Thread: Tice settles on starting OL

Well it will be interesting to see with all the projects what Rod can actually develop. I think Wootton will be one, Paea and Okoye will be the others. But again that too is talent and constantly addressing the DL. I just keep imagining what it would be like if the emphasis was as equal on the OL.

Originally Posted by motownbear

I think they are overrating the Tice effect like they did with Marinelli a few years ago. Talent matters. Peppers make Marinelli look good just like how guys in the past made Marinelli look good with Sapp and Rice. Give some love to the oline JA and it will get better. Of course it isnt the oline so it will get the classic half ass effort. At least JA and company have everyone brain washed enough to think Tice will make the line better not talent

It's not necessarily an over estimation of his coaching skills to say the guy is the best Oline coach we've had in forever but I do agree that you still need talent to succeed. The real test of his coaching skills may come this year. He has two former 7th round picks, Webb and Louis, slotted to be among his starting five so if he pulls this off his star is gonna shine pretty brightly. It's either a tribute to his coaching skills or his talent for spotting lower rated college players with NFL level talent, one or the other.

Smith agrees with Tice that O-line is set

August, 8, 2011Aug 8
6:42
PM CT

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By Michael C. Wright


BOURBONNAIS, Ill. -- Bears coach Lovie Smith stands behind the bold declaration made Sunday by offensive line coach Mike Tice, who said the unit is set with starters Roberto Garza, Lance Louis, Gabe Carimi, Chris Williams and J'Marcus Webb.

Tice said the Bears would open the season on Sept. 11 with the five players as the starters, and that there’s no competition for starting roles at this point.

“I feel comfortable,” Smith said after Monday’s lightning-cancelled session. “That’s why we stayed with this same group for a while. There’s competition at every position out there. But you have to go on what you see right now. That’s the reason why we’ve kept this group together.”

Another reason is apprehension about playing musical chairs at the position the way the team did last season in using five combinations of starters along the offensive line before coming to consensus on a permanent group eight games into the season.

Tice said early in training camp that the team would tinker with the offensive line for a few days, before quickly locking in players at their respective positions. Tice approached Smith, and general manager Jerry Angelo about his plans before the start of training camp, and the duo agreed to let the offensive line coach tinker, as long as he zeroed in on a starting group quickly.

“You would like to lock in as soon as you can with the starting five and go from there,” Smith said. “But everybody will get an opportunity. Some of the things I said before… we need to get to a game, first off. But we’re getting a great evaluation of our offensive line. We have an excellent defensive line. It’s not like they’re going to go against a better defensive line during the course of a year. So we have an idea, but we’ll let that continue to play out.”

Prior to cancellation of Monday’s session, rookie Carimi and second-year man Webb experienced some success against perennial all-Pro defensive end Julius Peppers. Although Carimi has struggled some at camp, he neutralized Peppers on a couple of running plays during an inside run drill.

On another drill, Webb took down Peppers and held him down on the ground until the end of the play.

Surely, such actions proved pleasing to Tice. Asked whether his bold declaration Sunday was merely a message to some of the other linemen vying for spots, Tice never hesitated.

“Nope,” Tice said. “It’s a done deal.”

Apparently, Smith agrees.

If you have the time link to the comments on the ESPN site about this article and the Oline. They aren't a whole lot different than what you hear around here. The only good point I can make about this is that almost every team has to build it's Oline and the only way you do that is to draft some talent and let them play and apparently thats exactly what we're gonna do. No team can afford to build a line entirely through FA so maybe this is the beginning of a new philosophy for JA, LOL. Hope it works.