OLine Better But Far Short of High Praise....................

Bears’ offensive line looks better, but it’s all relative

By Mark Potash mpotash@suntimes.com August 24, 2011 10:14PM

Updated: August 25, 2011 7:40AM


Bears offensive coordinator Mike Martz lauded a ‘‘remarkable improvement’’ by the offensive line in the preseason game Monday against the New York Giants. But Martz and offensive line coach Mike Tice were cautious in their praise. With the bar set so low against the Buffalo Bills, ‘‘remarkable’’ is a relative term.

‘‘We had some guys get better across the board,’’ Tice said. ‘‘Mental errors were at a minimum, and they played hard. It was a good stepping-stone, but we’ve got an awful long ways to go still. ‘‘Now the key is, ‘Don’t step back. Don’t think we’ve arrived.’ As soon as you think you’ve arrived, you’re on your way back down.’’

Tice said the starting unit of J’Marcus Webb, Chris Williams, Roberto Garza, Lance Louis and rookie Gabe Carimi will remain intact for the preseason game Saturday against the Tennessee Titans in Nashville.

Particularly encouraging, Tice said, was the way the line communicated against the Giants. ‘‘There were some unscouted things that came up,’’ he said, ‘‘and they were able to talk it through on the sideline, go back out and correct it. That was a big step.’’ Tice said the second-team line also showed improvement, particularly guards Levi Horn and Edwin Williams.

Webb gem

Webb, the second-year tackle playing on the left side after playing right tackle last season, responded to Tice’s challenge after a subpar performance against the Bills.
‘‘He’s a tremendous athlete,’’ Tice said. ‘‘For the first time since maybe the New England game last year or maybe the Jets, he showed great athleticism — bending, recovering and playing fast. That’s what we expect of him.’’

I'd say it was a major improvement over the Bills game but that's like saying a sprained ankle is a major improvement over a compound fracture. They bent more than once this week but at least they didn't break. Still a long way to go though.

Tice pretty much tells us here who the other Olineman will be who'll make the final roster. EWill seems to be gaining some ground as an OG now that they're not trying to convert him into an OC and my dark horse guy Levi Horn looks like he may get off the PS this year. They've got him playing OG but he was an OT in college and if he could still play at OT that may save us from OMG.

As for Webb all I can say is that I hope Tice can turn him from a great athlete into a great football player. I'd even settle for passable right now. He still has a long way to go before he can match Carimi's polish as a pass blocker and according to most scouts that's not even Carimi's long suit. So where does that leave us with Webb protecting the blind side? He needs more than one satisfactory week before I'm convinced he over his problems.

My greatest concern is if and when the line becomes decent to remotely good there will be no more addressing in either the draft or FA. OMG needs a replacement as well as eventually Garza. JA needs to put as much thrust into the OL as the DL.

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Originally Posted by short faced bear

My greatest concern is if and when the line becomes decent to remotely good there will be no more addressing in either the draft or FA. OMG needs a replacement as well as eventually Garza. JA needs to put as much thrust into the OL as the DL.

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No doubt that's a concern shorty unless they've learned from past mistakes. For the next several years JA needs to keep upgrading this line with high to mid round draft choices and selectively looking for talent from other teams overstocks. It's kind of like the way the Packers were always drafting QB's even when they had Favre.

I think that if we can upgrade the backups so that their's little loss of talent when injuries occur we'll finally be where we need to be. As it stands we're real thin at OT and there's no one really pushing Webb at LT. That needs to change. The depth on the Oline needs to be more like we have at WR right now. There's very little difference in who we play. The level of talent is pretty consistent across the board so players are driven to improve via the competition and that's exactly what's happened this year in camp.

Every year for at least the next two or three there ought to be an Olineman drafted somewhere in the first three rounds. Most of those guys can be counted on to at least challenge for a staring spot on an NFl roster. You won't see the wealth of young Olineman in FA for the next few years because those guys all got sewed up in longer term deals. This is where JA blew it. So we need to keep bargain shopping for anyone who can improve on who we have. That's how you go about building an Oline.