It's time to talk OL

[Bob-Lillys-War]

They showed Aikman losing the ball in the end zone in an eerily similar play against the Commanders in ‘92. Funny enough, Mickey or Bill just mentioned that game on the podcast a few days ago. They said Jimmy was as hot as fish grease after that game.

Well garrett claps the effort, and says "i am so lucky to be here with you guys"

 

[Shadowfax]

The Commanders have ALWAYS given us issues - this was even a problem in 2014.

Individually, our offensive lineman are grading out well. Martin is top 5, Smith top 15, Collins is playing above average, Connor at average, with Looney at average as well.

This line is far from bad - losing your center is a big deal, but Looney is filling in and doing his job at a reasonable level for a backup. Dak isn't doing the O-line many favors in pre-snap reads and while he's in the pocket.

O-line is not a worry. Get a better QB and coaching staff.

So... Three of our lineman playing at or below average and our record is just below average? Hmmm...

 

[garyv]

I don’t think it’s people underestimating. It’s that we don’t want to hear the excuse.

Frederick being out doesn’t excuse La’el Collins playing like crap. Or Tyron playing like crap.

The OL has been playing like garbage most of the season.

They are supposed to be a strength of the team. Too many picks and too much $ invested for them to suck.

The Offensive Line Coach should be held accountable

 

[Shadowfax]

The Offensive Line Coach should be held accountable

Agree 100%

 

[John813]

Got rid of Pollack and the line still struggles. Maybe it's not the line coaches but the guys in the trenches?

Or both.

 

[mattjames2010]

So... Three of our lineman playing at or below average and our record is just below average? Hmmm...

None of our offensive lineman are playing at below average. 3 are at average 2 are in the top of the league.

Where are you getting "below average" at?

 

[garyv]

None of our offensive lineman are playing at below average. 3 are at average 2 are in the top of the league.

Where are you getting "below average" at?

Could be the scheme and the weight that Zeke lost has me concerned. I think he's lost some power.

 

[Shadowfax]

None of our offensive lineman are playing at below average. 3 are at average 2 are in the top of the league.

Where are you getting "below average" at?

That game by Collins today was below average at best. Williams has had similar poor performances.

 

[blumayne38]

Is this 2005?

 

[mattjames2010]

That game by Collins today was below average at best. Williams has had similar poor performances.

A rookie having a bad game here and there is not indicative of season play. This thread is an exaggeration and ignores other factors that cause the O-line to look poor.

Some of you need to tune into other games every now and then. There are multiple teams in this league that wish they'd have this line, even without Frederick.

 

[Bob-Lillys-War]

The Offensive Line Coach should be held accountable

Now now ... there is no reason to write intelligent and reasonable posts .

 

[Techsass]

None of our offensive lineman are playing at below average. 3 are at average 2 are in the top of the league.

Where are you getting "below average" at?

A rookie having a bad game here and there is not indicative of season play. This thread is an exaggeration and ignores other factors that cause the O-line to look poor.

Some of you need to tune into other games every now and then. There are multiple teams in this league that wish they'd have this line, even without Frederick.

They may grade out well, but their overall play is not what it was. They have taken a couple of steps backwards both this season & last season.

 

[mattjames2010]

They may grade out well, but their overall play is not what it was. They have taken a couple of steps backwards both this season & last season.

This makes no sense. If they are grading out where they did last season, there is no steps backwards and we need to be looking at OTHER factors. I don't take PFF as gospel, but it's clear as day that pre-snaps and Dak's awareness is hurting the overall performance. Hell, even Looney is playing respectfully well - he's not Frederick of course, but he's playing about as well as you can hope for with a backup.

You fix pre-snap reads and I can almost promise you a lot of these problems gets fixed. I don't know what you can do about Dak's awareness though - a QB either has this or he doesn't.

 

[Shadowfax]

A rookie having a bad game here and there is not indicative of season play. This thread is an exaggeration and ignores other factors that cause the O-line to look poor.

Some of you need to tune into other games every now and then. There are multiple teams in this league that wish they'd have this line, even without Frederick.

Here is the trouble with your argument. Williams having a bad game, in and of itself, is expected as a rookie. The problem is that you compound it by Collins having a poor outing and not having Frederick and you go from a position of strength to a weakness.

