OLine Player Review

[xwalker]

Looking at all the replies goes to show you how beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And we all have opinions. The starters are fine, the backups especially a couple of them, i think you know who they are... are just plain trash. That's all i can say about that.

Zack Martin said in an interview that the big improvement in the OLine this year as compared to past years is with regards to the backup players.

 

[RodeoJake]

There are certain players that fans love to hate that are actually really good players.

There are certain players that fans love to hype that are actually not that good.

Comparing CW playing LG vs when La'ell played LG during early in his career.
- Fans loved La'el because he had a few highlight plays of blowing up defensive players.

- What fans overlooked was that he made a huge number of mistakes per game, especially in the running game where he would block the wrong player.​

- Fans love to hate Connor Williams because on 1 or 2 snaps per game he has a really ugly play.

- Fan overlook the fact that CW is very good on the vast majority of plays.
- He is a precise 2nd level blocker and has great awareness of picking up and passing blitzing/stunting pass rushers.​

​

Collins got roasted at LG a lot by the folks that liked Leary better. Then he was blasted at RT until he re signed at a below market contract.

 

[blueblood70]

There are certain players that fans love to hate that are actually really good players.

There are certain players that fans love to hype that are actually not that good.

Comparing CW playing LG vs when La'ell played LG during early in his career.
- Fans loved La'el because he had a few highlight plays of blowing up defensive players.

- What fans overlooked was that he made a huge number of mistakes per game, especially in the running game where he would block the wrong player.​

- Fans love to hate Connor Williams because on 1 or 2 snaps per game he has a really ugly play.

- Fan overlook the fact that CW is very good on the vast majority of plays.
- He is a precise 2nd level blocker and has great awareness of picking up and passing blitzing/stunting pass rushers.​

​

 

[xwalker]

Connor is plenty strong enough. His biggest problem is attitude. He has lacked a nastiness to his game that allowed some DTs to bully him. Last year against Pitt, Heyward was getting away with putting a hand under the chin throughout the game. Connor should have retaliated but didn't. He just took it. If he wants to be among the best Gs, he needs to get mean.

I agree. He has the strength just not the attitude. Guards are rather unique in that way; the best ones always looked while playing like they would tear the DT's head off and spit down the neck.

Most of CW's career was with Garrett as the Head Coach.

Garrett constantly preached against retaliation and "nastiness". He wanted all players to be like corporate white collar politically correct employees.

The first Cowboys OL that I've seen in a few years that was constantly on the verge of a fist fight was backup C. Erving.
- Tyron & Zack Martin has generally just out-talented other players. They're not really know for being nasty.
- La'el had that nasty attitude early on but that went away, probably due to Garrett's influence over the team.

If Erik Williams gave out annual EW awards for nastiness, the last Cowboys OLineman that would have won that award was Jermey Parnell and he has been gone since the end of the 2014 season.
- The EW mentality towards defensive players was "I'm bigger and stronger than you are and I'm going to remind you of that fact on every snap".

For any young fans that don't know, Erik Williams and Randy White are the meanest, nastiest players in Cowboys history.
- Larry Allen got a lot of publicity for bullying defensive players but it was just fun for him.

- On gameday EW & RW literally wanted to kill the defensive players and eat their children.​

- Off the field Randy White was one of the nicest players to fans of any Cowboys player, however...

- On gameday or a confrontation off-the-field with Charles Haley, RW became another person.
- I envision when the Hulk character was in the process of becoming the Hulk and his clothes are splitting at the seams. "Hulk Angry"​

- Darren Woodson has some great stories about EW. Woodson and other teammates were afraid of him on gameday.

- Woodson's description of EW snorting and blowing snot from his nose like a caged bull is classic.​

 

[terra]

Most of CW's career was with Garrett as the Head Coach.

Garrett constantly preached against retaliation and "nastiness". He wanted all players to be like corporate white collar politically correct employees.

The first Cowboys OL that I've seen in a few years that was constantly on the verge of a fist fight was backup C. Erving.
- Tyron & Zack Martin has generally just out-talented other players. They're not really know for being nasty.
- La'el had that nasty attitude early on but that went away, probably due to Garrett's influence over the team.

If Erik Williams gave out annual EW awards for nastiness, the last Cowboys OLineman that would have won that award was Jermey Parnell and he has been gone since the end of the 2014 season.
- The EW mentality towards defensive players was "I'm bigger and stronger than you are and I'm going to remind you of that fact on every snap".

For any young fans that don't know, Erik Williams and Randy White are the meanest, nastiest players in Cowboys history.
- Larry Allen got a lot of publicity for bullying defensive players but it was just fun for him.

- On gameday EW & RW literally wanted to kill the defensive players and eat their children.​

- Off the field Randy White was one of the nicest players to fans of any Cowboys player, however...

- On gameday or a confrontation off-the-field with Charles Haley, RW became another person.
- I envision when the Hulk character was in the process of becoming the Hulk and his clothes are splitting at the seams. "Hulk Angry"​

- Darren Woodson has some great stories about EW. Woodson and other teammates were afraid of him on gameday.

- Woodson's description of EW snorting and blowing snot from his nose like a caged bull is classic.​

Zack actually plays with a mean edge; but you have to look for it; not exactly obvious. AND we were only talking guards.

The Last O lineman we had that really had that nasty edge was Colombo.

 

[xwalker]

Collins got roasted at LG a lot by the folks that liked Leary better. Then he was blasted at RT until he re signed at a below market contract.

Yes, any references to fans is never an "All Fans" references because all fans have never agreed on anything.

I do remember criticism of La'el at RT because by then some fans expected him to be an All-Pro, however...
- As you indicated around the time he signed a new contract fans were hyping him.

Leary was better at LG than La'el.

The issue with Leary was that almost every season he would have some type of groin or hamstring injury.
- All but 1 year he played through those injuries but his performance took a steep nosedive for 3 or 4 games after each injury.

In 2015 Leary was out with an injury and La'el started 11 games as a rookie.

The team then benched Leary for 2016 in favor of La'el in 2016, but La'el was injured in game 3 and Leary was again the starting LG.