Great thread. The oline was noticeably upbeat at times in 2nd half of season, they were literally laughing and smiling on some plays during games where Julius had around 150 yards or more, with Flo and LA in particular being way down field or kneeling on the guys they just pancaked on the other team. Enthusiasm and confidence work wonders for any althlete and Julius restored that to O-line in 2nd half of season (while defensive collapses killed overall team energy, and some bad picks hurt offense). It had been many years since a running back made the oline feel that if they didn't block perfectly on every play they'd still be ok. They weren't having fun, they weren't mauling, they were tentative and worried that some no-name or geriatric wouldn't make a play running the ball. Yes they respected Emmitt, but even then we didn't have a ton of weapons at receiver and 8-9 guys were in box all the time so enthusiams was muted. With Julius and psyched up oline look to see some guys having fun out there again, and Flo and LA in particular killing defensive players by the 4th quarter! You think LA is just excited because he's semi healthy, he's excited because our running game IS exciting again, and having A Train and Barber on board makes it all the better because Julius doesn't have to do it all either, they can be excited about all 3's abilities.
Larry