The OL isn’t our only issue for sure, but to say it isn’t a problem is ridiculous. Zeke ran for 33 yards and Dak got hit 9 times and sacked 4 times.

When you speak of these other lines, are you referring to teams with winning records?

 

[mattjames2010]

Here is the trouble with your argument. Williams having a bad game, in and of itself, is expected as a rookie. The problem is that you compound it by Collins having a poor outing and not having Frederick and you go from a position of strength to a weakness.

The OL isn’t our only issue for sure, but to say it isn’t a problem is ridiculous. Zeke ran for 33 yards and Dak got hit 9 times and sacked 4 times.

When you speak of these other lines, are you referring to teams with winning records?

....it's not a problem. We still have two really good offensive lineman, a center who is grading out well, an average guard and average RT. that's not a problem, that's actually a pretty strong unit....

And I have already stated the problem with the line - PRE-SNAP reads, pocket awareness, etc. Of course Zeke isn't going to get going when Dak wasn't making throws he should - he had that deep ball to Gallup, but he simply doesn't consistently threaten defenses so they can play upfront.

You ignore every other factor and what impacts an O-line. You're running out of arguments. Watch more game film, watch more games, understand how units work and how poor play at other positions trickles down.

 

[bpfred]

We've gone from three All Pros to one. Not only is Frederick out but Tyron is not playing at an All Pro level.

IMO, this is a really good post. Two years ago, we had Smith, Leary, Frederick, and Martin all playing among the top 12 players in the NFL at their positions. Right now, only Martin is. The other four guys on the line aren't terrible, they are average, with Smith still being a little above average.

The other problem, the line is being outnumbered.

Until Dak Prescott and the receivers can establish respect for themselves, Defensive Coordinators will continue forcing Prescott to beat them. Prescott needs to beat the blitz with hot routes, and beat the defense down the field when there are 8 or 9 guys in the box. There are QBs in the league that can do that pretty consistently. DCs are afraid blitz too much or to bring too many guys into the box when facing those QBs.

 

[Roadtrip635]

When talking about the OL, you have to include the TEs since they are a large part of this team's blocking schemes. Our current TEs lack the experience, strength and size and losing Witt and Hanna has really shown. Rico has the size and strength, but lacks the experience and seems to struggle with the basic formations at times. Looking at past games, our TEs miss blocks, slow coming off blocks or miss assignments all together.

Communication seems to be an issue at times with the OL/TE, what they are supposed to do on stunts, blitzes, chips, some of it the newer additions Williams etc gelling, but some of it is coaching or the blocking schemes themselves. Against the Texans, why would Hurns ever be required to block Clowney 1on1, yesterday Looney and Zack(our best OL) are on a dbl team while Williams is getting manhandled. Sometimes guys are getting hung up on blocks/chips and not getting to the second level giving LBs clear lanes, this happened a lot against Houston. Sometimes the boxes are stacked, but not as much as people like to exaggerate, we had a few running plays yesterday where we couldn't get lanes open against nickel defense. Giving up pressure on 4 man rushes, we've given up pressure with 7 blocking 5. Sometimes the defense just makes a great play, but sometimes it looks they are exploiting the blocking scheme and sometimes guys are just blowing an assignment. It's been very inconsistent. Even someone like TWill, while not a great WR was a pretty good blocking WR

What's going on, on this play? Is Hurns supposed to block someone, draw a DB with him? It looks more like he's trying to run off the field. The tweet is right, it just looks weird.

 

[nightrain]

Unfortunately, the limitations at QB will magnify an issues up front. The OL did not have a good day, but you can't tell me a QB like Cousins or Ryan (not even going to mention the elite class of QBs) wouldn't have been able to make some more plays.

 

[Brooksey]

We need a better position coach, he sucked in Cincinnati and he sucks here.

Worst signing of the year besides making Moore QB coach.

 

[Smith22]

OL has become a big issue, but so has our QB play. Dak had 2 fumbles yesterday and neither were due to OL play.

We run a very generic dink and dunk offense with a QB who has shown over the last 2 years that he struggles to hit 200 yards passing in a pass happy NFL. I think most people on this forum could do better with time management and situational football than our sorry excuse of a head coach.