded OLT prospect. IF he can shake the injury bug, might be a possible answer there.
 

Cowpolk

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If the defense had been the topic of discussion, I am sure plenty of posters would have made their opinions known. Everybody knows the defense has been horrible, but I assumed that the other 10+ threads about the defensive problems would be the place for me to post about those problems.
Yes master
 

shabazz

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A 40 million dollar Qb only needs a slightly above average offensive line to be effective and we got one
 

SSoup

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I'm concerned.

Tyron is breaking down. His first 5 years in the league, he missed only 1 game. He was routinely giving us 100% of the season most of those years. His next 4 seasons, he missed 21-29% of each season like clockwork. And then last year, he missed 14 whole games. I know he's not that old, but he was starting in the NFL before he was legally allowed to drink. Dude has lots of miles on him for his age, and he's trending in a bad direction durability-wise. And the league schedule is getting even longer now.

Who knows if Martin and Collins are next down that path now that they're coming off injuries and collecting some wear and tear too. If they're gonna start missing 20% of each season now too, it'd be a serious problem.

I'll feel a little better if Martin and Collins bounce back and give us full, totally healthy 2021 seasons. But even then, the constant threat of Tyron being hobbled or absent at any given moment worries me because a bad replacement LT can torpedo an offense in a hurry.

If we thought Slater was an elite LT, I'd have much rather taken him to secure our o-line future instead of spending a high 1st rounder on a run-stopping linebacker.
 

kskboys

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I'm concerned.

Tyron is breaking down. His first 5 years in the league, he missed only 1 game. He was routinely giving us 100% of the season most of those years. His next 4 seasons, he missed 21-29% of each season like clockwork. And then last year, he missed 14 whole games. I know he's not that old, but he was starting in the NFL before he was legally allowed to drink. Dude has lots of miles on him for his age, and he's trending in a bad direction durability-wise. And the league schedule is getting even longer now.

Who knows if Martin and Collins are next down that path now that they're coming off injuries and collecting some wear and tear too. If they're gonna start missing 20% of each season now too, it'd be a serious problem.

I'll feel a little better if Martin and Collins bounce back and give us full, totally healthy 2021 seasons. But even then, the constant threat of Tyron being hobbled or absent at any given moment worries me because a bad replacement LT can torpedo an offense in a hurry.

If we thought Slater was an elite LT, I'd have much rather taken him to secure our o-line future instead of spending a high 1st rounder on a run-stopping linebacker.

And there's doubts that Slater is a tackle at all.
 

jnday

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And there's doubts that Slater is a tackle at all.
It seems that a Dallas and a couple more teams have those doubts , but others are sure that he can play OT. There is little doubt that Zack Martin would have been a very good OT, but Dallas saw him as a guard, which might have wasted some of his talent since OT is more valued than OG. It seems like Slater is a similar player.
 

BigD_95

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I’ve been going back and forth on the Parsons pick over Slater for a number of reasons.

I’m glad the front office saw the need for defensive playmakers, but the offensive line really scares me.

Tyron hasn’t played a full season since 2015, La’el has only played 2 full seasons in his 5 year career. Not to mention, Zach Martin getting banged up here and there. The other guys are still unproven.

We saw how pedestrian Zeke looked without those guys, and I think it has a trickle down effect on the entire unit.

Anyone else feeling the same, or am I overthinking this?


Lucky for us we were able to land 2nd round talent ( Ball) in the 4th round. He will be a big help if injuries come along. Overall I think we will be ok and Dak will help hide some of the issues
 

Ranched

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The Dallas offense is loaded w/skill-position talent, & while the Boys O-line isn't what it once was, it's still above average.
 

DuncanIso

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The Dallas offense is loaded w/skill-position talent, & while the Boys O-line isn't what it once was, it's still above average.

The problem is with the LT and RT.

If Collins goes down again, then we are stuck with Steele. Not good.

Same with TSmith. We dont want Knight playing LT.

If we had drafted Slater, we wouldn't have to worry.
 

Jake

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A 40 million dollar Qb only needs a slightly above average offensive line to be effective and we got one

Yeah, because having an even bigger salary was all Mahomes needed in that SB. Blocking only matters to bad QBs.

Love the in-depth analysis that goes on here.
 

Stash

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The offense gifted Atlanta around 21-24 points. The offense gifted Arizona probably around 18 points. The offense could only put up 3 points in the second half against an average Rams' defense. How many points did Dak and Elliott gift Seattle?

Fumbling, interceptions, dropped passes, failed 3rd downs all contributed to the defense being asked to do too much and out there way too long.

Yeah, the defense was not good last year but the offense did not help them out. Especially not in the Atl, Sea, and LA games early in the season. Defense fell apart in Cleveland and then Dak got hurt and the players lost all heart and gave it the good old college try but they were basically tuned out and just looking to end the season.

Where was that "average Rams' defense" ranked in 2020?

:huh:
 

75boyz

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The problem is with the LT and RT.

If Collins goes down again, then we are stuck with Steele. Not good.

Same with TSmith. We dont want Knight playing LT.

If we had drafted Slater, we wouldn't have to worry.

This. Both the backups and new draftees do not inspire the same level of confidence with me as it does with several others here. Regardless of the experience gained last year.

To each his own I guess.
 

Turk

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It seems that a Dallas and a couple more teams have those doubts , but others are sure that he can play OT. There is little doubt that Zack Martin would have been a very good OT, but Dallas saw him as a guard, which might have wasted some of his talent since OT is more valued than OG. It seems like Slater is a similar player.
Zack Martin is a HOF guard. He MIGHT POSSIBLY make it to the pro bowl as a RT but not certain. I think there is little doubt he is a much better guard then tackle.
Got that?

So you take a guy going to the HOF out of his best position.

Think on that.
 
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